It is still a prototype, we prefer to notify Apple. First draft or not, he’s the star of the week everyone has wanted to see since he appeared as “One More Thing” at Apple’s WWDC developer conference last Monday.
The Apple Vision Pro is the brand’s first unique product since the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015, its biggest innovation since the iPhone in 2007. And on the shoulders of this mixed reality headset, therefore, rest all of Apple’s hopes. . It must change everything, modify habits, democratize a sector that is said to have been in the making for years without seeing it take a leap.
Thus, to find out if the newcomer could really be the next “revolution” for Apple, Tech&Co was able to test a first sample of experiences during a session in Apple Park.
A personalized experience from the first moment
Apple wants an experience tailored to everyone and this goes through an initial calibration stage that consists of adjusting the headset to our face with a Face ID facial recognition configuration, and to our ears by adjusting the spatial audio. Two tests that will be carried out later using the external screen of the Vision Pro and its cameras to create our Person -that photorealistic avatar that will exchange us with the outside world- and also to make the sound experience even more immersive with 3D reproduction in our ears ( through perfectly placed speakers).
We did not have the opportunity to test Optic ID, the ultra-secure system to unlock the helmet from the eye, make future payments or validate purchases on the dedicated App Store. It is based on the recognition of the iris, unique to each individual, but it was not yet active.
Then comes the time for our hands to be recognized by the multiple cameras present around the helmet (12 distributed inside and outside the visor, accompanied by 5 sensors and 6 microphones). The interpupillary distance is then automatically adjusted on the internal display so that eye tracking is taken into account. In a few minutes, the Apple Vision Pro adapts perfectly to our appearance and our gestures.
A clean and compact design.
What is surprising at first glance is how “small” the Vision Pro is. Compared to the Meta Quest Pro, Microsoft HoloLens, or even HTC Vive, Apple’s headset seems much more compact. As always within the Cupertino company, special attention has been paid to design.
The Vision Pro features a curved OLED outer display, encased in an aluminum alloy frame very similar to Apple’s. At the top, there is the digital crown whose appearance is reminiscent of the one present in the Apple Watch. It is mainly used to display an interface similar to that of the iPhone, but in transparency, and to manage the transition from augmented reality to a more immersive virtual reality environment when turned on. The other button, on the left, allows you to take photos and videos.
The helmet placement system is quite simple and effective, with an elastic band at the back, which is tightened/loosened with the help of a side knob. A strap can be added at the top to better fix the Vision Pro on the head. Simpler than many competitive helmets.
A screen over the lot
Apple spared no means and put micro-LED inside with two screens with more than 4K resolution (23 million pixels). Suffice to say that the viewing experience is absolutely stunning. The quality of the images that appear, be it simple photos, 4K videos or 3D movies, is quite impressive in the rendering that is displayed.
In mixed reality, indoors, what’s shown isn’t really what your eyes would see without a mask, but rather what quality external cameras send back as an image of the outdoors. However, the match is exact and the set does not experience any latency. If you get too close to a piece of furniture that appears in your field of vision, you will collide with it and injure yourself as if you were seeing it with your own eyes. If it’s a wall, the augmented reality elements will disappear to bring it back into your field of vision.
If it still remains dark or slightly bluish during activity, the external OLED screen will show your gaze so as not to disturb your physical interlocutors when they come closer. But it’s actually a trick to give the impression of making the initial opaque screen transparent. Because it is the display of a projection of your gaze and your facial expressions that appears. The internal cameras follow your eyes, and the ones below the visor focus on the movements of your mouth and lower face to replicate this view from your eyes. A way to connect with the outside world and humanize everything when you are actually in your bubble. We were unable to test this EyeSight feature or view its representation, which was not operational on the tested prototype.
Eye and hand detection that leaves you speechless
The headset runs on a new operating system called visionOS. Their goal: to spatialize applications and interfaces to allow the user to interact with the content that takes place in the surrounding space. As expected, everything is perfectly adjusted. It is even possible to show several applications (Messages, Freeform, Photos, Notes, FaceTime) and arrange them as we want in our environment.
The fingertip controls and the look are extremely impressive. The eyes work like a computer mouse and you navigate at high speed from one icon to another, from one menu to another before validating with your fingertips by squeezing your thumb and forefinger, to stretch windows or photos vertically or horizontally quite instinctively. Apple has opted for everyone’s intuition to navigate the menus and it works perfectly. And above all, the eye tracking is out of all proportion to the competition, being responsive and flawless in what we’ve tested. Finger validation and gestures respond tit-for-tat without delay. We would almost take ourselves for Tom Cruise in minority report, turning the interfaces under his eyes with his fingertips. There is also something futuristic but very current.
