Welcome to the Vision Pro, Apple’s most complex piece of hardware yet. So complicated that we’ll need more than one teardown to tackle it. First up: Those creepy eyes.
Just think about it for a moment. Apple made a mask, that when you wear it in your face, projects a 3D animated avatar if you face on the outside. That is so weird, f’ed up and dystopian.
I won’t argue about whether this is dystopian, but the practical reason for the face projection is that they wanted to make this not just something you wear sitting alone in your basement, like most other VR headsets. They wanted it to be usable around other people, at a workplace, with family, etc.
Interacting with someone wearing a full face blind is just weird, so they thought that making the eyes visible would help make this a bit more socially usable.
I’m not sure that’s really going to work out — seems at least as awkward as Google’s failed Glass project — but Apple’s design decision has some merit.
Google Glass really feels smarter in this particular regard.
Also they decided to stuff everything into the headset.
Maybe making it a separate thing and moving as much mass and volume as possible to something worn on your belt or your back would be a better idea. EDIT: But I do understand how this doesn’t fit their marketing.
Especially considering they already put the battery external, if you have to shove a battery in your pocket and run a wire up to your head they might as well have put more of the electronics there too.
It would conserve a lot of weight and space and make it more comfortable to wear
I agree. I thought they were going to do that to create a lighter, less intrusive headset. This just seems like the worst of both worlds. Maybe processing in the pocket became too hot without ventilation. I thought they were going to plug the thing into an iPhone in the pocket and offload power and processing there, but the Vision is very power hungry so I guess they eliminated that early on.
People wear those fucking white stalks hanging from their ears when interacting with people. I see gangs of teens hanging out, all having white stalks on their ears and no one seem to care anymore.
It’s not respectful to the person you’re interacting with having those dangling around without showing you actually listen to what’s being said. Of course people will wear these to show off as soon as possible.
I think we’re past this being a disrespectful thing, and it’s just how society evolves. There was a time in which anyone carrying around a cellphone (the big, brick ones) were seeing as showoff.
And years ago, if you saw someone with one of those bluetooth “stalks” as you called them in one ear, talking on the phone loudly on the street, you would think “what a douche!” But today, it’s so, so, so common, that nobody seems to care anymore, not even myself. Of course, if they’re in an enclosed space, or a relatively quiet space, then that will always be annoying.
Do I like this new norm? Not particularly, as I’m old school. But I just accepted it. And there has been a few times in which I had to do it myself (e.g. talking to someone while carrying some boxes or solving a problem with my bank while folding laundry), and it’s kind of relieving that I can do this without feeling ashamed - again, because everyone else is doing it.
I’m convinced that the only reason they did the eye thing is so they can get micro transactions for people buying custom eyes like cats and aliens and shit.
Just think about it for a moment. Apple made a mask, that when you wear it in your face, projects a 3D animated avatar if you face on the outside. That is so weird, f’ed up and dystopian.
I think it’s just straight up uncanny valley. Don’t think it’s especially “dystopian” per se.
Honestly cartoon eyes might have actually worked better here.
should just be some googly eyes
I won’t argue about whether this is dystopian, but the practical reason for the face projection is that they wanted to make this not just something you wear sitting alone in your basement, like most other VR headsets. They wanted it to be usable around other people, at a workplace, with family, etc.
Interacting with someone wearing a full face blind is just weird, so they thought that making the eyes visible would help make this a bit more socially usable.
I’m not sure that’s really going to work out — seems at least as awkward as Google’s failed Glass project — but Apple’s design decision has some merit.
Google Glass really feels smarter in this particular regard.
Also they decided to stuff everything into the headset.
Maybe making it a separate thing and moving as much mass and volume as possible to something worn on your belt or your back would be a better idea. EDIT: But I do understand how this doesn’t fit their marketing.
Especially considering they already put the battery external, if you have to shove a battery in your pocket and run a wire up to your head they might as well have put more of the electronics there too.
It would conserve a lot of weight and space and make it more comfortable to wear
I agree. I thought they were going to do that to create a lighter, less intrusive headset. This just seems like the worst of both worlds. Maybe processing in the pocket became too hot without ventilation. I thought they were going to plug the thing into an iPhone in the pocket and offload power and processing there, but the Vision is very power hungry so I guess they eliminated that early on.
Given the number of TV shows and movies around this topic, I can sense this change coming.
If I have to interact with someone that’s wearing goggles, I might go full Luddite.
People wear those fucking white stalks hanging from their ears when interacting with people. I see gangs of teens hanging out, all having white stalks on their ears and no one seem to care anymore.
It’s not respectful to the person you’re interacting with having those dangling around without showing you actually listen to what’s being said. Of course people will wear these to show off as soon as possible.
I think we’re past this being a disrespectful thing, and it’s just how society evolves. There was a time in which anyone carrying around a cellphone (the big, brick ones) were seeing as showoff.
And years ago, if you saw someone with one of those bluetooth “stalks” as you called them in one ear, talking on the phone loudly on the street, you would think “what a douche!” But today, it’s so, so, so common, that nobody seems to care anymore, not even myself. Of course, if they’re in an enclosed space, or a relatively quiet space, then that will always be annoying.
Do I like this new norm? Not particularly, as I’m old school. But I just accepted it. And there has been a few times in which I had to do it myself (e.g. talking to someone while carrying some boxes or solving a problem with my bank while folding laundry), and it’s kind of relieving that I can do this without feeling ashamed - again, because everyone else is doing it.
It’s a VR headset. It’s not a social experience.
I wouldn’t go so far as fucked up and dystopian. It’s just an odd style choice.
I don’t know, I could see the value if it really looked like the mask was semi transparent.
So it’s a cool idea, the only problem is that they didn’t deliver and the result is creepy instead.
It’s really cheesy and cringe, a product looking for a problem.
The second half is basically why Apple is successful.
I’m convinced that the only reason they did the eye thing is so they can get micro transactions for people buying custom eyes like cats and aliens and shit.
Steve Buscemi
Not only did they make something that weird, they put an absolute shit load of effort into doing so. That teardown video was insane.