1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,360 Hello, it's been a while, and if you're wondering what happened, it's this. 2 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:16,560 I got into a motorcycle accident. 3 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:22,640 I'm fine. I broke a few bones, namely this one, the pinky toe, and the worst being my right shoulder 4 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:28,200 scapula. And so the last two months have had me recovering from a screw getting drilled in, I guess right 5 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:33,760 here. A lot of things have happened with Apple in the intervening time, and when I crashed 6 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,760 I was in the middle of making this video. 7 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:42,480 The Apple Vision Pro is one of the most anticipated and biggest launches in the company's history. 8 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:47,280 And yet in the months of my recovery, people have largely gone silent on it. 9 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:54,240 And I know exactly why. It's because despite it feeling amazing, it only takes less than an hour for reality 10 00:00:54,240 --> 00:01:01,160 to set in. This thing doesn't do anything. 11 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:06,280 This headset is probably the most first generation Apple product they have ever made. 12 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,840 It's well designed, but you'll know it'll soon be better. 13 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:15,880 But there are frustrating limitations that you don't know will be addressed or not. 14 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:20,200 What I can see is how Apple has laid a foundation for their mixed reality headset. 15 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,840 They focus solely on questions of how will the interface look like and how will you 16 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,960 interact with it. And it's in these areas where the Vision Pro excels. 17 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:30,960 The feeling. Controllers? Ugh. 18 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:37,280 You got controllers right here. It's remarkable how Apple can make pinching my fingers together feel like such a physical 19 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:42,600 action in the interface. It feels like my hands themselves are actually controlling things so much that I end up trying 20 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,880 to pinch with my hands under my arms forgetting that the headset can't see them. 21 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:53,440 We have to do it one more time. I actually got my friends toddler to try a Vision Pro, and I have to say kids pick up 22 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,760 on these interactions fast, though his little head was too small for the eye tracking to 23 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:03,520 stay accurate. But how do I grab those two guys? 24 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:07,720 It's not just pinching, I also love walking up to the interface and controlling things 25 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:12,880 that way too. It's funny to command these giant Windows by waving one's hand like they're at a white 26 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:21,960 board. Now we are in the theater, so you really get a chance to feel like Steve Jobs, I'm on 27 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:27,040 a stage to do a presentation. 28 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:31,280 This is also how the keyboard works too, though you won't be typing very fast because this 29 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,600 interaction method only recognizes your index finger. 30 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:41,200 And the keys look like buttons. And look at the inner drop shadow on the text fields. 31 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,280 There's dimension in window chrome. 32 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,000 VisionOS is just so beautiful. 33 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,920 It's so much more serious than the cartoony blue vibes I get from Meta's offerings. 34 00:02:54,920 --> 00:03:01,600 The pass through too. This really feels like real life, okay real life through a cellphone camera. 35 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,440 And if you want to leave real life, simply twist the digital crown and you're taken 36 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:14,160 to beautifully recreated scenic outlooks. 37 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,640 With birds chirping and clouds moving, this really is a refreshing take on the desktop 38 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:24,240 wallpaper. These environments are probably my favorite thing about the headset. 39 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:32,120 They're beautiful, peaceful, and really take you out of the messy real world. 40 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,520 The only things you'll actually see in here are your own hands and other people looking 41 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:41,720 at you. There are no phones or exploring to be had here. 42 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,720 Because playing a video content and you've got a giant screen to enjoy it on, especially 43 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:50,400 when you play anything from Apple TV Plus as it reflects beautifully on Trillium Lake 44 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:56,840 near Mount Hood. And because this is a 3D display system, 3D movies look really cool, whether from Disney 45 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:06,160 or your iPhone 15 Pro. 46 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,960 As you might have heard, the Vision Pro is heavy. It pushes almost one and a half pounds. 47 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,480 Considering everything this contains, I have no problem lugging the battery pack in my 48 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:21,960 back pocket. Battery life is around two hours, which is short, but that's twice the amount of time 49 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:26,960 I can handle in this thing. 50 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:31,800 Now for the weird. This is what my persona looks like. 51 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:36,000 I don't think this was taken in the best light, and I got a haircut since then, so I'm gonna 52 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:43,720 do a re-scan and see what we get. This looks best if everyone is using their persona in a call, since comparison is the 53 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:51,560 thief of joy. And these are definitely in the uncanny valley, but in a funny way. 54 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:58,960 Eye sight is funny too. My friends say I look like Dr. Carol from Perfect Dark, albeit with a whole body attached. 55 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,760 Come on, I have vital information! 56 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:07,640 Do I look like a dork with this on? 57 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:12,000 Did you know that for less than the price of this Vision Pro, I got laser eye surgery? 