When the iPad was launched back in 2010, many people (me included) wondered what the folks in Cupertino had been smoking. Sure, it was an elegant device and showed off some amazing engineering. But it looked a lot like a solution in search of a problem.
The initial concerns about available apps were somewhat placated by Apple enabling a kludge that made it possible for iPhone apps to run on the iPad in a scaled up mode. And, eventually, developers embraced the platform creating either bespoke apps or universal apps that worked equally well, although differently, on iOS and iPadOS.
The Mac and its contemporaries were the ushers of the personal computing age and the iPhone kicked off a new era in portable computing. Apple hopes the Vision Pro will be the first of a long line of devices that signal the start of the spatial computing era. And that brings us to what we know about the Vision Pro.
What do the reviewers say about Vision Pro?
As I’m in Australia, the only way I might be able to get a Vision Pro is to fly to the US and buy one. By the time you factor in flights and accomodation, there would not be change out of about AUD$7000. So, for now, I’ll have to settle for what others say.
After reading a bunch of reviews, I think the Vision Pro can be summarised as being a very advanced beta version of something that will, potentially, be truly amazing one day. There are some things that it does amazingly well and it uses a combination of technologies that, until now, have never been put together in a single device.
But there are some things that show there is considerable room for improvement. Nilay Patel at The Verge and Jason Hiner from ZDNet sum it up well.
… the Vision Pro also represents a series of really big tradeoffs — tradeoffs that are impossible to ignore.
Nilay Patel, The Verge
Vision Pro is an incredible $4,000 developer kit most people should not buy.
Jason Hiner, ZDNet
What’s good?
Almost universally, reviewers and early adopters are saying the Vision Pro’s display capability is amazing. That’s not a surprise given the specs. There are lots of densely packed pixels running at refresh rates that vary between 90MHz and 100MHz.
While that’s less than you expect from high-end TVs and displays, given the close proximity to your eyes and the way the internal sensors use eye tracking to optimise what you’re actually looking at, there is broad agreement that the display is amazing.
The move from mouse and keyboard, to touch and now gestures is well underway. Moving your hands and fingers in front of the Vision Pro gives us a new way to interact with technology. And eye tracking is something that one reviewer describes as “awe-inspiring — it feels like a superpower”.
The not so good
The elephant in the room is cost. At USD$3,499, the entry level Vision Pro with 256GB of storage is very expensive. That jumps to USD$3,899 for the 1TB version. Given the technology inside it, that’s not surprising. But there are some further stings. Apple’s case is a further USD$199 and if you need corrective lenses (anywhere between 30% and 60% depending on who you ask and what level of vision corrected is needed) you can add another USD$149.
For many Australians, that’s about $5,900 before GST. In other words, there’s not much change from $6,500 for the entry level unit if you need corrective lenses and a nice case.
App support is still languishing but that’s not surprising. Apple has boosted the number of available apps for Vision Pro by enabling iPad apps to run on the new visionOS platform. That’s in addition to about 600 native apps that were available on release.
I expect that number to rise once the Vision Pro gains wider release. But whether initial momentum is maintained will depend on how many people buy a Vision Pro or a later and hopefully less expensive version.
Several reviewers have noted that when someone other than the wearer of the Vision Pro moves their hands that it can trigger gestures in the Vision Pro software. Hopefully that’s a bug Apple can squash.
Then there’s battery. At about 340 grams, Apple has decided to use a tethered battery rather than integrating the power into the body of the headset. That makes sense given the need to reduce the weight of the device. Some reviewers have noted that the device can feel heavy after extended use. It reminds me of the first generation mobile phones that came with a small case. That case was the battery pack. I’d expect future versions to have an integrated battery.
Finally, there’s EyeSight – the tech that projects your eyes to the front of the headset so people think you’re looking at them. It’s fair to say that this digital rendition falls very much into the realm of the ‘uncanny valley’ – a virtual object that looks real but you can tell is a fake.
Where to from here?
The good news for Australians wanting to get in on the Vision Pro is that the limited release to the US means that market will be the world’s crash test dummies.
Many of the issues identified by early adopters and reviewers will be ironed out over the coming weeks and months. I’d expect the global release of Vision Pro to come with visionOS 2.0. And I would not be surprised to see some revisions in the hardware such as better fit options.
One thing I find surprising is that there’s a need for the Zeiss corrective lenses. I’d have thought Apple could, through software, adjust images to compensate for differing eyesight. It would be neat if I could simply enter the details of my prescription and have the software create ‘virtual glasses’.
We can expect the Vision Pro to reach Australia later this year. But I can’t see it having broad appeal for quite some time.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.