Review: Two Weeks With the Apple Vision Pro

[dmelgar]

Returned. Lots is mistakes. Wrong product fit. Unusual for Apple.

Bought a meta quest 3 to compare. I’m liking it much better. Can do everything AVP can do. Some things better. Pass through is worse.

Has profiles so multiple users can use it easily.
Can be used with glasses. No special fitted frame.
Arguably more comfortable. Lighter weight.
Can display up to 5 virtual Mac displays.
Has WiFi 6e.
More content. YouTube VR.
Can show spatial videos although buggy.

Even liking MQ3, I’m still debating keeping it. Not sure if I’m convinced the XR market will take off.

 

[Avatar74]

Pass through is worse.

So how are these comparable then? I'm not saying I like the AVP, let alone plan to buy one... AR/VR/MR is about 50 years away from where I would have any practical use for it, and I won't be here in 50 years to see it.

But what I am basically saying is that the "Mixed" part of "Mixed Reality" is the key differentiator that Apple is going for. I don't expect the customers for AVP to be the same as the customers for Meta Quest 3.

 

[lilkwarrior]

The touch typing complaint is bizarre: The eye tracking to type instead is far faster and easier than touch typing and a controller most times for me (having Steam, Oculus, DualSense Edge, Nintendo Pro, and Xbox Elite controllers).

Like the iPad, if you want to type the most efficiently for seasoned keyboard typers (120+ KPM) you can always use a Bluetooth keyboard.

As far as comfort, I don't find the headset discomforting to use for hours at all compared to other headsets I've used for deliberately long headset sessions (such as the Valve Index to play Half-Life: Alyx) being anecdotal; then again, I'm used to various headsets since the OG Oculus Rift.

 

[Pink Panther84]

I've had mine for almost a week and I'm now starting to feel the weight of the headset and have to take breaks. I definitely agree with the single loop being more comfortable than the double loop.

 

[aidler]

If I were the managing editor of an Apple-oriented news website, I would also keep the AVP. Not even a question.

 

[Harry Haller]

If I were the managing editor of an Apple-oriented news website, I would also keep the AVP. Not even a question.

Yeah, I want to know what his thoughts are after a couple of months and long term after the AVP gets some updates.

 

[Uofmtiger]

I would accept them saying that for Macos apps, you have to be plugged in to use them for now, if it’s actually a battery issue. We are already seeing people daisy chain their battery to another battery, so the included battery power already isn’t enough for many users and they already need more power.

Hopefully, they will add Mac apps down the road to some version of the AVP.

As has been said, yes, if I ran an Apple tech channel I would keep it and make money from it. Its obvious. I would have been more surprised if they sent it back.

 

[Klagarde]

The big issues with VR as a media platform are 1) glare 2) light leakage and 3) resolution.

Vision suffers from all of these problems. It has glare. It has light leakage. It has lower resolution than a 4k TV.

This is why it will fail as a media platform. Unless it’s seriously upgraded … and so far as we know NO company has been able to overcome these issues yet.

Light leakage is limited, don't know about glare.
The resolution is actually almost 5k for each eye.

For me the only 2 real use cases right now are the cinema experience and the ability to travel with it and have a viable setup in for example a hotel room. (I get strain necks when working on a laptop, might not be the case with such a headset).

 

[Zimmy68]

I'm sure iJustine is struggling with her decision to return or not. Wink Wink.

 

[Neodym]

As far as light leakage, it’s what it sounds like. Same as with every other VR headset. The device isn’t always perfectly sealed. Light leaks in.

From my experience with PS VR2 I can’t confirm that claim.

cant you just buy a 4k tv theater projector for $3500 and a 300 inch projector screen and get a much better experience watching movies ?? then keeping the Apple Vision Pro which will have a dated non upgradable CPU when the 2 NM M5 comes out?

Who lives in a location where a 300“ screen could be easily integrated (if at all)? WAF not even considered …

As far as I know the Vision's Pro maximum fps is 90-100Hz.
That is not so good for the eyes of the owner - I wouldn't even consider to buy such a thing.
Even the Meta Quest 3 is able to deal 120Hz.

While I personally also prefer >100Hz, I have long worked on 60Hz screens (actually still do in the office) - and this is still okay for many computer works. Many people couldn’t even tell a difference between 60 and 100/120/144Hz.

I should be common sense that looking at screens that close to your eyes probably isn't the best long term.

Same had been said on early 50Hz/60Hz home computers using interlaced, on modern (60Hz) displays in general and even about reading books back in time. As often it’s the dose that makes the poison. In other words: If you overdo it, any tech can be harmful.

If Apple does nothing, they'll make more money in headphones by 2030 than they will trying to crack VR gaming in 100 years (17% of a $130bn market vs. 15% of VR gaming's $3.64 billion share (1.3%) of the gaming market). Even if Apple had 100% of the VR gaming market, it would (excluding GTM costs) amount to $7 billion a year less than Apple's share of the headphone/earphone market in 2030.

