“It is a win for Apple in a lot of ways, but look beyond the flashy technology, and you'll find it's just an iPad you strap to your face.”
Catchy line but total nonsense. You can’t project your MacBook to a 100” virtual screen on your iPad. Or watch a movie on a huge screen… let alone in 3D. You can’t arrange virtual windows all around the room.
I could go on but I’m just wondering exactly what he did during those supposedly hundreds of hours using it. Clearly he was not very creative or inquisitive.
Let’s be honest here, this thing will collect dust within a few months. As expected.
Oh, so it's within a few "months" now. Up from a few "weeks" which was the prediction before its launch.
You're always so positive, BrainFreeze. Let's talk again in a few months times. Maybe you have upgraded your prediction to a few "years" then. As expected.
I think this is a good example of the other side of the sword of secrecy. No games, no killer apps, no abundance of 3rd party supporting products. Sure there’s a price Apple pays if too many people get details of unreleased products and talk about them, but there is also a price if you’re too secretive. Not enough people know and not enough apps, games, and accessories to help lift the product from potential failure.
It was the health aspects that saved the Apple Watch, what is the application or usage that will strengthen the adoption rate of VP?
I think this is a good example of the other side of the sword of secrecy. No games, no killer apps, no abundance of 3rd party supporting products. Sure there’s a price Apple pays if too many people get details of unreleased products and talk about them, but there is also a price if you’re too secretive. Not enough people know and not enough apps, games, and accessories to help lift the product from potential failure.
It was the health aspects that saved the Apple Watch, what is the application or usage that will strengthen the adoption rate of VP?
It’s not the secrecy. It’s the usefulness of the features. For a new platform, it’s never 3rd party developers that make or break it, save for the Gatekeeper developers.
For the Vision Pro, the biggest developer they needed is Microsoft. They haven’t gotten them just yet, as MS is likely using Office for Mobile for its visionOS apps. Apple needs to get a deal done with MS to put full Office onto visionOS.
Outside of MS, and maybe Adobe, the success of visionOS in the early adopter phase is entirely up to Apple and what features visionOS and Vision products have.
So Apple needs to continually rev visionOS, they need to make their own apps native, they need to add Terminal.app, they need to have VM capability, they need to have a Microsoft Windows Virtual Display, they need to have full featured web browsers. They need to rev the hardware annually.
3rd party developers will only come when there is a demonstrable market of paying customers with Vision Pro, and cheaper visionOS headsets. Single digit millions of units. If so, that’s when Apple would have a shot as mass market penetration with tens of millions of units.
Let’s be honest here, this thing will collect dust within a few months. As expected.
Oh, so it's within a few "months" now. Up from a few "weeks" which was the prediction before its launch.
You're always so positive, BrainFreeze. Let's talk again in a few months times. Maybe you have upgraded your prediction to a few "years" then. As expected.
You know just as well that ‘weeks’ or ‘months’ equate to the same sentiment.
It is a failure of a product. They’ll get it to something better eventually but not this one. Saying that as an entrepreneur in VR (focused on enterprise use, before that in gaming).
The Meta Quest is a much better product. Not because it has better hardware (it is inferior) but because it’s simply a better offering.
I am extremely positive about Apple’s MacBooks and iPhones, despite my criticism on storage. I’m very positive about the EU handling Apple. I love the regular iPad. I like the Apple Watch.
I’ve been an Apple user since mid-90s.
I have a lot of criticism on what Apple has become as a company. But I’m not alone in that.
If you want a more positive guy, go watch a comedy? Not sure what to tell you, other than that I’m not here to entertain you 🤷🏻♂️ although I welcome a good “let’s agree to disagree” debate.
Here is where the Vision Pro fails big time - it cannot even detect or see fellow Vision Pro users in the same room. It is a completely isolated device. Multiple people in the same room cannot see the same thing. Forget about games. The whole idea of using AR to play games is also to play with your friends and see them in the same game space to play together. Vision Pro is not capable of doing that. You are playing games alone, for the small amount of games that even work with the product.
At $3500, yeah, way too expensive for most consumers, mainly because most consumers don't care about AR at all. Probably explains why Cult of Mac confirmed a 76% return rate on the Vision Pro. Most reviewers had the same conclusion - they would rather be in the 'real world' looking at a computer or device, then looking through the world through cameras. A text comes in on your phone, you can barely read the phone in front of your face with the goggles on.
