Apple recently launched their first new platform in almost a decade. With the Apple Vision Pro, we have entered the world of spacial computing. Is the Vision Pro the future? I bought the newest virtual reality/mixed reality headset to find out. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
TRANSCRIPT:
“This isn’t the future. It isn’t a revolutionary mobile device ushering in a new era.” – Brett Arends, The Street
“The iPhone is nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks.” — Matthew Lynn,
“It is the must-have yuppie accessory of the decade.”
“Stupid” ”Insanely overpriced.” ”Not the future” ”Nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks.”
These are all things said by Apple’s critics… About the iPhone in 2007. It was a gimmicky, bloated, overpriced toy that didn’t even have any buttons. Ridiculous.
But then the iPhone went on to change the world, popularizing smart phones, and changing the way we live our very lives.
Does the Vision Pro have the same potential? Could this be a pivot point in technology?
To get the answer, I bought a tax write-o— I mean Vision Pro to find out for myself.
And the future… looks… Red
Apple’s packaging was immaculate as always but we got through it and in no time had it ready to put on.
Okay, so there was a LOT of setup that was required, just like if you were setting up a new computer. Basically if you’ve ever gotten a new iPad, it’s like that but floating in front of you. And it does some eye calibrations, the point is, this went on for a while, and I couldn’t record what I was seeing so instead of you just watching me poke at the air for the next 30 minutes, let’s just jump to the dinosaurs
Encounter Dinosaurs is a little immersive experience that’s on there just to make you say wow. And you’ve probably seen shots like this in plenty of other videos, and it’s because you can screen record it. Unlike some other immersive content on there. It’s also a smart marketing move because people are sharing footage of it all over the place.
And while yes, dinosaurs are cool, what really got me was the way it interacts with your surroundings. Text hovers in front of the wall and casts shadows on the wall behind it. The screen lays flat against the wall, and even wraps around the corner of the room. It’s not just a big flat screen hovering in front of me, it’s embedded into the environment.
Speaking of environments, you also have the option of no room whatsover, when you turn the crown, you can get immersed completely in a landscape of your choice, including the moon. This is cool, but I did find myself using passthrough mode most of the time. Though I’m very curious if it could help when doing work as a way to reduce distractions.
And the fact that the Vision Pro effortlessly connects to your macbook means you can easily enter one of these environments and cut out distractions, which I’m especially prone to. So I can see how this could actually be a productivity tool. But that’s only if the device is comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time. So let’s look at how much this thing weighs.
The set does come with a dual band strap that goes over the top of your head more like a traditional VR headset. And like a lot of other reviewers have said, it does take a little pressure off your face and I think is a little more comfortable for long-term use. If you’re just going to hop on it for a few minutes, the single band strap is fine.
And I have had a chance to do some work in this thing. I’ve seen other people set up elaborate work spaces with eleven apps open and floating around, I just found that way too distracting. And working in a totally immersive environment isn’t great because it covers up the keyboard. Luckily I’m a touch typist but I hope that’s something they can fix in a software update. I don’t see why they couldn’t.
I did find it helpful doing things like photoshop on my macbook because I could make that screen as large as I wanted, just way more space to work with, it really was like my screen was connected to a display that I could make as big or small as I want, place it anywhere I want, I mean if you think of what a monitor like that would cost, you can almost justify the price of this thing. Almost.
Ultimately though, even with the dual band strap, there comes a point for me where the discomfort outweighs the convenience and I just have to take it off.
Connectedness
Of course if you’re going to spend a lot of time in this thing, you need to have some connection to the outside world, and that’s why Apple created Personas. Now if you’ve seen any other reviews of this device, you’ve seen how weird these things look and well… here’s mine.
I think the software has been scientifically calibrated to find uncanny valley. Because it’s not that it doesn’t look like me, it looks a lot like me. I just look… like… embalmed. I know what my open casket would look like now and that’s just a great thing to think about.
To be fair it might just be a camera thing. For example it made my producer Damian look like a troll that lives under a bridge. When in reality, he’s a troll that lives in a house.
Games
Let’s talk games! There’s not many. The one that they’re pushing the most is called Synth Riders, which I couldn’t record actual gameplay but it’s kind-of their version of Beat Saber, which is not available. Beat Saber is better in my opinion. But coming from using the Quest 2, that platform has hundreds of games, you’ll ever run out of games, so this is kind-of a let down right now, but I’m sure the selection will grow over time. The Quest platform’s been around for several years now whereas this one is like, 2 weeks old. So it’ll get better.
