Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not::There’s a lot of pressure on the new Apple Vision Pro headset, which starts at $3,499 and marks the beginning of something called “spatial computing.” The ambition is enormous, but the Vision Pro also represents a series of really big tradeoffs.
But the shocking thing is that Apple may have inadvertently revealed that some of these core ideas are actually dead ends — that they can’t ever be executed well enough to become mainstream.
Given Nilay has a good amount of experience with headsets, I’m surprised at how surprised they appear to be with this statement.
Back when I was in uni in the late 00s, AR and VR where a big thing, to the point that we had a module on it as part of our course. Even then it was clear that any hardware that physically closed you off (digital pass through is still a physical barrier) fundamentally stops the feeling of an argumentes reality but you firmly in a disconnected (from physical reality) headspace. As in, you feel like you’re in a virtual reality.
Google cardboard, which Nilay references:
Apple is also making immersive versions of some of its Apple TV Plus shows, which basically means a 180ish-degree 3D video that feels like the best Google Cardboard demo of all time
Came out 9 years ago, and proved the exact same thing for 1% of the cost of a Vision Pro.
As others have pointed out since the announcement, Glass also failed even without having that physical barrier between you and reality.
Lastly,
Do you want to use a computer that is always looking at your hands?
Nope!
witty_username@feddit.nl 9 months ago
I don’t think this is gong to be a success. I feel like the tech is a solution without a problem. I think the only sensible application is niche, enthusiast gaming, and valve is already pretty established there.
We’ll see though. Apple will probably have thought about this and identified usecases and developed software for their vr platform
Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 months ago
The lack of proper VR controllers excludes AppleVR from any meaningful gaming anyway.
Fisch@lemmy.ml 9 months ago
I have a Valve Index and the Vision Pro seems like a downgrade in many ways, at least for gaming. Does it even have controllers?
Crismus@lemmynsfw.com 9 months ago
Plus you’re locked into Mac only ecosystem. Even if controllers get made later, you can only play what works on iPads or screen sharing with your Mac.
Hand tracking sounds cool, but how he explained it in the review it’s not as useful as the Index’s hand controller because you have to always have your hands in sight. And random movements make things happen you don’t mean to happen.
This definitely isn’t like the iPhone launch.
jaschen@lemm.ee 9 months ago
And porn
DJDarren@thelemmy.club 9 months ago
I’m a huge tech nerd, but even I’m struggling to see the genuine use-case for VR.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d be overjoyed to be proven wrong, for someone to come out with a killer app and for VR to suddenly become essential, but right now it just feels like a way to get people to spend significant amounts of money paying for tech firms to do r&d. At most, I love the idea of having an enormous personal screen for movie watching, but I watch movies with my wife, so we’d have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to sit next to each other in our personal bubbles.
BurningnnTree@lemmy.one 9 months ago
My partner is a big VR fan and he’s excited to get his Apple Vision Pro, but he’s already planning on returning it once he gets bored of it. This seems like something that only hardcore Apple fans would want to buy and keep. Nobody wants to watch movies or use their computer while isolated from the world while having a heavy thing strapped to their face. I don’t doubt that this is the best way to watch movies in VR, but if watching movies in VR was a non-niche thing that people actually wanted, it would have already caught on by now.
Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg 9 months ago
I think the main appeal is basically a projected screen. You can face absolutely massive screens if I understand correctly vs having to buy those screens and position yourself in front of them.
wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 months ago
I mean, that’s not revolutionary. That’s just basic VR headset functionality. Plus, it’s not nearly as useful as it’s cracked up to be.
narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 9 months ago
I quite like the “virtual workspace” idea (that Apple didn’t have first, but they are having a go at it).
But it’s not really there yet, is it? The apps are mostly iPad apps, some obviously updated to take advantage of “spatial computing” (how Apple calls it) in very cool ways, but it’s not like I can run a full-blown development environment on that thing. Even with a Mac you can only protect a flat screen into your “space”.
Let’s give it a few years and see where Apple takes this on a software level. I think the hardware is okay for a “gen 1” device, but it’ll likely get lighter, faster, longer battery etc.