58 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,240 And it's a good thing too, because if you wear glasses, you need to order special corrective 59 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,080 lenses from Apple when you order the Vision Pro. 60 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:27,000 Even with those inserts, the optics aren't perfect. I've been reading Karl Guttag's analysis of the screens and optics of the Vision Pro 61 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,960 online, and he demonstrates that the optics in contrast are worse in the Vision Pro than 62 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,560 the Quest 3. And I can kind of see what he means. 63 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:40,120 Despite Apple using these sharpest OLED panels on the market, there is still a softness in 64 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,880 here. It's amazing for the environments and the movies you play in them, but when it comes 65 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,240 to computer work, the trade-offs start to bubble up. 66 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:54,040 App Windows are really big. If you resize Safari to fit a web page, it becomes very large, and bringing it closer 67 00:05:54,040 --> 00:06:00,240 to you doesn't make it any more compact. 68 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:04,400 This is because if it was smaller, it would be noticeably blurrier. 69 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:09,240 This is exacerbated when you're using the virtual display with your Mac, which I've 70 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:14,320 been having trouble connecting on this Vision Pro if I'm logged into someone else's user 71 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:20,040 account. Once connected, the small text and interface elements of the 5K output will make you think 72 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:23,640 that something's wrong with your new laser eye surgery. 73 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,320 The clarity size issue is really demonstrated by the fact that the Vision Pro team's app, 74 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,760 for instance, cannot be sized smaller than the MacBook's screen. 75 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,520 And this is weird too because I'd hope that the Vision Pro's mixed reality concept would 76 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,080 let me spread my Windows and computing beyond a screen. 77 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,920 But I'm quickly running out of space, and this narrow field of view isn't helping. 78 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,200 Apple has not used the Retina branding anywhere on this Vision Pro, and I'm sure they're 79 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:50,240 saving it for the future. 80 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:55,560 Let me be clear, this is amazing hardware for the technology we have right now, but it's 81 00:06:55,560 --> 00:07:00,320 quite interesting how far away and how hard getting it right is. 82 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:07,640 The headset needs to be lighter for comfort. The screens need atomic pixels for clarity, and the computer needs to be powerful and 83 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:16,160 efficient to run all that. The Vision Pro isn't all those, but Apple is known for pushing towards precisely those 84 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,560 aims. So what about the elephant in the room? 85 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:26,880 The reason why I say you should just try this? Well, it's because you'll instantly find out there's nothing to do. 86 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,680 The Vision Pro is as empty as the environment it puts you in. 87 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:43,080 It's not that you can't do anything in it. It's just that, like the iPad, it's another audiovisual consumption device. 88 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,320 Apple built Vision OS off the iPad, and I don't agree with that decision. 89 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,360 You can see it throughline to the Vision Pro from features added to iPad OS over the past 90 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:58,240 few years, like stage manager window resizing and the mouse cursor button behavior. 91 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,640 iPad apps do work on the Vision Pro, though not perfectly. 92 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:07,360 UI elements get hidden, and the expectation of multi-touch makes the eye tracking feel 93 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:13,880 bad. It's not just in iPad apps either, because navigating some websites is a real pain, especially 94 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:19,760 if they're designed for desktop. All the weird things that make the iPad annoying are kind of magnified here, right in front 95 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,960 of your eyes. 96 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:28,840 It makes me wonder how different things would be if the Vision Pro was based off macOS. 97 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:33,240 Imagine how useful a proper file system and fully established library of professional 98 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,120 apps that you could spread out into space would be. 99 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:41,280 Game developers too could more easily port the already made VR games to the platform 100 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,520 and maybe distribute it through Steam? 101 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:49,760 It's clear after using this that a Mac Vision Pro would be much harder to make. 102 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:54,160 The screens would have to be even clearer and the eye tracking more precise. 103 00:08:54,160 --> 00:09:03,880 But it's a vision I can see clearly, and it's the one I'm waiting for. 104 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,880 The Vision Pro's biggest weakness is the restrictive nature of the exclusive app store 105 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:11,560 model and the lockdown nature of Apple's mobile operating systems. 106 00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:15,560 It's so impenetrable that it doesn't even have a USB-C port for God's sake. 107 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:39,440 That's a $300 dongle for developers by the way. 108 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:43,160 Unlike the removal of the headphone jack, it's taken real courage for Apple to develop 109 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:49,000 and release this headset. The irony here is that Apple and their locked app store model could ultimately be the ones 110 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:55,320 that compromise the Vision Pro. 111 00:09:55,320 --> 00:10:01,840 This is too niche to be locked down. Everyone needed a phone when the iPhone came out, but no one needs this, so getting developers 112 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:06,880 on board to make the next great gamer application is a really tall order. 113 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:28,680 This is a huge step forward in the headset space, but man is it ever hard.