Apple Vision Pro: what the press across the Atlantic thinks of it

The Vision Pro, Apple’s first mixed reality headset, is finally available this Friday, February 2, 2024. Currently only sold in the United States, this product underwent its first tests with American media and influencers at the beginning of the week. And we might as well say it straight away: despite a generally positive experience, the opinions are mixed. It appears that this headset, which offers an attractive summary of new technologies, is not free of flaws.

What do the first testers think of the Vision Pro?

Design

Regarding the design of the Vision Pro, Nilay Patel of The Verge says he is frankly convinced by the “space computer” from Apple: “The Vision Pro looks stunning compared to other VR headsets, which are largely plastic and often downright wonky”.

With its premium magnesium and carbon fiber finish in an aluminum casing, the product aims to be “a natural extension of Apple’s familiar design language”, he explains. Good point, the journalist reveals that his entourage found the Vision Pro “smaller than expected”particularly in the face of competition.

Once again, the weight is pointed out. Between 600 and 650 grams depending on the straps used, it impacts prolonged use of the helmet. For this reason, Mark Spoonauer, of Tom’s Guide and other journalists were forced to take breaks during their tests.

The Dual Loop Band system still improves things; it thus allowed journalists to The Verge to last for sessions of thirty minutes to an hour of use with the Vision Pro.

Visual and sound quality

In terms of display, Apple undoubtedly seduces the American press with its two Micro Oled screens. CNET notably mentions a mode passthrough very effective in seeing your surroundings: “Cameras passthrough from Apple are the best I’ve seen, with almost non-existent distortion”.

There is, however, a big but in the story: the display quality in low light. Following her test, Joanna Stern of Wall Street Journal indeed reports annoying pixelation when the lighting is not sufficient, in her case to read spice labels while cooking. An observation on which the other media agree.

For the audio part, the media seem convinced by the Vision Pro’s small speakers placed not far from the ears, offering a successful spatial rendering. However, the sound emitted is heard by those around you, which will require the use of headphones or headphones.

Navigation

In terms of controls, the tracking of the eyes and the movements of the hands and fingers is unanimously acclaimed, as already highlighted in the latest handlings. It will still take time to adapt to master this new way of navigating an OS.

Nilay Patel also points out that Apple’s mixed reality headset is sometimes too reactive. The Vision Pro in fact captures gestures that are not dedicated to it when you simply move your hands, whether to practice a presentation or when speaking with an outside person.

Despite a powerful operating system, Apple has still been hit on the wrist on several points:

• It is impossible to rearrange applications on the home screen, thus making alphabetical classification mandatory for third-party apps;
• The virtual keyboard is not optimal for typing long texts, and is only suitable for short messages;
• iPad apps are not fully optimized, forcing you to focus on selecting small elements;
• 3D avatars (people) used for FaceTime and videoconferencing are not the most successful, even accused of “ridiculous” by many journalists. Still in beta, improvements would be in the program at Apple;
• The external screen used to represent the wearer’s eyes (EyeSight) disappoints, due to a dim and reflective panel and its low resolution.

In terms of autonomy, the external battery does the job. Estimated at 10,000 mAh by the first testers, it can last 2 hours and 26 minutes in mixed use and 3 hours and 9 minutes in 3D video playback, according to Brian Tong.

As expected, the Vision Pro serves as the first version, which will need to be refined to deliver an optimal experience. We will therefore have to wait a few more months for the arrival of new applications from developers and software improvements from Apple to make it a finished product, ready to replace the traditional PC. New versions are also being developed to perfect this product range.