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A developer's view of Vision Pro

david-smith.org

81–90 of 371 posts

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...doing work in headsets... Is it possible to use Vision Pro to build and publish a Vision Pro app? Because it seems to be another Apple device separating producers and consumers just like iPad and iPhone.

This is a valid question and should not be downvoted. Are we going to be able to create a large software project using it without carrying around a MacBook as well? It’d be nice to be able to run macOS when I travel and not have to bring my MacBook.

We don’t know about running only on the headset.

I suspect the downvotes are because the keynote literally featured someone using their Mac inside the headset. And another video (session? State of the union?) showed developing a Vision Pro app on the Mac and testing it right next to the Mac from inside the Vision Pro.

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#82
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t want to be nosey but given that it sounds like you feel like it’s a paradigm shifting device, and you’ve actually worked on and with the device, I’d be interested to read about your motivations for moving on from Apple/the project when you did if you ever feel like writing about it. So many questions I’d love to ask you about this, but again, none of my business. Just wanted to let you know I’d upvote that bl…

Thanks! My motivations were mostly comp based (I'm in HFT now), I loved the product and the team I was on! Feel free to ask any questions here and I'll answer anything I can (e.g. no unreleased info, but maybe go into more detail about the kind of stuff that was shown to devs at WWDC). No blog right now but maybe in the future :)

Do you feel there are any large leaps left for this type of device or will it be incremental improvements to price, speed, battery life, etc from here on out?

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your experience with it, what do you think about the fatigue factor, either visually or just neck strain? From all accounts it’s quite heavy.

Unironically it might be smart to start 3d printing and testing some iNeckBrace designs.

I actually would not mind a ceiling mounted design where the headset is counterweighted so it is essentially "floating" and you pull it down to put on your head. I know it will take away from the mobility of the headset, but I am okay with being stuck to a 6ft radius while working. It could also charge through the ceiling.

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#84

I was kind of waiting for the day where a touchscreen based app would be more productive than a traditional laptop with keyboard. Yet, after many years all we got is fruit ninja and a concession from apple in the form of attachable keyboard for the iPad. So I’m equally sceptical that the investment in headset based interface is actually worth it.

I think some artists use an ipad with a stylus rather than tablet input to a laptop/desktop, but other than this I can't see how anything else could compete with a keyboard in terms of productivity. Maybe if someone makes a really, really good voice to text interface.

> Maybe if someone makes a really, really good voice to text interface. Maybe it could work, unless you're programming in APL :-)

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#85
post #20

> In short, my brain has crossed a Rubicon and now feels like experiences constrained to small, rectangular screens are lesser experiences. I left Apple 1.5 years ago but was working on the Vision Pro while I was there. I have spend many hours working in the headset and I know exactly the feeling he's describing! Leaving felt like going back in time to using clunky technology and I've been waiting for outside world t…

You sound like you're measuring this leap as the Vision Pro vs. not using a headset at all. How much of a leap is it if you're already using e.g. an XREAL Air for display mirroring — and you're planning to mostly use the Vision Pro for that same use-case?

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#86
post #20

> In short, my brain has crossed a Rubicon and now feels like experiences constrained to small, rectangular screens are lesser experiences. I left Apple 1.5 years ago but was working on the Vision Pro while I was there. I have spend many hours working in the headset and I know exactly the feeling he's describing! Leaving felt like going back in time to using clunky technology and I've been waiting for outside world t…

> ...doing work in headsets... Is it possible to use Vision Pro to build and publish a Vision Pro app? Because it seems to be another Apple device separating producers and consumers just like iPad and iPhone.

> Because it seems to be another Apple device separating producers and consumers just like iPad and iPhone.

The persistent framing of i-devices this way on HN, after all these years, is baffling to me. Tons of creation happens on them, or using them as a tool in service of creation, much of which would be harder or impossible with traditional computer. Just not a lot of software creation.

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#87
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! My motivations were mostly comp based (I'm in HFT now), I loved the product and the team I was on! Feel free to ask any questions here and I'll answer anything I can (e.g. no unreleased info, but maybe go into more detail about the kind of stuff that was shown to devs at WWDC). No blog right now but maybe in the future :)

A major limitation for using VR devices as "virtual monitors" has been the screen resolution. Vision Pro appears to have significantly higher resolution than anything available on the market right now; in your experience, was the resolution high enough for the pixels to disappear and not be a distraction, especially when e.g. reading text? Have you used other VR headsets to compare it to?

I've used other VR headsets and it's significantly better than everything I've tried. You'll be able to put up virtual monitors at the same density as real life and read stuff fine, I couldn't really discern pixels at all. Reading physical monitors through passthrough is a bit harder (I increased text size a few points when I needed to do this) but isn't really something you'd do for actual work.

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#88
post #20

> In short, my brain has crossed a Rubicon and now feels like experiences constrained to small, rectangular screens are lesser experiences. I left Apple 1.5 years ago but was working on the Vision Pro while I was there. I have spend many hours working in the headset and I know exactly the feeling he's describing! Leaving felt like going back in time to using clunky technology and I've been waiting for outside world t…

I guess the big question I have is... what's the point of an extremely expensive headset when it looks like Quest 3 at 7x less the price is going to deliver a roughly similar experience, quality-wise?

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#89
post #20

> In short, my brain has crossed a Rubicon and now feels like experiences constrained to small, rectangular screens are lesser experiences. I left Apple 1.5 years ago but was working on the Vision Pro while I was there. I have spend many hours working in the headset and I know exactly the feeling he's describing! Leaving felt like going back in time to using clunky technology and I've been waiting for outside world t…

How did it compare to the Varjo XR-3?

Re: A developer's view of Vision Pro

#90

That was a lot of words for nothing to say... To sum up the entire article in one sentence: The author got to play with the thing, and is very excited to develop software for it.

I think reviewers who don't get excited about Apple products stop getting invited to new Apple products.

David Smith is not a reviewer. He’s been a longtime app developer with a huge number of apps. Apple has even featured a few of them.

He may be best known for Pedometer++ and Widgetsmith which was the app that went viral on TikTok when widgets first came out for the iPhone.

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