Trying the new Viture Pro AFTER Vision Pro: a Review

[robgreene]

My first experience with any sort of AR/VR headset was the Apple Vision Pro. I've seen lots of reviews from people who had already used other headsets and THEN tried the Vision Pro, but have not see anyone who tried another headset after STARTING on the Vision Pro.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that a traditional glasses look is the ultimate landing spot for this category of devices, and I agree. After doing some research on the current glasses options, the Viture Pro continuously came up as a best-of-its-kind option.

At $500, my expectations were low. Here's how it stacked up for me:

PROs:

1. Ease of Setup: The Viture Pro is plug and play. There's literally ZERO setup involved. You plug the cable into the glasses and your device, and that device's screen instantly appears in the glasses. This was a great first impression
2. Size and Weight: I could wear the Viture Pro all day long. It's fantastically sized and weighted.
3. Myopia Adjustment: this wasn't as effective as advertised, but it was good enough that I hope future Vision Pros offer this sort of fine tuning. As a photographer, I'm used to having this sort of control on the camera's viewfinder, and it makes a ton of sense for dialing in focus without needing $200 lens inserts.
4. Battery Life: the glasses are powered by the device they're plugged in to, so battery life is never an issue.
5. Price: At 1/7 of the price of the Vision Pro, the Viture Pro will be an attractive starter option for some users.

CONs:

1. Device Dependence: there's not much to the Viture Pro. It's a 2nd screen for your device. The glasses have no value as a standalone device.
2. No OS. No apps. No resizing or rearranging windows. You get 1 window at a preset size. Take it or leave it.
3. Poor Color: My primary use for anything like this is editing photos. To do that well, I need color accuracy. I found the Viture Pro's screen to be significantly warmer than my Apple Devices. This issue alone makes these a dealbreaker in my case, but may not be a bother to those who have less need for Apple's level of color accuracy.
4. Screen moves with Glasses: unlike the Vision Pro, which creates a true AR experience with your windows floating in a fixed position in space, the Viture Pro's screen moves when you move. This was wildly disorienting, and could easily lead to motion sickness, particularly when traveling (which is a major use case for this category of devices).
5. Temperature: I was shocked that, even after just 2-3 minutes of use, the Viture glasses were remarkably hot.

Having used both devices, it's clear to me now why Apple made the device they made. I'm thankful they did not sacrifice the UX and UI, and while I look forward to the day when the Vision Pro is smaller and lighter, I have a newfound appreciation for where we're at in the technological development process.

Coming from the Vision Pro, the Viture Pro glasses, despite addressing most of the major complaints about the Vision Pro, are an instant "no" for me, and I felt that way from the moment I put them on. I would rate these as a great accessory for a kid with a Nintendo Switch that wants to play on a bigger screen away from home. I could also see them having value for businesspeople who need to work on sensitive documents in public places (airports, etc). But for creative professionals, they offer zero value.

 

[Carac]

I'd also try the xreal with their Beam media "brick". It tracks head position and doesn't get "hot" like the viture. I also think the colors are better.

 

[G5isAlive]

Thanks for your effort in addressing alternatives and pros and cons of the different devices. I am one of those fortunate ones that can wear a AVP for hours with no problem, but ultimately I hope Apple comes out with lighter glasses like you describe here, without all the problems you describe here. It's clear though the tech just isn't there yet. As such, the AVP is a great test bed for Apple to prepare software for the future so that when the tech is ready, the software will be in place. I get why some are disappointed at being an expensive test bed, but I rather enjoy this glimpse of the future (pun intended).

 

[subjonas]

I have the same Viture glasses. I got them after looking into the Vision Pro and realizing the VP wouldn’t work for my needs (for software reasons that might not change any time soon).
I would agree with a lot of your review, but I would point out some things. The main clarification is there is software for the glasses called Space Walker. You install it on your computer or phone and it does give it a lot more flexibility with screens. It’s pseudo AR—functional but far from polished like VP. I used it with PC and Mac laptops for the purpose of extra displays while on the go. Mac version seems better but not by much. On both, the virtual screens drift over time, although you can recenter them pretty easily. And the software overall is quirky. The computer registers the Viture glasses as a regular display, which is good because it functions well, but to create the AR displays via Space Walker, it creates “dummy” displays which don’t operate like regular displays, it’s quirky. It definitely feels like a workaround rather than a native solution. It’s probably the best of all the AR glasses available now, but that’s not saying much.
The glasses do get pretty hot on the stem that the cable connects to but the hot part doesn’t touch my head, so I only notice it when I touch the glasses with my hand, so I don’t mind much.
I might be able to look past the quirkiness, but the reason the glasses don’t work for my (main) purposes is that they are tinted sunglasses and have strong reflections that interfere with your vision of the real world. I need to be able to see clearly for my work. I thought I could make do with the tint, and I probably can, but the reflections are a dealbreaker.
So I’ve relegated them to just an on-the-go private media viewer, which is really what they are.

Edit- thinking about this further, in order to make the glasses better media viewers, I think what they need is built-in digital image stabilization (kind of like in a camera, gyro senses motion and digitally compensates to keep the screen a little steadier), and built-in "ambient mode" (picture shrinks into the corner of your field of view) that you can toggle on/off by pressing a button on the glasses. Both of these should be built into the glasses without the need for Space Walker so that the glasses would be a good media viewer for any device it’s plugged into, playing any content.

