Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
The Apple Vision Pro is supposed to be the start of a new spatial computing revolution. After several days of testing, it’s clear that it’s the best headset ever made — which is the problem.
Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not::There’s a lot of pressure on the new Apple Vision Pro headset, which starts at $3,499 and marks the beginning of something called “spatial computing.” The ambition is enormous, but the Vision Pro also represents a series of really big tradeoffs.
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But the shocking thing is that Apple may have inadvertently revealed that some of these core ideas are actually dead ends — that they can’t ever be executed well enough to become mainstream.
Given Nilay has a good amount of experience with headsets, I'm surprised at how surprised they appear to be with this statement.
Back when I was in uni in the late 00s, AR and VR were a big thing, to the point that we had a module on it as part of our course. Even then it was clear that any hardware that physically closed you off (digital pass through is still a physical barrier) fundamentally stops the feeling of an argumented reality and puts you firmly in a disconnected (from physical reality) headspace. As in, you feel like you're in a virtual reality.
Google cardboard, which Nilay references:
Apple is also making immersive versions of some of its Apple TV Plus shows, which basically means a 180ish-degree 3D video that feels like the best Google Cardboard demo of all time
Came out 9 years ago, and proved the exact same thing for 1% of the cost of a Vision Pro.
As others have pointed out since the announcement, Glass also failed even without having that physical barrier between you and reality.
Lastly,
Do you want to use a computer that is always looking at your hands?
Nope!
Nilay's point is that the Vision Pro is by far the best implementation of this kind of device yet - possibly just about as good as is actually possible - and yet still suffers severe issues as a result. Usually Apple waits and learns until they can launch a product that is well considered and that often shows the industry how to move forward, yet in this case it's quite possible that they've actually just demonstrated that this kind of computing fundamentally doesn't work.
I understand that.
My point is that that had already been demonstrated.