Apple Vision Pro Reviews and Unboxing Videos Shared Ahead of Launch

[gerald.d]

5) 2x the battery size/capacity, it's a carry battery, who cares, double the capacity and make it twice as thick (probably only 50% thick given the outer shell remain the same). It's ridiculous to have 2-3 hour of battery life, cant even finish a lotr extended movie. Make it at least 5 hours

Not gonna happen. The battery is almost certainly maxed out for airplane carry on.

 

[gnipgnop]

I’d rather hear from a REAL consumer and not some ‘Influencer’ who is going to say all the right things to sell the product so Apple continues to send them items and not cut them off due to a negative review.

Most of these people try to present themselves as being smarter about products than Apple.

 

[Kylo83]

I saw nothing on The Verge review I can’t do on my 500€ quest and that one actually has games and supports YouTube VR

Quest 3 is great, Vision Pro is not

 

[contacos]

I’d rather hear from a REAL consumer and not some ‘Influencer’ who is going to say all the right things to sell the product so Apple continues to send them items and not cut them off due to a negative review.

The Verge one is actually quiet critical and I’d even go as far as saying worst Apple product review I have ever listened to before its release

 

[cpnotebook80]

I am curious as to know how the Vision Pro knows what the face looks like..are there cameras inside the headset mapping the face out? see here for the latest video update.

 

[lindros2]

Quest 3 is great, Vision Pro is not

I came here to say exactly that.
We just got for my son and it's incredible - went cheap ($499 128GB) - but got better head thing (not just strap) + prescription lenses for $40 and it's unreal.

 

[ryan102]

Watched the reviews. Was expecting to be proved wrong about how good the Goggles might be but other than iJustine (who can't stop making sexual noises for votes), non of the reviewers seem particularly excited. Very little to be impressed by, hard to believe it's an Apple product tbh

 

[brofkand]

One of Apple's biggest failings in the post-Jobs era is it seems they have huge difficulties explaining why we need the products they release.

 

[cpnotebook80]

Quest 3 is great, Vision Pro is not

I have the quest 3 and I agree that Meta has had a heat start and devs were on the bandwagon way back then. The fact that we got steamlink now and xbox support is great for gamers - will apple even consider these? who knows.But as a new quest 3 user, it will be interesting to see how many similar apps from meta ports over to the vision pro in time.

 

[tomtad]

This all seems heavily compromised. Curious to see where Apple goes with this over the next few years because it's just not going anywhere with it's current form/feature set.

I can see a heavy pivot into entertainment and gaming

 

[Rogifan]

The thing I can’t get over is how isolating it seems. You have this these big, dorky looking ski googles attached to your face. Even if you can see through to what’s around you, you don’t look like you’re present. Who would want to engage with someone who has this strapped to their face?

 

[gnipgnop]

Nope. That's not how it works.

When you are looking at a 4k display, each of your eyes sees a 4k display.

No different to the Vision Pro.

Incorrect. 8K video experiences have already been confirmed by Apple. They didn't put in 23 million pixels by mistake.

"With Apple Vision Pro, users can experience Apple Immersive Video, a remarkable new entertainment format pioneered by Apple. Apple Immersive Video features 180-degree 3D 8K recordings captured with Spatial Audio to transport viewers to the center of a place, moment, or story."

 

[Rogifan]

You can blame Apple. Apple used to have a press office that made review materials available to a much wider array of journalists and personalities. That shifted in the last few years to seeking "relationships" with only key influencers as a way to essentially manage the reviews they get, like a politician who chooses to only talk to certain friendly reporters. There are exceptions—MKBHD has a large enough audience that he can balance fair criticisms against the control-freak tendencies of a company like Apple. But anyone else knows to either toe the line and embrace the relationship by speaking only to the faithful (iJustine in particular has given some really illluminating interviews about the "role" she plays to satisfy an Apple user audience that "struggles to see criticism as anything but an attack"), or buy the product themselves on the open market, speak more freely (and run the risk of having press credentials conveniently not offered to the next keynote speak), but give up the chance to have a video ready prior to release.

Apple is obsessive about not liking reviews without guardrails, and they were doubly so with AVP reviews. Makes me wonder what their own confidence is in the product.

I’m not sure I would include Nilay Patel in this. I don’t love the Verge (a lot of their stuff is too click-bait) but Nilay’s review seemed pretty neutral.

 

[Rogifan]

That’s Joanna Stern in general. She’s usually snarky and melodramatic though generally positive about Apple products. She took a rowboat out to an island in her review of the iPhone 14 Pro with the Dynamic Island.

Her reviews are to gimmicky. I guess that’s how you get people to watch/read but I don’t like it.

 

[contacos]

I am curious as to know how the Vision Pro knows what the face looks like..are there cameras inside the headset mapping the face out? see here for the latest video update.

