Apple Vision Pro will launch Feb. 2, preorders start Jan. 19 | Hacker News Reader

Apple Vision Pro will launch Feb. 2, preorders start Jan. 19

arstechnica.com

My initial venture into VR began with the PSVR 1, but it proved challenging – heavy, hot, prone to fogging, and with poor resolution, making it uncomfortable after just 10 minutes of use.

On a whim, I bought the Quest 3 at launch with low expectations due to its price, but it pleasantly surprised me. The headset is lightweight, doesn't fog, and performs well. The gaming experience, along with hand tracking and XR capabilities, surpassed my expectations. I find myself using it more than my iPad for YouTube and web browsing. I understand Apple's positioning of the Vision Pro as a living room entertainment replacement.

However, I believe Meta missed an opportunity to enhance the OS for productivity and entertainment. Downloading movies and TV shows for offline viewing is not straightforward, and managing multiple browser windows can be convoluted. Not all apps support running in a window, limiting the device's flexibility.

Having experienced disappointments with first-gen Apple products like the Intel Mac, iPhone, and Watch, I'm hesitant to jump into the Vision Pro unless Apple takes gaming seriously and offers PCVR compatibility. The transformative experience of playing MSFS with Quest Link in VR has been a game changer.

I gave the xcode simulator a shot and having the streamlined desktop experience with windows and dialogs in VR or AR is pretty compellingly done. If the hardware can make it comfortable to read text, browse, and do general tasks for an hour or more at a time, I'll start to understand what their grand design is to capture whatever part of the market I inhabit.

I think many of us have been waiting in the wings and need to be seriously impressed before donning a headset regularly. My internal resistance stems from both comfort and ease of operating it for general compute outside of games. I have a Valve Index and have had some delightful experiences with it, but there's a big gap to jump into "routine" daily driver territory in my mind.

Unfortunately I don’t believe there will be much initial traction until some “killer apps” come about. Not to downplay this person too much, but I saw tweets from a Mac calendar app developer about their excitement seeing their calendar rendered on a 2D plane while trying out the Vision Pro demo. Like… why would someone don the headset to check their calendar?

I expect to see a few games, and a few random spammy 3D object viewers, and iOS apps “Made for Vision Pro” when in reality they are SwiftUI 2D apps ported to render on the flat plane on the headset. Perhaps Apple has an opportunity to segregate really breakthrough apps from the simply ported ones.

Last but not least, the adult entertainment angle/question will be arising soon. Even though it has of course existed for years on other headsets, when Apple does it it just seems to get more press (see Airtag tracking concerns vs Tile Trackers).

I'm looking forward to testing the Vision Pro. As a seasoned Quest user, I still firmly believe in the concept of spatial computing, though I remain disappointed that desktop-class applications will require a secondary Mac for streaming rather than running locally.

I am also skeptical about long-term comfort for my specific head shape and size. While I am confident that Apple has taken more than sufficient time designing the head strap and weight distribution, my experience with head straps and headsets of all shapes and sizes has taught me that only a "halo" design truly works for multiple hours without discomfort for me. Any weight pressing on the area around my eyes and nasal bridge causes tension headaches; shifting that to my forehead alleviates that greatly, turning an otherwise uncomfortable experience into something with which I can even work for multiple hours at a time. I hope to be proven wrong here, as the head strap appears to be far more integral to the Vision Pro than the Quest, making me doubtful that there will be significant aftermarket offerings.

It surprised me to see that Apple's head strap design, outside using a material very similar to what has appeared on the AirPods Max, seems so close to tried and tested solutions from existing manufacturers, such as the Quest Elite Straps. I'd be more optimistic about the potential comfort if they had gone in a completely different direction, driven by data that told them what design worked for most people, as we have seen with their EarPods release deviating greatly from other earphones at that time. But again, having never tested the Vision Pro or knowing how the materials and weight distribution will end up affecting comfort, perhaps my skepticism is misplaced. Still, I have a hard time seeing how there couldn't be at least some weight around the eye area.

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