I’ve been using Vision Pro for several days now. Here’s a video where I share my initial impressions and answer questions about the new platform from labs members. I’m simultaneously releasing the audio from this to the podcast feed…
This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
The Vision Pro review videos are all now dropping. The ones I’ve enjoyed the most are listed below. I think it’s fun that this new product category has got everyone doing some head scratching. None of the reviews have yet gone deep on using the device for productivity. That’s something I intend to explore.
One interesting effect of watching these reviews with my wife in the room is that she now wants her own fitted light seal to watch all her Disney movies in Theater mode. So, if you watch the below links with loved ones around, you’ve been warned.
Using Apple Vision Pro: What It’s Actually Like! (Marques Brownlee)
Hope you’re looking forward to a good week. I heard from Labs members over the weekend about Vision Pro and have more thoughts. Here’s a short Monday Brief video on the topic… This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
Today, I woke up at 4:30 AM so I could give Apple $4,000 for a product I’ve never tried before. Crazy.
The order process went smoothly (at first). I was able to get through the checkboxes fast enough. There are upgrades for additional memory. An extra $200 will double your storage to 512GB, and an extra $400 will get it to 1TB. There is also Applecare for $499 or $25/mo.
I had a lot of questions about glasses. My distance vision is 20/20, but I need readers for books and screens. A dialog box asked if I needed glasses, and then it asked what kind of glasses. I ticked the box for readers and told them 1.5-1.75 works for me, and that was it. I was not required to upload a prescription.
My final order was a 512GB device (probably dumb to add the extra storage). I did not order any additional accessories. I’m going to wait to see how I use the device first. Then I clicked the button to pay and (foolishly) picked Apple Pay in haste. The problem is that my business card is not part of Apple Pay. (My bank only supports Apple Pay for personal cards, not business cards.) I had a moment of crisis there but decided I’d go ahead and pay on my personal card and let my accountant sort it out.
The app gave me a 9:00 AM pick up time at my local Apple Store on February 2, and I was good to go. I pushed the Buy button.
Declined.
I have no idea why. That card has a balance of a few hundred dollars and plenty of credit. Likely a fraud thing.
So I switched (in Apple Pay) to my company debit card. The only problem was that my pickup window was then gone, so I had to pick a new one. 11:30 on February 2. Check. Press Buy.
Declined.
Again, I have no idea why. Plenty of money to pay for this ridiculous headset.
So then, I canceled the checkout. I figured at that point I had a 50/50 chance that pushing that cancel button would reset the whole transaction, and then I wouldn’t be able to get one–since I’d lost my place in line. At that point, I was okay with that potential outcome.
So I pressed Cancel.
Good news? It didn’t cancel the transaction but just brought me back to the screen where I could choose to pay via Apple Pay or traditionally with my company card (as I usually do with Apple transactions). Now the first available time is 3:00 PM on February 2. Click Buy.
Transaction failed. The allotted time is already taken. Pick a new one.
So this went on multiple times. I’d pick a time, and then it was no longer available when I pushed to buy a second later. It finally worked with me picking up at 12:30 PM on February 3.
So success? I think? I have to admit I’m mixed about spending so much on a product I haven’t tried and don’t fully understand. I’m hoping that there is a productivity/contextual computing story around this headset, and the only way I’m going to really know that is to try it for myself. So I have some trepidation and am mindful of that return window. But I’m also excited to try something entirely new from Apple. So often, it is when they come to an existing platform with their own unique spin that Apple does their best work, and I want to see them do that again. Either way, here we go.
P.S. For you Mac Power Users listeners, Stephen also got one, so we’ll be sharing thoughts soon.
I’ll join the digital queue this Friday morning to purchase my Vision Pro. This is an interesting product as we head towards its launch because it appears that while it won’t be a big seller (on an Apple scale), it may still be hard to buy.
If the rumors are true, those fancy screens are hard to make and will limit the number of units Apple can ship. I also can’t help but wonder if Apple doesn’t particularly want to make this first iteration of the Vision Pro something that sells in the millions. I suspect they are still figuring out the product category themselves and getting feedback from a few hundred thousand users will give them a lot of good ideas.
The Vision Pro is expensive, and the story is unclear. A lot of the Apple faithful will pass, at least initially. This point landed for me in a recent MacSparky Labs meetup. Labs Members like Apple products. A lot. Yet we had a room full of Apple fans and only a few of them intend to buy one. Again, I expect that is due to the price and the fact that people aren’t sure what they would do with it.
The interesting point is that despite the fact that demand for the Vision Pro is lower than for other Apple products, the rumored limited quantities could still make it hard to get. (Strange, right?)
Regardless, the story of this product is not about its first iteration. Apple is thinking long-term, as they always do. Fourteen years ago, John Gruber wrote about how iteration is Apple’s superpower. Here we go again.
It’s a big week for those contemplating buying a Vision Pro. Apple has always prided itself on only releasing products when they are “done.” While I have no doubt that the Vision Pro is done, I also think the use case for the product is far from done…This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in?
One of the bigger questions around the looming release of the Vision Pro is software. Specifically, will there be any, and will it be any good? We don’t know yet. We’ve seen some offerings from Apple and some limited offerings from third parties, but now that we have a shipping date on the hardware, announcements are starting to roll out. The Omni Group announced OmniPlan will be on the new hardware. I suspect they’ll be announcing more. This is where the companies that adopted SwiftUI will get their payoff.
But it’s too early to tell whether a healthy software stack will be available to us on Day One. The device could be focused on enterprise-style software, given its cost. But I could equally see a lot of the better developers getting apps on it despite its small initial adoption so that they can have their flag planted. We’ll see.
It looks like the rumors got this one right. The Vision Pro will go on sale on the January 19, and deliveries will begin on February 2. No word yet on availability. The rumors are saying that those screens are hard to make and that will limit availability, but at the same time, the device is $3,500. I can’t imagine a lot of people are going to be lining up to pay that much.
(But, of course, I will.)
John Gruber spent more time with Vision Pro, focusing on the Photos app, including Spatial Video and panoramic photos. In short, John was impressed, and this is just the first iteration of this stuff.
These things are hard to predict. (It took a pandemic for video chat to get legs.) Nevertheless, as families and friends are spread to the four winds, this holodeck-like experience could be a big deal. Moreover, I’ve lost enough people to appreciate how memories fade. My dad died over 30 years ago, and I’d give a lot to be able to feel his presence again, even if just part of a silly spatial video file.
If this takes off, it could become a killer feature for Apple’s future Vision products. And as explained by John, when iOS 17.2 releases you’ll be able to start recording those spatial videos immediately with your iPhone 15 Pro, even if you don’t yet own a Vision Pro headset.
AppleInsider’s Mike Wuerthele got some hands-on time with the Vision Pro and reports in. On the video passthrough, Wuerthele explains, “The part I’ve been most skeptical about is how well the Apple Vision Pro passes through the surroundings to the user. The short version is that it does it very well, with crisp and clear images most of the time.”
I think when it comes to this product, it’s going to need to be something you spend some time with before purchase. I’m curious how they will accommodate that in Apple Stores.