Apple Reveals 'Vision Pro' Headset and visionOS

[anshuvorty]

Chance Miller from 9to5Mac has his thoughts on the VP headset: https://9to5mac.com/2023/06/05/hands-on-apple-vision-pro-mixed-reality-headset/

visionOS relies entirely on your eyes, hands, and voice for navigation. I didn’t get to try out any of the voice control features, but the eye and hand control gestures were really impressive. A simple tap of your fingers allows you to select an object. You can zoom in by tapping and pinching just like you would on an iPhone, and you can scroll by flicking your wrist. An open-ended flick of your wrist will activate inertia scrolling just like on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

There’s absolutely a learning curve to figuring out how to navigate around visionOS, but even in my 30 minutes with Vision Pro, I became pretty comfortable with most of the gestures.

For most people, that learning curve is going to be the most challenging aspect of Vision Pro. I have to imagine that the gestures become second nature at some point, but you’ll have to practice to get there.

Apple is pitching content consumption as one of the biggest selling points of Vision Pro, and rightfully so. The experience is absolutely incredible. I had the chance to explore a 3D version of Avatar 2 and was blown away by the immersiveness.

You can watch content via Vision Pro in a floating window that you can adjust to your liking, and visionOS will automatically dim the area around that window. You can also put the movie in an environment of your choosing. I got to watch a movie using the Cinema Environment, which made it seem like I was watching in a dedicated home theater. The attention to detail was remarkable, down to acoustic-foam-style textures on the ceiling.

Watching 3D movies with Vision Pro is proof that 3D movies can be incredibly immersive and downright cool if done right. 3D TVs may have been a short-lived fad, but Vision Pro nails the experience.

The Persona was very convincing, but once I started looking more closely, it was clear that it was an artificially generated video. This was especially noticeable around the person’s mouth.

Finally, and perhaps most important, there’s the comfort aspect of Vision Pro. As I said at the beginning, the process of getting fitted and putting the headset on is straightforward and easy. But what about actually wearing it?

I wore Vision Pro for about 30 minutes, and my experience was overall positive. The fabric is soft and breathable, there’s a lot of padding around the eyes, and it felt snug (but not too snug) on my head.

That being said, it’s definitely on the heavier side of things. I could absolutely see getting tired of wearing it after extended sessions.

Going into today, I was really concerned about motion sickness while wearing an Apple headset. I get motion sick incredibly quickly in a car or an airplane. But in my 30 minutes wearing Vision Pro, I didn’t experience any motion sickness whatsoever.

One of the most impressive parts of my time with VIsion Pro was the sound quality. The headset features two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pod. Paired with the immersive content, Spatial Audio was stunning. Far better than Spatial Audio today using AirPods.

When I took Vision Pro off after my 30-minute demo, I felt a bit discombobulated. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it was a feeling I’d never experienced before. I had just experienced something that transported me to another world… while also keeping me somewhat connected to the “real world” around me.

The hybrid of virtual and augmented reality strikes a really good balance of immersiveness while keeping you engaged with people around you.

The hardware of Vision Pro is absolutely industry-leading. I couldn’t see a single pixel on the 4K displays, and even the edges of the content on either side of me were crisp and clear. The combination of those displays and the powerful M2 and R1 chips inside mean that Vision Pro excels at everything it does.

I was a major skeptic of Apple’s plans to enter the VR/AR headset market. Vision Pro is still months away from being ready for prime time, but what I experienced during my hands-on today left me very impressed. I’m excited to see the final product sometime early next year.

 

[kkee]

That’s cool and all. But 3500 and to be oblivious of said fire pit? Pretty niche.

And it can get a theatre size 4k screen! I start to regret purchasing my 90" TV - which costs me 8x the price at $20,000 ish.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Blackberry was king. Palm was even better imo. This isn’t anything like smartphones. Headsets are very niche.

I still miss parts of my Treo. My first iphone was the 4, and that was only so I could lock in Verizon unlimited.

4 -> 6 -> XsMax -> 12 pro max hand me down from the kid when I cracked my screen. Kinda still miss the 4 too 🤣

I can keep going… ipad 1 -> Air -> 12.9 2017 -> 11” m1 ~ regret downsizing, but no reason to upgrade yet.

Before the keynote, had zero interest in the Vision rumors, after I can totally see it helping me in areas in the future. We will see, meanwhile I think it’s an 15” Air for me.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Why? If they get the maps right and sensors working driving with this virtual map could be amazing.

