I got a Vision Pro on Day 1. There is a lot of misinformation and knowitall-ism going on about Vision Pro, what it is, and how it compares to other "headsets", so I wanted to just give one opinion from a regular user's point of view. I didn't buy my Vision Pro to sell it on ebay, to "glimpse the future", to pull TikTok stunts, or whatever else. I bought it to use it. I would say it took me the full initial launch week to fully get comfortable in it and start using it for literally almost everything I do. I'm leaving out commenting on the price on purpose because I think it's a dumb thing to complain about in this specific situation.
I'll start with my list of gripes:
1. Apps are scarce. I knew that going in, but iPad apps running in visionOS should be considered a stopgap. They don't look great.
2. The hardware with everything attached is hard to maneuver. Notice I didn't say it's heavy--I'll get to that later. I'm saying it's hard to pick up and put on because everything falls apart so easily. The lightshield and cushion are magnetic and I think some people are going to accidentally break these things by absentmindedly grabbing them from JUST the wrong spot instead of the metal frame as the instructions advise. The battery is heavy and connected to a cable. All these things make the putting on/taking off experience a little scary sometimes.
3. visionOS is a tad finnicky, not with usability in my experience, but with audio playback. It sometimes just decides to disconnect my AirPods if I'm using them or stop playing my podcast until I'm looking at it again. Things like that.
In summary: the hardware is not perfect. It's too clunky for a teenager to put on without accidentally breaking it, so it's not ready for primetime yet as far as durability. The software also needs work and more support. These things are to be expected with new platforms.
Here are the things I'm pleased with:
1. Once I got fully used to the system, I was able to fly around it just as quickly as anything else, with the exception of typing. I find the index fingers-only style typing in the virtual keyboard is simply "good enough", so I often use my hardware keyboard. It's not nearly as horrible as the tech reviewers say though. I like it better than trying to type on an iPad on-screen keyboard, honestly.
2. I'm pleasantly surprised by the usefulness of the Mac virtual display function. It is great and has been working flawlessly for me.
3. Video: I mean, obviously.
4. Environments. I work in a small office. Vision Pro gives it that TARDIS effect and makes it much easier to work on a giant screen without me having to buy a separate one. My office during the workday looks like a CNN newsroom of all my visionOS apps surrounding my Mac screen. It's so great.
5. Passthrough: Hated it day 1, love it now. I realized that while its major shortcoming is low light, it's still perfectly useable in low light and pretty convincing in good light if you don't inspect anything too closely. I've done all kinds of things around the house in passthrough mode and then been able to get right back to what I was doing.
6. Weight: It's just simply not bothering me. I don't know what to say. Especially because I have chronic neck and back pain from degenerative discs and arthritis. It was a major worry I had about the device going in. I've worn it for up to 3 or 4 hours for work and had zero pain or discomfort so far. If anything, it may be eliminating some of my pain because it's forcing me to look up and sit up straight instead of gradually slouching over my laptop or hunching over in my chair staring at a monitor.
Summary: I'm working on it. I'm playing on it. I'm doing all the things I was doing on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Sometimes it even replaces my Apple Watch as a timer.
I'm happy with this device. It's very gen 1, but I am already hooked and I'm keeping mine.
I'll start with my list of gripes:
1. Apps are scarce. I knew that going in, but iPad apps running in visionOS should be considered a stopgap. They don't look great.
2. The hardware with everything attached is hard to maneuver. Notice I didn't say it's heavy--I'll get to that later. I'm saying it's hard to pick up and put on because everything falls apart so easily. The lightshield and cushion are magnetic and I think some people are going to accidentally break these things by absentmindedly grabbing them from JUST the wrong spot instead of the metal frame as the instructions advise. The battery is heavy and connected to a cable. All these things make the putting on/taking off experience a little scary sometimes.
3. visionOS is a tad finnicky, not with usability in my experience, but with audio playback. It sometimes just decides to disconnect my AirPods if I'm using them or stop playing my podcast until I'm looking at it again. Things like that.
In summary: the hardware is not perfect. It's too clunky for a teenager to put on without accidentally breaking it, so it's not ready for primetime yet as far as durability. The software also needs work and more support. These things are to be expected with new platforms.
Here are the things I'm pleased with:
1. Once I got fully used to the system, I was able to fly around it just as quickly as anything else, with the exception of typing. I find the index fingers-only style typing in the virtual keyboard is simply "good enough", so I often use my hardware keyboard. It's not nearly as horrible as the tech reviewers say though. I like it better than trying to type on an iPad on-screen keyboard, honestly.
2. I'm pleasantly surprised by the usefulness of the Mac virtual display function. It is great and has been working flawlessly for me.
3. Video: I mean, obviously.
4. Environments. I work in a small office. Vision Pro gives it that TARDIS effect and makes it much easier to work on a giant screen without me having to buy a separate one. My office during the workday looks like a CNN newsroom of all my visionOS apps surrounding my Mac screen. It's so great.
5. Passthrough: Hated it day 1, love it now. I realized that while its major shortcoming is low light, it's still perfectly useable in low light and pretty convincing in good light if you don't inspect anything too closely. I've done all kinds of things around the house in passthrough mode and then been able to get right back to what I was doing.
6. Weight: It's just simply not bothering me. I don't know what to say. Especially because I have chronic neck and back pain from degenerative discs and arthritis. It was a major worry I had about the device going in. I've worn it for up to 3 or 4 hours for work and had zero pain or discomfort so far. If anything, it may be eliminating some of my pain because it's forcing me to look up and sit up straight instead of gradually slouching over my laptop or hunching over in my chair staring at a monitor.
Summary: I'm working on it. I'm playing on it. I'm doing all the things I was doing on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Sometimes it even replaces my Apple Watch as a timer.
I'm happy with this device. It's very gen 1, but I am already hooked and I'm keeping mine.
