I disagree, I think the device at a conceptual level is bad.
The thing is that VR headsets don't offer very much new in exchange for what they lose, which is a lot. When smartphones came around there were a few tradeoffs. You couldn't type as fast and applications had to be severely dumbed down to work on a such a small device. But the upside is you could carry a mostly capable computer with you everywhere you go.
VR headsets, like the smartphone, have a really bad human communication problem. Using voice command or little pinching isn't a very good method to communicate with computers. It's cumbersome, takes 10x as much time as typing and clicking, and makes 10x as many errors. But on top of this, VR doesn't offer a new way to engage with applications. At least, not in a way that matters.
Sure, we can now watch a movie on the vision pro instead of a monitor or TV. But does that matter? Is the experience better? Same thing with facetime. How is this an improvement over using your phone or computer?
When I think back to the whole Metaverse idea, I can't help but feel it's all novelty and no substance. Yes, we can have a meeting in VR in a fake conference room. Now what? Why isn't this over Zoom? Because Zoom does the same thing, but better. I can share my screen, I can see real faces (not avatars), and I don't really care about seeing people's fake bodies. So what am I actually gaining here? It's a strictly worse experience.
Or Walmart's VR shopping experience thing. Why would I push around a fake cart and look at fake shelves? I can already go online and scroll, see products, and put them in my cart. That's faster, that's easier, I get a much better look at the product. I can see reviews, I can read the nutrition label, and I can hop back over to Google to cross-reference. So what does the VR add? Nothing. It only takes away, and that's all it can ever do.
It's still _very_ heavy and quite niche outside of just a screen alternative. A real screen is still better in every category but portability. Software is still not compelling. Despite the raw specs, the Quest 3 is a better headset.
We have an AVP in the office but it's just collecting dust. Just not enough reason to strap it on.
AR has a lot of potential but Apple is still very far away from that. They introduced 3d widgets but then showed....a clock.
I know the screen is an arbitrary size, but in general if you need more screens you could be walking around with an iPad to use with your laptop instead of a Vision Pro
It’s true. I think AVP is still a valuable product just because they need to continue R&D. Stuff like this hasn’t broken into the consumer space very much beyond video games, so I think these platforms probably need a lot of experimenting to see what sticks and what doesn’t work. Plus, continued innovation to drive down cost, make it smaller, and make the visual experience seamless. I’m glad Apple is using some of their coffers to experiment with futuristic technology. I think it’s fair to expect it to take some time to stick (and for the price to come down)