I think this is a good example of the other side of the sword of secrecy. No games, no killer apps, no abundance of 3rd party supporting products. Sure there’s a price Apple pays if too many people get details of unreleased products and talk about them, but there is also a price if you’re too secretive. Not enough people know and not enough apps, games, and accessories to help lift the product from potential failure.
It was the health aspects that saved the Apple Watch, what is the application or usage that will strengthen the adoption rate of VP?
Apple can carry this product for years if necessary. The company makes more profit in a quarter than the market cap of 95% of companies in existence.
anyone who thinks a Vision Pro is an iPad that you strap to your head doesn’t understand what's going on with the Version 1 product.
To be clear, the hardware is developer-oriented and not the real product.
The real product is the software, and an unimaginative reviewer is not the person I would ask where this tech is headed.
I assume you're not familiar with my writing on all this, but you should go read my previous review and my preview explaining why Vision Pro is a win. The path we're on because of Vision Pro is very exciting, but at launch, it's still very much an iPad with a fascinating UI paradigm.
that is becoming less true as apps take advantage of spatial. It just takes time.
With all due respect, one wonders how something that is so buggy and as useless as an “iPad strapped to your face” could receive a 4 out of 5 rating. Its current utility seems to be 3D movie consumption and viewing 2D iPad apps floating in space. I’m actually disappointed that I wasn’t more wrong about this thing’s usefulness, and I’m not sure you were very objective in rating it even though you deserve a lot of credit for such an honest description.
First of all, I have not experienced one as I’m far away from the US. I will next month see and experience one. From what I gather, this review and the ones prior, it came out too early. From a content and hardware perspective. I love movies, like seriously love movies. My interest is if it beats my well equipped home entertainment system, yes using a JVC D-Ila projector, etc. From a sound and vision angle. I hope it does, I’m afraid it won’t.
I think because of Steve Jobs’s influence, gaming is not a priority for Apple, and it appears this is still true with the Vision Pro.
I suspect, in the past, Apple has chosen to focus on making productivity devices over entertainment devices. I think this was a trade off that Apple had to make, to focus more on CPU (general computing) power and less on GPU (strictly graphics computing). But I think this has been changing, with a sea change with Apple Silicon.
With machine learning and artificial intelligence relying heavily on graphics processing power, and Apple moving in this direction, the processing power needed to make games on par and even better than Windows games has and will continue to exist on Apple devices.
The remaining element is to kick start a gaming revolution on MacOS and VisionOS. This may come with the convergence of two events: an affordable Vision device comes to market, and Apple buys a game studio and releases its first game.
But before this can happen, Apple probably needs someone to champion gaming on their leadership team. Someone pragmatic enough to see that gaming is an Incredibly powerful driver of growth in computing, and be willing to lead Apple down this path.
Regarding the battery, for me it's most comfortable to put it in my right pocket and run the cable behind my back—the cable is just the right length to do this. If I put it in my left pocket, the cable rubs annoyingly against my left ear.
Because of the price, and this being divisive Apple, you see hater comments everywhere the Apple Vision Pro is discussed. In the beginning I would often engage with the posters, trying to show them the error of their ways. But I have long since given up—it has no effect whatsoever on my life if these people don't experience the same pleasure from using this device that I do. And pleasure it is. I am 70 years old, and have been a lifelong electronics enthusiast and gadget guy. I have been an Apple customer since the very earliest Apple ][ days (having built my own computers before that), and while I sometimes wait to buy into their new product categories (my first iPhone was a 4S, my current is a 15 Pro Max), eventually I try them all. It's not a "religious" thing—I also have a very-high-end gaming PC, and a Valve Index VR headset to go with it, and I use both Windows and Linux computers along with my Macs for various project tasks. My house could be a technology showcase—fortunately, my wife is also into this stuff. And yet, with all of that, the AVP is hands-down my favorite piece of tech that I have ever, ever owned—I just might give up all the rest, collectively, before I would this thing. For me, the immersive, you-are-there experience is the killer feature (I'm also seriously into travel photography). It fulfills—exceeds!—my lifelong dream of having a holographic display, and while it's not a tangible environment like a Star Trek holodeck, the immersion level and the amount of interactivity that the eye- and hand-tracking make possible is mind-boggling—this is where I expect to see (and will hopefully help create) some truly stunning app development.
