After a roughly 30-minute demo, TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino came away convinced that “Apple has delivered nothing less than a genuine leapfrog in capability and execution of XR — or mixed reality – with its new Apple Vision Pro.”
Matthew Panzarino for TechCrunch:
I’ve used essentially every major VR headset and AR device since 2013’s Oculus DK1 right up through the latest generations of Quest and Vive headsets. I’ve tried all of the experiences and stabs at making fetch happen when it comes to XR. I’ve been awed and re-awed as developers of the hardware and software of those devices and their marquee apps have continued to chew away at the “conundrum of the killer app” — trying to find something that would get real purchase with the broader public.
But none of them had the advantages that Apple brings to the table with Apple Vision Pro. Namely, 5,000 patents filed over the past few years and an enormous base of talent and capital to work with. Every bit of this thing shows Apple-level ambition. I don’t know whether it will be the “next computing mode,” but you can see the conviction behind each of the choices made here. No corners cut. Full-tilt engineering on display.
• The eye tracking and gesture control is near perfect.
• Passthrough is a major key. Having a real-time 4k view of the world around you that includes any humans in your personal space is so important for long-session VR or AR wear. There is a deep animal brain thing in most humans that makes us really, really uncomfortable if we can’t see our surroundings for a length of time. Eliminating that worry by passing through an image should improve the chance of long use times. There’s also a clever “breakthrough” mechanism that automatically passes a person who comes near you through your content, alerting you to the fact that they’re approaching. The eyes on the outside, which change appearance depending on what you’re doing, also provide a nice context cue for those outside.
• The resolution means that text is actually readable.
• The Personas Play. I was HIGHLY doubtful that Apple could pull off a workable digital avatar based off of just a scan of your face using the Vision Pro headset itself. Doubt crushed. I’d say that if you’re measuring the digital version of you that it creates to be your avatar in FaceTime calls and other areas, it has a solid set of toes on the other side of the uncanny valley.
• 3D Movies are actually good in it. Jim Cameron probably had a moment when he saw Avatar: Way of Water on the Apple Vision Pro. This thing was absolutely born to make the 3D format sing.
• Yes, it does look that good. The output of the interface and the various apps are so good that Apple just used them directly off of the device in its keynote. The interface is bright and bold and feels present because of the way it interacts with other windows, casts shadows on the ground and reacts to lighting conditions.
MacDailyNews Take: With Apple Vision Pro we are witnessing the birth of spatial computing.
Don’t be this guy:
The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse.’ There is no evidence that people want to use these things.
— John C. Dvorak
There is much more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
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