Virtual reality and augmented reality even more: you have to see it to believe it. So if Apple launches a headset that combines the two, you had to let some media try it out. And if there is a better example of the dystopia we live in in 2023, we wouldn’t know where to find it except in the middle of Silicon Valley.
Northern Quebec is on fire. In Montreal, the first witnesses of this orange sky live under the stars, in makeshift tents. Homeless people are more numerous than ever in cities. Maybe an effect of a global pandemic, maybe not.
There is a difference between homeless people in Montreal and those living in northern California. In the American West, they are more numerous, first. And many live in recreational vehicles. Dozens of them are seen permanently parked at the curb and under freeway interchanges in San Francisco Bay.
A resident on the road to Cupertino, where Apple’s headquarters are located, cynically summarized the situation: according to him, Apple, Google, Facebook and the others no longer hold their conferences in San Francisco because they don’t want to expose their visitors to all that misery.
They prefer to escape to dream campuses on the outskirts of the city, which was once the El Dorado for homeless backpackers à la Jack Kerouac. For those for whom this distance is not enough, we can now recommend the Vision Pro. To detach a little more from immediate reality.
Mixed Reality 101
Apple’s Vision Pro is a mixed reality headset with Quebec roots. It combines elements of virtual reality – a fully immersive digital environment and augmented reality – objects from your immediate physical environment and those from the digital environment are present at the same time.
We warn you right away: the reviews from the specialized media will certainly be rave reviews. The finished product is of a refinement that supplants all other gadgets of its kind. We can see its potential. It still has to come true.
With the device on your head, you can launch apps and watch them appear as bubbles floating between you and the wall in the back of the room. You can hang an interactive video of a dinosaur exploring its prehistoric world on this wall. In mixed reality, this dinosaur can break down the fourth wall and enter your living room. You can scratch his chin (T-Rex are easier to tame than we thought).
With twelve built-in cameras and sensors, four of which fix our eyes, the Vision Pro identifies and understands our gestures with astonishing precision. You control the helmet with your eyes and your fingers. We fix an icon, a button or an object with our eyes to select it, then we pinch our fingers as we would click on the mouse button.
You can move, expand or close applications by keeping your fingers pinched. We can talk to them. You can pair a keyboard, mouse, or video game controller via Bluetooth to push this interaction a little further. To write an email, for example. Already, almost everything you can do on a Mac, you can do with a Vision Pro.
The headset only has two hours of battery life per charge. It can also be used while plugged into a power source.
Sit down…
More playful headsets like Meta’s Quest are used while standing. The Vision Pro is best used in a seated position. It is very comfortable. A little heavy forward, perhaps. But no need for virtual borders to avoid hitting a real wall: people and objects located nearby appear naturally in our field of vision.
The feeling of nausea caused by virtual reality is minimal. Apple says it’s thanks to its system’s very short latency of just 12 milliseconds. This is the time needed to react to the movements of the user. Headsets that lift users’ hearts have a longer reaction time.
During a video call with one or more other people, their faces appear in floating bubbles. People who use a camera are presented as they are. People who have headphones are represented as an avatar, what Apple calls their “persona”. It’s a digitized version of themselves created by the headset when it was first used. A persona reproduces eye and facial gestures with astonishing realism.
It will be necessary to develop a label for the proper use of these helmets. The Vision Pro can create stereoscopic videos (called “spatial videos”), provided you wear it. Filming your child blowing his birthday cake with a helmet that hides his face is not ideal.
Trigger sought
Apple wants the creators of the hundreds of thousands of apps already in the iPhone and iPad App Store to add an immersive component to their creations. Most are already compatible with the Vision Pro: their window floats in front of our eyes rather than on a flat screen.
Apple does not say if its new headphones will be sold in Canada. It will be released early in 2024 in the United States, retailing for US$3,499. Those who are crying scam didn’t try to buy a HoloLens 2 headset from Microsoft. It costs between US$3500 and US$5200. Its interface is not as polished.
The clientele targeted by Apple with the Vision Pro is almost that of Microsoft: people who see this device replacing their home office, first. And then their home theater, their video game console, their subscription to the pilates or meditation salon, and what more.
Unlike Meta, Apple doesn’t tie its future to the success of its headphones. But the challenge is the same: find the application that will make the crowds run. This trigger that will convince buyers who are not yet sure if this technology meets a real need. Otherwise, everything else is there.
Disconnection from reality included.