Microsoft announces Azure Kinect, available for pre-order now

At its event at Mobile World Congress today, Microsoft announced HoloLens 2, but alongside that is Azure Kinect. Originally called Project Kinect for Azure, which was announced at Build last year, you can now pre-order it for $399.

Azure Kinect has a seven-microphone array, and it has cameras with wide- or narrow-angle views for different use cases. It also has a 12MP camera for a color stream that's aligned with the depth system. You can even sync multiple Azure Kinect devices together for different views of the environment.

The Azure Kinect weighs in at 440g, and it's 4.96x4.05x1.53 inches. It's powered by a USB Type-C connector, and it's compatible with Windows 10 (not inclusing S mode) and Ubuntu 18.04. It should be used in rooms with an ambient temperature of between 10 and 25 degrees Celsius.

Today's announcement was not surprising. When Microsoft announced Project Kinect for Azure last year, it said at the time that it was the same sensor that will be used in the next HoloLens. Now that HoloLens 2 is here, it makes sense for Azure Kinect to be a thing.

If you want to pre-order one, you can find it here.