Apple Reveals 'Vision Pro' Headset and visionOS

[sigamy]

I'm old so I'm also in the "no one wants to wear a headset for hours" camp.

But when I saw the demos, I couldn't help but wonder why this tech had to be put in a headset? I was wondering if, someday, this could just be embedded in the walls and ceiling of our rooms. Then I was thinking...couldn't this also be accomplished with the same hardware inside (and all around) a huge display?

The "Spacial Computing" is interesting to me...but I don't mean the aspect of having a browser window floating in my living room. I see it as more of the "Minority Report" aspect of a traditional screen or display, that somewhat melts away into our environment combined with the eye and hand tracking.

I'm thinking a super thin 65" Apple Studio Display, maybe with some Samsung Frame features, that we mount on the wall or one of those tables where the display drops down into for when not in use.

I'm sure I'm missing some part of the tech that the cameras for eye tracking have to be right there on your face...but I hope that this stuff somedays goes "the other way" and gets included back into traditional displays or again, into a room.

 

[Surf Monkey]

You ask "What is it for beyond gaming? Who wants to spend excessive time isolated in a device and viewing the world through a video screen? Who’s clamoring to spend hours working in such a device?"

I was reminded of this quote from some random dude -

“Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”​

― Steve Jobs

There’s no way that Steve Jobs would have spearheaded this device. It’s basically the opposite of his entire approach to computing and innovation.

 

[sers]

Exactly. I think the people who are the most excited for this headset live really sad (IMO), isolated lives, cut off from in-person human contact and social interactions. I mean, to each their own, but that's no way to live as far as I am concerned. We've already seen how isolation and anti-social behavior negatively effects mental health. We need less of this, not more of it. Don't get me wrong, I generally abhor being in public. However, I prefer face to face social interactions with my friends and family over sitting in some room alone, donning my AR/VR headset.

Interesting point. How fitting of Apple to release the Mental Health app at the same time.

 

[Surf Monkey]

You're just making things up at this point. If you had any experience with actual VR headsets you'd know how important contrast ratio is for making things seems lifelike...and in terms of making an AR passthrough image lifelike, the improved contrast ratio by Apple here is huge improvement, far surpassing other HMDs out there.

The only thing I see holding this thing back is processing power, but maybe they've made huge strides in foveated rendering, to to the point where they can keep resource/power requirements in check. I'm skeptical about that, but if they did, it would be a massive win.

But you’re still looking at a screen, not the real world.

 

[duffman9000]

What practical achievable thing (not theoretical) can this actually offer though, that can't be done better another way? Because it has to be good to counter the fact you are wearing a bulky heavy object, as well as loosing your natural vision and replacing it with a video stream. A lot of shortsighted people won't even be able to use this without getting bespoke prescription Apple lenses fitted (sold separately of course).

This thing is also going to make people sick. Shining unnatural light directly into your eyes from a short distance is not good for your vision. No matter how good Apple make this, having virtual stuff floating around you for any length of time will make people feel disorientated and ill after a while... this is before you even get into the psychological effects.

You are very much wrong in some of your complaints. Apple showed use cases that are highly unlikely to make a person feel ill. Apple didn’t show any 3D games that VR people expected to see. I’ve owned VR games where movements were controlled by teleporting instead of walking. That walking in game is likely to make a person feel ill. It does to me but my headset maxed out at 90Hz. This issue is supposed to be less likely to occur at higher refresh rates.

 

[zach-coleman]

Which is still way too much…

$1750 is certainly not trivial, but many people pay around that much for a good quality laptop. I don't think it's an impossible sell at that price.

 

[Surf Monkey]

You are very much wrong in some of your complaints. Apple showed use cases that are highly unlikely to make a person feel ill. Apple didn’t show any 3D games that VR people expected to see. I’ve owned VR games where movements were controlled by teleporting instead of walking. That walking in game is likely to make a person feel ill. It does to me but my headset maxed out at 90Hz. This issue is supposed to be less likely to occur at higher refresh rates.

So they avoided the device’s pitfalls. Surprise?

 

[Surf Monkey]

$1750 is certainly not trivial, but many people pay around that much for a good quality laptop. I don't think it's an impossible sell at that price.

Given that we don’t know whether it’s a viable laptop replacement or not yet that’s a speculative statement that doesn’t prove much.

 

[sracer]

After watching that presentation, I think I should've been paid for watching it....

