Apple’s $3,500 “space computer” makes all VR headsets look like toys.
Ignore for a moment how clumsy the eyes passing the front of the Apple Vision Pro are. I just spent 30 minutes with Apple’s $3,500 “space computer” (they don’t call it VR or AR or real headset combined) and my God, this is the next level.
I’m not hyperbolic. The Vision Pro is one of the genuine products that takes about five seconds to convince you that it’s magical. The mouse made the Mac, the click wheel made the iPod, the capacitive touchscreen made the iPhone and iPad, and for Apple Vision Pro, eye and hand tracking is the secret sauce.
It’s not the stuttering eye and hand tracking discovered in the Oculus Quest Pro. These are highly accurate and responsive inputs that require little to no idea to navigate and control programs and reports in Vision Pro’s visionOS. Combined with the high-resolution: virtual transfer and color images of the two 4K presentations: Vision Pro gives a strong impression that truth augmented with convincing intensity is the next step in computing.
As always, photos and videos don’t do Vision Pro justice. It’s more compact and heavy than it looks online; Apple hasn’t shared official specs or dimensions yet, so each and every element can be replaced until early 2024 when it launches. Even if you have seen it from each and every angle in the pictures, the fabrics come to life person. The “singular piece of laminated glass in the form of 3 dimensions” is a sight to be noticed and felt. It is reflective, fragile and dense. All parts of the PC – cameras and sensors, M2 and R1 chips, internal and external displays, cooling system, etc. – are housed in their glossy finish. It’s not something you’re going to take care of carelessly; You will feel its beloved factors and traditional materials every time you take it. It’s like a $6,000 Leica Q3, not a $600 Sony camera. It’s a MacBook Pro M2, not a Chromebook.
The headband is the most modern thing I’ve seen on a helmet. The three-dimensional fabric curtain is tightened and loosened by turning the “Adjustment Dial” to the right. In my demo, I tested the headphones with an additional maximum sensitive band. I have no idea what I looked like and I didn’t care because the $3,500 device attached to my face felt smart and for the most part. I had to push the Vision Pro several times to keep it from slipping off my face, but only because I had moved my head more than usual. Another soft seal that fits better could have provided a tighter seal. Fortunately, they are modular so that users have options.
The Vision Pro has the DNA of the AirPods Max, Apple Watch, and iPhone.
There is a button at the top left for capturing spatial images and videos with the built-in cameras; I couldn’t use it in my demo. In front of it is a virtual crown, from the Apple Watch and AirPods Max, which is used to the “vibe” or opacity of your virtual space.
On either side of the pins, there is an “audio module” with two amplified drivers for Spatial Audio. They sound amazing. And then, along the left side, there is a connector for the external battery connected with a twisted cable. The two-hour battery life sits right next to you on a couch or in your pocket. I sat for almost the entirety of my 30-minute demonstration. With the battery by my side on the couch and apart from once I forgot the bra and the battery fell to the floor, the cable was largely out of my way.
How does it make you feel?
Since I used the Vision Pro, there was no way to see my eyes (with “EyeSight”) on the outside screen. Overall, I’m inspired by the material. I like the orange accents on the inside of the headband. I didn’t sweat at all. Of course, this could be due to the fact that Apple’s demo room had good air conditioning and the fact that I wasn’t moving aggressively like I would with a Beat Saber game on the Quest headset. It’s no small feat, but Apple has actually achieved comfort with Vision Pro. Like everything you wear on your face, comfort is incredibly important.
Clarity is as vital as comfort. With 12 cameras and five sensors, powered by the R1 chip, Vision Pro creates a cross-sectional view of the real world that is most close to the truth. I say to the maximum because, although each and every Micro-OLED model has 4K resolution and the pixel density is high enough that you don’t see a “screen door effect”, if you’re looking in the right places, like the edges of someone’s hair or clothes, you can see the lighter colored stripes. Even so, it did not stand in the way of the experience of augmented truth. In fact, it’s the most complex cross-pass I’ve noticed on any conventional headset; the Quest Pro’s color transfer doesn’t even come close to the Vision Pro. An apt analogy would be: the Vision Pro’s visuals are a PlayStation five and the Quest 2/Quest Pro has jagged PS1 graphics. It’s that kind of difference.
Here’s what opening apps looks like in Apple Vision Pro.
Whether they’re “totally submerged” (you can’t see the real world) or not, screens make the virtual incredibly sharp. I completely forgot that I was interacting with virtual windows most of the time. That’s how real the virtual elements looked. In other headsets, the manipulation of virtual elements in a three-dimensional airplane is imperfect. A virtual object may flicker or not stay fixed in place, reminding you that it’s not really tangible. Every window or virtual object I saw on visionOS was detailed, the text is sharp enough to read, and it never slipped, keeping my disbelief suspended. It’s this compelling visual constancy that absolutely absorbs you. Vision Pro by themselves, they will feel the same way.
I previously said that it took me less than five seconds to learn how to use visionOS and I meant it. Set up eye tracking calls so that it looks at a series of dots and sticks to the hand just me holding my hands in front of the Vision Pro.
