stories
In early February, the first users from the United States – and not just tech bloggers and journalists – began receiving Apple Vision Pro mixed reality helmets. Apple calls its new device a “spatial computer” and hopes it will change the way users interact with content. Vision Pro’s first few days in the real world were… unusual. Videos of people wearing a helmet on the street, in the subway, and even while driving are spreading across social networks, and more responsible users are looking for ways to justify the purchase.
Apple Vision Pro is a very expensive device that you only need loyal fans
In the US, the device starts at $3,499, which is very expensive. In her text, technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal Joanna Stern noted, that now Vision Pro will only be bought by developers or ardent fans of Apple products. The rest, most likely, instead of the virtual trip to the volcano in Hawaii, which is available in Vision Pro, will simply go on a real trip to the same islands.
And the social network X (formerly Twitter) calculated that for the price of Vision Pro you can assemble a full-fledged set of Apple gadgets (and still have a little left for accessories).
True, there were also arguments in favor of such a price. How it turned outprice Apple Ithe company’s first computer released in 1976, is about the same price as the Vision Pro when adjusted for inflation.
And XDA Developers Senior Editor Ben Sin noted, that he sees many scenarios for using the new device, and that for the standard of living in the USA, the price of 3.5 thousand dollars does not seem too high to him. True, he himself has not yet had the opportunity to test Vision Pro – but Sin, like many, is already frightened by the virtual avatars that are used in video calls.
By the way, avatars can be “superimposed” on your interlocutors
Tech blogger Marques Brownlee, who produces videos on the YouTube channel MKBHD, did something no one asked for: he looked to see if two people in Vision Pro, sitting in the same room, could call each other and overlay windows with their avatars on themselves.
Can.
Helmet – yes. Applications – (almost) no
Available to users at launch more than 600 applications, created specifically for Vision Pro. It’s not that much to buy all the paid ones from this list will leave only $625, much less than the device itself costs.
And it’s not a fact that you will want to spend so much: Andrey Karpaty, a famous scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, in posts with impressions of the first days with Vision Pro notedthat there are very few applications that actually use the capabilities of the “spatial computer” and it can be difficult to find them. Those that exist look either crude (you can poke a little man and he will laugh; you can disassemble an airplane engine into parts, but it’s unclear why), or created to quickly make money from the owners of new devices (for example, a primitive application – watch for $2.99).
There are more than a million compatible apps for iOS and iPadOS, but not all companies allow you to use them. For example, entertainment services Netflix, YouTube and Spotify launch Can only through the browser.
There is another problem – users complain that many applications on Vision Pro look like flat glass surfaces with content. For comparison, we can recall the demonstration of the HoloLens augmented reality helmet, which took place in 2015. The Microsoft device made it possible to handle the application interface much more freely, and individual elements looked more organic in space.
Developer Stuart Warrall back in January noted, that the headset apps shown looked boring, and that due to uncertainty about the launch date, many teams had neither the opportunity to plan the development cycle nor the time to experiment. There is also a lack of good VR apps tie up with the high cost of a license for the Unity engine, which is often used for such tasks.
Vision Pro has already begun to be sold in Russia (unofficially, of course)
Russian stores and marketplaces have begun accepting orders for the Vision Pro, despite the fact that the device is sold only in the United States, and Apple stopped selling its products in Russia after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For a helmet imported through “parallel import” they are asking about 500 thousand rubles – about one and a half times more than it costs in the USA.
CDEK.Shopping
And the Russian company 2GIS managed release two applications for the helmet at once – their standard maps and the 2GIS Immersive program, which allows you to view three-dimensional models of buildings, including the Moscow Kremlin and the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Developer of the second Timur Abdrakhimov admittedthat I saw how his application works on a real Vision Pro, and not a simulator, only when it came out video review helmet from Russian technoblogger Valentina Petukhova (Wylsacom).
2GIS Immersive
2 GIS
People wearing Apple helmets began to appear on the streets in the United States. This looks at least unusual
The first owners of Vision Pro use the device not only at home, but also outside it. Videos began to appear online in which users walk the streets, ride the subway, or even skateboard without taking off their helmet.
At least some of the videos in which people actively gesture with their hands are staged. From the reviews of the already mentioned Marques Brownlee and video blogger Casey Neistat, who walked around New York all day wearing a helmet, it is clear that application windows in Vision Pro are “attached” to specific points in the space around the user – go and manage them on the go if possible , then at a distance of several meters. Neistat notes that even while sitting on a subway train, it is impossible to use a helmet, because the applications “leave” the user.