 

[steveballmer]

There’s no way that Steve Jobs would have spearheaded this device. It’s basically the opposite of his entire approach to computing and innovation.

Your over confidence in claiming to know the mind of Steve Jobs is misplaced, smacks of hubris and lacks self-awareness.

I've just given you a quote from the man himself that directly contradicts exactly the kind of thinking you've been spamming the thread with since the Keynote.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Your over confidence in claiming to know the mind of Steve Jobs is misplaced, smacks of hubris and lacks self-awareness.

I've just given you a quote from the man himself that directly contradicts exactly the kind of thinking you've been spamming the thread with since the Keynote.

Since you’re incapable of posting without personal attacks I’m sure you’ll understand why I decline to interact with you from this point forward.

My comments stand. This reads “flop” top to bottom due to the many core issues I’ve outlined already. You, on the other hand, spent most of the day yesterday trying to convince people that looking at a screen is the exact same thing as looking at the real world with your own eyes. So…

 

[preetb]

Probably not a consumer product but quite possibly a great industrial product.

 

[Surf Monkey]

The only thing I see holding this thing back is processing power…

And the fact that it’s mounted on your face.
And wraps around your head.
And looks creepy.
And commits you to looking at nothing but a screen for hours on end.
And isolates you in significant ways.
And doesn’t have a compelling use case.
And costs five times the price of the competition.

To name just a few.

 

[aleksander]

I quite liked yesterday's presentation and it wasn't because of the Vision Pro.

The presentation was absolutely aseptic, cold and dystopian. People alone on the couch or in a chair. Eyes virtually generated through screens that look and feel ridiculous and far from reality.

People recording moments in 3D to see them later in your "memories" (which looks like one of the chapters of Extrapolations). The scenes of the photos and memories were quite... creepy. It looked as if your family had died and you were viewing your memories in 3D and VR.

Overall the presentation of the glasses generated cringe for me and I watched a lot of dystopian movie scenes to see how society may end up if this becomes popular.

However, I think the technology they incorporate is interesting, the interface looks great and potentially has applications... but in a potential way, since Apple didn't release any "killer apps" that would blow people's minds.

Overall, I have the feeling that they have presented a technically excellent product, light years ahead of their competition, but I think they do not solve any problems, and they have many, both for autonomy and for comfort and weight, as well as moral and ethical level.

The presentation showed people alone, with hardly any social connection, the photos and "memories" was the most social thing they showed of the device and at least under my perception it was cold and dystopian, as well as being able to see your memories, I think it has been what has generated me more rejection of the whole presentation.

When you show photos you are with people, you share them, you enjoy them in a group. But only people were shown alone, with super advanced and technological glasses that seem that, a priori, the only thing they can do is to isolate (even more) to society.

The cell phone has isolated us a lot, even though we are constantly connected, and this device, as it has been presented, seems to do it even more. That makes me feel bad for us as humanity.

I think everything has a limit and I'm not an old person, far from it, but I like to enjoy life, enjoy reality, and this device is anything but "real", because everything it's going to show you is 100% fake, like your own avatar for FaceTime.

It may be a pessimistic view of reality, but that's the feeling I got yesterday when I saw this long-awaited new Apple product.

Absolutely my feeling. I expected multiple people working on, say, a 3D model – architects, clients, contractors being at a virtual site and discussing stuff. This is a real world example that would immensely improve a workflow and there must be tons of similar scenarios that Apple somehow forgot about and instead showed this uncanny dystopian scenes.

 

[mossimossimossi]

Did y’all catch the Woo’s?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1666052657751158785

This was the reaction video I was looking for!

 

[Rene.V]

I quite liked yesterday's presentation and it wasn't because of the Vision Pro.

The presentation was absolutely aseptic, cold and dystopian. People alone on the couch or in a chair. Eyes virtually generated through screens that look and feel ridiculous and far from reality.

People recording moments in 3D to see them later in your "memories" (which looks like one of the chapters of Extrapolations). The scenes of the photos and memories were quite... creepy. It looked as if your family had died and you were viewing your memories in 3D and VR.

Overall the presentation of the glasses generated cringe for me and I watched a lot of dystopian movie scenes to see how society may end up if this becomes popular.

However, I think the technology they incorporate is interesting, the interface looks great and potentially has applications... but in a potential way, since Apple didn't release any "killer apps" that would blow people's minds.

