Microsoft shows hardware for Kinect for Windows v2

Microsoft has shown the sensor, power supply and hub for Kinect for Windows v2. The hardware is similar to that of the Xbox One version. The company says the launch is getting closer and more details about the platform will be announced soon.

The Kinect for Windows v2 sensor looks identical to that of the Xbox One. At the top is not the text ‘Xbox’ but ‘Kinect’ and the Xbox logo on the right side, according to Microsoft, has had to make way for a smaller and simpler power indicator.

The hub contains connections for the sensor, USB 3.0 and the power supply. The power supply itself is about the same size as the hub and operates on a voltage of 100–240 volts, depending on the region. Microsoft already gave a limited group of developers access to its Kinect for Windows v2 platform halfway through last year, with an SDK and the early version of the hardware. Developers have since shown some first results of their work with the platform, such as the Apache Labs project, where users’ faces can be swapped in images.

Compared to the previous version, the new Kinect has better speech and motion recognition and can also record video with 1920×1080 pixels at 30fps. The platform can be used for Skype, among other things. Microsoft promises to announce more details soon. Previously, there were reports that Kinect for Windows v2 will be released in the summer.