Learning the gestures

The usage of the device takes some getting used to. In the center of your view, you will see a tiny bright dot--this is your pointer. This dot will remain in the center of your view, so the only way to move it about is to move your head. A lot of first-time users of HoloLens will move their hands in front of the device as if they are trying to persuade the dot to move but that will not work. You need to look at something in order to interact with it.

There are two sorts of pointers in the default HoloLens world--one is the aforementioned dot, the other one is a circle. When the device sees your finger or hand in front of the sensors, it will let you know this and inform you that it is ready to receive commands--the dot will turn into this circle. Now, you can use one of the two default gestures. One is the air tap. Some people struggle with this one, but it is fairly straightforward.

You make a fist, point an index finger toward the sky and then move that finger forward without bending it, all the time leaving the rest of your hand where it is; that is it, tapping with a finger. Ensure that you don't bend the finger, do not move the whole hand, do not turn the hand, or just use one finger. It does not really matter if you use your right or left hand; the device will pick it up.

Next to the air tap gesture, we have the bloom gesture. Although this is slightly more complicated, people seem to have fewer issues with this one. Start with a closed fist in front of the device, palm upward. Next, open your hands and spread your fingers wide--just imagine your hand is a flower opening up.

This gesture is used to go back to the Start menu or the main starting point of an application.

That is it! There are no more gestures. Well, there is the tap-and-hold gesture (move your finger down and keep it there while moving your hand up and down, right and left or back and forth to move stuff about) but that is just a variation of the airtap.