I was told to tap the virtual crown to be taken to the home screen, a familiar honeycomb of circular app icons. from my. To drag the application windows, pinch and drag where you need to move them. To scroll vertically or horizontally, simply pinch and drag in the direction; put more speed into things and you get inertial scrolling just like on iPhone, iPad and TrackPad or Magic Mouse.
More than anything, I was very inspired by the precision and precision of eye and hand tracking. For example, I thought I would lose more through small urgent details, but no, I think I only failed once and it was probably my own mistake. . Idem for eye tracking; It is super delicate but very precise. Plus, the Vision Pro never lost track of my hands, which always happens on Quest headsets.
The Vision Pro home screen.
visionOS is so simple and intuitive to be informed that it is almost too simple. I tried to open more apps and go through them. You’d think a $3500 headset would deserve to have more complex inputs, right?Good computer inputs are easy to perceive and do not require long curves of information. Here’s what Steve Jobs understood about the mouse, click wheel, and touch. Apple, every year after, still perceives that with eye and hand tracking. It’s a cliché, however, Apple necessarily created Minority Report’s PC interface, where you control virtual interfaces with your fingers. It’s nothing short of profound once you’ve tried. I still couldn’t help but say “wow” and “great” and “he’s sick” every time I pinched a window to move it or pinched a button to “click” on it.
App windows in front of you with realistic shadows and lighting.
Apple showed me one of the many demos that only scratched the surface of what the Vision Pro is capable of. I watched a 3D music video for Avatar: The Way of Water on a 100-foot-wide screen, sitting on the seat (deadlock) inside the virtual cinema, while the Na’vi rode on wings, convincingly exiting the screen as in a 3D movie theater. Could it be the return of 3D movies?
A virtual dinosaur came out of a wall and turned its head in the direction it was hunting. A three-dimensional butterfly flew out and landed in my hand. I did a one-minute meditation consultation where an orb of petals peacefully exploded in front of me, then reassembled, while blocking the genuine global by rotating the virtual crown to adjust the environment to my favorite opacity.
I had a FaceTime call with another user dressed in a Vision Pro and saw their “Persona,” or as Apple calls it, “a virtual representation of themselves created using Apple’s most complex device learning techniques, which mirrors face and hand movements in real time. “”- looks me straight in the eye. I discovered the strange recreation of the valley somewhat disturbing; I turned the 2D window I was in on all the instructions and heard the sound of his voice move as it should be accordingly; I almost bent down too much to get a closer look at a three-dimensional style of a component that was showing me in the Freeform app.
A video taken with Apple Vision Pro cameras.
I reviewed various types of photos and videos. Two “area shots” have been preserved that felt like a moment in time, with genuine depth. In one photo, a boy blew out the candles on a cake and I reached out to remind myself that he was virtual; in some other photo of the area, I can almost feel the crackle of a campfire. I love Live Photos so it was just herbal that I cherished those spacey memories. I was able to see panoramas taken on iPhone upscaled to envelop me in detailed resolution. Apple’s new “Immersive Video” format is 3D video recording with a 180-degree view frame, and man, some of it was captured from angles as compelling as the dugout of a baseball box or the middle of a a tightrope across a mountain, which expected to feel nauseated or feel some kind of movement in ill health. But I never did. I’m not saying there aren’t other people who don’t get nauseous, but I didn’t and I’m in a bit of a bad tummy just looking at those kinds of VR images. It’s a true testament to all the tactics Apple combats perceptual latency.
This may be just the beginning of the end for TVs as we know them.
None of those demos were physical like they are in VR with headsets like the Quest 2 or Quest Pro, and that’s through design. Because Vision Pro is a computer and you are sitting or sitting in front of “real” computers. Sure, Apple touts the merits of betting Apple Arcade games on a virtual screen with an Xbox or PlayStation controller, but be mindful of the controller. Sit back and play those controller-controlled titles. It is conceivable that we will see more complex types of games. similar to what you get with the VR headset, but for now, I’m fine if Apple leaves that for the Quest 3 or PlayStation VR 2.
I’ve tried almost every single combo VR headset or mainstream VR. None are as subtle as the Vision Pro. Ni in hardware or software. Hundreds of thousands of iPad and iPhone apps will only run in 2D within Vision Pro, automatically making it a more familiar computer than any VR headset. And if developers modify them for spatial computing, they’ll work even better.
There’s still a lot more to the Vision Pro that Apple hasn’t done for anyone. But even with the controlled and limited demos, I’m pretty sure Apple is onto something here. The hardware will certainly improve and be less costoso. de generation on generation. But the platform created by Apple with visionOS and eye and hand tracking (and voice I couldn’t test) is what’s really going to make or break the device.
I see tons of potential, and the only obstacles are the $3500 price tag and two-hour battery life. I know many other people are horrified by the price, which is a lot, but it’s also a little low for something so advanced. I know it sounds crazy, but when you see how Vision Pro goes beyond 2D computing and loads the equivalent of multiple physical displays, 3D cameras, a cinema-sized screen, surround speakers, and hand and eye tracking, it’s not as absurd as it sounds.
This article was originally published on June 7, 2023