[ach1lles]

Announced yesterday at WWDC, a mixed-reality wearable.
https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/

Thoughts, in no particular order:

1. Not a great name
2. Seems kinda dorky
3. Seems to offer amazing experiences, that aren't possible on any other device
4. Seems like the pinnacle of Apple engineering
5. Not sure if Jobs would've gone there, seems unlikely, but he's dead
6. Way more compelling than when the Apple Watch launched, even though the watch was a lot more affordable
7. The wife (a total non-dork) saw the video and was immediately intrigued. When she saw the cinema screen in a lakeside setting, she immediately wanted one. "I'm not getting on a flight without that now"
8. This is a stoner's/meditator's paradise
9. Manipulating air by hand and selections with eye movements: that's Tony Stark shenanigans.
10. Price: A large, static, state-of-the-art OLED TV can cost as much, or close to it. That TV stays in your room, on a wall. It can't be in an infinite expanse of any setting you please, and it can't be a theatre. Set the TV up properly with lighting, hue play etc. and that's another lakh or so right there. We haven't even gotten to the sound or the room yet. The Vision Pro can do this and a lot more, plus it goes with you on the plane. Plus: Spatial audio with real-world ray tracing! On the other hand, it can't accommodate external signals like from a PS5. Yet.

I mean, look at this:






Source: apple.com

I'd buy it just for this. The best home cinema projector in the world can't give you this right now. And they readily go over $20000.

Imagine watching sports on that thing, like you're in the goddamn stadium, but better, because you'll have the umpire's "seat", or the driver's seat, or damn near any space in the arena. The possibilities are near endless, and I'm excited.

To me, the implications are also a little more profound, and psychological. The Vision Pro represents a proper shift on interactions. Would you wear this with multiple people in the room, like at home? Seems unlikely. So it is more of an individual piece with a higher isolating effect than any device previously available, which, it seems, humans are glued to regardless. In that sense, does it create a higher gap between real humans going forward? Or does it improve upon our "reality" in ways that makes us more productive and enables us in ways we can't yet imagine?

Right now, I really really just want to try one.

[pandey.jai]

I was very intrigued by this when I saw the keynote yesterday. It looks like a great device but I’m a little worried about if this is what the future holds. We’re already so engrossed in our phones and now I don’t want to imagine a situation where my wife, kids and I all have our own devices and living in our own “alternate realities”.

Plus the cost.. a household of 4 people would be $3499 * 4

Someone like me who needs a spectacle- I don’t know how immersive this experience will be. They have a workaround, but that sounds like an expensive one.

[Silverfire]

This article covers a good hands on review and the strategic importance of this product for Apple https://stratechery.com/2023/apple-vision/

I think it makes a lot of sense when you start thinking of Vision, as the next step in Personal computing. It is a replacement for the Mac and maybe your iPad, not your iPhone, Hence the primary use cases will be:

1. Augmenting work: Better productivity with multiple screens floating around you with spatial computing, better collaboration with spatial FaceTime, collaborating together on a whiteboard with freeform etc. I can imagine people who travel a lot or have long commutes, finding Vision as their Go to computer vs a Mac. As 3rd party developers like Microsoft, Zoom, Adobe etc pile in - this story will only get better.

2. Enhancing consumption: As the article argues - the iPad has primarily turned into a Video consumption device. Vision takes this to the next level. Imagine relaxing on your Sofa/bed while watching a movie in an iMax sized screen with Dolby audio. Or better - imagine watching live sports or a live concert with the best seats, while chilling at home.

This device will isolate you from your surroundings but so have phones. Look around you and you will see families sitting together at home or even at restaurants with everybody glued to their screens. Mixed reality headsets in a way are better, since you can continue looking at your content, while interacting with others.

[DetectiveMiles]

Honestly, I'm just blown away with the design of this product more than any other Apple product. Yes, it is expensive.
I haven't been using Apple products mainly because I don't want to be locked into the ecosystem. but this product looks really great. Given how Apple makes it products, should last longer too, for the price.
This definitely has my curiosity and attention.