 

[robgreene]

there is software for the glasses called Space Walker. You install it on your computer or phone and it does give it a lot more flexibility with screens. It’s pseudo AR—functional but far from polished like VP.

Thanks for sharing @subjonas - I decided to try it out before returning the glasses, and you're correct: this does dramatically enhance the glasses' usability as a screen sharing device. The lack of color accuracy is still a deal breaker for me, but I'm impressed enough by the possibility this presents that it makes me wonder if Apple might release something like this sooner than later. I'd be first in line to buy.

One other issue I've noticed: while the glasses themselves don't have battery life issues, there sure suck my MacBook Pro's battery dry in a hurry. I just lost 27% in half an hour using a 3screen setup.

 

[robgreene]

@subjonas do you know of any way to calibrate the color of the display in the Viture?

Edit: Nevermind, I just realized that because it's simulating screens, you can adjust it just like you would any other external display. May experiment some more with this.

 

[Night Spring]

How would these glasses work for someone who wears prescription glasses? And why are the glasses tinted? Doesn't it get dark when used indoors?

 

[robgreene]

How would these glasses work for someone who wears prescription glasses? And why are the glasses tinted? Doesn't it get dark when used indoors?

I'd imagine most people will use these primarily with the glasses in full black mode. It helps seal off light and makes the projected image pop more. There's a button on the left side of the glasses that lets you toggle the black surrounding the screen on or off, but since the screen image is always blocking a large % of your view, I have yet to find a purpose for this.

 

[subjonas]

How would these glasses work for someone who wears prescription glasses? And why are the glasses tinted? Doesn't it get dark when used indoors?

I'd imagine most people will use these primarily with the glasses in full black mode. It helps seal off light and makes the projected image pop more. There's a button on the left side of the glasses that lets you toggle the black surrounding the screen on or off, but since the screen image is always blocking a large % of your view, I have yet to find a purpose for this.

As far as prescription, if you have very weak prescription, there are built in dials that may suffice. Otherwise you can buy prescription lens attachments from Viture.

Yeah tinted glasses is only good if you want to focus solely on your content and block out all distractions (eg. turning off lights in a theater). That’s mainly what these glasses are for, when you want to sit down and focus on content, especially while on the go.

That has its place but I would much prefer completely clear AR glasses. AR is all about staying present in the world, but it’s hard to do if your view of the world is impaired. I don’t know of any AR/MR/XR glasses that are adequately clear though. They all have to be tinted so that you can see the projected screen clearly. That’s probably why Apple had to go with video pass through.

 

[marcopolo007uk]

But, surely the DRM on video content is a total killer? Affecting Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, etc, as the device would show as an external display device when plugged into a MacOS or iOS device? Without apps, to allow this (and the VP has a Safari to fall back on for many services), I feel it fails as a consumption device?

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Thanks for your effort in addressing alternatives and pros and cons of the different devices. I am one of those fortunate ones that can wear a AVP for hours with no problem, but ultimately I hope Apple comes out with lighter glasses like you describe here, without all the problems you describe here. It's clear though the tech just isn't there yet. As such, the AVP is a great test bed for Apple to prepare software for the future so that when the tech is ready, the software will be in place. I get why some are disappointed at being an expensive test bed, but I rather enjoy this glimpse of the future (pun intended).

👍
Yeah. The price debate is pure nonsense...
My living room tv costed me almost as much as an entry point AVP.
I got the loaded version of the AVP to be future-proof.
Price shouldn't be an issue for debate.

There are $30K cars and $300K cars. $300 monitors and $5,000 monitors.
You buy what you can afford. If you can't afford it, then you either wait until you can or get the less expensive alternative.
Just don't expect to get the same experience.

 

[robgreene]

But, surely the DRM on video content is a total killer? Affecting Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, etc, as the device would show as an external display device when plugged into a MacOS or iOS device? Without apps, to allow this (and the VP has a Safari to fall back on for many services), I feel it fails as a consumption device?

The DRM only seems to kick in when the SpaceWalker app is used. If you're content with a projection that moves wherever you move (again, a bit disorienting), Apple Store purchases seem to play just fine.

 

[subjonas]

But, surely the DRM on video content is a total killer? Affecting Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, etc, as the device would show as an external display device when plugged into a MacOS or iOS device? Without apps, to allow this (and the VP has a Safari to fall back on for many services), I feel it fails as a consumption device?

I'd have to test again to make sure but from what I remember, I found DRM only restricted video on macOS. I only tried it using the Space Walker software which created dummy displays, so I don't know if that was part of it, but when I tried to watch Netflix via a browser it wouldn't let me. I didn't test all those video apps (I believe I used Netflix and Max), but when I used the Viture with my iPad, the apps played fine. This was using the Viture's main display (the big one always in front of your face), not using Space Walker which I didn't try downloading on the iPad. Note I think the video was actually Airplaying to the Viture, and maybe DRM doesn't interfere with Airplaying.

Edit-yeah, my experience seems to agree with robgreene's.