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Apple Vision Pro Could Take Four Generations to Reach 'Ideal Form'
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Apple sells twice as many iPads than Macs. I don’t think their combined revenue would improve if iPads ran macOS.
I will say: if you have the 15 Pro, take some of the spatial video now of the people you care about. Or places you go. You don't have to do a lot, but take some now because even with the 1st generation, it is really cool to see our 4 year old from Christmas 2023. I'm sure it will keep improving - it would be nice if it was 4k or 8k for example - but I wish I'd been able to do this of m y parents and grandparents. Maybe the 16 Pro will do it in 4k or 8k.
These are irreplaceable moments so take a little of it, if/when you get a AVP or something else to display it, you'll be happy you did.
Agreed. My dad passed away in September of 2022 kind of out of the blue. He was only 70 and was in good health up until he got sick and needed routine outpatient surgery. Things seemed OK for a few weeks after but he got sick again and was told to go the ER by his physician out of an abundance of caution in case he was getting dehydrated. A month later he was gone. What I wouldn’t give to have had an iPhone 15 back then to have gotten some video of him before he got sick. It’s the first thing I thought of when I took my first spacial video on the iPhone and played it back on the AVP. My nephew had a birthday yesterday and even though I only captured a few minutes of video in total I got all of my in-laws and nieces and nephew on my wife’s side of the family. Looking forward to my next family event on my mom’s side of the family to do the same thing. Unfortunately everybody on my dad’s side has now passed away.
With support for spacial videos coming to the Meta Quest platform via an announced software update if you’ve got an iPhone 15 it’s worth taking some special videos even if you don’t think you’ll have either an AVP or a Meta Quest headset anytime soon. Snap a few minutes worth anyway. They’ll look fine in 2D and if you ever get a chance to see them in 3D you’ll be thankful you took them.
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this actually seems reasonable to me. AVP leans closer to a Mac than a lot of people give it credit for (obviously doesn’t have as many use cases, I simply mean in terms of the tech), it makes sense that it might stay four digits longer than I want it to (i.e. until an SE comes out)
ngl, it would be nice if they could…keep the insane model segmenting away from this product…they did great with AW—only ever having 2-3 models, then having you pick a size that fits your wrist + whether you want cellular. AVP is off to a great start (finally got to do my demo, I’ll spare an entire thread, but it’s a pretty fricken neat device) & I’m cautiously excited to see what the future brings.
It feels like there is so much potential, but that there still is a very long time frame for Vision to truly reach where they want it to be.
Right now it's quite clear that it's heavier than they would like, battery life is poor, but at the same time it feels incredible to use. Almost like what it can currently do shouldn't even be possible.
It's going to be fascinating to see future iterations of this thing.
I took a few spatial videos during Christmas, purposely to see how they would be, and boy are they crazy to observe. They're not perfect, but I'm sure they'll improve and they do start to feel like you're stepping into a memory as opposed to looking at a static photo.
Right now it's quite clear that it's heavier than they would like, battery life is poor, but at the same time it feels incredible to use. Almost like what it can currently do shouldn't even be possible.
It's going to be fascinating to see future iterations of this thing.
I took a few spatial videos during Christmas, purposely to see how they would be, and boy are they crazy to observe. They're not perfect, but I'm sure they'll improve and they do start to feel like you're stepping into a memory as opposed to looking at a static photo.
I dont see Vision Pro on a yearly release schedule like iphone. iphone hardware doesnt change much and Its easy to upgrade through trade ins and carrier deals for iphone. $3500 x 4 generations is a tough pill to swallow
Needs 60% longer battery and needs to be 60% smaller. The tech to shrink it doesn’t exist.
Neither the iPad nor the watch have ever clicked with me. The macbooks and iPhone do almost everything better than the iPad. As for the watch I hate wearing things which doesn't bode well for Vision Pro for me. I'll never get past wearing goggles on my face.
I am very cautious with tech. There is a lot of it that is just more trouble than it is worth. Current version of Vision Pro is one. Surround sound, spatial audio, 192K sample rates, MQA, homepods, instant pots, airfryers(?), to name a few, all more trouble than they are worth.
Gone are the days of getting excited about something simply because it is new. Gotta show me first.
I am very cautious with tech. There is a lot of it that is just more trouble than it is worth. Current version of Vision Pro is one. Surround sound, spatial audio, 192K sample rates, MQA, homepods, instant pots, airfryers(?), to name a few, all more trouble than they are worth.