I found the spacial video capture and playback to be surprisingly cool. It made me wonder if we might seen a boon in spacial or 3D content. Like there’s a whole lot of channels on YouTube of people who do walking tours of various places, I could totally see this being a new way to experience those. But I’ll also say that the only time I ever got motion sick in this thing was when I played back a spacial video in immersive mode, it really messed me up for a second.
But ultimately I wanted to know if this could work the way I envision smart glasses working, by adding a digital layer to reality and I’ve gotta say, this was where I was the most impressed. When you put these goggles on, you can put apps and screens up all over your house and no matter where you go they’re still there when you get back. So I did a little demonstration in the kitchen where I could put a music player on the wall, a recipe book that walks you through the recipe step by step, and timers that hover over things you’re cooking so you don’t miss anything. And if I want to pull up a YouTube video while that’s going on, I can just throw it up on the door. And of course the sound always comes from that screen. A screen that casts shadows on the wall, again, the way they have the screens interact with the environment is maybe the coolest thing about it, all of it look and feels like it’s really there.
Oh, one other little cool thing about the apps around the house is that if you go upstairs, you can see through the floor where the apps are downstairs, which is kinda weird but also, I don’t know, it gives you an interesting spacial understanding of your house. Like that’s where that back wall is downstairs, that’s interesting.
So far my experience with the Vision Pro has been that it’s cool, but I still haven’t found the killer use case for it that will keep me coming back. Not to say that I won’t find it but I will say that several times I’ve had the thought, “hey I should put on the headset” and the very next thought was, “And do what?” Like on the Quest there were games I enjoyed playing and that kept me coming back. Maybe for this it will be the spacial video, which AppleTV has some really cool documentaries in spacial video, that might keep me coming back, or maybe I’ll find just the right way to do work with it. But right now, I’m not sure what that is.
By the way if this part sounds kinda hissy and echoey it’s because I’d lowered the recording volume of this mic for an interview and forgot to bring it back up again, so it recorded way too low – basically the opposite of how I screwed up in the studio earlier. Again, I’m sorry I’m not more professional than this, I should know better at this point. I just… I suck. I just fracking suck. Why do you people follow me!
Oh yeah, and the eyes are weird. They’re just super weird.
Closing thoughts:
I’ve seen a lot of people commenting on other videos that the Quest 3 has been able to do this stuff for a while. Came out in October – I was kinda holding out for this one but I’ve gotta say, if Quest 3 can do most of what this does, absolutely go for it. In fact, I think the biggest winner of this whole thing might be Meta because a lot of people are going to be interested in this because apple is such a marketing juggernaut but they won’t spend $3500 on this, but they might give the Quest a try.
Also somewhat proves out their whole “metaverse” concept. Actually the lack of games from quest made me want to go back and play some of them This is not the thing that is going to change the world, this is the crystal ball that gives us a glimpse of that future world. I’m not the first person to say it but this is the worst this device will ever be. I usually never buy first gen apple products.
Think of the first gen iPod or iPhone, they had few apps, they looked bulky and weird, but as they grew in popularity and more developers figured out what they could do with them, they became the indespensible devices they are now. I think this will be the same thing. I think it’ll be maybe Gen 3 or even 5 that will really set the world on fire. Once this can be made possible at the form factor of the Meta Ray Ban glasses, it’s game over. Keeping in mind the big thing at CES this year was transparent monitors Big difference lens-wise but you get the point. My Get used to the cords.
When smart glasses are finally a thing, there will be no space to put batteries that can keep it working for more than a short time. It will have to feed off to an external battery. But think of it like when we all had wired earbuds with a cord that plugged into our phones or iPods. Except the iPod gives you mixed reality. I really don’t know how much I will be using this, I will say the ability to connect to the computer and make the screen way bigger is super useful. Facetime is still horrific right now. I don’t feel more connected though.
You really are just closed off from the rest of the world, I’ll be interested to see more social apps as more people get on these (again, that has been around for a long time with the Quest line, VR Chat, that kind of thing. So if you’re curious and you’ve got extra money laying around, give it a try and see what you think. If you’re curious and don’t have as much money laying around, get the Quest 3, I’m sure it’s great. And if you’re not curious at all, well, wait about 5 years or so. You might find yourself being dragged kicking and screaming into this new paradigm. For many of you, it won’t have been the first time.
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