The Morning After: Apple reveals its mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro
It’s an Apple-heavy TMA today, so strap in. At its WWDC 2023 keynote yesterday, Apple revealed almost everything about its first spatial computing headset, the Vision Pro. In typical Apple style, it looks almost completely different from existing headsets. As Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar put it during his time with the device, the Vision Pro is like the iPod to MP3 players of old, the iPhone to the BlackBerry.
The Vision Pro is a standalone headset (well, with a battery pack) that forgoes controllers. Instead, through external and internal sensors and cameras, you use the Vision Pro with voice input and hand/eye gestures. You can finger-pinch to select things and a use pinch-slide motion for scrolling up/down or left/right. Unlike the Oculus Quest series, you can even make those hand gestures comfortably on your lap; you don't have to hold your hands up dramatically like a Minority Report cosplayer. The most unusual twist might be EyeSight. Apple uses the curved display on the headset's exterior to display your eyes and reactions while you’re wearing the device.
Apple's visionOS, made for this new kind of product, feels like a cross between iOS and macOS, powered by a new R1 chip and an M2 processor to deliver what Apple describes as responsive, "lag-free" standalone performance. Tapping the digital crown (yes, like the Apple Watch) brings up your app icons, while in some demos, rotating the crown blends the augmented reality vision into a more immersive one. Read our full first impressions right here and if you're intrigued to try it yourself, expect to wait (and save up): The Vision Pro will cost $3,499, and it won't be available until early 2024. Countries outside the US will have to wait even longer.
– Mat Smith
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A new version of the old Glances feature.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-apple-reveals-its-mixed-reality-headset-the-vision-pro-111424711.html?src=rss
It’s an Apple-heavy TMA today, so strap in. At its WWDC 2023 keynote yesterday, Apple revealed almost everything about its first spatial computing headset, the Vision Pro. In typical Apple style, it looks almost completely different from existing headsets. As Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar put it during his time with the…
