Apple Vision Pro Reviews and Unboxing Videos Shared Ahead of Launch

[subjonas]

Several reviewers found that this feature does not work with 100% precision all the time. You 're just speculating but these experienced reviewers actually tested it thoroughly. The worst is with busy websites where even if they stare at a link sometimes another element is selected by accident.

Happen to have a link to those reviews? I’d be curious to see.
I admitted I was speculating, but the speculation was that it would take a long time, as in more than the few days at most that these reviewers have had the VP. I’m really waiting for long term reviews for this being such a new product category, at least a month but more the better. I’d definitely like to see how the tracking handles busy websites too.

 

[cateye]

Take this for what it's worth...

Marques, for now, has just showed the unboxing. And if you peruse the comments, there seem to be mostly warm and receptive comments about the AVP. So far, that video has 2,237,576 views.

Patel's video is definitely a harder review on the AVP, and the comments reflect much of the negativity found here on MacRumors. That video has 256,589 views so far.

The only thing I can suss out as your point, if indeed you have one, is that we're supposed to be positive because reasons.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Nilay's review. He balances the "magic" against the reality. It's a 1.0 product, it's going to have some 1.0 rough edges. Why is that so difficult for some people to accept? Criticism is not a bad thing, yet increasingly I feel like people are so brittle around here that anything appoaching criticism is just so unacceptable because Magic Apple something-something. I don't get it. Criticism is part of the review and reflection process. It doesn't make it a bad product, nor does praise make it a good product. Ultimately, it will need to adapt to what the marketplace wants it to be, and we're only just beginning that process. It's interesting to think about the path it will need to take to get there, warts and all.

 

[subjonas]

I don't know about that, I don't momentarily glance at my mouse at all, and rarely at my keyboard. Once Nilay pointed this out it makes sense why it might not be the best input method, although I'll reserve judgement until I actually have tested a VP out.

Not mouse button haha, I was referring to glancing at on screen buttons, like cursor/touch targets. But yeah, I’m cautious but reserving final judgment for personal testing as well.

 

[Surf Monkey]

You haven't told us why that matters.

I doubt it needs to be explained. The fact stands on its own. No camera and screen system can equal what your eyes can do. That’s why actual AR with transparent lenses is the ideal, not “pass through VR,” which is what Apple is doing. Why does it matter? Because (according to reports) the screen can be blurry (when looking at another screen for instance.) It suffers from chromatic aberration in low light situations. The field of view, while wide, does not encompass your entire peripheral vision. It can smear and blur when you move your head too quickly and, again reported by people using it, looking at the screens is tiring to the eyes and it feels refreshing to take the device OFF.

That’s why it matters.

If I'm a mechanic or a cook, and my primary focus is on the real world, sure, see-through AR is better. But I am quite functional doing basic chores even when my contact lenses aren't in and I can't focus more than 25cm in front of my face, and that's much lower "resolution" than the Vision Pro passthrough. If my primary focus is on virtual screens/content, why does it matter that the passthrough doesn't have perfect clarity?

Obviously no reason will suffice for you. You’ll dream up some mitigating factor that rationalizes away any criticism you encounter. That isn’t forthright discussion.

 

[mike2q]

You haven't told us why that matters. If I'm a mechanic or a cook, and my primary focus is on the real world, sure, see-through AR is better. But I am quite functional doing basic chores even when my contact lenses aren't in and I can't focus more than 25cm in front of my face, and that's much lower "resolution" than the Vision Pro passthrough. If my primary focus is on virtual screens/content, why does it matter that the passthrough doesn't have perfect clarity?

I'll answer why it matters. It matters because Apple says AR is the future and VR is not. The idea that the ideal use case for the Vision Pro is the opposite of what Apple designed for is absurd.
Also, a mechanic would never wear a $3500 headset while working.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

The only thing I can suss out as your point, if indeed you have one, is that we're supposed to be positive because reasons.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Nilay's review. He balances the "magic" against the reality. It's a 1.0 product, it's going to have some 1.0 rough edges. Why is that so difficult for some people to accept? Criticism is not a bad thing, yet increasingly I feel like people are so brittle around here that anything appoaching criticism is just so unacceptable because Magic Apple something-something. I don't get it. Criticism is part of the review and reflection process. It doesn't make it a bad product, nor does praise make it a good product. Ultimately, it will need to adapt to what the marketplace wants it to be, and we're only just beginning that process. It's interesting to think about the path it will need to take to get there, warts and all.