[VVN]

This device definitely has my curiosity. The things that Apple claims it does is next level and I would buy one in a heartbeat just to experience it. Would I make it my everyday device? No chance. I am one of those who like to own innovative products, experience it and then move back to simplicity. Slightly hypocritical I know but it is what it is.

The device is mighty expensive and is clearly not targeted for mass audience. The use case will be limited to designers and engineers. I see this product being adopted by industries and MNCs more than personal use.

[lordtottuu]

Cross posting what I said in another thread:

One of those tech products I'm truly excited about. I've dabbled with VR and MR/AR headsets in the past and they have always felt off. Slightly, almost imperceptibly, but definitely off.

I'm hoping Apple's psychotic attention to detail (not sure it's still the case) helps deliver a really good experience here. Blown away by some of the demos so that's a good start. The $3500 price tag will probably be $6000 when it lands on our shores so that's a bit of a nuisance for sure, specially for a gen 1 product that's sure to be riddled with niggles and compromises.

Will likely end up getting the next gen though once they iron out the launch issues. The screens definitely look leaps and bounds better than the Oculi and mixed reality headsets I've tried. Readable, crisp text is the holy grail and this seems to have achieved it.

[FNM]

The Vision Pro will be as transformative as the Mac was in 1984, and the iPhone was in 2007.
Mark my words!

[steadfast]

A big leap towards digital immersion but social and relationship isolation

[M_Poweredd_]

This is what I’ve observed, people will first criticise Apple products when they are first launched. Same thing happened with AirPod Maxes. Later when people have the extra cash lying around think about buying the same thing. This will happen with the Visions too because who doesn’t want a latest piece of tech?

[Levi]

For the price there is nothing special about it that other VR/AR companies cannot do. Microsoft have been doing this with the Hololens mixed reality devices for many years now.

The adoption rate for VR/AR products is already quite low with the major restriction being price and perception of having a large device on your face. If other manufacturers start developing higher end VR/AR products, the prices will increase and further reduce adoption of VR/AR technology.

As a product, it looks great and very polished and i feel the price isn't too expensive for all the technology it is packing. Features I liked the most was the ability to make 180VR movies using the glasses and relive them in the future called 3D capture.

Major disadvantage in my opinion is that it cannot connect to the PC and it has the battery life of just 2hrs same as the Quest 2. Also it is socially unacceptable to wear such devices while interacting with people as shown in their presentation. The curved glass back display is also a major weak point that can be damaged easily.

They also talked about replacing the TV and surround system, but can a family of four buy 4 of these instead of 1 large TV?

My conclusion is that this device isn't ready for the consumer market and is best suited for enterprise customers. If you are looking for something similar, the Quest 3 will be out soon and do most of the stuff for 1/10th of the price.

[roy_libran]

Voted RUBBISH.

So now Big Tech wants to capture everything that we see and hear, everywhere that we go, everyone that we meet, with a device who's basic functionality would make it impossible to opt out. So, no thanks, irrespective of the price point.

I am not handing out any more personal data, in fact very sensitive and confidential data, than what I absolutely must. In fact I am going to be resisting interacting with anyone who has that kinda device in operation on them!

[Sebring]

Apple has the retail stores (Headset users will convert after trying). Marketing doesnt do justice to XR. Plus, Apple Card makes it $200 a month at 0% interest. Howz that!

Originally Posted by Levi

For the price there is nothing special about it that other VR/AR companies cannot do. Microsoft have been doing this with the Hololens mixed reality devices for many years now.

[warrioraks]

Do we need big movie screens now?

[Lord-Lannister]

Voted on having curiosity.

As an active member of another forum on Macrumors, and being rather active on r/Apple, I would say that the product is more hype than anything that has been released post Jobs.

