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Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

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Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It makes me wonder if Apple is really giving it up as news have claimed. I don't think anyone serious has claimed that.

Vision Pro's top talent all moved with their boss, Mike Rockwell, to Siri where they have at least a prayer of promotions, not to mention the satisfaction of working on a product that's not a miserable failure in the market. Apple shelved the follow up v2 over a year ago and signaled very clearly it was refocusing its XR efforts toward AR glasses. There hasn't been a new Vision Pro component order since the late 2023…

I don’t think Vision Pro was intended as a mass consumer product. There is so much cost reduction they could have done on the device that they didn’t do to hit a lower price point, and it’s obvious to everyone that $3500 wasn’t going to sell a lot of units (and it must have been obvious to Apple execs as well).

My guess is it is basically a real world survey of how people would use such a device, and what developers would do with it. Then they could later focus on a cheaper product that is only a display, or a product that is only a media viewer, or a product that focuses on VR/AR applications while deemphasizing other use cases.

This is the version of reality that doesn’t require anyone to be stupid. In my experience if a reality candidate requires that someone is just really really stupid to arrive at the outcome (in this case Apple execs), probably you are missing something about someone’s perspective.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#122
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also got usb-c display glasses and they've been great as an external monitor while traveling. I strongly recommend them to folks who want to be able to work comfortably on airplanes or other situations where you don't have an ergonomic desk.

This is the comment I came here for. Which ones?

I got the RayNeo Air 2 since they had the largest field of view.

Pros:

- Price (~$200 one year ago)

- Display quality/resolution is fine

- Brightness is excellent, can use it in direct sunlight without issue

- Build quality is fine.

- It really is just a plug-and-play USB-C monitor that overlays on whatever you're looking at.

- The focal distance (~4 meters) is really nice since my eyes often get strained when working on my laptop screen

Cons:

- (BIG con) it turns out that the field of view is TOO large - I often can't see the system clock in the corner of my screen or the quickbar in games.

- It just has normal pads like for glasses, and they can get a little sore/leave a red mark since they're heavier than normal glasses

- It's powered by the same USB that delivers the display data, so while it works fine for my macbook, it won't display from my phone. I've seen that there are battery/power converter dongles to add power to the cable but haven't tried one.

So if I did it again I'd just check reviews and get whatever is cheap and well reviewed currently. I was thinking about finding some sort of airplane-friendly keyboard+mouse setup as well but it turns out that just using my laptop keyboard and touchpad works fine.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In industrial robotics, there is this emergency practice when the payload and tooling on the robot gets to heavy, to connect the payload to a counterweight and pully system, to "neutralize it in weight". Has anyone here tried that ? It should take three thin ropes with weight to make a object neutrally buyont. Yes, its tied to one room, yes its not pretty and futuristic, but its practical? If you want freedom of move…

More simply, I wonder if anyone's tried adding an equal weight to the back of their head. This would double the weight, but people can carry very heavy loads on their heads as long as the weight is acting downwards.

The issue with that is you would constantly need to keep your head on the same plane, as soon as you move it around, it becomes unbalanced and now it's even harder to move around because it's heavier. Walking with something balanced on your head is a completely different use case than looking around, up and down etc.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#125
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly the passthrough is black and white only. That's the one thing I love about the Vision Pro is it never feels claustrophobic thanks to very good passthrough quality.

Wow, Steam Frame has only B&W passthrough...[1] The Quest 3S has color passthrough and it's hardly an Apple-level device, and it's $349 in comparison. I guess as a gamer, I don't care that much. I put on my headset to game, and if I need to step away for a moment, I'm more likely to take it off than to wander around my house with a headset on. Still, I thought color passthrough was now table stakes for a headset. [1]…

I think it's not purely unmotivated cost-cutting. They went for IR sensors and have embedded IR LEDs for low-light tracking, and i figure colour passthrough would have required additional cameras.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#126
post #63

I use it every day, approx ~95% of the days since it launched over 2 years ago. Many hours a day. Far and away my biggest use-case is connecting it to my laptop for gigantic (private) movie theater-sized screen. Getting it comfortable was the most important step. The 6-months-old DualKnit band is really great for making it a lot more comfortable. An open face mod (eg $10 Macally on amazon) helps a lot with eye breath…

Do you wear glasses and do you have the prescription inserts for the AVP? I have a very mild prescription, no inserts, and I find text in the AVP to be distractingly blurry. Enough so that I’ve never been able to use the virtual monitor for more than a few minutes at a time. For context, I have no problem using external monitors without my glasses. The only downside is very tired eyes at the end of a workday, but I c…

I have a moderate prescription so putting on Vision Pro improves my vision compared to unaided eyesight ;) It would definitely not prefer it to my Studio Display but it does the job when I don't have it.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#127
post #96

Stopped using it after about a week or two of usage. The only interesting use case was screen mirroring from my Mac, but that wasn't compelling enough to endure the weight of it on my face. I expected watching a movie would be a good use case, but in reality the brightness of the screen would reflect (I guess?) off my face and create a glare... so it ultimately wasn't a good movie device. Gave it to a friend who was…

This is the most common scenario. That’s why can’t compare Vision Pro with the iPhone. First iPhone was limited yeah but those who bought it loved and used it all the time. Word of mouth setup the success of later versions.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#129
post #71
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless materials science advances to the point where a display like the Vision Pro weighs as much as a pair of glasses, I don’t think there’ll ever be mass adoption of wearable VR beyond anything more than a novelty, for exactly the reason you stated. Wearing something heavy on the front of your face is simply not a pleasant experience.

Beyond 2 is 107 grams. The new M5 Vision Pro is 750 grams. It's easily doable, but Apple deliberately makes them heavy for some reason.

the steam frame is apparently 440 grams.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In industrial robotics, there is this emergency practice when the payload and tooling on the robot gets to heavy, to connect the payload to a counterweight and pully system, to "neutralize it in weight". Has anyone here tried that ? It should take three thin ropes with weight to make a object neutrally buyont. Yes, its tied to one room, yes its not pretty and futuristic, but its practical? If you want freedom of move…

More simply, I wonder if anyone's tried adding an equal weight to the back of their head. This would double the weight, but people can carry very heavy loads on their heads as long as the weight is acting downwards.

Yes. This is how various headsets are made. The HTC focus Vision is one example, and there’s an addon (not sure if third party) for the quest 3 that puts a battery back there.

So yes, this is done and it can help.

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