Gosh! Why?

Come on now. Do you want to share the road with people who may become blind at any given moment? Do you imagine that municipalities who recognize the fatal danger of texting while driving are going to be more lenient on a device that covers your entire field of view with a screen?

And who’s going to be liable for Apple Vision related accidents? Is your insurance going to cover that?

Seriously. All you have to do is think about it for a few seconds and you can easily see why this will never be used while driving. Motor vehicles are the most regulated consumer devices of all. They’re not casual tech toys for bored people. They’re potentially lethal weapons that you need to be careful with while operating.

 

[Choco Taco]

Why? If they get the maps right and sensors working driving with this virtual map could be amazing.

And then all the death that follows.

 

[aibloop]

People…. Let us all join hands together to celebrate the last time we see the horrific Apple XR prototype image we have been plagued with for years and years and years…

This is truly a relief and a revolution for me.

Ty, that is all 🙂

 

[Bass Ackwards]

I've long been excited for a VR setup for a virtual desktop, having a multi-monitor setup without the need for multiple expensive monitors. I know current VR headsets have versions of it but nothing is quite there yet. The ability for this to work as AR feels like the secret sauce for that, eliminating virtual keyboards or touch typing. The presentation though seemed very iOs focused, the ability to mirror a macbook might be the extra touch that gets it there though.

There are a lot of neat innovations here to be excited about, eye/gesture control, and while watching movies on oculus was a neat party trick, the resolution and brightness never made it something you wanted to do regularly. Apple's specs here may overcome that obstacle too though. I do find it a bit curious how much the presentation focused on being a passive user of the device though (videos, browsing), rather than an active user (gaming, art, document/whiteboard interaction or creation), which makes me wonder if the gesture/vision control is great for point and click type of use but not much else.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Irrelevant. The point stands. Using this kind of thing behind the wheel of a vehicle will never be legal.

Actually IMO future versions of this type of device will likely be capable of improving a driver's capabilities. Just like HUD for fighter pilots.

 

[SergueiTemp]

I wonder how fast my eyes will burn out from using VisionPro so that I need to replace them with prosthetics and eliminate the need to wear VR.

 

[kkee]

Actually IMO future versions of this type of device will likely be capable of improving a driver's capabilities. Just like HUD for fighter pilots.

For simulation maybe? I can see it will benefit for driving/piloting lesson.

 

[kkee]

I wonder how fast my eyes will burn out from using VisionPro so that I need to replace them with prosthetics and eliminate the need to wear VR.

Sir, there is a knob here where you can adjust the brightness. Yes, right, there on your device left hand side, underneath the lens. That's right. Now, turn clockwise if you want to lower the brightness and turn counter clockwise if you want to increase it. Oh silly me, it's the other way round. Anyway, I hope you get the point.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

A casual compute device (according to Apple’s own use cases, photos, internet, facetime, Apple Arcade) at mid-tier MacBook Pro prices.

Pay better attention.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Apple has a solid track record of utterly failing in the gaming market. It makes absolute sense that they’d downplay that. Furthermore their primary competition is going to be the PlayStation VR, which they’re probably not interested in drawing direct comparisons to right now, if ever.

You must be kidding. PlayStation is in no way their primary competition. It is more like both PS and Apple are trying to build a market.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Apple Studio Continuity!

Challenge: It’s 2024 and you must wear both headsets at the same time. You in?

 

[anshuvorty]

Nilay Patel (The Verge) also wrote his thoughts - I wore the Apple Vision Pro. It’s the best headset demo ever.

 

[Elohim369]

Ok to summarize - a ton of high end sensors, and the most advanced displays for something that nobody asked for and nobody needs.

3500 for a product that does nothing useful - that however, forces a user to wear goggles all day long - I don't care how comfortable they make these, frankly, nobody wants this.

It is a product created for a "ready player 1" dystopian future, I knew that, but what I do find surprising is that they couldn't really find a hook to sell it.

What does it do that helps me live my life?

Some here said HD po_rn will look great on this - ew. That's it?

 

[laurim]

A financial analyst made a great point. Unity game development software is free to use for anyone who isn’t a pro game company so this will enable a lot of independent game developers to come up with a bunch of cool games for the VisionPro and create another crop of independent developers. Heck, if I were younger I would consider travelling the world to record immersive environment videos to sell. Want to see the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower? Here ya go! Nat Geo will tackle the tougher environments (which I’m excited to experience!)

