Apple Vision Pro…. Anybody buying?

[Cmaier]

Today Apple made some announcements. "Guest mode" allows you to share a subset of apps when you hand the device to a friend, and it automatically turns off guest mode if not worn in 5 minutes. "Travel mode" stabilizes video for plane travel. Apple Immersive Video is 180º 8K 3D video with spatial audio, which sounds like mostly "fantastic demo" stuff (hang out with dinosaurs, watch a singer back stage, watch a lion hunt a bear, whatever).

Also Disney+ will have 3D movies available.

 

[tomO2013]

I was thinking also about eye relief and eye strain…
As a dude in his 40’s I was at my optometrist recently who told me that I need to take more regular breaks for my eyes - I can zone out easily looking at my screen throughout the day. I was told to take breaks and look off to the distance and then back to the monitor to force my eyes to refocus.
With AVP and other headsets, I’ve been thinking a lot about the multi monitor use case…. and the eye health implications for extended use particularly in light of the multi-monitor use case that AVP would be great for.

I wonder if Apple will have automated ‘reminders’ in the health app to take a break, take it off your head when using it for prolonged periods of time because effectively you’ll constantly be focussed on the same plane of focus and distance from your eyes but mimicking the real world in pass through. I gotta wonder if this will be like one of those long term study things where we find out after many years of use it’s affecting ocular health ??

 

[Roller]

I think the Vision Pro's tougest sell will be as a replacement for a multi-monitor desktop setup.

1) Typically, people who have multi-monitor desktop setups employ them for all-day use. I personally can lose track of time and forget to take breaks with my current 3-monitor setup, which is only possible because I feel no fatigue using it for an extended period of time (plus with different monitors you need to turn your head and change your focus distance, even though I have them "curved" around me, as it typical). I would expect using AR is going to be inherently more fatiguing, even with frequent breaks:

a) With AR you have an unavoidable vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC). Apple's Vision Pro has methods to mitigate that, but I don't think they'll be able to eliminate it entirely.

I also wonder if this would be exacerbated if you had to work with very small fonts in order to display all your data. Plus, when I need to do that, I'll just move my head closer to the screen to read them, since I don't want to give up displaying the whole spreadsheet, and thus don't want to zoom. Can you "move your head closer" with the Vision Pro?

b) The weight.

c) Just having something resting on your face.

2) It won't be able to offer the tactile feedback, and precision, of a physical keyboard.

So their picture of people working in offices using this in place of a traditional desktop setup seems like a reach--unless those folks are doing 3D design work; and even there I don't think they'd want to do most of their work using AR; it would just be too fatiguing..

Where it would make much more sense for office-type work, at least for me, would be if you are working remotely, and thus have only a laptop, but the laptop's screen is much too small for the work you need to do. There, if you connected it to the laptop, you'd have the physical keyboard and trackpad, and the significant increase in monitor real estate would be worth the tradeoff.

Finally, I'd be interested to see how sharp this really is. It's supposed to offer pixels-per-degree comparable to that of a Retina external display at normal viewing distances. But if you are dealing with small fonts, is it really as sharp? E.g., do you lose some sharpness because of VAC?

I think office replacement is probably the weakest use case, particularly where typing is involved. Reportedly, the virtual keyboard experience is frustrating. Although voice recognition/dictation can make up for this to an extent, it breaks down when it comes to editing and in settings with more than one person. It also remains to be seen how well the AVP will work for creating graphic or video content.

 

[Cmaier]

I think office replacement is probably the weakest use case, particularly where typing is involved. Reportedly, the virtual keyboard experience is frustrating.

You can use a physical keyboard, just like a mac.

 

[Roller]

You can use a physical keyboard, just like a mac.

Sure, but I wonder what it's like to use a keyboard when you're wearing the AVP. It'll be interesting to see the reviews.

 

[jbailey]

Sure, but I wonder what it's like to use a keyboard when you're wearing the AVP. It'll be interesting to see the reviews.

Here are a couple:

Apple Vision Pro hands-on, again, for the first time

Another look at the Vision Pro — and spatial video!

www.theverge.com

Apple Vision Pro hands-on, redux: Immersive Video, Disney+ app, floating keyboard and a little screaming

Our deeper impressions of the Apple Vision Pro headset after checking out new features like Immersive Video and Disney+ environments today.

www.engadget.com

 

[Cmaier]

Sure, but I wonder what it's like to use a keyboard when you're wearing the AVP. It'll be interesting to see the reviews.

Why would it be any different than using a keyboard with a mac?

 

[somerandomusername]

As opposed to the 30 or so glowing reviews of the demo at WWDC, which these two fucktwats and others like them write off as Apple marketing speak. Their characterizations of the articles put out about the demo today are so hilariously inaccurate, but again, MacRumors courts morons like these.