I don’t share Wesley’s (nor Apple’s) enthusiasm for using the AVP to create a work environment. On my physical desktop I am surrounded by displays (with an Apple Studio Display, connected to my Mac Studio, in the center), and I can simultaneously take in vastly more info from that than I can with the foveated rendering in the AVP. And while I often enjoy taking a break with Synth Riders, having another, optimized gaming rig means I don’t much care whether or not the AVP is ever a shining beacon as a game machine. It only matters for me in situations where games would really take advantage of the ultra-high visual quality of the AVP to create immersive environments—but then, the AVP has no competition. My Valve Index (and the Meta Quest 3 when I’ve tried it) have always left me wanting better images, but the AVP finally satisfies me in that way.
As for the price, and the oft-expressed idea that one should wait for “Gen 2” or “Gen 3”, note the name: Vision Pro. To me, this says that Apple is reversing the usual strategy of releasing successively-better devices until a “Pro” level is reached. This time, I am convinced that they have started at the pinnacle to grab attention and market share, and that it will be all (well, mostly) downhill from here—not just in price, but also in capabilities as they seek to expand into the mainstream. So this is the time to buy, if you can possibly afford it, to have the pleasure of using this high-end machine from the very beginning.
As for potential hardware improvements, it did indeed take me a while to find a way to wear the AVP comfortably (hint: use the dual-band strap, or one of the third-party mods. I am convinced that Apple made the single band the default only because it looks the sleekest & coolest, rather than because it is “best”), and while it’s conceivable that Apple will improve the comfort in later versions, at this point I (like Wesley said for himself) can mostly forget that I’m wearing the thing. I don’t feel that the hardware needs any major improvements to make me happy, especially since I deeply understand the physics & electronics of the thing and therefore understand that the people holding out for the same sort of device in an eyeglasses form factor know not of what they speak—it will surely come someday, but it will require major advances in optical technology using “metamaterials” that are currently laboratory curiosities. Many of us will have shuffled off this mortal coil before that happens.
The one place in the hardware where I feel rather let down is the passthrough cameras. While the passthrough system is parsecs ahead of its closest competitor (the Meta Quest 3), it still suffers from too much motion blur and its low-light capabilities border on pathetic. It seems to me that Apple could have done significantly better using current technology and without greatly increasing the cost, and while this might conceivably get me to upgrade to a later model if Apple improves the passthrough, that function is really only a convenience and safety feature and in no way affects any of the visuals generated from within the headset. So, it is most definitely not a reason for me to wait for a later model.
Everything else that makes me sad about the AVP is a software issue and/or an Apple policy annoyance (especially that execrable guest mode) that can be fixed using the current hardware. I can already see software improvements in the visionOS 1.1 release and expect many more, and if Apple doesn’t reverse some of their policy crud (like lack of multiple user accounts) with this thing, they’re surely not going to do so in subsequent models.
So in summary, I think the Apple Vision Pro is the greatest thing since toasted bread, and if anyone disagrees that’s their loss, not mine. My only real objection to the AVP is that it has already completely taken over my life, though I'm not yet sure if that is actually a bad thing.
Probably explains why Cult of Mac confirmed a 76% return rate on the Vision Pro.
Wow. That's pretty epic media competence failure there, on your part.
"76% of respondents on loaded internet poll about product important enough for CEO of main competitor to make 15-minute video about it claim to be returning product they aren't verified to have purchased"
Comments
Catchy line but total nonsense. You can’t project your MacBook to a 100” virtual screen on your iPad. Or watch a movie on a huge screen… let alone in 3D. You can’t arrange virtual windows all around the room.
You're always so positive, BrainFreeze. Let's talk again in a few months times. Maybe you have upgraded your prediction to a few "years" then. As expected.
I have a lot of criticism on what Apple has become as a company. But I’m not alone in that.
If you want a more positive guy, go watch a comedy? Not sure what to tell you, other than that I’m not here to entertain you 🤷🏻♂️ although I welcome a good “let’s agree to disagree” debate.
At $3500, yeah, way too expensive for most consumers, mainly because most consumers don't care about AR at all. Probably explains why Cult of Mac confirmed a 76% return rate on the Vision Pro. Most reviewers had the same conclusion - they would rather be in the 'real world' looking at a computer or device, then looking through the world through cameras. A text comes in on your phone, you can barely read the phone in front of your face with the goggles on.