Gone are the days of getting excited about something simply because it is new. Gotta show me first.
The issue is how to get two different pictures to your eyes when you’re moving around. No solution in sight for how to solve that problem even in theory, unless we go back to the 3D glasses as they were used for 3D TVs.
Or there could be multiple form factors for different use cases.
Eg: a ligher pair of glasses for use outdoors, but it wouldn't be as immersive because there is no light seal and you have to tether it to your phone (so maybe just one app at a time?). But like the Apple Watch, it would presumably last you through a day.
Then at home, there is the Vision Pro headset for full-blown spatial computing since battery life and size is less of an issue.
They don't have to be mutually exclusive here.
Eg: a ligher pair of glasses for use outdoors, but it wouldn't be as immersive because there is no light seal and you have to tether it to your phone (so maybe just one app at a time?). But like the Apple Watch, it would presumably last you through a day.
Then at home, there is the Vision Pro headset for full-blown spatial computing since battery life and size is less of an issue.
They don't have to be mutually exclusive here.
The technology improvements needed on the hardware side are a lot more difficult this time.
AVP will reach its “ideal form” and everyone will complain about how boring it is.
This will definitely take much longer to mature than the iPhone. IMHO
Personally I think it will take more than four generations to make this spatial computing vision a reality. Wearing a heavy headset that is disconnecting you from your surroundings is not going be the future. It will require a redesign using more advanced technology for the masses to adopt it.
Probably not worse than having AirPods in your ears. Displays close to the eyes are bad if the eyes are focusing on the display. But with VR headsets your eyes focus a couple feet in front of you and see “through” the displays.
I will say: if you have the 15 Pro, take some of the spatial video now of the people you care about. Or places you go. You don't have to do a lot, but take some now because even with the 1st generation, it is really cool to see our 4 year old from Christmas 2023. I'm sure it will keep improving - it would be nice if it was 4k or 8k for example - but I wish I'd been able to do this of my parents and grandparents. Maybe the 16 Pro will do it in 4k or 8k.
These are irreplaceable moments so take a little of it, if/when you get a AVP or something else to display it, you'll be happy you did.
So can you take spatial video and in some way designate it and save it? Will it keep that format even without a device to replay it on? Obviously I don’t know much about it, but I think it would be neat to have some of my kids and grandkids, and maybe have my daughter take some of me FOR my grandkids. I just don’t even know how to go about doing that, and saving it in such a way that I’d know what it was for later.
Some users are already bored now after one week.
Yep, the problem is that we don't know. There are articles about LEDs being hard on the eyes, but there is really no trustworthy independent source that confirms or denies that.
We do know that 100s of scientific studies are retracted monthly. Many from big name institutions. Unfortunately, today no one should be trusting any scientific studies unless they publicly publish all data used in the study and have independent 3rd parties replicate the studies findings.
I use the quest pro for 6 hours a day. The experience blows the iPad out of the water
It's not about generations per se for me - it's all about form factor and functionality. Until it becomes like "glasses" I have no interest - like not even thinking about it. And I got the first iPhone in September 2007 - was fantastic from the get go.
Getting to that size is pretty easy, if you do like Bigscreen Beyond and build absolutely no processing or tracking into the headset!
There will be apps using AI that can turn any 2D Video into 3D very soon.
All what it needs is depth measuring AI (which already exist, Tiktok demo'ed one).
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When I got my iPhone in September 2007 it was fantastic from the start. Great form factor and core functions no one had integrated correctly. But I get the app idea of the 4.
Always remember that in the 80s and 90s, everyone thought that in the relatively close future, everyone will be making videocalls all the time, that it was the obvious evolution of phone calls.
The reality is that for 90% of our communication need, it's the Text Message that really was the evolution of phone calls, simply because it is way less intrusive and much more simple and convenient. Videocalls are usually left for "special occasions with peoples you already know".
Anyway, the point is that convenience is important. And I don't see a future where a version of the AVP will be really more convenient than just picking your Phone/iPad/Mac to do the exact same thing.
The reality is that for 90% of our communication need, it's the Text Message that really was the evolution of phone calls, simply because it is way less intrusive and much more simple and convenient. Videocalls are usually left for "special occasions with peoples you already know".
Anyway, the point is that convenience is important. And I don't see a future where a version of the AVP will be really more convenient than just picking your Phone/iPad/Mac to do the exact same thing.