I’ve tried a cheaper headset, and I’ve tried a more expensive headset, but the US-only launch of Vision Pro meant I had to wait impatiently for my chance to go hands-on with the spatial computer here from Apple in the United Kingdom.
I wouldn’t have to wait much longer as the walk-in demos will likely be available on June 28, but British developer Maze Theory offered me the chance to try one a little sooner…
Despite never having seen Vision Pro in real life before, the constant exposure to photos and videos made it feel quite familiar.
The only thing that still looked strange, perhaps because Apple carefully avoided including it in its own photos, was that external battery pack.
I had an unexpected experience with Apple’s accessibility features when the device successfully calibrated to my eyes, but then refused to let me actually emphasize anything by looking at it. A childhood eye injury means I have a severely enlarged right pupil, and I suspect this caused the confusion.
However, Maze’s chief gaming officer Russ Harding delved into the settings and found an option to control Vision Pro with one eye. We selected my left eye and everything worked fine then.
The user interface and AR environment
Again, having seen so many photos and videos, the overall look of the main VP screens felt familiar.
The graphics look great! While somewhat sensitive to the position of the headset, I had to make minor adjustments from time to time when things in the corners became blurry. However, keep in mind that I was using a shared device that we customized for me for just a few minutes. A personal fit will probably solve this.
The user interface is very simple – almost at simple! Since most things don’t require you to touch or manipulate any buttons, just look at something and then pinch somewhere, I found it wasn’t immediately intuitive. But it took very little time to get used to it, and then it’s just fantastically easy to use!
Before I tried it, I wasn’t sure what to make of the augmented reality approach. On my Quest 2, the virtual monitor background is artificial, so you’re essentially in a VR environment rather than an AR environment.
With Vision Pro, it’s an AR experience by default, where your app windows float in your real-world environment – with the choice of lowering the opacity or replacing it with a VR background.
Beforehand I was somewhat skeptical about the benefit of this. After all, my focus will be on the screens, so a real-world assessment of my surroundings seemed pointless or even actively distracting.
But once I experienced it, I was absolutely sold! Partly because of the practicalities of things like being able to see a keyboard and trackpad, and partly just because of the vastly reduced feeling of being disconnected from the world around me.
It’s also great to be able to see when someone enters the room so that everyone around you doesn’t feel like they’re being ignored.
EyeSight is just a pointless gimmick
But the other way around – people who could see me somewhat, but not really, also known as EyeSight – struck me as a pointless gimmick. When Russ was wearing the device and I saw his eyes, it didn’t feel like I was actually seeing his face at all, and when I looked at a photo of my eyes on it, it was the same – just a waste of time. technology.
Apple has reportedly dropped plans for a Vision Pro 2 and is instead focusing all its efforts on a cheaper Apple Vision product. The company is said to be struggling to find ways to bring costs down to a more consumer-friendly level, with many suggesting it will need to cut costs by more than half to reach a price point of $1500. Dropping EyeSight is a no-brainer here.
While Apple has touted this as an important feature, meant to ease the sense of isolation between a VP user and the people around them, I’m pretty sure it won’t hesitate to remove it.
I have to say it’s somewhat comical to watch someone use VP, especially typing on the virtual keyboard! The same was true when I saw myself in that reflective wall. But hey, I’ve used a lot of technology in public that will probably cause eye rolls among the non-techerati.
Comfort
In total, I had to wear the device for about an hour, and based on that experience I would say that comfort is one of the biggest challenges with this technology right now.
It was a relatively warm afternoon by British standards, and I certainly felt the heat as my upper body was encased in the device. This mirrors my experience with the Meta Quest 2, which is also warm to the touch.
I also felt the weight of Vision Pro after about the first 30 minutes. I use my Quest with the optional rear battery pack, and while that increases the overall weight, that mass is evenly distributed between the front and rear. Vision Pro, on the other hand, is very front heavy, and I definitely started to feel that, especially when looking down and then back up.
I think all AR/VR headset makers need to work hard to reduce weight, and would say Apple also needs to address the weight balance of the device.
The graphics
I said the graphics are great, but the real test was trying out Maze Theory’s upcoming game, Infinitely within.
The Vision Pro version isn’t finished yet and I’m not allowed to say much about it yet, which is probably for the best since I’m not a gamer! I had warned the company in advance that I was only coming to try out Vision Pro and experience the graphical quality of the game, so it all worked out fine.
Here’s the trailer (note that the virtual hands you see here are from the Quest version, not Vision Pro):
An interesting aspect of the game is the way you switch back and forth between AR and VR environments. For example, a gigantic baseboard in AR form appears in your room, and you have to manipulate objects in this environment to unlock VR environments. Switching back and forth between the two environments definitely feels like it adds interest.
The quality of the graphics is very, very high. Virtual objects don’t do that rather look just as real as, well, real, but it’s very close. Once I was immersed in the AR environment, my brain quickly began to view actual and virtual objects as equally real – or perhaps equally unreal!
There was a time when I handed Russ my phone to take the photos above, and when he handed it back I did a sort of double take before putting it back on the table. Was that a real table, or was I about to drop my phone on the floor?! The same goes for the baseboard: even though I could have walked through it, my brain definitely interpreted it as a real object in the room that I had to walk around.
There are some issues with object handling in the half-finished VP version, so the company let me experience the game on the Quest 3 as well, to see what the handling would be like once it was completed.
One small-sounding but dramatic difference
Comparing the Vision Pro and Quest 3 versions was really helpful as I got the chance to make back-to-back comparisons between the two headsets – and the Vision Pro graphics felt dramatic better.
I’m very careful to say ‘felt’ rather than looked, because I don’t think it was necessarily about resolution or frame rate; rather, there was one small-sounding difference in the devices’ capabilities that made a huge difference.
In Vision Pro, the objects in the game reflect the lifelike light in the room. So, for example, when I turned an object in my hands, it reflected the light coming from the real window to one side. Quest can’t do that.
That may sound like a relatively minor thing, but for me personally, I can’t emphasize enough how much of an impact that had on convincing my brain that virtual objects were real.
Infinitely within will be available on July 12, in time for the UK launch of Vision Pro.
Should I buy one?
Ahead of Vision Pro’s original launch, I confidently predicted I wouldn’t buy one, and suggested I’d probably skip the next version as well – before opting for a third-generation device. Once it launched, I said it looked mighty impressive, but my assessment was unchanged.
At the time, I suspected that Apple would have to discount a future Vision Air model to around $1,000 before it would get my money – and I could see that being quite a few years away.
Has anything changed now that I’ve tried it? Yes and no.
No, I’m still not going to buy Vision Pro. My main interest is to use it to either completely replace a Mac for work while traveling, or at least have it act as my multi-monitor setup. Even if a personalized fit is possible, the comfort is not yet there to allow it to be worn for a working day. As an entertainment device, to have a home theater experience anywhere, I am completely satisfied with the Viture One XR glasses.
But yeah, I think I’m willing to pay more now than before I tried it. If Apple manages to make a device that’s light enough, balanced, and cool enough to use all day, then I definitely want one. The idea of being able to travel for work with just my MacBook and Apple Vision is extremely appealing.
The fact that my external monitors are virtual rather than physical, and stay in the room without getting in the way when they’re not working, is a big selling point for me. Yes, having multiple Mac monitors on the latest model of Viture glasses is a big improvement, but leaving those monitors in the room is just a night and day difference.
So as Apple can solve the all-day comfort problem (and I still see that as a pretty big ‘if’), then I think I’d be willing to push the button for $2k instead of $1k.
FTC: We use monetized auto-affiliate links. More.
