Apple Vision Pro: Hands on

When the Apple Vision Pro was announced at WWDC 2023, I was intrigued. It looked amazing and I wanted to compare the experience of using it against the other times I have used VR.I was hesitant though. At launch, it was limited to the US and the price made my eyes water more than cutting an onion. Granted, I have very little practical experience with VR, and they have been frustrating to say the least.

Limited range of motion, being tethered to a PC outside of the booth I was in to the hand controllers. Let’s just say the bar was set low for my expectations of anything to do with VR/mixed reality.

This year at Apple’s developer conference they announced that Apple Vision Pro was expanding to a handful of other countries. I was pleasantly surprised that Canada made the list, considering other Apple products haven’t come to Canada yet (cough, Apple Card cough). From what I had heard form others on a number of podcasts, the Vision Pro was unlike any other VR – sorry, spatial computing device – that’s on the market currently.

As I am always on the hunt for the latest and greatest in tech, I had to check it out, obviously. I fire up my browser, hit a few buttons to book a demo, and I was off.

First impressions of the setup

When I arrived, a specialist met me and took me over to a couch in the demo area. He took my glasses over to a machine to scan my glasses to get the proper optical inserts (prescription lenses that magnetically attach to the inside), as you can’t wear glasses and the headset. I then did a scan that is similar to setting up Face ID. It was the most annoying part of the whole process honestly because the scan didn’t recognize the movements correctly. Once that was complete, my specialist sent off my measurements to someone in the back to get my unit ready.

The unit arrives

I saw my unit coming out of the back of the store. An Apple employee carried it out on a nice wooden platform, the equivalent of a silver platter and set it down on the arm rest of the couch. I was instructed how to put it on and adjust the two straps, one on the back and the other on top. It was powered on and it was go time.

Setting up

Putting it on for the first time felt so cool. Once the headset is on, you enter a different plane of reality. I was physically in the store, but not focused on what else was going on.

The demo started by calibrating and set up. The Apple Vision Pro’s main input is eye tracking and hand movements, so it’s like going to the optometrist and having got look at dots and tapping your fingers to select them. The eye and hand tracking are incredibly accurate. It’s effortless to get to what you want to on screen. Look, tap. There is no step three.

Next up was hand calibration. Not much to it. Hold up your hands and hit a button on the headset. Good to go.

The demo begins

I was first told to open Safari. I was told to browse the Apple website and visit a few pages. The next task was to open a tab and go to another website.

Virtual keyboard pops up and was told to type a website I wanted to visit by touching the keyboard. In the middle of the air of virtual space. I didn’t comprehend that I could actually touch the keyboard. Ok, got past that hurdle. Figured it out. I would prefer an actual keyboard, but virtual works.

By this time I was feeling comfortable with how to navigate so I wanted to explore on my own, but then I remembered this was a scripted demo. Whoops.

Next up: photos. Open the photos app, open an album and look at the top left to open a standard picture. Tap. The photo fills my space. Pretty cool, but just a picture in a window. Nothing to crazy. Turned out to be just the beginning. Major mind blowing still to come.

Scroll though some more standard photos before I come to a panorama. This was a major step up. I was teleported to Iceland! But I was in the store still, right? The photo fills my space with a 180° view.

I was taking it in when my specialist told me to look around by moving my head left and right. I look right. Whoa! There’s a guy in the picture I hadn’t seen. Another Panorama. Don’t know where it was but looked amazing, nonetheless.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the experience by now and have lost track of time. What’s next?

Still in the photos app. On too what is known as spatial photos. What makes these different is the layers are separated, and given a 3D look. The next is a couple of spatial videos. One is of a young girl blowing out candles on a cake. The cake was right in front of my face. I wanted to reach out and grab it. I actually said so to the person demoing it.

Done with photos and standard(ish) videos. Well, actually more on videos. Moving on.

This is where things escalate even more. The main event. Time for immersive experiences. These are when you are taken out of your physical space and go completely virtual. A sizzle reel plays of a tight rope walker over a canyon. Yes, you can look down hundreds of feet. Sports highlights. Transitions into swimming with dolphins, walking amongst elephants, rhinos charging at you and stopping just before you get impaled! Alicia Keys singing in the studio as if you’re there. Oh yeah, to end this segment, you can’t forget about the dinos.

Onto the TV app. There was a 30 second clip of the Mario movie to watch. The format of the video was similar to panoramas with their 180° view. But it gets better. My demo guide told me to enter cinema mode. This was transformative. Literally. The view I was looking at before fades out and was replaced by a massive, private theatre screen. This device could replace my TV if all I wanted to do was watch movies and TV shows.

Phew, lots covered already and almost done.

The last thing that I was shown was immersive environments like a national park in the US, some other places that were earth bound. Except one. With a turn of the Digital Crown, you can tune out the world and the environment fills your entire view. I went to the moon. Not all that it’s chalked up to be, so I moved onto a national park. Explored a couple and that was the end.

Conclusion

Overall, I was very impressed with what I went through and what the Apple Vision Pro has to offerr. This device is by far the best and most intuitive VR headset i've tried. Price aside – it costs $5,000 – would I buy it? No. It’s essentially an iPhone accessory. I don't see the value of it in its current state. There isn't enough content or use cases for it to justify using it on a regular basis. On a postive note though, it brought genuine enjoyment and delight as I discovered a radically new platform. It does feel like a futuristic device that can hint at what is coming in the next few years.