Steve Troughton-SmithOct 29

Today I received an incredible surprise care package containing a 1TB Apple Vision Pro (M2), official case, weighted ResMed dual strap, and developer strap, all for which I am incredibly thankful. šŸ¤Æ

Finally, after 2 years, I will be able to dive in to visionOS properly*

(And no, it wasn't from Apple)

*in as much as is possible in a non-supported country, which Apple has made /as painful as possible/, but I will complain about that in due time

Show threadSteve Troughton-Smith

My custom satellite TV app works great on visionOS šŸ‘Œ

I can pick up a 70" virtual tv screen and wander round the house with it, or bring it to the moon or a desert island

Oct 29 at 4:08pmIvory for Mac
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29

One aspect of the Vision Pro experience that really fucking sucks is the Apple TV app.

Not because it's bad.

Because its contents are completely unavailable if Vision Pro isn't supported in your country.

That means no Apple shows, no Paramount+, no nothing. Deep links go nowhere.

You can sometimes play these TV shows and movies using the Apple TV website (but not always), but that's it.

The Apple TV experience is 75% of the value of a Vision Pro, and it's just not available to me in Ireland

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29

I can understand the App Store not being available (though I disagree with that, too), but to lock away my access to the services I'm already paying per month for is a bit of a gut punch ā€” especially when it's some of the only content Vision Pro *has* right now.

(I knew this going in, for the record, but now I've experienced it I want to share how I feel about it)

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29
In other news, visionOS is *gorgeous* in practice. Itā€™s easy to forget that when discussing it from afar
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29
If you think Apple's immersive environments are cool, try Disney's. The Alien: Earth one is fucking terrifying. It genuinely feels close to real life in quality ā€” no uncanny valley here. That's the first VR I've seen that I could believe
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29
Itā€™s kinda shocking to see just how few key developers support visionOS. For example, 2 years on and Dropbox is still completely unavailable on the platform. Good luck having productivity apps if you canā€™t access your files
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29
Speaking of shocking, the visionOS 26 shell crashes to an Apple logo an alarming amount of times per day. It crashed while I was dictating audio, it crashed when I entered an immersive space in Disney, and it crashed when I tried doing a FaceTime call. I could tell the OS was in rough shape from the Simulator, but this is deep into unfinished territory
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29
The displays in the Vision Pro are effectively perfect; I donā€™t think they would benefit at all from more pixels. What the device could really do with are much better cameras and optics. A variable focal distance would go a long way to making this feel great. The passthrough cameras though need to be 10X better for anybody to take them seriously. I still donā€™t know how Apple convinced pundits who tried this at WWDC23 that passthrough was as good as they claimed. Yā€™all need help
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29
Passthrough vs in-headset content. It handles low light better than the Quest 3, but it's still not great
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29

Iā€™ve had the headset on for maybe 8 hours today, comfortably. It is so much heavier than the Quest 3, but there is effectively nothing in the OS that can make you motion sickā€¦

ā€¦except for ā€˜Immersive Viewā€™ of spatial video. An optional mode in Photos, hidden behind a button ā€” a button I would recommend never ever pressing, because only a couple seconds of that can make you very sick šŸ¤® Use it for stabilized fixed-perspective content only

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30
One very zen thing to try on visionOS is to lie on your back and look at the stars in the moon environment at night
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30

This much was obvious before, but Vision Pro has a massive input problem: text entry and editing *sucks*.

I still think the platform would benefit greatly from a combined keyboard/trackpad accessory, purpose-built, and that's the kind of thing Apple could and should build

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30
Something that slipped my mind is that you can AirPlay iPad and iPhone screens to the Vision Pro, which is kind of cool. Sadly, it doesnā€™t support any kind of touch handling
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30
I do wish you could capture multiple Personas and swap between them at will. Business, casual, etc
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30
It is abundantly clear that Vision Pro is a developer kit, and the software and platform should have a 'beta' label. There are many big problems that need to be solved, and they will still take years of effort. Should it exist? Absolutely. There should be a high-end headset, a 'cheap' headset, and whatever happens with glasses ā€” these are all different products, and they'll drive the ecosystem forward in different ways. Above all, Apple, start making peace with developers. Give them kits, and $
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30

Every Apple Developer should be able to log into the developer site and order Vision Pro hardware, light seals in any size, and the developer strap. In every country.