Overall, I have the feeling that they have presented a technically excellent product, light years ahead of their competition, but I think they do not solve any problems, and they have many, both for autonomy and for comfort and weight, as well as moral and ethical level.

The presentation showed people alone, with hardly any social connection, the photos and "memories" was the most social thing they showed of the device and at least under my perception it was cold and dystopian, as well as being able to see your memories, I think it has been what has generated me more rejection of the whole presentation.

When you show photos you are with people, you share them, you enjoy them in a group. But only people were shown alone, with super advanced and technological glasses that seem that, a priori, the only thing they can do is to isolate (even more) to society.

The cell phone has isolated us a lot, even though we are constantly connected, and this device, as it has been presented, seems to do it even more. That makes me feel bad for us as humanity.

I think everything has a limit and I'm not an old person, far from it, but I like to enjoy life, enjoy reality, and this device is anything but "real", because everything it's going to show you is 100% fake, like your own avatar for FaceTime.

It may be a pessimistic view of reality, but that's the feeling I got yesterday when I saw this long-awaited new Apple product.

100% agree with everything you said.

 

[sunapple]

I quite liked yesterday's presentation and it wasn't because of the Vision Pro.

The presentation was absolutely aseptic, cold and dystopian. People alone on the couch or in a chair. Eyes virtually generated through screens that look and feel ridiculous and far from reality.

People recording moments in 3D to see them later in your "memories" (which looks like one of the chapters of Extrapolations). The scenes of the photos and memories were quite... creepy. It looked as if your family had died and you were viewing your memories in 3D and VR.

Overall the presentation of the glasses generated cringe for me and I watched a lot of dystopian movie scenes to see how society may end up if this becomes popular.

However, I think the technology they incorporate is interesting, the interface looks great and potentially has applications... but in a potential way, since Apple didn't release any "killer apps" that would blow people's minds.

Overall, I have the feeling that they have presented a technically excellent product, light years ahead of their competition, but I think they do not solve any problems, and they have many, both for autonomy and for comfort and weight, as well as moral and ethical level.

The presentation showed people alone, with hardly any social connection, the photos and "memories" was the most social thing they showed of the device and at least under my perception it was cold and dystopian, as well as being able to see your memories, I think it has been what has generated me more rejection of the whole presentation.

When you show photos you are with people, you share them, you enjoy them in a group. But only people were shown alone, with super advanced and technological glasses that seem that, a priori, the only thing they can do is to isolate (even more) to society.

The cell phone has isolated us a lot, even though we are constantly connected, and this device, as it has been presented, seems to do it even more. That makes me feel bad for us as humanity.

I think everything has a limit and I'm not an old person, far from it, but I like to enjoy life, enjoy reality, and this device is anything but "real", because everything it's going to show you is 100% fake, like your own avatar for FaceTime.

It may be a pessimistic view of reality, but that's the feeling I got yesterday when I saw this long-awaited new Apple product.

I like the product for what it is but I would agree on your observation that there was a lot of isolation in this presentation. Despite their best efforts there is a seriously obtrusive device between you and the world, even on FaceTime with those avatars. Compared to other headsets, it may be less obtrusive, but compared to an iPhone...

Let's see how this works out.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I quite liked yesterday's presentation and it wasn't because of the Vision Pro.

The presentation was absolutely aseptic, cold and dystopian. People alone on the couch or in a chair. Eyes virtually generated through screens that look and feel ridiculous and far from reality.

People recording moments in 3D to see them later in your "memories" (which looks like one of the chapters of Extrapolations). The scenes of the photos and memories were quite... creepy. It looked as if your family had died and you were viewing your memories in 3D and VR.

Overall the presentation of the glasses generated cringe for me and I watched a lot of dystopian movie scenes to see how society may end up if this becomes popular.

However, I think the technology they incorporate is interesting, the interface looks great and potentially has applications... but in a potential way, since Apple didn't release any "killer apps" that would blow people's minds.

Overall, I have the feeling that they have presented a technically excellent product, light years ahead of their competition, but I think they do not solve any problems, and they have many, both for autonomy and for comfort and weight, as well as moral and ethical level.

The presentation showed people alone, with hardly any social connection, the photos and "memories" was the most social thing they showed of the device and at least under my perception it was cold and dystopian, as well as being able to see your memories, I think it has been what has generated me more rejection of the whole presentation.

