Review of the Vision Pro: An Unpolished and Unfocused First Headset from Apple
 |
| Review of the Vision Pro: |
Steve Jobs announced the introduction of three devices on stage at a San Francisco convention center around 17 years ago: an internet browser, a phone, and an iPod.
He declared, "These are not three different devices." "We are calling this one device the iPhone."
Even though the original iPhone cost $500, I was excited to upgrade from my subpar Motorola flip phone. There were shortcomings, such as slow mobile internet. However, the iPhone lived up to expectations.
I've had a very different experience during the past week with Apple's latest first-generation device, the Vision Pro, a virtual reality headset shaped like a pair of ski goggles. Released on Friday, the $3,500 wearable computer employs cameras to let you view the outside world while navigating between apps and movies.
It is a "spatial computer," according to Apple, that combines the real and virtual worlds so users may work, watch movies, and play games.
I purchased a Vision Pro on Friday after Apple refused to give The New York Times an early evaluation unit. (With the add-ons that a lot of people will want, like a $200 carrying case, $180 AirPods, and $100 prescription lens inserts for those who use glasses, it costs much more than $3,500.) I have been wearing the headset for around five days, and I don't think people will find it very useful.
Compared to other first-generation Apple items I've used, the gadget feels less well-made. It's not any more efficient for work than a computer, and the games I've played aren't that enjoyable, so I can't really suggest it. When a family used FaceTime, a feature that scared kids was the ability to make video chats with a digital avatar that looked like the user.
 |
| Review of the Vision Pro: apple |
One of the things that the headset really excels at delivering on is playing video, which includes crisp movies and your personal 3-D recordings that allow you to step back in time and have a surreal yet fascinating experience.
Over the past ten years, firms such as Meta, HTC, and Sony have faced significant challenges in selling headsets to general consumers because to their products' bulky design, limited app selection, and unappealing appearance.
Compared to competing headsets, the Vision Pro offers a better user interface, greater picture quality, more apps, and more processing power. However, it weighs a little bit more than Meta's less expensive Quest headsets and requires an extra battery pack that runs for just two hours.
The thick plastic headset visors of the past are not as attractive as the Apple product's ski-goggle design. However, videos of early adopters—men I refer to as Vision Bros—walking about outside with the headset attest to the fact that people still look stupid when sporting tech goggles, even in cases where Apple designed them.
Interface
 |
| Review of the Vision Pro: Apple |
When it comes to creating an immersive 3-D interface that is easy for users to manipulate with their hands and eyes, the Vision Pro far outperforms other headsets I've examined. I observed that four coworkers quickly became proficient with using the headset once I allowed them to wear it in the workplace.
That's because anybody who owns an iPhone or a comparable smartphone is familiar with it. A grid of app icons will appear. When you look at an app, it's like having a mouse cursor hovering over it; to click on it, quickly squeeze and tap your thumb and index finger together. You may also move about and expand windows with the pinch gesture.
The Digital Crown is a knob that comes with the Vision Pro. You may see your apps' digital windows in the foreground and the actual world in the background by rotating it counterclockwise. The real world is hidden behind an opaque background when it is turned clockwise.
Most of the time, I preferred to peek into the actual world, yet I still felt alone. The headset gives you a binocular-like effect by blocking off a portion of your peripheral vision. I will admit that there were moments when I found it difficult to remember to walk my dogs because I couldn't see them or hear their cries. In another instance, I fell over a stool. A representative for Apple cited the Vision Pro's safety instructions, which suggest that customers remove any obstructions.
Completing Tasks
You can position various floating apps around yourself when wearing the headset for work. For example, you can arrange your spreadsheet in the center, your notes app to the right, and your browser to the left. It is akin to swiping windows on a computer screen in three dimensions. Pinching floating screens, as cool as it may sound, doesn't improve productivity because you have to constantly turn your head to see them.
I could barely stand juggling the Microsoft Word app, a browser, and a notes app for more than fifteen minutes before being sick to my stomach.