It boggles the mind that they haven't taken this step already

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30

FB20871373 ā€” Every developer should be able to order Vision Pro from the developer site, in any country

#radars

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30

I had a lot of complaints about the original version of visionOS, but they have addressed pretty much all of my most-critical feedback in the OS releases since. If they actually had a good-enough relationship with developers to fill this thing with software, it would be an incredible computing device.

With an empty App Store, though, itā€™s still merely an expensive toy. There are so many ways they could have fixed that in the time since launch, Apple just need to get over themselvesā€¦

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30
3D RealityKit content in visionOS is kinda shocking. It feels real, completely believable. Like thereā€™s a physical object floating in front of me. The way it reacts to light is wild, and how it reflects the view out of my (irl) window. I am shook
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30
The more time you spend in visionOS, the more you fool your brain into thinking that these floating windows are physical objects in real space. The visual quality is that good. It's like a superpower, being able to summon 'UI' everywhere you go
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30
Iā€™m using Moonlight, which works pretty well, but I really wish I had Windows Virtual Display on visionOS as well as Mac Virtual Display so I could have both my Windows and Mac monitors side by side like in real life
Show threadNico ReeseOct 30
@stroughtonsmith I especially love the way the home and Control Center hand gestures work and UI appears on your body. I hope this is something they expand upon. Maybe notifications can actually appear on your wrist instead of that very awkward top position they're in now.
Show threadBuckOct 30
@stroughtonsmith Would enjoy having one ... if it wasn't 1/4 the price of my car.
Show threadTheEJJ šŸ‡ØšŸ‡¦Oct 30
@stroughtonsmith One of the things I remember after being in VisionOS was how cumbersome and heavy my phone felt afterwards. Thereā€™s no lighter screen than one thatā€™s weightless.
Show threadRobert Petersen Oct 30
@stroughtonsmith itā€™s gonna be crazy once pass through is good enough and battery tech catches up.
Show threadMarkVOct 30
@stroughtonsmith Have you tried Mac Virtual Display? Curious how youā€™ll feel about coding in VR.
Show threaderin sparlingOct 30
@stroughtonsmith if you havenā€™t yet, make sure to try the TGV Inoui app. Itā€™s so good, especially for convincing you that youā€™re on a real train.
Show threadKeirOct 30
@stroughtonsmith the fact that half of their own apps are still just running the iPad version says pretty much everything about their priorities šŸ˜‚
Show threadGeorg TuparevOct 31

@keir @stroughtonsmith

The problem goes way deeper. There are very few developers who understand the paradigm shift of using VP. Spatial computing requires different metaphors, different ways of thinking. I am sure very few engineers at Apple can grasp this new tech.

Show threadKeirOct 31
@tuparev @stroughtonsmith quite possibly, but if Apple's own engineers are struggling, that really doesn't bode well for the platform as a whole
Show threadDane DeasyOct 30
@stroughtonsmith it should just be on Apple.com for ordering
Show threadGKOct 30
@stroughtonsmith yeah. And they are scratching their heads why sales ale so low.
Show threadTaylor HaddenOct 30
@gklka @stroughtonsmith I don't think they are. The rumors and leaks about the expected sales were _never_ high. They know it's not a mass-market device.
Show threadDan WinemanOct 30
@stroughtonsmith A large number of the decisions Apple has made around the Vision Pro rollout and developer story have been indistinguishable from sabotage.
Show threadJohn DavisOct 30

@dwineman @stroughtonsmith

We still canā€™t add our own music files or video files to the music or video consumption apps!

Show threadJonathan L.Oct 30
@stroughtonsmith thanks for sharing this up to date view on the Vision Pro from a non-skeptic pov. Learning a lot. Camera pass through was the most disappointing to me when I tried it out. The displays are capable of so much more detail than what the cameras can capture.
Show threadgameshack_ Oct 30
@stroughtonsmith Do you think in it's current state it's worth what they're asking for? What would be a fair price / value?
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 30

@gameshack_ if they were honest and slapped a Developer Kit label on the hardware, and a Beta label on the software, then sure.

