When Apple unveiled its AR/VR Vision Pro headset early last year the product was met with just an absolute ocean of tech press hype. You couldn’t spend thirty seconds online without reading a…
It’s an ugly dud just like every VR headset because the technology for displays, processing, and batteries make them look like gigantic, heavy ski goggles.
Plus there’s no applications. Games are cool, socializing is cool (I guess), and porn is porn, but what can I do with it? It’s like releasing the first Macintosh without MacWrite or MacPaint.
wheres the first party stuff at LEAST? like garage band couldve been amazing… or logic or reason, or maps… wheres the tilt brush and 3d modelers? rollercoaster tycoon would shred in this.
Yeah it feels like even Apple is half-heartedly invested in it. Lots of the first-party Apple apps are basically just iPad apps, a year after launch. And there’s no real video content, just a bunch of short 7-minute teasers.
Apple should be subsidizing the shit out of developers to get some killer apps on there to prove what it can do. They seem to have assumed if they built it, they would come. But nobody showed up to the party. Developers who DID build apps, that even got featured by Apple, say their sales basically paid for the developer adapter, not even the headset itself.
It’s fine if you don’t want one, but my VR headset get used daily and was a great investment. Once you get used to good VR games, the rest of the video games in 2D just begin to pale in comparison. One example is Assetto Corsa (racing sim) which I could not win any races in in 2D standard mode, but when I played in VR my 3D sense of distance allowed me to actually race competitively enough to win for a change. Also it’s just pretty rad to drive racecars in full 3D view, getting the full experience of moving at high speed.
And it’s absolutely not true that there’s “no applications” for VR. You just don’t know about them because you’re against it. In my household the primary applications are gaming and exercise. There are a number of VR games that require the player to physically move a lot, enough to break a sweat on every session.
IMO the only thing wrong with Apple’s Vision Pro is the high price. I spent $1000 on my VR system and that was a lot. So when you get into the triple-thousand dollar ballpark, your market is just too tiny to grow into anything soon.
There’s the butthurt VR bro who shows up every time I point out the tech for VR isn’t ready yet. There’s always one of you.
And it’s obvious you didn’t read my whole comment because I said that it’s got games. But that just means it’s a game console. What I want is an application that does something useful and productive.
For example, these VR devices have the software and hardware to map 3D spaces. How about an app that lets me map my house and then see what it would be like to knock out a wall or add a window or something? Heck, realtors could use it to do virtual walk throughs of homes.
If you think “The technology isn’t ready yet” is shitting on it then you need a thicker skin
And saying “Just go back to college, get a masters in software engineering, and build the useful app yourself” is a perfect example of why it’s not ready yet.
It’s really weird how you keep making this discussion about me as if I am the VR. It doesn’t matter to ME that you are choosing to miss out on something great, so my skin is not part of the equation at all. I’m just here to let people know that you’re wrong and that people can have a cool experience with that technology.
I’m not disputing that VR is cool. I’ve tried it and it’s fun to walk with dinosaurs and visit the space station and sculpt in 3D. I’m saying it’s not useful. For a game console it’s great but it’s not a computing platform.
Honestly, the killer application is really simple, but this headset wasn’t quite designed for it (nor is MacOS in general), and that is simply as external monitors.
You know what’s annoying? Trying to use your computer outside, trying to use it on an airplane, or while travelling. Or being in an open plan office with a million visual distractions.
If you’re working in a professional setting where your company is already buying you a giant ultra wide display or multiple professional 27" screens then you’re approaching the territory of a thousand or two dollars spent on each employee, and suddenly a VR headset is starting to look more reasonable as a monitor replacement.
If this was closer to the size of the size of the Big Screen Beyond
and just worked as an external display that could let you place as many windows / monitors around you as you wanted, they might actually have a compelling product.
Or if it was cheaper it could be used for gaming.
Or if it had transparent AR displays it could be used for industrial applications like Hololens.
But yeah, as is, it feels like it had a neat idea or two, some really fancy tech, and fell right in the middle of not being that useful for anyone.
I agree that using it as an unlimited display would be a great application. The only problem is that the device itself is too heavy for long-term usage, which goes back to the technology not being ready yet.
Maybe if all that you put on your face was a screen, and the rendering and power were offloaded to a desktop it could be made light enough to wear for hours at a time.
ETA: I haven’t had trouble with external monitors on Mac, and I’ve been running dual screens since 2002 when I grabbed an old 20" CRT from the garbage outside my dorm.
