Dear robbietop,
I trust you are in the finest of spirits. I beg to differ gently on your stance regarding the comparison between the Apple Vision Pro and the combination of an iPad Pro M1 and AirPods Max, and I find myself compelled to shine a different light upon the matter.
To start, let us momentarily overlook the specifics of pixel count, HDR, or any other technical jargon that might obfuscate the matter at hand. Instead, let us focus on the unique virtues that the Vision Pro brings to the table.
Firstly, we must consider the private nature of the VR glasses. As you nestle yourself into your seat on the airplane, the Vision Pro ensures an experience unmarred by prying eyes. Your documents, your films, your digital pursuits, remain exclusively within your realm, safeguarded from the curious gazes of those around you. In an era where data security is of paramount importance, this is a considerable advantage that should not be taken lightly.
Secondly, the VR glasses present a favourable situation ergonomically. You see, the Vision Pro aligns the display perfectly with your line of sight, sparing you from the potential strain caused by continuously peering down at an iPad. The display is also exempt from the threat of potential damage inflicted by reclining seats or other inflight inconveniences.
Lastly, regarding the matter of battery life, it is true that the Vision Pro may appear less resilient when compared to the iPad Pro or AirPods Max. However, the technology required to provide an immersive virtual reality experience is considerably power-intensive, and this should be factored into our assessment. Moreover, this issue is readily mitigated by the use of an external battery pack, commonly referred to as a "powerbank". This solution ensures that your virtual endeavours are not prematurely interrupted due to a depleted battery.
To conclude, whilst your predilections towards the combination of the iPad Pro and AirPods Max are wholly understandable, one might find the Vision Pro's unique virtues make it an intriguing alternative. Just as there is no necessity to indulge in self-flagellation to gauge its unpleasantness, similarly there is no necessity to denounce new technology before we explore its full potential.
Yours sincerely,
DrV
Dear Sir/Madam/Mme,
I write to inform you that 2 hours is a poor length of time on any major flight. Cross country is 5 hours, or 2.5x the battery life.
I also write to inform you that I don't care if people spy on what I am doing on my laptop or tablet. In any day and age, sensitive information should only be dealt with in a private environment. If you are uncomfortable with others seeing your private data in public, maybe that means it should be handled in private. I don't make love to my girlfriend or handle my bank/tax/credit info on a train or plane, I don't do either of them at the same time, and wearing a headset in public still will not change that for me. It is the very context of the moment that makes me pause. Not because I have the right device.
Also, we will have to eventually address the verisimilitude, simulacrum, etc of the device itself. I thought since you and I are thus now engaged in a formal and professional exchange of ideas, I would raid the dictionary and thesaurus.
By a thing having a virtue of existence does not inevitably give unto that thing a purpose. Let us think about the idea of personal home aircraft, or a car that can become a plane. Just because we can does not mean we should, or does not mean we have the logistics to handle the ATC needs of 330,000,000 people using personal aircraft much less 7,800,000,000.
If we ascribe purpose to every human life, eventually purpose has no meaning. If every human being is special, then that means special is normal and something all inherently keep in trust to their existence just by the virtue of existing.
This means special no longer means special, now it means average/common/not special.
This contraption/device/scuba gear reminiscent has no reason to exist other that to sell it. It does not do anything a smartphone does with any further innovation in convenience. First of all, it's a helmet. Second of all, it has a "power bank", to use your words. The battery of the iPhone allows it to be fit into a pocket. The Vision Pro will be lucky if it doesn't get scratched, dented, or damaged in a bag. We sell the Oculus models, both expensive and cheap. They get scratched and damaged very easily. I can only imagine how a $3499 product will fare. Apple will have a whole new industry of protective cases for your scuba goggles.
As for verisimilitude and simulacrum, I go to Descartes and the criticisms. If we are truly just a brain in a vat, how is putting the brain in a vat inside of another vat going to help further understand our world? Isn't that just a solipsism? If an entire generation of mammalian bipedal chimps is raised wearing these things, what further need for human empathy and compassion would they need other than empty words and pedantic platitudes on a very narrowly controlled self-centered (solipsistic) space only they can see.
Sure, you can SharePlay that experience outward, but that defeats the point of the device and calls into question why you couldn't just buy an AppleTV or iPhone and SharePlay from your device to the TV in the first place, saving money.
This literally sounds like Apple has been struggling with how to figure out how to turn what is essentially a gaming peripheral into a general computing device. How do you get a gaming VR headset to become a productivity computer? Creative expression is a better niche market fit, but in order to justify designing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling the thing there needs to be a market use case for said device.
I do not see a world in which these will be worn daily by an average common person. Maybe like 100 years from now. But right now, I do not see anything remotely warranting an absolute need for this device. It is a luxury peripheral for the luxury crowd.
Then don't even get me started on the cavalcade of app developers walking on stage touting how great the thing is to use. "Hey guys, we edited the latest $2 Billion US Marvel film on this thing!" LOL, no you didn't. It was a dude on a Mac Pro with a mouse and keyboard.
There are better HIDs already existing in the market to accomplish productivity and creative consumption. The TV can be shared by all in a room. The smartphone and tablet and laptop and desktop all use a hand extension (mouse, keyboard) or the hand itself. And with the other HIDs, there is tactile feedback. Not just poking randomly around in the air like a child pretending to be Harry Potter.
I summarily reject this AI, headset solipsistic world everyone seems to be building as it rejects humanism itself. Sitting around playing with yourself on an inward and self-centered world is not human, it is sociopathic. They call that narcissism, I use the term solipsistic to differentiate. But it is not a stretch to imagine a planetary populace growing up using these things to become self-centered and obsessed with themselves when the medium for consuming content is a screen only they can see that covers their most important senses with a device that tricks them into a reality they have total control over.
People have already done this with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Look at the multitude of dumbed down people more obsessed with posting pictures of their food than eating the food itself? Or the countless arguments had everyday about people's personal opinions and how that remotely changes the landscape of global politics? Democracy dies drowning in a deep depth of dumbed down diatribes at dusk or dawn or de afternoon (ran out of Ds, could you pick up some at the store on your way home?).
How does two people arguing on the Internet over a headset change Apple's tune about launching an unnecessary and redundant product to a very steep and expensive price? It does not. They are lumbering forward, completely uncaring about the space they have just created, only caring that they created it and are looking for a monopolized space to control their "vision" on the future of computing.
Despite Meta and Sony both struggling for the better part of a decade trying to sell the device as just a gaming peripheral. 10,000,000 yada yada yada. The iPhone was predicted to have sold 72.3 million last QUARTER. 10,000,000 lifetime is 1/7 of the iPhone in 3 MONTHS.
These arguments equating the launch of the iPhone to this are dumb. A device that sells 7x in 3 months what takes another device the better part of a decade to sell is a false equivalence and a straw man's argument. The very fact that most people cannot figure this out further proves the point that it is indeed a straw man's false equivalency.
Also, the iPhone sold 3 million, or 1/3 of 10, in the first year. So, in three years the iPhone outsold the Meta Whatever™️ and Sony PSVR1-2 in its first three years on the market.
Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong, Mrs.