It is shown in The Verge video. You take the VP off and it captures your face by looking to the side etc, just like FaceID basically but omg is that supposed to be iJustine in that video you linked to? I AM SCREAMING. This looks so bad! But the Verge video already showed how ridiculous it looks. They all laughed.

This is iJustine in Apple VR y'all. I am dying. Good thing Apple is calling it a beta!

 

[Rogifan]

It's not going to flop, but it'll be in the same class as the Mac Pro. People are aware of it, but not many own it.

I was thinking more like HomePod or AirPods Max.

 

[lindros2]

One of Apple's biggest failings in the post-Jobs era is it seems they have huge difficulties explaining why we need the products they release.

you're VR'ing it all wrong

 

[Lynxpoint]

As I read through the comments on the reviewers, I somehow want to see a video where the AVP box is given to some non-tech person... maybe some 'luddite'like' individual - and we see an honest reaction to opening, putting together, booting up, and use.... After all, if Apple is known for its ease of use with all its previous products, it would be interesting to see how AVP compares to people first seeing the Mac when it came out, or the iPhone/iPad, etc.

 

[Jensend]

MKBHD yes the others possibly unofficial extension of Apple PR department.

You can blame Apple. Apple used to have a press office that made review materials available to a much wider array of journalists and personalities. That shifted in the last few years to seeking "relationships" with only key influencers as a way to essentially manage the reviews they get, like a politician who chooses to only talk to certain friendly reporters. There are exceptions—MKBHD has a large enough audience that he can balance fair criticisms against the control-freak tendencies of a company like Apple. But anyone else knows to either toe the line and embrace the relationship by speaking only to the faithful (iJustine in particular has given some really illluminating interviews about the "role" she plays to satisfy an Apple user audience that "struggles to see criticism as anything but an attack"), or buy the product themselves on the open market, speak more freely (and run the risk of having press credentials conveniently not offered to the next keynote speak), but give up the chance to have a video ready prior to release.

Apple is obsessive about not liking reviews without guardrails, and they were doubly so with AVP reviews. Makes me wonder what their own confidence is in the product.

These are not reviews. It’s basically adverts, these YouTubers get basically bribed as they know they won’t get the opportunity to ‘review’ future products before their launch should they be less than enthusiastic in their ‘reviews’.

These are essentially just marketing commercials, as the devices are sent by Apple and content is highly restricted. They can't actually give real opinions or risk losing their status with Apple, and therefore potential income from YouTube.

(Just an FYI for anyone new here.)

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.

I see a bunch of people here complaining that Apple isn't letting reviewers give honest reviews, who are themselves reviewing reviews they haven't even watched yet. Marques, Joanna, and Nilay were literally laughing about how bad the personas were. Nilay had a bunch of criticisms about his experiences with the device. There was no gushing praise in the three videos I watched.

 

[spazzcat]

Quest 3 is great, Vision Pro is not

Expect the part where it is own by Meta.

 

[attohs]

It is shown in The Verge video. You take the VP off and it captures your face by looking to the side etc, just like FaceID basically but omg is that supposed to be iJustine in that video you linked to? I AM SCREAMING. This looks so bad! But the Verge video already showed how ridiculous it looks. They all laughed.

This is iJustine in Apple VR y'all. I am dying. Good thing Apple is calling it a beta!

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I want to see the Apple Executives post their personas, as well as photos of them using Vision Pro. That would show some confidence in the product.

 

[cateye]

The most interesting thing about these reviews is how it sort of flips the script on a lot of Apple products. Normally, we think: Magnificent hardware, held back by weakness in software (think like the modern iPads, which are marvels of hardware design while iPadOS struggles to figure out what it wants to be). Whereas my takeaway from a few of these reviews is there's real moments of brilliance in VisionOS (with rough edges, of course, but the foundations are there to do something actually different) while the hardware is holding the idea back.

Which isn't a surprise, I suppose. AR/VR is going to be stuck in a narrow niche until the hardware can become more effortless and transparent (in every sense of that word). At least with hardware, we know where it needs to know and Apple likely has the resources and the patience to get it there. Getting the software right is much harder, so at least Apple has the pieces in place.

 

[lindros2]

It's not going to flop, but it'll be in the same class as the Mac Pro. People are aware of it, but not many own it.

Halo product
But will Vision Air (not Pro) be mass market?
The original Watch had 1 million pre-orders in 2015, and was $550-$1050.

Now you can get a Watch for under $200, and they're everywhere.

 

[Jensend]

I almost got motion sickness just watching the demo of The Verge trying it.

That is a major issue with showing VR through a video: the video representation is more nauseating than the actual experience.

 

[cateye]

This is iJustine in Apple VR y'all. I am dying.

Good lord. That's... uh. Well! It's a good start, I'll give Apple that.