Experiences: Featured Entertainment
It must also be recognized that the experiments proposed during this first approach were capable of generating a quite effective surprise effect. Diverse, however, revolved a lot around entertainment.
We were able to dive into the photo library to display snapshots. The colors are vibrant, the interest perhaps a little less. You don’t necessarily want to enjoy a moment of nostalgia, just on your couch with your headphones on. On the other hand, the possibility of converting the panoramic photos in your collection into a 180° wallpaper is much more interesting.
By choosing an environment to go completely to the bottom of the digital wheel, Vision Pro made our two interlocutors present during the test disappear. Having become shadows in the photo, they nevertheless appeared in our field of vision when they spoke to us or when we stared at them to make them “come back” little by little, the cameras took them into account.
With the helmet, it is possible to take photos and record 3D videos by pressing the button. The rendering is pretty crazy with rarely seen depth of field. You can see forward and to the sides (even if some black areas appear at the edge of the field of vision to the side, up and down when you turn your head too far).
We were able to test FaceTime calls. Our caller was also wearing a Vision Pro, so it was his photorealistic avatar that appeared on the screen. We would have thought we had a real human in front of us. The facial expressions fully reflected the personality of our sidekick, and his head moved as if he had moved naturally face to face. We also published a project in Freeform, Apple’s application to collaborate, add text tiles, photos, 3D models… We both modified the document with our fingertips, moved elements, added others in a very simple way.
On the entertainment side, mixed reality headsets want to offer a completely different movie, sports or music experience. avatar 2 in 3D it is a true attraction with an immersive effect that seems so natural that you would forget that you are wearing a helmet, even more so when you switch to “Cinema” mode, that is, making a room appear before our eyes in which we would be in the front row already dark. Equipped with various sensors, including a light sensor, Vision Pro knows how to perfectly adjust the brightness of the screen according to its external environment so as not to disturb the representation of reality.
Spatial audio, a great asset
This is also one of the important points: immersion. It will be audio with headphones capable of creating a sound image of your environment, either to adapt the audio to your room (if there is carpet, parquet, mirrors, strange walls…) and that you “believe it”, or to enjoy experiences. outdoors, in front of a tightrope walker on a wire in the middle of the mountains, listening to the sound of the wind. Apple has bought the sports rights to various competitions and we understand the goal when we see that headphones can also let you enjoy basketball, football or baseball games as if you were there, planted in the middle of the players in action.
Clearly we had a lot of hearing and sight, until this butterfly came out of the 3D video dinosaur encounter and came to rest on our finger. And our brain to want to believe it to the point of almost feeling the insect on us. The dinosaur that will follow him in the same experience will remind us that it is also better for our nerves that he is no more real than his on-screen realism made us feel.
Although some caveats…
The tested Apple Vision Pro is far from the final version dreamed of by Tim Cook. It is a certainty. But it is one of the most successful and surprising prototypes that we have been able to test. Powerful, technologically advanced, it is close to perfect in all areas. We can always say that the field of vision could be better, but it is already the widest on the market. The autonomy of 2 hours and the presence of a cable to connect it to a portable battery (small format) denote against Apple’s usual care in ergonomics and the copy will undoubtedly be reworked.
It is in the port of the hull where we find a greater inconvenience. After 30 minutes, she ended up weighing the front of her head between her two screens and the operating system of this “space computer.”
The big question is ultimately the simplest: who and what will it be used for? A mystery that will have to be solved for the next 7-8 months minimum. At $3,500, not everyone can afford it. Apple clearly doesn’t want to make it a professional-only product despite its name and knows it has great potential to revolutionize home entertainment. Its ease of use, as well as its quality, make it a strong candidate for the eventual democratization of the market, once the price becomes reasonable.
Still, if it is considered the computer of the future, the world does not need the Vision Pro at the moment and can still be satisfied with the PC. Like there was no need for the iPhone when it came out in front of mobile phones. And we know what the iPhone has accomplished as a sleight of hand to become indispensable and give birth to a competitive market that still dominates despite fierce competition. The Vision Pro is akin to a technical demonstration of Apple’s know-how to entice developers. It has the weapons and the fledgling product quality to gain a foothold in an industry that may just be waiting for it to really take off and continue to be the spearhead, if not the trailblazer.
Source: BFM TV