You are (imho wrongfully) assuming that markets and their dynamics would not change over years. IIRC Steve Jobs once quoted Wayne Gretzky in that Apple is trying to skate where the puck will be, not where it is currently.

I do believe that Apple has a good understanding of markets and their dynamics, so there might be a good chance that AR/VR will be at a completely different position in a few years and that Apple is currently skating there, with the VisionPro being the first waypoint.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Back in the mid-90s, Wadia made a CD player that cost $3500 in 1990s dollars (about $7400 today).

I'm not meaning to suggest that this is a price point that the average consumer can absorb, but there clearly is a market for it.

Apple has always used rich people as guinea pigs... sort of like releasing a concept car to limited production to get field data that helps them refine the product before wider release. This model works for Apple very well.

I'm not here opining on the actual product. I have no use for VR/AR/MR of any kind in its current form factor. But it's a toe in the water... Apple can afford to release a few of these and test the market's appetite.

That model doesn't come without risks. There is a tendency for luxury product reviews to skew more positively because people don't like to admit they spent tons of money on a lemon. So there is a chance the data collected will not translate to feature sets the broader market cares about. But they have product feedback at many levels. Remember the first time Apple used capacitance touch sensing? It wasn't the iPhone. It was the Mighty Mouse. The product was ridiculed by many BUT comments aside, the actual use started to accustom people to the concepts of touch and haptics well before they bet the farm on iPhone.

The Magic Mouse released in 2009, 2 years after the iPhone.

Magic Mouse - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Harry Haller]

I'm sure iJustine is struggling with her decision to return or not. Wink Wink.

Did iJustine buy hers?

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I'm sure iJustine is struggling with her decision to return or not. Wink Wink.

I continue to be amazed (not really) by how so many people single her out instead of other influencers who can be just as biased/slanted.

 

[diamond.g]

The Magic Mouse released in 2009, 2 years after the iPhone.

Magic Mouse - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The buttons on the Mighty Mouse were touch (capacitive) sensitive. Though I think the first Apple device with capcitive touch was the ipod mini which is older than the Mighty Mouse by a year...

 

[ProfessionalFan]

IIRC Steve Jobs once quoted Wayne Gretzky in that Apple is trying to skate where the puck will be, not where it is currently.

I believe he quoted Michael Scott actually, he had quoted Wayne Gretzky first.

 

[Avatar74]

The Magic Mouse released in 2009, 2 years after the iPhone.

Magic Mouse - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Mighty Mouse ≠ Magic Mouse.

 

[Avatar74]

You are (imho wrongfully) assuming that markets and their dynamics would not change over years. IIRC Steve Jobs once quoted Wayne Gretzky in that Apple is trying to skate where the puck will be, not where it is currently.

2030 is in the future, last I checked.

Driver-based forecasting on projected growth rates is a thing... source: I worked in FP&A and now global data strategy. Apple CFO Bob Anderson's ten year plan that rescued Apple from being 90 days from bankruptcy into the financial runway that led to iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. may not be as well known as the Gretzky quote but it is the practical application of it and the blueprint for every Valley company that survived the tech crash of 2000.

The one thing they probably haven't baked into their forecast is that by 2030, COGS will be higher because Lithium mining is ecologically unsustainable in the immediate term... SG&A will likely be higher as well, because the cost of living in urban centers is going to become astronomical as we soar past +2ºC. These adjustments would only render the projected market share for VR gaming even less relevant. It's a rounding error for Apple.

 

[Jensend]

The buttons on the Mighty Mouse were touch (capacitive) sensitive. Though I think the first Apple device with capcitive touch was the ipod mini which is older than the Mighty Mouse by a year...

Mighty Mouse ≠ Magic Mouse.

The first Apple device with capacitive touch was the PowerBook 500 series laptop, I believe. It was released in 1994. It had a capacitive trackpad.

 

[radus]

From my experience with PS VR2 I can’t confirm that claim.


Who lives in a location where a 300“ screen could be easily integrated (if at all)? WAF not even considered …


While I personally also prefer >100Hz, I have long worked on 60Hz screens (actually still do in the office) - and this is still okay for many computer works. Many people couldn’t even tell a difference between 60 and 100/120/144Hz.


Same had been said on early 50Hz/60Hz home computers using interlaced, on modern (60Hz) displays in general and even about reading books back in time. As often it’s the dose that makes the poison. In other words: If you overdo it, any tech can be harmful.


You are (imho wrongfully) assuming that markets and their dynamics would not change over years. IIRC Steve Jobs once quoted Wayne Gretzky in that Apple is trying to skate where the puck will be, not where it is currently.

I do believe that Apple has a good understanding of markets and their dynamics, so there might be a good chance that AR/VR will be at a completely different position in a few years and that Apple is currently skating there, with the VisionPro being the first waypoint.

But 144 Hz is much, much more comfortable compared to 60 Hz - I love my 2 Eve aka. Dough Spectrum and prefer them over the Apple Pro Display XDR which can not operate above 60 Hz.

 

[Avatar74]

The first Apple device with capacitive touch was the PowerBook 500 series laptop, I believe. It was released in 1994. It had a capacitive trackpad.