 

[anshuvorty]

Ok to summarize - a ton of high end sensors, and the most advanced displays for something that nobody asked for and nobody needs.

3500 for a product that does nothing useful - that however, forces a user to wear goggles all day long - I don't care how comfortable they make these, frankly, nobody wants this.

It is a product created for a "ready player 1" dystopian future, I knew that, but what I do find surprising is that they couldn't really find a hook to sell it.

What does it do that helps me live my life?

Some here said HD po_rn will look great on this - ew. That's it?

same argument was made about the apple watch and after a couple of years, apple figured out what it should focus on and got it to be successful.

the same playbook is being used here - throw everything against the wall and see what sticks and focus on that.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

This is not new tech, I hate to break it to you. Strapping this on and playing video games alone has been done. And so on and so forth. The Cult of Mac folks are alive and well.

Did you even watch the video? Suggesting that it is about playing video games alone is absurd.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

They really glossed over this, but yeah it would. The quest uses a similar system and everyone can hear it at a slightly lower volume.

Under many such conditions one would naturally use it with AirPods, like we saw in the video.

 

[laurim]

Ok to summarize - a ton of high end sensors, and the most advanced displays for something that nobody asked for and nobody needs.

3500 for a product that does nothing useful - that however, forces a user to wear goggles all day long - I don't care how comfortable they make these, frankly, nobody wants this.

It is a product created for a "ready player 1" dystopian future, I knew that, but what I do find surprising is that they couldn't really find a hook to sell it.

What does it do that helps me live my life?

Some here said HD po_rn will look great on this - ew. That's it?

I’ve literally held off buying a VR rig until I saw what Apple was doing. Why don’t you try to stop predicting what everyone wants and just say this doesn’t interest you and move on? You don’t have to try to make it seem like everyone else feels like you do. Be independent!

 

[thirteen1031]

This allows you to put screens of any size in any room. No more large screen TVs with messy cables and requiring physical space, no need for physical computer monitors. You only need to strap on Vision Pro and you have the screens you need that can be resized on-the-fly. Really cool you can connect your Apple Keyboard and Trackpad to the experience.

Bingo! So many are saying it's "useless"--but what if you're one of those who needs to work with several monitors? Suddenly all you need are the goggles--and expensive as the goggles are, the trade off could be worth it. Or if you want a big screen tv but haven't the space for it? Again, there are the goggles. And what about medical use (as they showed with the 3D heart?)--for laying out surgeries and such from all directions?

Consider all the watch stories of lives saved...I don't recall seeing any posts predicting that the watch would be used for that when it made its debut. It took the watch being out in the wild and people using it to see its possibilities. Likely the same will happen here if this product sticks around. It will shrink and get lighter and sleeker and cheaper and along the way, clever and imaginative people will find all kinds of uses for it. A lot of them will be frivolous, but some of them, possibly, could turn out to be very useful. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[zach-coleman]

Nilay Patel (The Verge) also wrote his thoughts - I wore the Apple Vision Pro. It’s the best headset demo ever.

I’m so curious what the specific FOV and frame rate specs are. It’s starting to seem like that’s gonna be the compelling “wait for gen 2” issue. Maybe power as well.

 

[JV613]

Apple today revealed the "Vision Pro" headset, its first mixed-reality headset device, and visionOS, an all new operating system for the device.

Apple describes the Vision Pro headset as "a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world." The device features an all-new operating system that features a three dimensional interface. Experiences in Vision Pro aren't constrained to the boundaries of a display, users can make apps any scale, and place apps wherever they wish. Users use a combination of their eyes, hands, and voice to control the device.

Apple's Vision Pro starts at $3,499 and it will be available early next year. It will be available in Apple retail stores in the U.S. only.

Design

The entire front of the headset is made of polished glass that flows into a lightweight aluminum frame. The top of the headset features a button and a Digital Crown that lets a user control how present or immersed they are in an environment.

The headset has a modular system to achieve an optimal fit. Its battery battery is separate and links via a magnetic connection to the side of the headset.



Those who wear glasses must use magnetic prescription ZEISS glass inserts with the Vision Pro headset.

Hardware

Vision Pro features an ultra-high-resolution display system with 23 million pixels across two micro-OLED displays – more than a 4K for TV for each eye.

