I picked up my Vision Pro last Friday, as soon as it became available in the UK. These have been busy days, so I haven’t had much time to play with the new toy, but I want to share my first impressions.
It’s an impressive piece of kit. While I’m not sure the steep price is justified, it does feel expensive. The Apple Store experience starts with a guided demo. There’s an initial surprise with the see-through experience (which is very good, though my expectations were higher given all I had read about it) and a quick familiarity with the new gestures and hand-eye coordination.
After using it for a while on my own, I realize that while the gestures become familiar quickly, it will take some effort before they become second nature. I still find myself fumbling with overlapping windows and navigating through features.
What I love about the experience is the ability to use your entire field of vision to manage information. You are not limited to a screen above a keyboard or an even smaller screen in your hand. Now everything can be a screen, and even after just a few days, I feel drawn back to that experience in the same way I sometimes feel drawn back to a full-size keyboard while fidgeting on my phone.
One of my favorite experiences is using Zoom on calls with many people. I can make the Zoom window large and see everyone in great detail. Unfortunately, all they can see of me is a floating digital avatar that somewhat resembles me (after installing the beta of VisionOS 2, the quality of the avatar improved significantly: from embalmed Lenin to TV preacher).
The integration with a Mac is seamless, allowing a large virtual screen that blends with other elements and your environment. Also, the way the Mac keyboard and mouse interact immediately with the native apps as soon as you look at them is quite smooth.
I’m still figuring out what this is for. There is a lot of entertainment value, but I would like to find ways to integrate this more into my work routines, and I’m taking my first steps in figuring this out.
I’m absolutely not confident enough to wear this in public. I flew to Italy yesterday and I’m on a train writing this. While I see the value of being able to wear it, I feel it would attract too much attention.
It’s early days. I do remember my enthusiasm on the first days using a Mac or when using an iPhone. I also remember the same enthusiasm using a Newton.