Before I share my Apple Vision Pro demo experience, in case you missed it, The Lagoon Live, my open mic night virtual hangout is this weekend! Come vibe out. ❤️ Use this link to join us on Sunday, Feb 25th at 7 PM EST.
I’ve also invited fiction author Caitlin Avery to come and present. She has a new book out, and an interesting story regarding social media activism. In addition to Caitlin, and whoever else wants to pop in, I’ll be sharing something I’ve prepared on H.R. Giger and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s reflections on The Star Card, and why I engaged with this card’s mythology during February.
Anyone can take the stage, read, sing, lead a discussion, share art, ask a question, etc.
See you there!
Now, onto the Apple Vision Pro
Apple Enters the Metaverse Chat
Earlier this month, Apple dropped their new VR headset, the Apple Vision Pro, retailing for a whopping $3,499, and promising to usher in a new era of “Spatial Computing.” After seeing the viral videos of young white guys driving Teslas in the Vision Pro, or flicking the air on the subway while wearing the goggles, I wanted to try the device for myself.
Plus, as someone interested in imaginary worlds, and as an owner of the Meta Quest 2 (Facebook/Meta’s cheapest VR headset, formerly known as Oculus Rift), currently retailing at $299, I wanted to compare the devices offered by these behemoth tech competitors, at such radically different price points, to see who I think is winning the metaverse eyeball race.
So, full of curiosity, but not wanting to shell out thousands of dollars, I booked myself a Vision Pro demo at the nearest Apple Store.1
Big Takeaways
Pros:
Most impressive feature: the spatial photos and spatial video recording capability of the Apple Vision Pro. This was the only feature that felt like a new experience.
2nd most impressive feature: the 3D movie theater experience; however, it’s limited to purchased Apple TV movies with pre-existing 3D versions or Disney Plus content.
3rd most impressive feature: moving screens and digital objects not just on the X and Y axis, but also on the Z axis.
Cons:
The Vision Pro eye tracking is freaky.
The lack of 360-degree content in the demo was shocking to me.
Less than 10 minutes into the demo, my eyes and head began to hurt. This is not the case for the Meta Quest 2.
Conclusions:
Apple’s primary goal is to replace TVs and computer monitors with a more expensive device from Apple, not to create an immersive, new type of experience (Meta’s goal).
I would not currently purchase the Apple Vision Pro.
Meta’s VR headsets are a better value for the average consumer, imo.
I believe Apple released the Vision Pro at such an expensive price point to test it, to work out the kinks, to build hype, and to make future iterations seem like more attractive deals when they finally lower the price.
Now, for those of you who want to go deeper, my full experience is below, including the other functional problems I encountered during the short demo, plus more future predictions regarding the possible potential for the Apple Vision Pro, and the direction Apple may take with the device.
The Demo Setup
Arriving at the store, nested in Fort Lauderdale’s fanciest mall, I first watched an older Caucasian man and a young Black woman do the Vision Pro demo, because, of course, Apple was running late. With wonder on their faces, they sat beside their Apple Genius babysitter and moved their hands in the air. Despite their astonished expressions, and a final push from the staff to purchase the device and return it after 14 days if they didn’t like it, neither tester bought the Vision Pro.
Then it was my turn. While the youthful Apple Genius fellow readied my headset, I asked if we could connect the device to a laptop so I could test how it worked with a keyboard. He said, no, I had to run a special demo, aka a participatory Apple commercial. I asked about trying Netflix and he said maybe, provided no one else was waiting on a demo.
We sat at a wood, rectangular table with the Vision Pro exposed and resting on its fancy carry case. The device resembles giant ski goggles with a ribbed gray sweater-like head strap. Before putting it on, the Apple employee explained the device’s operational external dial/button, which controls the pass-through function and acts like an older iPhone’s home button, returning you to the main screen or taking a photograph. Everything else is controlled by hand gestures in the air and by YOUR EYES. The eye control proved one of the freakiest features of the Vision Pro.
Before putting it on, I asked, “What would happen if you dropped this?”
The genius laughed and said, “I don’t think anyone’s ever dropped it.”
“But they must have tested it; does it crack?” I asked.
He didn’t know.
So, careful not to touch the screen with my fingers or drop the device, I lifted it up and wrangled it over my head.
It’s heavy, maybe 10x the weight of ski goggles. Then I turned the dial as he’d shown me to tighten the sweater strap, which made it a bit more comfortable, but it still felt heavy.
Inside the headset, it looked just like a big computer monitor floating above the real table.
Next, to set up the device, you go through a head-turning and eye-moving activity. The head-turning setup wasn’t working for me after repeated tries and I joked that it was, “maybe my weird face,” but the guy was like, “Yeah, you do have an unusual face.” Gee, thanks, buddy.
The Interface
Next, I opened a bunch of windows and interacted with photos in the Apple photo app. The screen looked like an Apple desktop or iPad ported into the headset, which is smart in some ways, more familiar to users, but not as fun as the Meta Quest home screen which attempts to give you a whole new experience, untethered to the “office” metaphor of windows, a desktop, files, folders, etc.