I said take it for what it's worth.

I don't have a single problem with Patel's review.

 

[bigjnyc]

I'm doing work right now at my desk with two 4K 27" displays.
I don't have a headache; I can tune out the rest of the room; and the displays will go as long as I have power in my office.

Compared with... Quest Pro or Vision Pro... how is it better?

Portability is the one example I can think of. you can't pick up those 27" displays and carry them on an airplane or take them to a hotel room if you are working on the road.... Not saying this would apply to you per se' but some people could see some value in this..... Rather than sitting at their hotel room or on the road somewhere working on their little laptop screen they can work using the VP..... And again not saying that this would apply to you so please don't attack me, but just pointing out how some folks may find value in it.

 

[anthogag]

I don’t think that would solve the problem. For one, it wouldn’t be exact enough (sub-millimeter) to match how precisely your fingers can feel where the solid surface is. Secondly, typing on a solid surface without key travel is uncomfortable and unhealthy in the long run. There have been a lot of proposals for surface-only keyboards over the last decades, but physical key travel is still what works best.

It’s like typing on glass. It is at least better than air typing.

Also it probably sounds better; fingers tapping on a wood table compared to the annoying click-click-click of a keyboard.

 

[neuropsychguy]

So at least 9 more years until something great comes from the AVP work?

(1998-2007 is gap between Newton cancellation and initial iPhone release)

That's certainly a possibility. I'm hoping Apple can pull it off within the next 5 years, but I think Apple's looking 10 years ahead with this product (which isn't the AVP so much as the AR/Spatial Computing).

 

[Surf Monkey]

Original post wasn't asking for a scientific calculator. Just a calculator.

Single calculations are a serious limitation even when using a simple calculator.

 

[XboxEvolved]

Another takeaway I came away with after watching the reviews are that a lot of ideas people have for what they are going to do with this (Apple's included) are ahead of what the actual product is currently.

I liked that Tom's Hardware showed some real unique uses for it other than looking at stuff, like the DJay Pro app and What the Golf, those looked neat.

 

[vipergts2207]

LOL..."pointless". You're aware that Meta Quest 3 has less than 5 million pixels per eye and is using a Snapdragon processor?

Pretty telling that you conveniently chose to not respond to the question of whether iPads and MacBooks are different product categories.

I have no doubt that the technology behind the AVP is superior to the Quest. That was never in question and the tech very much should be for 7 times the price. The question is when it comes to watching a big screen movie by yourself, can you get a relatively similar experience between a 100" OLED, the AVP, and a Meta Quest and the answer is undoubtedly yes, with the Meta Quest being the most economical way to do that by a wide margin. Where the AVP's higher pixel density would really be appreciated is when rendering the world in front of you, rather than playing a video.

While you proclaim that you can get something like a 100" OLED experience for cheaper with an AVP, you can get a similar experience for much cheaper still with a Meta Quest.

 

[AlastorKatriona]

No matter how you slice it, Vision Pro is not on a success trajectory, which endangers the future of Spatial Computing.

Apple needs to be laser focused on getting the AR Glasses to work, even though the hardware is years away. This is the future of AR and spatial computing...everyday glasses that people can wear normally and accent the real world around them. I don't need to glance at my watch or pick up my phone when my notifications just appear in my real world field of vision. Live translated subtitles appearing underneath the chin of the foreign-language-speaking person in front of you is not a fantasy, it's just a matter of the right hardware.

But Apple pulled the rip cord on this idea about a decade too soon, and now VR's universal failure is going to drag Vision Pro down with it, and Apple will lose interest in the category and cheat us out of what we should be using in just a few short years. Shame.

 

[hans1972]

It doesn’t matter. As long as they are given review units, their reviews are going to be biased.
True reviews are only from those who spend their own money to purchase the device. There can’t be any external influence.

