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Apple Vision Pro Owners Are Struggling to Figure Out What They Just Bought
- kj99 3y agoIrreverent and accurate. Not a bad take. It’s pretty obviously true that we don’t know what how the use of this device is going to unfold, and they lightly make fun of that fact without being unduly cynical.
- goles 3y agohttps://archive.is/wSxnM https://archive.is/wSxnM
- frozenport 3y agoIts the best VR screen ever but we got locked out of using it due to Apple's software. Most useful app is seeing your macbook screen but its hard to constantly adjust compared to just moving your macbook. I'm returning mine on Saturday.
- ShamelessC 3y agoI'm curious - had you not used a VR headset previously? As someone who has, I knew that you can up the resolution 4x and still won't be able to fix all these other obvious issues that make headsets a non-starter for most people.
- frozenport 3y agoThe lock out from the world of actual software and useful peripherals devices is a uniquely Apple self inflicted wound.
- kanbara 3y agowhy buy one if you saw the wwdc vids and already believe apple is locking you out of… their own product? sounds like an excuse to be on the hating apple train
- solardev 3y agoWhy not? It's a chance to play with a new product and return it risk free.
- KingOfCoders 3y agoA slicker, smoother, better integrated, nice gimmicks, more polished and 10x more expensive version of the Meta3 without games. I might get one. The good thing is, no one writes about the Meta3 outside a small bubble. Now Apple does it, everyone writes about it. This will push AR/VR forward.
- jjeaff 3y agoOr, if it fails, it might set AR/VR back significantly.
- lm28469 3y agoMore than the sega and nintendo headsets, htc vive, oculus, google glass, &c. ? AR/VR hype goes back to the 70s with multiple hype cycles already
- aniforprez 3y agoPretty sure almost every tech YouTuber and definitely every tech website reviewed the Meta Quest 3 when it came out
- omeze 3y agoit's always better to have a product a few people love than something a lot of people like.
- flohofwoe 3y ago...or it will just become another Apple Pippin.
- jedberg 3y agoIt's been a week. The ecosystem needs time to catch up. In a year we'll see whole bunch of alternate straps and headgear, a bunch of apps, and seeing people using it in public won't be as strange. In 10 years you'll wonder what's wrong the people who are still using their phone and laptop at coffee shop instead of their Vision 12 Pro Max.
- bluSCALE4 3y agoYep, but they'll cost as much as an iPhone and have none of the flaws of this one. It's a steep price for what it is. $1000 too much if you ask me.
- earthwalker99 3y ago>you'll wonder what's wrong the people who are still using their phone and laptop at coffee shop i'll wonder why they are at coffee shop, just like i would today
- vsnf 3y agoHold on, you wonder, presently, why people go to coffee shops with laptops?
- Zetobal 3y agoAre we talking about the physical burden of taking a desktop or are we talking about why it's not a good work environment?
- vsnf 3y agoLaptops, not desktops. Lugging a desktop around would certainly be worthy of an eyebrow raise. As for why it's not a good work environment, you've presented a loaded question. It may not be a good environment for you, but it is for me. To presume it uniformly bad is a starting off with a flawed premise.
- 3y ago
- leptons 3y ago>"I’ve been wearing it laying down like 75% of the time. Much more comfortable for me. Only time I sit up are when there’s a need to (watching stuff in immersive environments) and exploring with putting windows around my house and stuff. Laying down is the way to go IMO. Head propped up sofa armrest/pillow." This doesn't sound like "spatial computing" at all. It sounds like just mounting a big screen Tv to the ceiling. Same result really.
- polishdude20 3y agoThen again, mounting your tv to the ceiling in your bedroom doesn't sound so bad.
- penjelly 3y agoits most definitely not utilizing mixed reality to its advantage. No difference between laying in bed with a vr headset.
- Animats 3y ago"More than a few users are writing reviews along the lines of, “this is a really amazing device that blew my mind when I first used it,” and it “has SO much promise,” while also declaring their intention to return it after a few days." “Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.” - Snow Crash
- lasereyes136 3y agoGreat call back to Snow Crash.
- aulin 3y agoI must say I quite like this article style with plenty of real links to cited sources. Loved the references to actual 2007 articles about netbooks and htpc.
- aurareturn 3y agoI hope that in a few generations, Apple will make one that is all about lowering the weight. Let's say they can lower the weight from 650g to 350g by removing the metal enclosure, front glass, front display, and smaller components. I would buy that to be able to work on the go and it'd be an amazing piece of entertainment device. Finally, I'd like to share what I'm viewing with friends and family such as a movie screen or a 3D model fixed in the same position.