Frankly, I’m ready to move on from the work metaphor, so while some may find the Vision Pro desktop vibe comforting, with no learning curve, I found it boring.
The pass-through feature allows you to see the real environment around you as a live video, which you can adjust up and down in transparency, though weirdly, you can’t make it totally disappear unless you enter another app, like the movie theater.
For me, if I’m enduring the discomfort of a VR headset, I would prefer to not be in a computer or office environment. In Meta’s headset, my “home screen” is a fancy CGI geodesic dome overlooking stars, much more my style, but in Apple’s home screen, you arrive to a bunch of familiar icons on basically an Apple-standard screensaver image, like a picture of a mountain.
I’ll add that I also did the Meta Quest 2 demo when it first rolled out, and the Meta Quest 2 demo was about 5x more impressive to me than Apple’s VR demo, though I can’t say with 100% confidence if that was completely due to the demo or because I’d had fewer VR interactions in general at the time, so VR itself was more impressive to me. The Meta demo was a dazzling game, a dance, a stunning visual exploration. This was like turning on any Mac.
An Expensive Monitor
Apple is trying to replace your desktop monitors with this device, but you can’t use the Vision Pro like a computer without also connecting to an actual Apple computer. You need both your laptop and the Vision Pro (which I keep wanting to call “The Vision Quest”) to access the more robust features, therefore needing to cough up money for two expensive Apple devices to get this setup fully workable beyond surfing the Internet, looking at pictures, playing a mobile app, or watching a movie.
In this way, it reminded me of the Apple Watch, a rather useless device unless you also own an iPhone.
The work/computer keyboard link issue is the same for Meta Quest 3, Meta’s latest headset, which you also can’t fully work on without connecting to a computer, but for the price of one Apple Vision Pro, you can buy the Meta Quest 3 AND a tricked out, top of the line computer.
180 over 360
Another thing that boggled my mind was that Apple hadn’t bothered to make the demo in 360. It was 99% in 180! What!? I couldn’t believe it. The whole point of VR is to be in an immersive world. But, Apple doesn’t seem like they want that. They just want you to buy multiple expensive devices. They want you to lie in your bed and buy Apple TV movies and watch them on this $3k+ device. They don’t want you looking around.
If I remember correctly, the only thing in 360 was an image of Iceland near the beginning of the demo.
Also, the mobile apps in the Vision Pro look just like mobile apps projected in space, not like immersive games. Another leg up for Facebook’s device, which rolled out with more 360 apps designed specifically for VR.
To return to the home menu, you also had to press the headset button, which felt like an extra interruption and an unnecessary return to the real world, versus having a home button or scene toggle in the virtual space.
Eye Tracking
For the eye tracking, there are little colored dots arranged in a circle and you have to stare at each one, then the circles highlight. The dots were tiny, yet Apple knew exactly where I was looking. This felt crazy.
He explained that I’d be navigating menus with my eyes and selecting the menus with my hands by tapping my pointer and thumb together to click things.
You can also do this on Meta’s headset, minus the eye tracking. You move your cursor in Meta with a hand gesture, then click. In the Apple Vision Pro, there is no cursor (that I saw). The cursor is YOUR EYES or I guess your virtual hands. Again, I found the eye control freaky and a little uncanny valley.
Me doing the eye-tracking setup:
1st Person POV Only
Back to the office metaphor, the Vision Pro felt more like a workstation than a gaming console with its stationary first-person POV, as if you're always in front of a computer. Your hands are visible in VR, but not your feet or any other body parts. Nor do you have a virtual avatar, another big difference from Meta’s model, where you can toggle between first and third-person POVs by creating an avatar and navigating while looking at the avatar, like playing a video game.
Zuckerberg’s vision is more full-bodied than Apple’s Vision, and I know there has been lots of debate about legs in the metaverse over at Meta. I used to have a friend who worked there, so got some inside scoop.
You also can’t access VRChat from the device, which is a shame because that’s my favorite VR app.
Yet, despite these weird shortcomings, it wasn’t all bad.
The Spatial Photos and Video
The spatial photos in the Vision Pro were very impressive, perhaps the most impressive feature. If you own an iPhone 15, you can take spatial photos using the phone. However, you can’t look at them in an immersive way unless you use the Vision Pro.
What is a spatial photo or video? It’s like a 3D image where you can see around objects and feel like you’re inside of the picture. You can navigate the picture from multiple angles.
You can also capture spatial photos and videos with the Vision Pro since it’s full of cameras on both the inside and outside of the device. You can shoot 3D movies, not 360 VR movies, but front-facing 180-degree 3D movies. In their commercial, Apple says it is their “first-ever 3D camera.” The video quality was excellent, but it’s for a demo, so they probably used the best one they’ve ever made.
The first example showed a girl blowing out her birthday candles. Watching it felt like I was at the table myself.
Then I dropped into a scene with a mom and kids blowing bubbles, and the bubbles floating around me.
After the demo, another Apple Genius nearby said, “This would be great for porn.” Then noted that you can’t use porn on the device; a major downside for most customers, he added. I just had to LOL.
