Two weekends ago, I scheduled an appointment for a demo of Apple Vision Pro. I had listened to several podcasts, and even the skeptics on those podcasts agreed that “you just have to try it.” So I did.
I have to tell you, it’s an amazing device. Almost too unbelievable to appropriately describe. Obviously, in a canned demo, Apple can turn up the “wow” factor to 11. Spoiler alert: they did.
I’m not going to bore you with the technical impressions, as there are plenty of other places that will walk though that. But what I will give you are my gut impressions based on the feedback I’ve heard.
The Size Honestly, it was a lot smaller than I had pictured in my head. If you’ve ever been skiing, it’s much like the goggles you ski in. While it’s certainly bigger than a pair of glasses, it’s not like Doc Brown’s mind-reading device in Back to the Future. Having said that, it’s still ski goggles in contexts where society is not used to seeing ski googles.
The Weight Lots of people have commented on how heavy the device is. How it hurt their head or neck due to that weight. Well, I don’t know what to tell you. My head is so big that it didn’t bother me in the least. A friend of mine said it correctly. My head-to-goggle ratio was much more even than most people. ☺️
The Eyes There was a lady across the table from me doing a demo at the same time. I caught a glimpse of the eyes while she was wearing it. And while it was weird, it was in no way creepy, as many others have said. Maybe that’s just me. It was only weird because it was new (to me).
The Virtual Impression I’ve only ever tried my son’s Meta Quest 3 headset this past Christmas. So, I didn’t honestly know what to expect. When putting it on, there’s about 5-10 minutes of setup that needs to be done to configure the device with your eyes. Once that’s done, though, you are thrown into the virtual world inside this thing. And it’s cool. Really cool. Apps, windows, photos, videos, everything it just floating there in front of you. Sizable up to almost the size of your wall. It’s crazy. And yet, it surprisingly “fits” in your mental model of computing. You move the windows, you grab the sides of the windows, and you swipe through things. Gestures and interactions we’ve been taught from years of iOS use. The biggest difference was the eye tracking. The idea of your eyes acting as the pointing device is a bit tricky, as your brain is not used to that. Once you get it, though, it’s pretty seamless. The only time I had issues was when I tried to focus on the window of a video instead of the video itself. Which kind of makes sense, because you wouldn’t want the widow or playback controls popping up every time you moved your eyes while watching video content. Overall, mind-bending.
The Spatial Thing The idea of spatial computing makes sense if you’ve ever seen a Hollywood sci-if movie. Moving things in virtual space and all that. But what I was not prepared for was the idea of spatial photos and videos. It’s like 3D on steroids (and without the glasses). Normal photos and videos look great enough in this thing, not to mention the idea of 180 degree panoramic photos wrapping around your field of vision. But spatial photos and videos take it that one step further. When you view them, it’s like an uncanny valley view of you being there with the people in the images, moving or not. The demo video was one of a family birthday party, the cake is sitting in front of you (almost as if you could touch it), and the people are gathered around it. And by around it, I mean just that. The depth that is present in the video tricks your brain into thinking they are literally behind this cake. It’s wild. And something you just have to experience for yourself. I don’t have an iPhone 15 Pro (I still have the 14 Pro), but next year (actually, later this year) when I get the 16 Pro, I’m very much looking forward to start capturing images and video like this. As I told some co-workers, start doing this, as future you will thank you.
The Immersion And here’s we come to the part of the demo that took my breath away. The “wow” factor turned up to even 15. Set aside the already-cool thing of being able to dial the headset to full virtual mode. In the demo, it’s an outdoor scene from Mt. Hood where you are “there”. Everything around you is like you’re standing there on Mt. Hood. Even the sound is turned down around you to allow you to “escape”. If that wasn’t me I’d-bending enough, the immersive video demo is like a sensory heroin hit. One minute, you’re in front of Alicia Keys as she sings “No One”, and the next you’re standing by rhino researchers as they nurse a baby rhino to health. The other baby rhinos are in the foreground, and they are so “close” that I actually reached my hand out. (I’m sure the Apple demo person has seen this many times before.) It literally made my brain question reality. A feat, to be sure. When it finished, I turned to the demo lady and said simply “wow”. She laughed and said “yeah, we get that a lot.”
Overall, I can’t see paying $3500 as an individual. I’ve got one kid in college, and another one in their junior year of high school looking at colleges. My finances can’t afford that hit right now. But I will say this, if I had the money, I’d bite on this. As my kids say, it gives off the vibes. Jason Snell of Six Colors described it as similar to a personal computer purchase in the late 1970’s. No one had a practical purpose for those systems back then. They were expensive, and even viewed as expensive toys. But somehow, they knew these machines were the future, and they wanted to be part of it. I share Jason’s view here. I liken it to the original iPhone. While not $3500, I had people mock me when I purchased the first iPhone at $600 with a contract. But I knew it was the future. It was that kind of product. And I think this is, too.
