Remember how fun the 3D ViewMaster toy was? Vision Pro feels like a dynamic ViewMaster: realtime-rendered 3D apps, movies, and your own pics and video, minus the brilliant colors.
Cool
- Scroll and two-handed zoom feel very sci-fi, “Minority Report” with micro screens rather than holo.
- Custom gestures would be even more fun—thumb down to close apps, Force choke to terminate
- The best entertainment experience, because it’s 360° 3D. Immersive sports, angles you can’t get with tickets at any price
- Wrap-around 8K movies: see a diver wrestling a chonky shark, the striated mud on a rhino‘s hide, puddles on the side of a high cliff
- More visceral, 3D family videos and pics
- Step inside your panoramic photos
- Window shadows rendered in real time as you move them around
Less cool
- Text wasn’t sharp off center. Not sure if because of prescription lenses or laggy foveated rendering. But wouldn’t use it for work.
- Current apps only mildly 3D
- 3D animated movie: seen it before
- Misses a few tap gestured
Input
Input speed isn’t great. Eye tracking + separate controller would be fast, e.g. for games like “Missile Command.”
By speed: keyboard shortcut > eye + controller > eye + gesture > trackpad.
Ergonomics
Keeping your hands in your lap is easiest, but you can also tap or push-scroll apps within reach.
Humanist
Friendly, humanist Apple: first thing you see after setup is a thick, white cursive “hello,” which went from Mac to iPhone to Vision Pro. Lots of neutral dark gray and white and classy frosted glass, less Wii-verse.
The more intimate computing gets, the more you need a human-centric co for both privacy and to design the things touching your body.
I don’t trust MetaZuck at all. Google has the wrong people to do it, back end devs. Neuralink’s Musk is a sociopath.
Fit
Apple brute-forces human biodiversity with tens of light seal sizes, like its numerous Watch band sizes.
Privacy
Apple sales casts your view to their iPad mini so they can help you out with the UI. It’s awkward when they can see exactly what you’re focusing on in movies :)
Parts
Vision Pro’s digital crown and side button came from Watch via AirPods Max. Like Tesla reusing Model 3 door handles on the Semi.