Jokes aside, spatial video could have many uses for creators, corporations, educators, and influencers, especially if Apple can enable live streaming and make the device more comfortable and cheaper. You could be inside another person’s live stream, like you were seeing through their eyes, walking a city with them, or performing an operation from their POV, etc.
The Keyboard Sucked
Next, he had me open Apple Notes. Typing a note was very hard with the virtual keyboard and eye control. It was easy to mess up if you held your fingers together for too long or didn’t look exactly at the letter. I wouldn’t want to type much of anything on this device, at least not without tethering to a physical keyboard.
I asked if you could dictate or use voice commands, but the Genius didn’t know. On Meta, you can use voice dictation or hand controllers to type.
The Movie Theater
Moving onto the second most impressive feature, we entered the movie theater. One of Apple’s main commercial taglines for the Vision Pro is “The Ultimate Theater,” and this reflects their desire to replace your TV.
Before the movie theater experience portion of the demo, because I’d asked about Netflix, he let me open a browser and try a YouTube video. It worked just like a big computer monitor would. Nothing too exciting or specific to VR, but it was a gigantic screen and you can open multiple windows around it and move the windows around, so if you’re into multiple monitors, and didn’t have a TV or computer, you could use it.
Then we went to the Apple TV app, and he had me select Avatar: Way of Water. It opened to a pre-programmed clip of the female character swimming in the water in 3D on a large screen. As I dimmed the Apple Store around me, the movie shifted to a darkened cinema simulation, like I was in an IMAX. However, I could barely hear the movie.
I asked if I could increase the volume, but he said it's already at maximum and most people use AirPods with it. Granted, the Apple store is a loud place, but because of this, I couldn’t accurately demo the device’s cinematic sound capabilities.
The movie was cool. If I had a small apartment, was traveling, or didn’t own a TV, I’d consider watching a movie on the device, except I wouldn’t, because around this time, my head and eyes started hurting from whatever the Vision Pro was doing to me.
The Final Sales Push
My demo was almost over. In Apple’s last effort to get me to purchase the Vision Pro, the genius explained that I’d now watch a short video from Apple. It began and I don’t even remember what it was now because I found it so unexciting.
I watched some nature footage, immersive travel shots, an African village, but honestly, it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen even 10 years ago when the first VR devices debuted at museums and film festivals.
PLUS, it was only in 180! Still! I swiveled my head to blackness behind me. Really, can’t believe Apple didn’t at least make a 360 video for the demo. Very odd.
Now, if you’ve never seen VR before, you might find it very impressive, but to me, it was low-effort, not exciting, especially after seeing the incredible CGI of James Cameron’s Avatar sequel moments before.
Parting Thoughts
The main takeaway from the demo was that Facebook’s device is of superior value, which surprised me, though Zuckerberg has been obsessively working on the Metaverse and his dreams of becoming the Ready Player One world overlord for years.
Apple’s Vision probably helped sell 8x more Meta Quest 3s, and Meta Ray Bans (“smart” sunglasses) than it did Vision Pros. That’s my guest.
I’m unsure if this headset will catch on, even if they reduce the price unless they significantly improve the wearability.
And maybe that is a good thing—because do we really need to get more connected to technology? Do we want iPhones strapped to our eyeballs? No, we probably don’t.
I struggle to visualize how a VR-immersed world will benefit society overall, aside from possibly letting people with disabilities or chronic illnesses “travel” or interact and move around virtually, or for testing products and designs in 3D, but for most people, the metaverse will probably only further disconnect an isolate them in an already fragmented world.
Still, I’m interested to see where this sector goes.
Will we end up in the novel Snowcrash, scrambling our brains with digital drugs? Or be like the people using the metaverse to escape their impoverished container apartments in Ready Player One?
Will TVs and computer monitors disappear in favor of ski goggles?
Will VR wearables replace our phones?
I truly don’t know.
I left the Apple store with a friend who’d tagged along, commenting to her that, “It was better than I’d expected as far as pixel resolution, but underwhelming in general,” noting that I might have bought it if I didn’t already own the Meta Quest, and if it was only $1000, or better yet, $500.
Now You
What do you think?
Why the obsession of tech companies with the metaverse?
Why do we want to recreate our entire worlds digitally?
Where do you see the future headed?
What are the positives and negatives of this new technology?
Want More?
Read this piece where I first discussed Apple’s Vision Pro release campaign.
To book a demo, go to Apple’s website and pretend like you want to buy the Vision Quest Pro, but don’t buy it. Eventually, the screen will ask you if you want to book a test demo.
Great review. You do this well. I can think of a couple of reasons for corporations to want people to strap monitors across their eyeballs. First, it would be possible to control what you believe the world to be, even though it isn’t. That could be useful to selling you stuff you don’t need but think you do (which already happens), and helpful to politicians for a price, to ensure they get elected and maintain control. Next, if the world continues to deteriorate due to climate change, it would be a way to preserve what once was, so future humans could experience it.
Some great ideas for my next book(s).
I hate the idea of this, UNLESS they make a genuinely psychoactive meditation or trippy app for it.
And you don't have an 'unusual' face. At least from the photos I've seen.