Because of the price, and this being divisive Apple, you see hater comments everywhere the Apple Vision Pro is discussed. In the beginning I would often engage with the posters, trying to show them the error of their ways. But I have long since given up—it has no effect whatsoever on my life if these people don't experience the same pleasure from using this device that I do. And pleasure it is. I am 70 years old, and have been a lifelong electronics enthusiast and gadget guy. I have been an Apple customer since the very earliest Apple ][ days (having built my own computers before that), and while I sometimes wait to buy into their new product categories (my first iPhone was a 4S, my current is a 15 Pro Max), eventually I try them all. It's not a "religious" thing—I also have a very-high-end gaming PC, and a Valve Index VR headset to go with it, and I use both Windows and Linux computers along with my Macs for various project tasks. My house could be a technology showcase—fortunately, my wife is also into this stuff. And yet, with all of that, the AVP is hands-down my favorite piece of tech that I have ever, ever owned—I just might give up all the rest, collectively, before I would this thing. For me, the immersive, you-are-there experience is the killer feature (I'm also seriously into travel photography). It fulfills—exceeds!—my lifelong dream of having a holographic display, and while it's not a tangible environment like a Star Trek holodeck, the immersion level and the amount of interactivity that the eye- and hand-tracking make possible is mind-boggling—this is where I expect to see (and will hopefully help create) some truly stunning app development.
I don’t share Wesley’s (nor Apple’s) enthusiasm for using the AVP to create a work environment. On my physical desktop I am surrounded by displays (with an Apple Studio Display, connected to my Mac Studio, in the center), and I can simultaneously take in vastly more info from that than I can with the foveated rendering in the AVP. And while I often enjoy taking a break with Synth Riders, having another, optimized gaming rig means I don’t much care whether or not the AVP is ever a shining beacon as a game machine. It only matters for me in situations where games would really take advantage of the ultra-high visual quality of the AVP to create immersive environments—but then, the AVP has no competition. My Valve Index (and the Meta Quest 3 when I’ve tried it) have always left me wanting better images, but the AVP finally satisfies me in that way.
As for the price, and the oft-expressed idea that one should wait for “Gen 2” or “Gen 3”, note the name: Vision Pro. To me, this says that Apple is reversing the usual strategy of releasing successively-better devices until a “Pro” level is reached. This time, I am convinced that they have started at the pinnacle to grab attention and market share, and that it will be all (well, mostly) downhill from here—not just in price, but also in capabilities as they seek to expand into the mainstream. So this is the time to buy, if you can possibly afford it, to have the pleasure of using this high-end machine from the very beginning.
As for potential hardware improvements, it did indeed take me a while to find a way to wear the AVP comfortably (hint: use the dual-band strap, or one of the third-party mods. I am convinced that Apple made the single band the default only because it looks the sleekest & coolest, rather than because it is “best”), and while it’s conceivable that Apple will improve the comfort in later versions, at this point I (like Wesley said for himself) can mostly forget that I’m wearing the thing. I don’t feel that the hardware needs any major improvements to make me happy, especially since I deeply understand the physics & electronics of the thing and therefore understand that the people holding out for the same sort of device in an eyeglasses form factor know not of what they speak—it will surely come someday, but it will require major advances in optical technology using “metamaterials” that are currently laboratory curiosities. Many of us will have shuffled off this mortal coil before that happens.
The one place in the hardware where I feel rather let down is the passthrough cameras. While the passthrough system is parsecs ahead of its closest competitor (the Meta Quest 3), it still suffers from too much motion blur and its low-light capabilities border on pathetic. It seems to me that Apple could have done significantly better using current technology and without greatly increasing the cost, and while this might conceivably get me to upgrade to a later model if Apple improves the passthrough, that function is really only a convenience and safety feature and in no way affects any of the visuals generated from within the headset. So, it is most definitely not a reason for me to wait for a later model.
Everything else that makes me sad about the AVP is a software issue and/or an Apple policy annoyance (especially that execrable guest mode) that can be fixed using the current hardware. I can already see software improvements in the visionOS 1.1 release and expect many more, and if Apple doesn’t reverse some of their policy crud (like lack of multiple user accounts) with this thing, they’re surely not going to do so in subsequent models.
So in summary, I think the Apple Vision Pro is the greatest thing since toasted bread, and if anyone disagrees that’s their loss, not mine. My only real objection to the AVP is that it has already completely taken over my life, though I'm not yet sure if that is actually a bad thing.
Wow. That's pretty epic media competence failure there, on your part.
"76% of respondents on loaded internet poll about product important enough for CEO of main competitor to make 15-minute video about it claim to be returning product they aren't verified to have purchased"
"Confirmed", indeed.