The Apple Thread - The Bear and Badger

Diluted Dante

Have they considered just making it wearable by people with glasses?

Funkstain

I keep saying the future of wearables is AR, small form (normal glasses+ size), on demand (not always on).

VR will always be niche, I agree totally with Liv. It’s fun, weird, video games, films, couple of hours tops usually on your own or playing with others remotely. When vr is better quality, always wireless, more comfortable - it’ll still be niche and fun and couple of hours.

This shit may be a stepping stone towards that inevitable future (in which we all wear ar glasses and it’s normal like a smartphone, then move on to contact lenses), but it’s a shit step

poprock

I bet Skerret’s ordered one.

monkey

Maybe Google Glass spooked them off going the glasses route but it seems like the more Apple solution. Lightweight, team up with some premium brands, basically pointless but charge morons £500-£1000.

Funkstain

No - I think it will be totally ubiquitous, but not until the tech is ready. You will just get used to seeing everything 'enhanced': zoom, pictures, information, mapping / directions, fitness stats, calls, documents...via your glasses instead of your smartphone or watch. Smartphone may drive it (be the guts of it and have the bigger battery) in the same way watches are often paired to smartphones.

So it won't be charging morons, it will be charging everyone. I think this is inevitable, it makes too much sense to me, but it's at least 5 years away

djchump

Accessories for it are going to be hilariously expensive. And by "accessories", I mean "optional add-ons that you require to make this goddamn thing at all usable" - e.g. the aforementioned prescription lenses, and the obvious "head strap with integrated battery and headtop strap which balances the weight and gets rid of that stupid fucking cable". My guess is the usable battery strap will cost at least £500.

Funkstain

Actually I’m talking bollocks. The privacy concerns alone…

Diluted Dante

How does this improve the porn viewing experience?

monkey

monkey wrote:

Morons.

Just to define this, I'm really talking about the people that might be in the market for a useless piece of fancy Apple gadgetry today, as the tech stands. As an owner of a borderline useless Apple watch, I am unfortunately in this consumer category.

Wookienopants

Diluted Dante wrote:

How does this improve the porn viewing experience?

That's your market right there.

LivDiv

Funkstain wrote:

Actually I’m talking bollocks. The privacy concerns alone…

This is it.
Put a camera on glasses and it's instantly nonce-wear.

acemuzzy

Lol imagine the fake eyes repping the expression

monkey

Siri, activate ahegao.

b0r1s

So, despite the price, the silly design, the bad ideas around the fake eyes and pocket battery pack, it's clear from the MKBHD video that they have already nailed the AR/VR UI and this is where Apple shine.

I tried the hands only stuff on the Quest and it was so so painful, slow and buggy as to be unusable.

The idea that you can eventually get a pair of sunglasses, that wirelessly connect to your laptop and become a 34" ultra wide display wherever you are, is the huge appeal. Do that Apple and you'll sell bucketloads.

mannaboy

You can make your own 3D porn with this, there’s your USP.

Wookienopants

mannaboy wrote:

You can make your own 3D porn with this, there’s your USP.

Spaffing.

Oops
I meant spiffing.

poprock

b0r1s wrote:

The idea that you can eventually get a pair of sunglasses, that wirelessly connect to your laptop and become a 34" ultra wide display wherever you are, is the huge appeal. Do that Apple and you'll sell bucketloads.

That’s the holy grail. And it’s coming. This is a fucking huge step along the way.

Yes, the pricing’s over the top. Yes, the current hardware is ridiculous. But somebody needs to be doing this R&D or we’ll never get to the usable and useful future version. Might as well develop it all the way into a viable (if niche) product, since they’re the richest company in the world ever. The very definition of deep pockets.

bad_hair_day

The actual weight hasn’t been revealed and possibly telling.

b0r1s

And this especially works with the new hybrid culture we all have. Our new offices have been purpose built to not accommodate the whole company as people will be hot desking different days etc. not having to find a spare second screen or carry one around with you is going to be fantastic. I’m this product for me? Nope but it’s next next version probably will be.

mannaboy

Arse photocopying TNG.

djchump

I dunno why everyone’s so keen to get rid of screens; they’re very handy.
Even more so in the creative industries that Apple have traditionally appealed to. You’re not gonna colour-grade with a director while you both sit there wearing goggles - you need a good, colour-calibrated screen. Likewise any design work - how is some dickhead of a client going to point at bits of your screen and so “no, make this part more purple”?

