I don't think all those points seem like "trying very hard", they totally seem to me like the base case, and it's up to the product to rise to the occasion and show how this is all wrong.
Their points aren't really even about the product at all. They start off with (paraphrased) "I can't imagine using this myself" and then launch into a hilariously negative caricature of a hypothetical experience using it. It's heavy on the negatively-associated words and light on actual critical analysis beyond the hype. Like, of course you can't imagine using it! You seem to be really really really convinced it sucks hard. Who would imagine themselves voluntarily having an experience like that?
I mean, it doesn't matter. The product will come out either way and I have no stake in it. But this is the internet and we post things.
If you have spent much time with other VR headsets you can absolutely imagine yourself using this, and while this version is excessively negative, I came to essentially the same conclusion. There is a big hole where the experience should be.
It’s like they tried to be the next Nike and build a better sneaker except no one actually has a need for face-shoes to begin with.
MP3 players were bad, but everyone listened to music. Smartphones were a convergence that everyone was working on and wanted, and everyone needed a phone, but the experience was lacking. The dominant cool-kid response was not “why?” but “finally” when the iPod and then iPhone dropped.
They still have a year — perhaps there is more coming — but this does not have the feel of “finally” for VR/AR that still seems possible, and no one needs VR, yet.
The original iPod didn't officially run on PCs, at the time easily the dominant platform and only became fully compatible with the third generation model. iPhone didn't ship with an app store and while it nailed a bunch of UI paradigms, it was limited compared to much of the competition for the first year or so.
I think it'll take longer than that for Vision to bake, it seems rough, it's just that the idea that Apple products are released fully formed has never been particularly true.
Fair points — I guess my main point is at their core they served known, simple functions and people knew what they did. There had been music players and phones in mainstream use for decades.
The correlate here I suppose is “watching things” or “using computers” but the function together with the price point so far feels to me more like PARC than Apple.
Sure, "don't knock it till you try it". But that just makes more sense for an entirely new product category. But this isn't a new product category. We all know the many drawbacks of these headsets. So, from the marketing materials released for this new entrant in that category, does it look like it has overcome all those issues? It doesn't, to me.
We have data: all the marketing materials they released are data. It is perfectly reasonable to look at what they have put out as "these are the use cases we're explicitly highlighting" and find them wanting. Especially because it's not a new class of product. Many of the people bringing criticisms have used past products in this space, and these are their criticisms of those products. This is not some hypothetical thing, VR headsets already exist. This looks like a very solid, probably class leading, iteration on the product, but it's still just an iteration.
I don't think so? It's just reasonable to say "this doesn't look like it solves any of the already known issues with other products in this space". And I think it's weird to respond to that with "you have no idea until you use it!". We do have an idea, because this is not a new thing.
Our experience is completely different then I guess?
Size changes but sweaty? Yes, you can even grab scuba glasses and humidity and heat will build up normally even if you stand in a living room. Strapped? Obviously. Makes you absent from the place you are at? AR can fix that I hope, but the feeling of being "somewhere else" is absolutely, completely there. A person can't just interact with you while you are using VR, you are in a different space in terms of interaction.
I've used VR dozens of times and all of these look like completely legitimate concerns.
