Apple Vision Pro
03/30/2024
Apple Vision Pro
Paul Simmons
As a long-time Appleholic, resisting the urge to buy Apple’s latest technological wonder was impossible.
About 2 months in with the Apple Vision Pro (AVP)…
First, it’s an amazing piece of technology! Spatial Computing (Apple’s name) has to be experienced to understand and appreciate. Secondly, this is obviously a first-gen teaser of what’s to come. Yes, it’s typical Apple in it’s polish and attention to detail, but there are still a lot of areas in need of further development - both software and hardware. So, here are some initial thoughts, in no particular order of importance…
It’s hard to wear more than a couple of hours or so at a time - even with either of the supplied head bands - it starts to weigh down on your face, particularly the bridge of your nose.
There is a minor problem with lens flare - once you notice it, it can be annoying. And, once you see it, you can’t unsee it!
You can’t cry when watching content… there’s no place for the tears to go! The face band has a tight light seal around your face.
Keeping the battery connected to a power source full time seems to be best - if the battery gets too low, the AVP sleeps/shuts down and no longer syncs with iCloud. Battery life is a couple of hours or so. The battery is external and hangs down on a cable.
3D movies (lots on AppleTV, no extra fee) are really fun, but not as sharp as I'd like. That’s probably a 3D encoding problem… You can record 3D content on iPhone 15s or on the AVP. If you record local video in 3D with an iPhone or the AVP… wow! Movies and TV shows look really awesome… everything I’ve watched so far has a theatrical film quality, not a 4K video image where you can count every hair on an actor’s head! I actually prefer the theatrical appearance.
Adding a Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard really enhance the user interface experience. The popup keyboard is clunky at best and hard to use. Bluetooth mice are not supported. Apple’s interface tracks your eye movements and what you’re looking at. Stare at a button or some menu item, then tap your fingers together to select it. Move your hand up and down or left and right to scroll.
The built-in speakers in the headband above your ears are exceptional. I’ve experimented with Air Pods Pro 2 to replace the speakers… the speakers actually sound much better - a fuller, more immersive, sound.
Eating/drinking while wearing AVP can be problematic… if you’re in an immersive environment (your room is totally masked), you can’t see your hands, you can't see an object to grab/pick up - you can’t see where your mouth is!!! The AVP app store has a growing number of apps specifically engineered for the AVP. Quite a few take advantage of the 3D capabilities. A lot of iPad apps will work, and many developers are promising AVP versions in the near future. Interestingly, Apple’s core apps - Pages, Numbers, and KeyNote, are not available yet.
Bottom line, I’m impressed and can’t wait to see where Apple goes with the AVP. And, I’m still learning… the more I use it, the more I discover.
Paul Simmons
As a long-time Appleholic, resisting the urge to buy Apple’s latest technological wonder was impossible.
About 2 months in with the Apple Vision Pro (AVP)…
First, it’s an amazing piece of technology! Spatial Computing (Apple’s name) has to be experienced to understand and appreciate. Secondly, this is obviously a first-gen teaser of what’s to come. Yes, it’s typical Apple in it’s polish and attention to detail, but there are still a lot of areas in need of further development - both software and hardware. So, here are some initial thoughts, in no particular order of importance…
It’s hard to wear more than a couple of hours or so at a time - even with either of the supplied head bands - it starts to weigh down on your face, particularly the bridge of your nose.
There is a minor problem with lens flare - once you notice it, it can be annoying. And, once you see it, you can’t unsee it!
You can’t cry when watching content… there’s no place for the tears to go! The face band has a tight light seal around your face.
Keeping the battery connected to a power source full time seems to be best - if the battery gets too low, the AVP sleeps/shuts down and no longer syncs with iCloud. Battery life is a couple of hours or so. The battery is external and hangs down on a cable.
3D movies (lots on AppleTV, no extra fee) are really fun, but not as sharp as I'd like. That’s probably a 3D encoding problem… You can record 3D content on iPhone 15s or on the AVP. If you record local video in 3D with an iPhone or the AVP… wow! Movies and TV shows look really awesome… everything I’ve watched so far has a theatrical film quality, not a 4K video image where you can count every hair on an actor’s head! I actually prefer the theatrical appearance.
Adding a Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard really enhance the user interface experience. The popup keyboard is clunky at best and hard to use. Bluetooth mice are not supported. Apple’s interface tracks your eye movements and what you’re looking at. Stare at a button or some menu item, then tap your fingers together to select it. Move your hand up and down or left and right to scroll.
The built-in speakers in the headband above your ears are exceptional. I’ve experimented with Air Pods Pro 2 to replace the speakers… the speakers actually sound much better - a fuller, more immersive, sound.
Eating/drinking while wearing AVP can be problematic… if you’re in an immersive environment (your room is totally masked), you can’t see your hands, you can't see an object to grab/pick up - you can’t see where your mouth is!!! The AVP app store has a growing number of apps specifically engineered for the AVP. Quite a few take advantage of the 3D capabilities. A lot of iPad apps will work, and many developers are promising AVP versions in the near future. Interestingly, Apple’s core apps - Pages, Numbers, and KeyNote, are not available yet.
Bottom line, I’m impressed and can’t wait to see where Apple goes with the AVP. And, I’m still learning… the more I use it, the more I discover.