Typing on the Vision Pro's floating keyboard, which necessitates pressing one key at a time, is the least enjoyable feature. I realized I wouldn't meet my deadline and had intended to write this review while wearing the headset.
Although I would prefer to use a laptop that doesn't add weight to my face at that time, there is an option to attach a physical keyboard.
The Vision Pro can also operate with Mac computers, where you can reflect the screen into the headset as a virtual window that can be extended to seem like a big monitor. In my experiments, there was a persistent lag – each keyboard took a quarter of a second to register practically, and the mouse pointer moved sluggishly. It was also annoying because, despite the fact that the Mac is not designed to operate that way, I had an innate need to manipulate it with pinches.
 |
| Review of the Vision Pro: Apple |
I tested the headset again in the kitchen, opening a web browser and loading a recipe for pizza while I gathered and measured materials. I had to take off the headset after becoming sick again while moving around and staring through the camera. Sitting is the most comfortable position for using the Vision Pro. Apple suggests taking pauses to lessen motion sickness.
These days, video conferencing is a must in the workplace, and in this regard, the Vision Pro falls particularly short of a laptop equipped with a camera. The Persona function, which Apple has referred to as a "beta" feature due to its incomplete nature, is a 3-D avatar created by stitching together photographs of your face taken with the headset's cameras.
The Vision Pro created an ugly image of me with no cheekbones and blurred ears; on a FaceTime chat with my in-laws, they noted the blur evoked 1980s studio photo feelings. Personas are so uncomfortable that individuals will be ashamed to use these in a business call.
The 3-year-old niece of mine turned around and left upon seeing the virtual Uncle Brian. The second child, who was seven years old, crouched behind her dad and said, "He looks fake," in his ear.
Do You Have Us Entertaining?
The Vision Pro excels in video. You can pinch and drag a video to make it larger on a large, high-resolution TV when streaming movies through apps like Disney+ and Max. Some movies, like "Avengers: Endgame" and "Avatar 2," are also available for three-dimensional viewing. Compared to the quality of Meta's Quest products, the picture appears significantly brighter and crisper. The Apple headphone has great audio quality, but if you want to use it in a public place, you'll need AirPods because of how loud the speakers are.
The two-hour battery life of the headset is insufficient to see most full-length films, but in my experience, this was irrelevant because I was unable to view movies for longer than twenty to thirty minutes before having to take a break from the heavy headset and rest my neck and eyes.
(A word of caution: Although their websites function well for streaming video, the Netflix and YouTube apps are not compatible with the Vision Pro.)
A headset can be used as a personal television in certain situations, such as in a small apartment, on an airplane, or on the couch when someone else is watching a TV show that you'd like to tune out of. Personally, I like to watch movies on my flat-screen TV because it can be shared.
Spatial videos are videos captured with the cameras of the iPhone 15 Pro or the Vision Pro that can be seen in three dimensions on the headset. I could reach out and pretend to pet my dogs while I watched a video of them enjoying goodies at home. Although they were grainy, the videos were entertaining.
There aren't many games available presently for the headset. I played a few of the recently released Vision Pro games, such Blackbox, which requires you to move around a 3-D environment to solve riddles and pop bubbles. It was attractive, but my attention faded as soon as the novelty wore off. With a smaller selection of titles than Meta's $250 Quest 2 and $500 Quest 3 headsets, it's difficult to suggest the Vision Pro for virtual reality gaming.
 |
| Review of the Vision Pro: Apple |
Conclusion and my personal opinion
The Vision Pro represents the start of something, though I'm not sure exactly what it is.
However, the purpose of a product review is to evaluate the current situation. The Vision Pro is an excellent first-generation product but has major issues and trade-offs that have yet to be fully realized. It serves no purpose other than being ostentatious personal television.
What strikes me the most about the Vision Pro is how hard it is to share the headset with others—especially for a machine this costly. Although there is a guest mode, you cannot set up profiles so that members of the family can load their own apps and videos.
Thus, it's a solitary computer that arrives at a moment when we are trying to re-establish contact after years of concealed seclusion. That might be the largest blind spot with the Vision Pro.