Also lol at the “it makes working while mobile in a hotel room so much easier and portable!” From the demos - when the most compelling use case is a secondary screen for your laptop, which is already right fucking there with a screen, it becomes an unnecessary ballache to lug around an expensive headset with 2-hour battery life.

Funkstain

bad_hair_day wrote:

The actual weight hasn’t been revealed and possibly telling.

Hasn't it? I found this hands-on in the Verge to be interesting and honest: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23750003/apple-vision-pro-hands-on-the-best-headset-demo-ever?commentID=d67d3911-3888-4a1e-90ef-30f1b48c5fb2

The top comment is an answer to the Q "how heavy compared to Quest" and the answer "way lighter, less than a pound" so there's that

monkey

I'm sceptical about all this stuff. Especially anything needing a lot of gestures. Nothing is more productive, flexible and user friendly than M+K + screen display.

Funkstain

djchump wrote:

I dunno why everyone’s so keen to get rid of screens; they’re very handy. Even more so in the creative industries that Apple have traditionally appealed to. You’re not gonna colour-grade with a director while you both sit there wearing goggles - you need a good, colour-calibrated screen. Likewise any design work - how is some dickhead of a client going to point at bits of your screen and so “no, make this part more purple”? Also lol at the “it makes working while mobile in a hotel room so much easier and portable!” From the demos - when the most compelling use case is a secondary screen for your laptop, which is already right fucking there with a screen, it becomes an unnecessary ballache to lug around an expensive headset with 2-hour battery life.

I agree with all the takes saying this is a silly luxury product in need of a problem to solve

But surely the far better use case is an extension of the Samsung Dex concept, whereby you plug you galaxy into a special monitor and it turns in to a pretty full featured computer, with excellent browser and full fat MS office apps etc - so your iPhone connects to v2 of this and you have a virtual keyboard + screen with desktop apps, no more need for a laptop

b0r1s

I still want a real keyboard.

LivDiv

Yeah, I remember those projected keyboards being a thing for a bit but typing really requires some kind of tactile feedback, see haptics on phones.

monkey

Showing someone something on your screen is very easy. Showing someone something in your own custom VR environment is very hard. And Apple will spend the next 5 years of WWDCs coming up with new ways to replicate the very basic functionality that people already have.

It's not like I could even give someone my headset without having to fuck around with magnetic lenses.

bad_hair_day

Funkstain wrote:

bad_hair_day wrote:

The actual weight hasn’t been revealed and possibly telling.

Hasn't it? I found this hands-on in the Verge to be interesting and honest: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23750003/apple-vision-pro-hands-on-the-best-headset-demo-ever?commentID=d67d3911-3888-4a1e-90ef-30f1b48c5fb2

The top comment is an answer to the Q "how heavy compared to Quest" and the answer "way lighter, less than a pound" so there's that

Incoming Quest 3 (301g) is 40% lighter than the Quest 2 (503g).

poprock

Okay, so what are the big differences between this and other VR headsets?

It’s focussed on mixed reality, not VR. So it’s not primarily about shutting out the outside world (although it still can).

Eye tracking. Not controllers. So the entire UI is significantly different.

Fancy software in the background that’s damn near to being a brain/computer interface, inferring your intentions from subconscious eye movements/reactions. (Insert Keanu ‘whoa’ here.)

Although it’s ugly, presumably the build quality is outstanding as per usual.

It’s fucking expensive.

It’s Apple.

bad_hair_day

Quest 3 has colour pass through and hand tracking.

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