While everyone is fixated on the price tag being unaffordable for the masses, completely miss the point of it being more or less a prototype and the actual mass market product is more than 3 iterations away at 5 year+.

Is the tech beyond impressive? Absolutely. But if you think about it for a minute or two, the more you'd start to question on what would you actually need it for? I tagged the product as being lonesome, it actively is against all of the other Apple tech that I own, iPhone brought the world closer, iPad just enlarged the on go work and entertainment, Mac specially with the M series chips is truly amazing, and even the watch essentially got on as a luxury item of $10K to a more health tracking based with cheaper options. And the most magical product from Apple are AIRPODS, something that honest to God was a dream wishlist and did not cost and arm and a leg.

As for Vision Pro, I bet anything that one certain industry is going "Cha Ching" apart from Apple and that is the adult entertainment industry.

Does it really replace the TV? Umm, no unless one sits alone in the dark tethered to an outlet given a 2hr battery life, without a family or partner in the house. And no Apple, no amount of "visible eyes" is getting around the fact that one is talking to a person wearing a giant ski goggle.

As a new parent, it was heart breaking to see the father wear the glasses in their advert to try and take the kids 3d video only to watch later on rather than be in the moment.

Apple knows how to sell very well, so I have no doubt about people lining up to buy these by the numbers. But I can fairly say that unless the glasses are small enough to be ray bans, the outdoor and thereby mass market usage is at least a decade away for the tech and battery to improve. Until then, it's a very niche market product which is well in infancy, and the hype generated by the masses will eventually die out.

However, the future does look very promising though a bit dystopian.

An great article that I read by Lifewire

Vision Pro = Isolation

But while our phones feel like they connect us to the world, the Vision Pro seems to isolate us. The most common reaction I have read online is that it seems creepy. Creepy for Apple's demo dad to wear this thing and do actual work while he's supposed to be making toast for his daughter.

"I also think that the actual things people use this headset for will be things they do alone. As soon as you're interacting with someone in person, the headset is coming off. Wearing this thing at a kid's birthday party will be seen as borderline psychotic behavior," Apple watcher Matt Birchler said on his Birchtree blog.

Apple has clearly done a lot to mitigate this, from the 3D eye display on the front to the automatic detection and revealing of people in front of the wearer, but still. This is an isolating device, even as it tries to mix the real world with the virtual. Or perhaps it will be more like the phone.

[NiInJa]

Love it or hate it, people having money are going to go ahead an get one.

Although I have my reservations against some Apple product/iOS features compared to other OS, be it Windows or Android, I have always liked the way Apple comes out with new products with the 'bigger picture' in mind.

- A new VisionOS specifically for headset, which looking at the videos looked nice and clean with not stuttering or lag to start with (many reviewers said so). Developers are going to like this as it opens a completely new door of possibilities in AR/MR field.

- Quality is top notch and they rarely miss out on attention to details. The first iteration will not be a throwaway after a couple years. They did the same with the ipad and most recently the watch. The first iterations were well made on both fronts : Software and Hardware.

Usage:
I am curious about other capabilities at this point of time, but right now, this is going to be a nice media consumption device, especially when you are alone or travelling. Think of movie stars, sport celebrities flaunting it at the airports.

This can be a great device for learning or training. Since you wear this as a 'blindfold', there will be lesser distractions compared to viewing things on a monitor.

Immediate future:
Think of Chinese brands coming with similar headsets powered by Android which won't offer a lot (extremely hi-tech cameras and sensors for hand gestures, eyeball movement etc.) , but will have at least 4k display and good audio for media consumption. That, will be for the masses. I know there have been a lot of VR headsets already, but the trend will actually start when Apple brings this to the market.


Battery/Power:
Power attachment mechanism is smartly done by Apple. It is only limited by the size of the power bank that rests on your chair or pocket, I am sure Apple already has higher capacity battery packs for this planned. One can attach a bigger battery brick comfortably which will give more than 2 hours.