Vision Pro uses high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invisible light patterns onto the user's eyes to track gaze. The headset also contains the M2 chip paired with a new "R1" chip, dedicated toward real-time sensor processing.



It also has a new Spatial Audio system with two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pod, which delivers Personalized Spatial Audio based on the user's own head and ear geometry. It can match the sound to an environment using audio ray-tracing. The headset is capable of running for two hours on a single charge.

Features

The headset is controlled by a user's eyes, hands, and voice. Users can browse through apps by simply looking at them, tapping their fingers to select, flicking their wrist to scroll, or using voice to dictate. It also supports Apple's Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad.

The headset features passthrough video of a wearer's eyes in a feature that Apple calls "EyeSight," displaying the user's eyes to surrounding people. It uses a lenticular OLED display to show the correct perspective to anyone viewing the wearer.

Vision Pro can transform a space into a personal movie theatre and watch immersive videos. With Environments, a user's world can grow beyond the dimensions of a physical room with dynamic landscapes that can help them focus. Vision Pro also allows users to connect to their Mac and expand its display in a virtual space, including alongside apps running on Vision Pro itself.

In FaceTime calls, everyone on the call is reflected in life-size tiles. Users wearing Vision Pro during a FaceTime call are shown as a Persona — a digital representation of themselves.

Optic ID uses a wearer's iris to authenticate users and unlock the Vision Pro headset. Vision Pro is also "Apple's first 3D camera," showing depth in video with... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: Apple Reveals 'Vision Pro' Headset and visionOS

Apple today revealed the "Vision Pro" headset, its first mixed-reality headset device, and visionOS, an all new operating system for the device.

Apple describes the Vision Pro headset as "a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world." The device features an all-new operating system that features a three dimensional interface. Experiences in Vision Pro aren't constrained to the boundaries of a display, users can make apps any scale, and place apps wherever they wish. Users use a combination of their eyes, hands, and voice to control the device.

Apple's Vision Pro starts at $3,499 and it will be available early next year. It will be available in Apple retail stores in the U.S. only.

Design

The entire front of the headset is made of polished glass that flows into a lightweight aluminum frame. The top of the headset features a button and a Digital Crown that lets a user control how present or immersed they are in an environment.

The headset has a modular system to achieve an optimal fit. Its battery battery is separate and links via a magnetic connection to the side of the headset.



Those who wear glasses must use magnetic prescription ZEISS glass inserts with the Vision Pro headset.

Hardware

Vision Pro features an ultra-high-resolution display system with 23 million pixels across two micro-OLED displays – more than a 4K for TV for each eye.

Vision Pro uses high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invisible light patterns onto the user's eyes to track gaze. The headset also contains the M2 chip paired with a new "R1" chip, dedicated toward real-time sensor processing.



It also has a new Spatial Audio system with two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pod, which delivers Personalized Spatial Audio based on the user's own head and ear geometry. It can match the sound to an environment using audio ray-tracing. The headset is capable of running for two hours on a single charge.

Features

The headset is controlled by a user's eyes, hands, and voice. Users can browse through apps by simply looking at them, tapping their fingers to select, flicking their wrist to scroll, or using voice to dictate. It also supports Apple's Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad.

The headset features passthrough video of a wearer's eyes in a feature that Apple calls "EyeSight," displaying the user's eyes to surrounding people. It uses a lenticular OLED display to show the correct perspective to anyone viewing the wearer.

Vision Pro can transform a space into a personal movie theatre and watch immersive videos. With Environments, a user's world can grow beyond the dimensions of a physical room with dynamic landscapes that can help them focus. Vision Pro also allows users to connect to their Mac and expand its display in a virtual space, including alongside apps running on Vision Pro itself.

In FaceTime calls, everyone on the call is reflected in life-size tiles. Users wearing Vision Pro during a FaceTime call are shown as a Persona — a digital representation of themselves.

Optic ID uses a wearer's iris to authenticate users and unlock the Vision Pro headset. Vision Pro is also "Apple's first 3D camera," showing depth in video with... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: Apple Reveals 'Vision Pro' Headset and visionOS

Not for 3500$ ....

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I did not watch it, but this is a VR headset. Seeing you say it’s something new and unique tells me their marketing is very effective (no surprise, it usually is).

But come on, it’s a VR set. And VR has already gone the way of 3D TV.

No, it is not simply a VR set. Go watch the video (starts ~82 minutes in IIRC) with an open mind, then comment.