But that means a majority of tech reviews for the last 40 years haven't been true reviews.
Is that really your view on reviews?

 

[AlastorKatriona]

Another takeaway I came away with after watching the reviews are that a lot of ideas people have for what they are going to do with this (Apple's included) are ahead of what the actual product is currently.

Well, duh. The potential that AR has when we finally have a respectable view finder is endless. This isn't it though. Not even close.

 

[Antoniosmalakia]

I don’t think that would solve the problem. For one, it wouldn’t be exact enough (sub-millimeter) to match how precisely your fingers can feel where the solid surface is. Secondly, typing on a solid surface without key travel is uncomfortable and unhealthy in the long run. There have been a lot of proposals for surface-only keyboards over the last decades, but physical key travel is still what works best.

There have been a lot of proposals for and indeed releases of VR headsets over the last decade and yet for the most part, people still use a notebook or desktop with monitors and OLED TVs for their computing/entertainment purposes.

If we are worried at all about health, I wouldn’t recommend putting a screen an inch away from each eye.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

Joanna Stern on CNBC today:

 

[farmboy]

I won’t even watch Justine she’s nails on a chalk board to me, much less any of these Apple PR cronies. These aren’t reviews. These are sales pitches by people who get paid lots of money from Apple. Completely biased info.

That's BS. These reviewers may monetize their reviews, some more than others, but they do not get paid by Apple.

 

[rovex]

As expected: nothing revolutionary, and once the novelty wears off, you’d rather not wear a heavy strap on your head and use a normal device screen instead.

 

[Johnny907]

Only review worth a darn of the bunch is Nilay from The Verge. It's honest without being cynical and it weighs what Apple is trying to do vs what Apple has actually accomplished. The narrow field of view is pretty damning in my book. Who wants to experience a brave new world through the viewpoint of binoculars? The point of this thing is to be immersive, and that limitation directly hinders that.

 

[Surf Monkey]

No matter how you slice it, Vision Pro is not on a success trajectory, which endangers the future of Spatial Computing.

Apple needs to be laser focused on getting the AR Glasses to work, even though the hardware is years away. This is the future of AR and spatial computing...everyday glasses that people can wear normally and accent the real world around them. I don't need to glance at my watch or pick up my phone when my notifications just appear in my real world field of vision. Live translated subtitles appearing underneath the chin of the foreign-language-speaking person in front of you is not a fantasy, it's just a matter of the right hardware.

But Apple pulled the rip cord on this idea about a decade too soon, and now VR's universal failure is going to drag Vision Pro down with it, and Apple will lose interest in the category and cheat us out of what we should be using in just a few short years. Shame.

A system like the Vision will never fit into normal glasses frames.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Joanna Stern on CNBC today:

Makes her look like a tool.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

Who wants to experience a brave new world through the viewpoint of binoculars

Not a single other reviewer has said they had an experience like what Patel said. So I found his comments curious. Why aren't we seeing that complaint by others?

 

[turbineseaplane]

As expected: nothing revolutionary, and once the novelty wears off, you’d rather not wear a heavy strap on your head and use a normal device screen instead.

Yep

This is shaping to be exactly what many thought it was.

Mostly just another entry in the VR headset space, but this time with the Apple hype and pricing

 

[spinedoc77]

Portability is the one example I can think of. you can't pick up those 27" displays and carry them on an airplane or take them to a hotel room if you are working on the road.... Not saying this would apply to you per se' but some people could see some value in this..... Rather than sitting at their hotel room or on the road somewhere working on their little laptop screen they can work using the VP..... And again not saying that this would apply to you so please don't attack me, but just pointing out how some folks may find value in it.

You can only "pick up" one of those displays as the VP only outputs a single display when mirroring MacOS. VisionOS does more, I'm just not sure how much work I would do in that OS. That single display is a huge issue for me, and just seems like such a rookie mistake from Apple. I totally get what you are saying about portability, I just am not sure personally I'd sacrifice having 1.5lbs strapped to my face and tethered to the wall over just using my laptop.