A day right after the WWDC 2023 event where Apple Vision Pro was announced, I got the coveted opportunity to try it out. I was low-key expecting some form of motion sickness, but I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth most of the experience went.
Here’s a play by play on what went down on my experience, and maybe that’d better inform you if you’d like to consider owning one when it launches in Singapore next year.
Set Up
Before I could get my hands on the Vision Pro, I had my glasses taken from me momentarily for the right ZEISS Optical Inserts to be selected, and my face and ears were scanned to set up Spatial Audio (just like how you’d set up Spatial Audio for AirPods Pro on your iPhone).
Source: Apple
Putting Vision Pro On
It took me a couple of tries to properly adjust Vision Pro to my comfort level, and that took me having to swipe my bangs away, tuck my hair behind my ears and fiddling with the bands to be able to find a somewhat comfortable fit. There is an extra head strap that allows for a better fit, and though at first grip, it didn’t feel heavy – I felt that it was like a pair of scuba-sized goggles – but heavier. The weight of the Vision Pro resting on my cheekbones after a while bothered me a little, so I had to readjust the fit multiple times throughout the session to make it more comfortable.
Demo
The team brought me through a bunch of demo clips and apps to give me a taste of what Vision Pro is capable of – but this meant that I didn’t get to try out the multitasking limits of Vision Pro in terms of productivity apps.
Source: Apple
Testing Vision Pro Out – Commands & Controls
It is, after all, my first foray into trying out a mixed reality device, and I found it rather straightforward to navigate with just my eyes and hands, though I did have to keep repeating the commands in my head for the first few tries before I got the hang of it. Quite surprisingly, I found it rather cool to control Vision Pro with just hand gestures and my eyes. Alongside the occasional tapping and turning of the Digital Crown, a lot of the other gestures were pinching and the like. Pretty cool and feels really natural.
Source: Apple
Overall Visuals
The visuals were extremely life-like and 3D – probably thanks to the brand-new R1 chip, working hand in hand with the M2 chip, and on-screen text such as reading text on websites came across starkly crisp and clear. Vision Pro uses micro-OLED technology to pack 23 million pixels into two displays – making everything super 4K (for a lack of a better description).
With the super clear visuals especially when watching movies in 3D – I felt a bit overwhelmed and excited at the same time – and was already imagining how I’d be able to survive watching a full 90min soccer match on Vision Pro with all the HD graphics jumping and moving around on the screen, and towards me.
I also found looking at information / windows especially at the top and sides of the Vision Pro a little uncomfortable as those parts were almost always a little blurry and not entirely visible when I tried to look over. I had a little bit of fun zooming in and out with just my hands in mid-air – nothing overly complicated.
Source: Apple
Visuals – Photo Library
While using the Photos app, one thing that struck me was that with Vision Pro’s three-dimensional camera, you could easily relive precious memories in your iCloud, especially of late loved ones in 3D – bringing you right back into the moment when your loved ones were still around.
Immersive Video
Apple Immersive Video is cool, especially when I had a movie play out right in front of me in Cinema mode – which made the entire experience quite surreal.
FaceTime & Audio
If 2 Vision Pro users used their Vision Pros to FaceTime each other, they’re positioned and reflected as Personas. While FaceTiming with the Visual Pro user, it felt a little bit surreal as if the caller on the other end was not real due to the Persona, but other than that little bit of oddness, Spatial Audio allowed the caller to sound exactly from where the window is positioned.
Immersive Experience
A simple tap on the Digital Crown brings up the screen with a suite of Immersive Environment choices for you to choose from. You’re able to choose the intensity of immersive surrounding you prefer with a simple turn of the Digital Crown. This also allows you to have visibility over who is around you.
During the Immersive Experience, I was awed at how the creatures in front of me looked extremely realistic – even prompting me to reach out and try to touch one of them. I remembered that I was holding the very compact Battery Pack in my left hand, and I put both hands up – and was low-key freaked out when the Battery Pack literally blended in and disappeared with the background, with only my hands were visible. This could be because Vision Pro was always meant to capture and prioritize hand movements for the most personable experience.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a very impressive demo session, and I walked out of the area literally speechless. Personally, I don’t think Vision Pro could get any lighter in weight, in the possible future iterations or tweaked/upgraded versions of the launch prototype I got to try out, and I’m not too sure how it’d feel after an extended duration of usage as I only got to test it out for around 40 minutes.
I’d say this though – if you tend to get overstimulated easily like I do, this may not be worth the hefty price tag of US$3,499. However! Apple is only looking to launch Vision Pro by late next year in other parts of the world – so perhaps, that’s sufficient time for them to continue to finesse Vision Pro.