 

[somerandomusername]

Sure, but I wonder what it's like to use a keyboard when you're wearing the AVP. It'll be interesting to see the reviews.

You see the keyboard as you do without It, with a pop up that has autocorrect and suggestions. It’s in a video somewhere but I forgot where. looked pretty cool to me.

 

[Roller]

Why would it be any different than using a keyboard with a mac?

If you have the AVP on and you look down, will the keyboard look like it does when you glance down with a pair of glasses, I wonder?

You see the keyboard as you do without It, with a pop up that has autocorrect and suggestions. It’s in a video somewhere but I forgot where. looked pretty cool to me.

Are you referring to the virtual keyboard? I've seen some videos and shots of it, but it might be tough to use if you have a lot of writing and editing to do. Also, IIRC, you "type" with your hands in the air, which can get tiring.

Hopefully, we'll know more when people get AVPs to try outside Apple's facilities.

 

[Cmaier]

If you have the AVP on and you look down, will the keyboard look like it does when you glance down with a pair of glasses, I wonder?

Yeah, you see it (though i don;’t know what happens if you go full VR mode with the digital crown - you still see your hands in that case). Didn;t occur to me that people look at their keyboard, though

 

[somerandomusername]

If you have the AVP on and you look down, will the keyboard look like it does when you glance down with a pair of glasses, I wonder?


Are you referring to the virtual keyboard? I've seen some videos and shots of it, but it might be tough to use if you have a lot of writing and editing to do. Also, IIRC, you "type" with your hands in the air, which can get tiring.

Hopefully, we'll know more when people get AVPs to try outside Apple's facilities.

If you pair a physical keyboard it shows that. it’s like the top of your iOS keyboard but above your physical keyboard angled. I think the virtual keyboard also shows autocorrect and suggestions.

 

[throAU]

I guess with a first generation product many things have to come into place at the same time, and risking including a SoC that may or may not be finished on time is possibly not the highest priority. Imagine the M3 being delayed and Apple failing to release the Apple Vision on time because of this.

Also. The product hasn’t established a niche yet and that will likely determine the way hardware advance goes.

As above putting brand new stuff in a product that already has a bunch of bleeding edge sensors and stuff in it is a high risk.

That will come later once:
The market figures out what to use it for
Apple get that feedback and make more bespoke processors for it to cater to that.

 

[quarkysg]

As above putting brand new stuff in a product that already has a bunch of bleeding edge sensors and stuff in it is a high risk.

Maybe it’s also because M3 is hotter and consume more power when running at full tilt compared to M2?

 

[throAU]

Maybe it’s also because M3 is hotter and consume more power when running at full tilt compared to M2?

They could trivially fix that by reducing clock speed. Its a case of reducing the number of unknowns on a brand new device which already has a heap.

 

[Citysnaps]

Here's a rather thoughtful first impressions assessment of AVP (not a real review) by 9to5Mac's editor-in-chief having 30 minutes with the device. So far, so good, IMO.

Apple Vision Pro: EyeSight, comfort, and more impressions from my latest demo - 9to5Mac

Vision Pro pre-orders begin on Friday, and Apple invited me to New York City this week to spend some more...

9to5mac.com

 

[theorist9]

I think one of the killer applications for AR will be to supplement written repair and service manuals, especially for complicated, high-ticket items like car repair where a single mechanic needs to work on many different models.

Depending on the job, and particularly if you are working on an entirely new model of car for the first time, it might be much easier if you could follow a head's-up display showing the exact repair procedure, instead of having to look back and forth between the part being repaired, and a paper repair manual like what's shown below. It might even be able to identify if a part needs repair. And even if it can't do that, it should be able to identify any parts that you designate as needing repair, and automatically create a repair and price list for the customer.

Eventually it might replace instruction manuals as well. You buy a new microwave, and then download an AR app showing which buttons to press to stop the time from flashing.

 

[Cmaier]

I think one of the killer applications for AR will be to supplement written repair and service manuals, especially for complicated, high-ticket items like car repair where a single mechanic needs to work on many different models.

Who are you kidding. The killer app will be AR porn.

 

[theorist9]

Who are you kidding. The killer app will be AR porn.

That does give new meaning to all the talk about haptics and tactile feedback.

 

[Cmaier]

I loaded up my cart, hit the apple pay button, then chickened out. I couldn’t see spending $4500 to run ipad apps (but not even all ipad apps - apps I use all the time like youtube are unavailable) and watch 3D movies. If it ran all Mac apps (or at least full-blown versions of office, lightroom, photoshop, xcode, etc.), I might be able to justify it.

One interesting wrinkle from the checkout process is that you buy the thing, then upload your eyeglass prescription later (they ask a few questions about your prescription. Bifocals are fine. Seems if you have an axis correction that may be an issue, though.)