I think $1,999 is probably where it will end up, with a much-cheaper model with phone components

Show threadmonkeydom, Ar.TOct 30
@stroughtonsmith But if you have keybaord/trackpad/mouse connected to your ipad, you can just use them and conitnuity escape them nicely into the native vision pro enviornment just by dragging against the screen boarders
Show threadBen GuildOct 30

@stroughtonsmith I mean, the iPhone and iPad (without keyboard case) barely scrape by, as well. šŸ«¤

Never has matched BlackBerry or PC.

Show threadAlex SikoraOct 30
@stroughtonsmith I 3d printed one and the experience is still rough. You can't look at one thing and type in another effectively which kills productivity.
Show threadD. Griffin JonesOct 30
@stroughtonsmith I highly recommend the Mokibo Fusion Keyboard. Itā€™s a Bluetooth keyboard, and the keys are flat enough so that the surface is also a trackpad.
Granted, the trackpad isnā€™t great, but itā€™s good enough for the occasional moments where you need to precisely click something.
https://mokibo.com/products/universal
Fusion Keyboard Universal

Show threadNico ReeseOct 30
@stroughtonsmith I wonder if theyā€˜ll ever release the Sky View feature https://www.reddit.com/r/VisionPro/comments/1963nyu/apple_has_possibly_cut_the_open_sky_environment/
Show threadAlex RosenbergOct 30
@stroughtonsmith I kinda enjoy using the toilet while looking out at the moon surface like Dr. Manhattan.
Show threadAndrew GrantOct 30

@stroughtonsmith it's still striking to me how solitary all the environments on Vision Pro are. A type of ā€œlast person on Earthā€ experience.

The environments on Meta Quest are lower fidelity but just feel warmer due to the settings and little signs of life.

Show threadJonathan HendryOct 29

@stroughtonsmith

Pre-game with Dramamine.

Show threadTimo HetzelOct 29
@stroughtonsmith my buddy recommends Gravity in 3D if you want a good barf.
Show threadDerekOct 29
@stroughtonsmith is making Mac virtual desktop the killer app? Iā€™ve not heard anyone reference another USP, especially compared to any of Appleā€™s other page more popular products. At least not yet
Show threadJames ThomsonOct 29
@stroughtonsmith I donā€™t know if itā€™s just rose tinted glasses, but when I tried a pre-release version at the developer kitchen, the passthrough seemed better. Maybe it was just because it was much better than anything Iā€™d tried before.
Show threadHunter HillegasOct 29
@jamesthomson Also, at least in the room I was in at Apple, the lighting was basically perfect which I think made it seem better.
Show threadebbiOct 29
@stroughtonsmith I felt exactly the same when I tried it at an Apple Store. Was very underwhelmed with pass through quality, especially given the hype it generated by reviewers.
Show threadFabienOct 29

@stroughtonsmith
I also immediately couldnā€™t stand the pass through. Blurry all the time, and I felt the motion lag strongly.

But humans vary widely in their sensory capacities/sensitivities, so I could see others being fine.

Show threadroland9Oct 29
@stroughtonsmith they carefully designed the lighting
Show threadNico ReeseOct 29
@stroughtonsmith I hear the startup beep sound multiple times a day when it's been sitting on its dock for weeks (connected to power). I can only assume it crashes during sleep.
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithOct 29
@nicoreese donā€™t we allā€¦
Show threadMike McCarronOct 29
@stroughtonsmith Good luck getting any work done in that one lol
Show threaderin sparlingOct 29
@stroughtonsmith one of my favorite things to do when demoing Disney to friends is ask ā€œtell me what the note says next to the takeout food in Avengerā€™s towerā€ because it really does get across how real it all is.
Show threadTimo HetzelOct 29
@stroughtonsmith but itā€™s only locked to the account country, not to some geoip thing, right? EU People who imported the Vision Pro at US launch could use the US store from here no problem. Do you need German iTunes vouchers?
Show threadDr. Juande Santander-VelaOct 29
@stroughtonsmith that environment with a starry night and Milky Way would pass for the environment for the ET meeting in Contactā€¦
Show threadAnimeAndVisialOct 29
@stroughtonsmith The virtual environments look so niceeee. Sadly the price isnā€™tā€¦