Agreed, but it didn't have capacitive click, Force Touch or haptic feedback—critical steps to getting people accustomed to a capacitive UI. All click input from 1994 to 2005 was through a physical button. EDIT: While I'm informed that some of these features were around as early as 1997, I don't think it was part of any grand plan by Apple in which iPhone was the endgame yet. The first product in which they consciously integrated several key input controls while iPhone was in the planning stages seems likely to have been Mighty Mouse.

EDIT: I had also thought about including the iPod (2nd gen; 2001, which I bought) in part because they replaced a physically rotating wheel with a capacitive one... and it's true the iPod Mini also integrated the click, though I can't recall whether the click was capacitive or not.

Regardless, my overarching point is that Apple doesn't thrust people into a completely new paradigm... they often gradually introduce disparate concepts that later get put together into a single product. In 1994, iPhone wasn't a goal, let alone a twinkle in Apple's eye. By 2005, however, it was not only the goal but starting to be prototyped. It's easier to argue that Jobs and the design team were consciously testing the waters with Mighty Mouse than to suggest they had some Count of Monte Cristo/Machiavellian grand plan from the 1990s to chess move their way to iPhone over 13 years.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Well that world ended in 1945 with the dropping of "little boy" and "fat man" on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sir Isaac had nothing to do with it. You should at least update your common sense understanding of the natural world to include Einstein's relativity, otherwise, the GPS in your phone may stop working.

No, that isn’t correct. We don’t directly experience quantum physics.

 

[humanplease]

I returned mine and it is the first time since 2003, I bought an Apple Product and found out after few days, what I am going to do with this. I watched immersive videos, I enjoyed Environments, I. watched some movies but the experience was not great, when compares to watching Movie in my basement with 80 Inch OLED with Sonos Dolby Atmos with Monster sound with 2 Sonos Sub, watching movie is a very social thing at home, you walk, you grab drinks you enjoy the movies with your partner or kids, laugh together, cry together, and so much more vs watching a movie on Vision Pro, Yes you can get a much larger screen, but sound is too far off from my ears and it is not that great.
I tried to do my office work, which takes 2 MBP and 4 Monitors, it was a nightmare as most of office app is baby app from iPad and I struggle with my spreadsheet and decided not to do that ever, as my work is everything which was wasted trying to work through Vision Pro. so after 1 week, I was not feeling even picking up Vision Pro. I am going to use the same fund and buy a Black 16" MBP with 2 Apple display and I know I would love them every day and every hour. one more thing, I did felt the wait and thereafter headache and itchy eyes as well.

 

[Uofmtiger]

I returned mine and it is the first time since 2003, I bought an Apple Product and found out after few days, what I am going to do with this. I watched immersive videos, I enjoyed Environments, I. watched some movies but the experience was not great, when compares to watching Movie in my basement with 80 Inch OLED with Sonos Dolby Atmos with Monster sound with 2 Sonos Sub, watching movie is a very social thing at home, you walk, you grab drinks you enjoy the movies with your partner or kids, laugh together, cry together, and so much more vs watching a movie on Vision Pro, Yes you can get a much larger screen, but sound is too far off from my ears and it is not that great.
I tried to do my office work, which takes 2 MBP and 4 Monitors, it was a nightmare as most of office app is baby app from iPad and I struggle with my spreadsheet and decided not to do that ever, as my work is everything which was wasted trying to work through Vision Pro. so after 1 week, I was not feeling even picking up Vision Pro. I am going to use the same fund and buy a Black 16" MBP with 2 Apple display and I know I would love them every day and every hour. one more thing, I did felt the wait and thereafter headache and itchy eyes as well.

Thank you for the review. I had wondered about sound quality with movies. Most of the reviews I have seen say it’s great, but I wondered what they were comparing it to. The use of a subwoofer makes you feel an explosion (as one example) rather than just hearing it. I didn’t know how that could be accomplished with earbuds or the AVP’s speakers.

With articles discussing replacing their home theaters with this thing, I just couldn’t see that happening if they ever wanted to experience the movie with someone else, either.

 

[Richard700]

Where would you like to see it go?

I'm not really sure -
alot depends on how the hardware evolves.
It is very much limited in it's current form factor - without those limitations, I believe it could very well change how we interact with technology. Of course that may not happen for quite a while. But it's a start.

Me, personally, I'm easily distracted by bright colors, so right now, I just enjoying exploring it.
Will I get bored with it - maybe - I don't know - not yet.
Of course I would like to see it grow, get more apps - both in entertainment and productivity.
I also think it still has a long way to go to get integrated into the Apple ecosystem.
Why is there not an App on the iPhone for it like there is for my Apple Watch?
For example - they could have made a really cool interactive 3D calendar for it - instead you get a flat screen copy of the calendar that's already on your phone.

The real question is can Apple make it go there.

 

[DaveN]

I wonder how many were purchased by YouTubers whose only intent was to get a bunch of video views (income) and then return it and making a video of that for more views.