- hnaiobsession 3y ago> Finally, I'd like to share what I'm viewing with friends and family such as a movie screen or a 3D model fixed in the same position. Within the Apple ecosystem and services, that’s what SharePlay is. This is already available on the Vision Pro.
- jitl 3y agoYou can Airplay the Vision Pro to an Apple TV or a Mac connected to your iCloud account. The real issue is that every time someone else wants to use your Vision Pro, they need to go through eye and hand calibration. It’s impossible to see something cool and just hand the headset over to someone else to pop on. My parter enjoyed trying it out but the friction of doing setup again has killed any desire to share more of the experiences directly.
- aurareturn 3y agoI meant the ability for 2 or more people to wear a vision pro and sync up what they're seeing together.
- seydor 3y agoIf apple is like a fashion company, then it makes sense that people use them for social signaling. Nobody would do that with the Quest3 even though it's lighter > The way people are talking about the Vision Pro now is a lot like how early adopters talked about portable personal-media players Actually it is like the way they talked about every other VR device before it: promising, but still not there
- bradhe 3y agoDo you recall the old days (like 2006?) when having Apple earbuds was a fashion statement?
- tomtom1337 3y agoStill is, I think, with the Airpods. Perhaps not quite in the same way, and more of a status symbol than a fashion statement, though.
- PlunderBunny 3y agoRemember that when the Apple Watch came out, it had a feature that let you send doodles to other people? No one quite knew what the watch was going to be for at the beginning either. (Counter point: At least it could also function as a watch)
- aestetix 3y agoNo one in the US knew what to do with that feature. It was intended primarily for Asian audiences where drawing complex characters to communicate is much easier than rendering them in text.
- PlunderBunny 3y agoFair enough, but does the feature still exist on the Apple Watch any region now? I vaguely remember it was even tied to one of the physical buttons.
- n2d4 3y agoYes, swipe up on your keyboard and choose "Scribble". It used to be the default input method, which it no longer is, but personally I still prefer it even for English texts.
- drumhead 3y agoTo me it looks like Apple's first attempt at true portable computing, no monitors no keyboards. A Lisa to the eventual Mac. They should use their media arm to popularise it by making sure are the media they produce has an enhanced version for the vision pro. I think it could eventually be revolutionary but only if they don't lose interest.
- reacharavindh 3y agoThat’s over the top hype than any thread to reality. They sure did a great job at making a portable _monitor_. But, to do anything other than numb consumption of Apple sanctioned content, you’re going to need a keyboard and a Mac. And remember that thing lasts 2.5 hours on a battery hanging by your hip. Sure, it’s a first gen device, and it is supposed to evolve into something that solves several shortcomings, but it certainly does not have the bones for a “true portable computing” platform. They could even add a miniature M* SOC in there to let you wear a MAC on your nose, make it lighter, thinner, etc over the years, but it is still a thing on your nose that you need to interact with an external keyboard. When the iPhone was first introduced, sure it lacked copy and paste, ability to run Flash(in more use at the time), and several shortcomings, but it had the interface(touch screen with just the fingers) nailed perfect that made it the success it is.
- wkat4242 3y agoAnd you need a Mac laptop i believe, not just any Mac. Does the Mac feature work with a Mac mini? If so do you have to look at the mini itself or the screen to make it work?
- omeze 3y agoI was hoping that the Vision Pro would have camera access, so that developers could actually build interesting mixed reality/augmented reality apps. As soon as I saw that Apple locked down the cameras just like the Meta quest 3 I knew I'd be $3500 richer. Maybe one day...
- timeon 3y agoAll I want is Google glass without recording.
- hackeraccount 3y agoIsn't that like asking for a camera that doesn't record? I mean, it seems like you'll have a long wait.
- Nevermark 3y agoIt instantly changed how I work. Seems like a lasting change. For me, counterintuitively, the stereo 3D is a secondary benefit. Albeit a natural and welcome one. But the killer feature is the ergonomics of having any number of weightless screens of arbitrary dimension and placement. It took me a day or so to realize I don’t need a desk so much. For five days I have been sitting on my couch with a MacBook Air (couch friendly) developing with many screens of relevant info arranged around me. A mundane but profound benefit of “spatial computing” is no more hardware screen “keyholes” limiting how much information I can see. Apple seems to get that the Vision Pro wants to be a Mac replacement, not an iPad replacement. Everything in Vision works with both see-pinch and track/mouse click. Hoping see-pinch comes to Mac screen in Vision, or simply needing a Mac becomes redundant.