It’s an ugly dud just like every VR headset because the technology for displays, processing, and batteries make them look like gigantic, heavy ski goggles.
Plus there’s no applications. Games are cool, socializing is cool (I guess), and porn is porn, but what can I do with it? It’s like releasing the first Macintosh without MacWrite or MacPaint.
wheres the first party stuff at LEAST? like garage band couldve been amazing… or logic or reason, or maps… wheres the tilt brush and 3d modelers? rollercoaster tycoon would shred in this.
Yeah it feels like even Apple is half-heartedly invested in it. Lots of the first-party Apple apps are basically just iPad apps, a year after launch. And there’s no real video content, just a bunch of short 7-minute teasers.
Apple should be subsidizing the shit out of developers to get some killer apps on there to prove what it can do. They seem to have assumed if they built it, they would come. But nobody showed up to the party. Developers who DID build apps, that even got featured by Apple, say their sales basically paid for the developer adapter, not even the headset itself.
It’s fine if you don’t want one, but my VR headset get used daily and was a great investment. Once you get used to good VR games, the rest of the video games in 2D just begin to pale in comparison. One example is Assetto Corsa (racing sim) which I could not win any races in in 2D standard mode, but when I played in VR my 3D sense of distance allowed me to actually race competitively enough to win for a change. Also it’s just pretty rad to drive racecars in full 3D view, getting the full experience of moving at high speed.
And it’s absolutely not true that there’s “no applications” for VR. You just don’t know about them because you’re against it. In my household the primary applications are gaming and exercise. There are a number of VR games that require the player to physically move a lot, enough to break a sweat on every session.
IMO the only thing wrong with Apple’s Vision Pro is the high price. I spent $1000 on my VR system and that was a lot. So when you get into the triple-thousand dollar ballpark, your market is just too tiny to grow into anything soon.
There’s the butthurt VR bro who shows up every time I point out the tech for VR isn’t ready yet. There’s always one of you.
And it’s obvious you didn’t read my whole comment because I said that it’s got games. But that just means it’s a game console. What I want is an application that does something useful and productive.
For example, these VR devices have the software and hardware to map 3D spaces. How about an app that lets me map my house and then see what it would be like to knock out a wall or add a window or something? Heck, realtors could use it to do virtual walk throughs of homes.
There’s the douchebag who shows up every time to shit on good technology because it’s not catering to their whims perfectly.
If you want that software, get to fucking work on it then. Make some kind of contribution beyond shitting on things.
If you think “The technology isn’t ready yet” is shitting on it then you need a thicker skin
And saying “Just go back to college, get a masters in software engineering, and build the useful app yourself” is a perfect example of why it’s not ready yet.
It’s really weird how you keep making this discussion about me as if I am the VR. It doesn’t matter to ME that you are choosing to miss out on something great, so my skin is not part of the equation at all. I’m just here to let people know that you’re wrong and that people can have a cool experience with that technology.
I’m not disputing that VR is cool. I’ve tried it and it’s fun to walk with dinosaurs and visit the space station and sculpt in 3D. I’m saying it’s not useful. For a game console it’s great but it’s not a computing platform.
Honestly, the killer application is really simple, but this headset wasn’t quite designed for it (nor is MacOS in general), and that is simply as external monitors.
You know what’s annoying? Trying to use your computer outside, trying to use it on an airplane, or while travelling. Or being in an open plan office with a million visual distractions.
If you’re working in a professional setting where your company is already buying you a giant ultra wide display or multiple professional 27" screens then you’re approaching the territory of a thousand or two dollars spent on each employee, and suddenly a VR headset is starting to look more reasonable as a monitor replacement.
If this was closer to the size of the size of the Big Screen Beyond and just worked as an external display that could let you place as many windows / monitors around you as you wanted, they might actually have a compelling product.
Or if it was cheaper it could be used for gaming.
Or if it had transparent AR displays it could be used for industrial applications like Hololens.
But yeah, as is, it feels like it had a neat idea or two, some really fancy tech, and fell right in the middle of not being that useful for anyone.
I agree that using it as an unlimited display would be a great application. The only problem is that the device itself is too heavy for long-term usage, which goes back to the technology not being ready yet.
Maybe if all that you put on your face was a screen, and the rendering and power were offloaded to a desktop it could be made light enough to wear for hours at a time.
ETA: I haven’t had trouble with external monitors on Mac, and I’ve been running dual screens since 2002 when I grabbed an old 20" CRT from the garbage outside my dorm.