When you show photos you are with people, you share them, you enjoy them in a group. But only people were shown alone, with super advanced and technological glasses that seem that, a priori, the only thing they can do is to isolate (even more) to society.

The cell phone has isolated us a lot, even though we are constantly connected, and this device, as it has been presented, seems to do it even more. That makes me feel bad for us as humanity.

I think everything has a limit and I'm not an old person, far from it, but I like to enjoy life, enjoy reality, and this device is anything but "real", because everything it's going to show you is 100% fake, like your own avatar for FaceTime.

It may be a pessimistic view of reality, but that's the feeling I got yesterday when I saw this long-awaited new Apple product.

When Steve Jobs introduced iPod it was accompanied by a video of music professionals discussing how they were using it and how it was changing the way they interacted with their libraries in new and exciting ways. Jobs made sure when introducing that new device to clearly demonstrate WHY you’d want it and what kinds of things you’d use it for. Same with the iPhone. Jobs’ Apple was very careful to demonstrate the device’s practical applications, giving you a compelling reason to purchase it.

No such thing happened at the AVP launch. The opposite happened. A bunch of Apple execs told us “this thing is really advanced! Buy it!” and that’s about it.

 

[steveballmer]

It has cameras that take photos and video. 3D photos and video. Anyone own a 3D video camera?
It has an M2 chip.
It has 4K+ resolution OLED screens that provide an immersive, cinematic, 3D IMAX like experience. Anyone have a 3D IMAX projector at home?
It's portable. For anyone that does own a 3D IMAX projector, how is it on the plane?
It integrates seamlessly into the existing Apple ecosystem of hardware and software, via wi-fi and bluetooth.
It has built-in high fidelity audio headphones.
It has next generation (some people who have demoed it are claiming revolutionary) eye tracking and hand/finger gesture tracking inputs. How many devices with eye tracking or hand/finger gesture tracking inputs do you currently own?
By the time it ships, there will likely be VisionOS versions of many everyday productivity and personal content applications (iWork and Microsoft applications were shown in the Keynote).
By the time it ships, there will likely be VisionOS versions of some popular creative professional applications like Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro.

Vision Pro isn't competing against any VR headsets that are already in the market.

None of those devices have any of the Vision Pro features listed above, so being priced 5 times higher is completely irrelevant.

It's going to exist in a category of it's own.

It's a portable, wi-fi and bluetooth enabled, 3D video camera, with 3D 4K+ OLED screens, that runs all of the everyday Apple ecosystem apps, on an M2 chip, that you control with your eyes.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

And the fact that it’s mounted on your face.
And wraps around your head.
And looks creepy.
And commits you to looking at nothing but a screen for hours on end.
And isolates you in significant ways.
And doesn’t have a compelling use case.
And costs five times the price of the competition.

To name just a few.

Again, go get some experience with a high end VR headset, then get back to us. You seem to not grasp that people are already willing to put up with all of these for the experiences VR offers.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Again, go get some experience with a high end VR headset, then get back to us. You seem to not grasp that people are already willing to put up with all of these for the experiences VR offers.

Show some proof. We’re talking about this as a consumer product for rank and file Americans. I’m not seeing the compelling trade off that mitigates the enormous list of negatives it presents.

 

[arian71]

$3500 ? Are they serious?

1700 dollars per hour.. judging by battery life

 

[Coreymac84]

If you are a FL resident it’s not that hard.

Thats a loophole. Let's talk about the rest of the world lol. Family of 4 5 days is an easy $8,000

 

[tivoboy]

I wonder overall what this is going to do to people’s EYESIGHT.. we’re taught, 20/20/20, every 20 minutes, look at least 20 feet away (from your computer, phone etc.) for 20 seconds at least. Let’s the eye focus CLOSE, but then FAR, keep the gears lubricated and the flexibility to adjust focus in top shape.

Now, even tough in might APPEAR that things are far, on the other side of the room say, it’s really ALL CLOSE and ALL THE TIME. Your eyes are just looking at a screen that is probably .5-1.0 inches from your lens. Even though you might glance at something that looks like it’s on the other side of the sofa - ITS NOT!… its half an inch from your eyeball. I think if one keeps this on for hours and hours, taking it off and expecting everything to focus easily back to distance viewing is going to challenging and overall THAT is what alters eyesight for the worse, permanently.

 

[SSDGUY]

.View attachment 2213216

Headline: "Creepy Tech Gadget Dad Scars Own Children for Life."