By the way, according to Casey Neistat, he edited his entire video in Vision Pro
Casey Neistat
Product manager Dante Lentini from Palo Alto posted a video of himself driving a Tesla wearing a helmet and typing on a virtual keyboard with his hand on the steering wheel. He is later stopped by the police. Lentini received a lot of angry comments for endangering the lives of others on the road. IN manual Apple has a direct ban on the use of Vision Pro while driving vehicles, including bicycles, or in situations requiring increased attention, but users do not always comply with it.
Early adopters are generally pleased with Vision Pro’s capabilities
You can arrange application windows around you, and you don’t have to have them all in sight at all times—there might be something hanging behind you, waiting for you to turn around.
And this is the most impressive demonstration of Vision Pro’s capabilities: application windows can be placed in different rooms of the apartment and walked from one to another.
In this case, the main thing is not to forget the window with social networks where you last read them.
Or just sit and watch videos on TikTok with triple the effectiveness.
Developer Austin Blake claims that he wrote code in the new glasses for almost three hours and did not experience any discomfort. Separately he noted the opportunity to be in a virtual space – this can help you focus on work.
Despite the limited selection of applications, users are already compiling selections of the most interesting ones.
Marques Brownlee noted in his review that there are currently many more interesting ideas about what applications for Vision Pro could look like than there are actually such applications. For example, you could watch a Formula 1 race by expanding a three-dimensional map of the track with the positions of the drivers and other information on it under the broadcast.
Or simply change a person’s appearance to make him look like a movie star.
Vision Pro users become addicted
Apple’s headset controls are based on a combination of eye and hand tracking. The user must simply look at the object – be it a button or an image – and make a gesture with their hands. Simply by pressing the index finger against the thumb, he will make a “click”, and by bringing his fingers together and moving the brush, he will “drag” this object or application.
In the reviews, many complained about the inaccuracy of tracking and the inconvenience of control when you need to be sure to see what you want to click on. But some users collide with the opposite problem: they get so used to these movements that even after taking off the helmet, they try to control the phone or computer with their eyes and passes with their hands. And they are surprised when nothing works out.
Naturally, all this has already happened in The Simpsons
As is usually the case, The Simpsons predicted everything—even the weird people in virtual reality headsets. In the second episode of season 28, the characters of the animated series moved around Springfield, completely immersed in virtual reality.
Well, where would we be without memes about the helmet and its owners?
While the lucky few were enjoying the new Vision Pro, other social media users were trying to joke about the situation. For example, this is what Android users should look like wearing an Apple helmet:
This is a reference to the special episode “White Christmas” of the British series “Black Mirror”, in which the hero was blocked from fully seeing people for certain violations.
Engineer Erich Cervantes noticed that people in helmets reminded him of the characters from the cartoon “WALL E”.
This is probably what the owner of an Apple Vision Pro will look like after using the device in the sun for several hours.
But Pablo Escobar is not sad now: perhaps he is working or watching a movie.
And even the meme about sad and satisfied bus passengers was developed thanks to Vision Pro.
The situation with the unfaithful boyfriend now looks strange. Or positively – what if he’s just watching cat videos?
Some users don’t understand why wear Vision Pro if they have regular glasses – they are cheaper and, unlike Apple’s helmet, allow you to look at the world with your own eyes, and not through cameras.
Competitors are not upset – they hope that Vision Pro will spur interest in their devices
Meta, which has its own Quest line of virtual and mixed reality devices, sees the Vision Pro as a worthy competitor rather than a direct threat. Competition in this space would benefit both companies and could spur waning interest in the metaverse concept that Meta has been actively promoting. Sources The Wall Street Journal considerthat Quest, which costs several times less, will play a role similar to Android gadgets in the smartphone market. A similar point of view voiced and the head of the company Mark Zuckerberg last summer.
But Microsoft, it seems, has miscalculated again. The corporation has been working on augmented reality for more than ten years, created the HoloLens device, launched a mixed reality platform and integrated it into the Windows operating system. But late last year, the Windows Mixed Reality project was added to the list of obsolete and not recommended for further use. Microsoft emphasizes that this decision will not affect HoloLens support and that the company will continue to support its enterprise customers, but developers and partners are optimistic it got better.
It’s crazy that Microsoft had a perfectly working spatial computer for years and yet they decided to completely abandon it and discontinue it the same year the Vision Pro comes out and everyone finally wants a device like this. I’m feeling the Windows Phone vibes again.
Mikhail Gerasimov