- wpm 3y agoIf Apple wants it to replace the Mac they need to give me a terminal and get the hell out of my way so I can run whatever software I want. So long as Apple is content in foisting all complexity and freedom to the Mac, this will never be more than a really nice iPad replacement for consuming content.
- Nevermark 3y agoThat’s exactly right. When I hoped Apple makes the Mac redundant - I meant “developer friendly”. They should ship XCode for Vision to start. Unlike the touch interfaces of the iPhone and iPad, the Vision interface with keyboard & trackpad/mouse is very development ergonomic.
- Gunnerhead 3y agoAre you able to have multiple apps/desktops from the Mac appear as different screens in the AVP? I’ve been only to have one desktop of my Mac appear.
- Nevermark 3y agoYes that’s the limit for now. My other screens are web pages of info, engineering/hex code calculator, etc
- bradleyishungry 3y agoI think what people need to keep in mind is that AR is not just going to be a Moores Law type thing. AR has to not only improve with regards to size, but also find ways to deal with etendue while reducing that size, and dealing with thermal issues. It’s easy to assume AR just needs a few more years because everything else in tech has been like that, but the improvements in the space that are likely needed for people to feel comfortable publicly using AR might take a lot longer than what is usual.
- jitl 3y agoSince the most compelling difference from other VR headsets is the seamless pass through, I’d say you’re paying about $3000 extra dollars on top of a Quest 3 to get a headset you can do chores wearing. The weight and lack of SteamVR have me strongly considering returning it, but I’m keeping it for novelty factor and sentimental reasons (my brother worked on the foveated rendering) and have found a few ways to put it in my routine - besides chores, the environments turned all the way up are pretty relaxing, not as good as being at Haleakala, but much better than my Valve Index. In the mean time like the article says, I’m trying out different headgear - next up is a BoboVR aftermarket band for Quest 2 that someone on Reddit is 3D printing Apple Vision adapters for
- thinkingemote 3y agoIt's probably worth keeping boxed as they will appreciate over time.
- jitl 3y agoI can’t use it if it’s in the box though
- red-iron-pine 3y agohow much is google glass worth these days?
- vba616 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cardboard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cardboard
- kj99 3y agoIt’s not a gaming headset. For this, Quest 3 is a better choice.
- joshstrange 3y agoI went in eyes wide open to buying the AVP, I knew it was essentially a dev kit++ and that the chances of me returning it would be high. I’ve written extensively on my blog about my experience with it and why I’m going to return it the summary is this: I can’t be productive in it. If you can be productive on an iPad then you can probably be productive in this (with an external keyboard) but I can’t work natively on the AVP. I tried Mac Virtual Display quite a bit and it’s just blurry. It’s not close to 4K, my 2K screens blow it out of the water. It’s just not good enough to use as an external monitor replacement. It’s an amazing device, the best I’ve seen, and I’ll buy a future iteration of it but this version is not good enough for the price.
- cayleyh 3y agoThis is very interesting to me. I've seen / heard a number of reviewers who have the same complaint about the Virtual Display (too blurry), and a number that don't (it's great to work on). Are some people are more perceptive to things like this so they're more bothered by it? Or is there a population segment that is just unable to get a crisp picture via virtual displays, and if so, why? Anyone else tried Virtual Display for an extended period: "too blurry" or "totally fine"???
- joshstrange 3y agoI also find this fascinating. I just listened to ATP's latest episode (not sure if it's out to non-paying members yet, I listen to the "bootleg" feed) and Marco agreed the MVD was too blurry but Casey said it was great to work on. Granted Casey was using it in a hotel room and on a train which, as I've said in my blog posts on this [1] and my HN comments, I can see being better than just the MBP monitor (in size and ergonomics, not quality) but if you have external displays available they beat the pants off the AVP. My 2K displays are leaps and bounds better than the AVP's MVD. Maybe Casey's opinion will change with time and/or once he is at home more but I know he likes to go to the library/coffee shops to work so maybe the AVP is a step up for him in those cases. I don't do that, I work at home or at my parents house (where I built a second office, with the same external monitors) so I don't have a good use case for the AVP other than media consumption where it does amazing, but not $4K amazing. [0] https://atp.fm https://atp.fm [1] https://joshstrange.com https://joshstrange.com
- Simulacra 3y agoIs Daniel Suarez on HN? Give me Daemon Operative glasses and I'm sold. Otherwise this thing looks like I'm going snorkeling. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel)
- jdmg94 3y agoThis timeless classic now applies to this new gadget: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV7ou6pl5wU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV7ou6pl5wU