Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 59 posts

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#21

Post by Navarr »

lelandbatey wrote: post #4

Watching the announcement video, Apple is claiming that the rendering is sharp enough to display text sharply, implying that Vision Pro will be useful for productivity applications (using Excel or chat in VR without any monitors). Here's to hoping that they'll allow us to replace our monitors with unlimited arbitrarily sized VR displays. EDIT: Whoa, at a price of $3500, I guess they've got the price room to embed all…

3500 is HoloLens MSRP, too. And I dare say this looks like it's doing better than that

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#22

Post by billyt555 »

dymk wrote: post #14
snailmailman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a VR headset with external cameras, so that it can be used primarily for AR. But with the headset on, you are definitely looking at a screen. not looking through the headset.

That's interesting, we're sure that's the case? Their marketing pictures make it seem like a semi-transparent front screen with cameras around the periphery. > Floating 2D apps can be placed to float around your "real world" space, which remains visible through the semi-transparent display. Which would make it distinct from most of the VR headsets currently on the market, and rather in the category of AR headsets.

I dont think display is transparent, the eyes are an outward facing video of wearers eyes.

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#23

Post by chankstein38 »

This is cool and all but the like "Disney+ support will be available from the start and Apple arcade" made me less excited. Like oooo more locked in crap that will only have the same massive companies serving me things. I mean, I don't expect much different from a large company but still this could be such a cool tech but I'm so tired of just seeing the same names everywhere.

It feels similar to ChatGPT plugins. Access to them and developing them was limited except it was released with Expedia and other large companies that just wanted a way to rope you into paying for their services.

Also can't help but gag a little at that price tag. Woo $3500 to watch Disney+ in the woods

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#24

Post by peyton »

FinnKuhn wrote: post #15

This seems very promising by being based on already existing experiences (support for iPhone and iPad Apps). Considering all the other features the price of 3499$ doesn't seem to crazy, especially because it can replace all of your monitors, TV and more while also enabling entirely new experiences for basically the same price.

Yeah if they get the form factor down over time this will replace a lot of stuff people own. Like why would I carry a phone…

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#26

Post by fatnoah »

andreyk wrote: post #6

"For weight purposes, an external battery will sit in your pocket and connect to the Vision Pro through a cable." Interesting choice... can't say I am a fan "The headset's visionOS operating system can be controlled in a "fully 3D interface" without a handheld controller. It solely uses your eyes, hands, and voice as an interface, and the unit lets you "control the system simply by looking." An interesting decision.…

AR is the ultimate end game, IMHO. While these intermediate devices are products, they are steps in building competency in solving the challenges of display, power, control, and heat so that a true, glasses-based AR solution can be delivered at some point in the future.

In the past, Facebook demoed wrist-based control that required only 1mm or so of hand/finger movement to control an application. Others that I've heard of have thought about putting batteries on the headset, but externalizing some processing. There's a lot going on in the space, and mixed-reality is just the stepping stone.

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#28

Post by hnbear »

andreyk wrote: post #6

"For weight purposes, an external battery will sit in your pocket and connect to the Vision Pro through a cable." Interesting choice... can't say I am a fan "The headset's visionOS operating system can be controlled in a "fully 3D interface" without a handheld controller. It solely uses your eyes, hands, and voice as an interface, and the unit lets you "control the system simply by looking." An interesting decision.…

If you watched the video they said that existing peripherals will work too, including game controllers, keyboards, touchpads, etc.

It’s a battery with magnetic attachment for power. I wonder how hard they’ll push having multiple batteries to change them out. Looks like a sleek large bar of soap type battery (ie. all one unit), to slip into a pocket. It looks like a nice way to implement external batteries.

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#29

Post by Philip-J-Fry »

The display tech looks really cool. The eye pass through thing on the front of the device looks goofy as hell, it looks okay but viewed from an angle it looked weird because it didn't match up exactly with the face beneath.

Overall though, I think if it's anywhere near as good as those CG demos showed it to be, it could be the start of something new. But it reminds me of when Microsoft showed off HoloLens, the demonstrations of that made it look amazing, but supposedly the real device wasn't as impressive. The fact that Vision Pro is actually a full VR headset with cameras for pass through should make the whole AR experience 1000x better. I'm interested in what the battery life will be like too. It needs at least 4-6 hours to be usable for work or leisure. Anything less than that and there's no point.

Price wise, it's actually way cheaper than I thought. I fully expected this to be an Apple enthusiast device targeting at least $4999. But $3499 is cheap enough that someone could reasonably save to afford it and those with good disposable income could buy them. It's still expensive, don't get me wrong. But that's the price of a high end TV or a high end desktop.

Re: Apple reveals Vision Pro, a AR/VR headset unlike any other

#30

Post by kypro »

Seems slightly more refined and seamless compared to other headsets.

Not sure exactly what I think to be honest... It's pricey, but looks good in theory.

I'll be interested if text really is as sharp as they claim it to be and if the latency is noticeably better than the Quest.

Also how they adjust for different IPD is extremely important, but I'm not sure they mentioned that at all? The Quest 2 has 3 three fixed IPD positions you can select from, but none of them are quite perfect for me and that makes the depth experience tiring and a little blurry.

For anyone who's used Quest 2 the idea that you would use it has a productivity device is absurd because although you can create virtual work spaces the resolution isn't even close to a high-res monitor and the whole experience gets tiring to the eye after a while. If Apple has solved this then it's 100% worth the price imo, but I think this is something I'd need to try before I buy because I'd personally not be spending this amount of money without knowing it's a significant step up from what Meta is offering for a much much cheaper price point with the Quest 3.

There's nothing that revolutionary here in my opinion. It just looks like a more refined Quest 3. Which isn't to say it's bad. I mean there's a reason I'm writing this on a Macbook.

Post reply on HN