I don't disagree, however when was the last time you walked into a room where at least one person wasn't solely focused on their phone.
The 3D photo thing is super weird, they could release a stand alone camera in future, BUT, I think this is a v1 product, imagine where it'll be in 5 years time, or an SE model which isn't wrap around. I already wear glasses so having AR glasses is no big leap.
Yes, it does matter what "we" want. This is how society and culture works, by people debating what's good and what isn't good, and deciding to regulate some of the things that really aren't good through law, and "regulate" other things that aren't good through cultural norms.
Within my circles, the "regulation" of not having everyone on their phones constantly in social settings has been slowly but surely taking root for years. And that's a good thing. I hope (and believe) the same will be true of these headsets.
This is exactly what I tell myself. This is equivalent to their five hundred dollar original iPhone with no App Store or even copy and paste functionality. I expect the SE to cost a third of this if not a fifth.
Strapping on goggles to record a family moment feels super weird to me too. I wonder if future iPhones will have the sensors required to take 3D photos.
I don't think this is something most "normal" people will do. However, I can see use cases in industry where grabbing a quick photo of some equipment etc might be useful, or in sports where for example cyclists could have a heads up display and use the camera to capture a beautiful view they discover.
As a parent myself, the idea that someone would stop what they are doing to put on goggles to take a photo seems crazy. You would miss the moment. The only reason I use my phone for most photos over a DSLR or Mirrorless is because the phone is right in your pocket and instantly available at all times. I'm pretty sure the newer iPhones already have lidar sensors don't they?
That's a good point, maybe eventually some of the tech will leak out and not actually require wearing the goggles.
Regarding phones, I see your point there too, but at least with phones people can still look up make eye contact, easily set the phone down when needing to interact with someone; unlike these, there is a definite wearing-them and not-wearing barrier that many will probably not cross on a whim, so we'll just get used to interacting with virtually projected eyeballs on the outside of them. Very strange to me.
> Having to take AirPods out of your ears is more obtrusive I think.
I don't own airpods but I don't mind if someone comes to talk to me with airpods on. I think it would be stranger having someone come up to me and talk to me with the goggles on.
People often try to talk to me while I'm walking the dog and I keep having to tell them to repeat themselves after I pause the audio and turn off the noise isolation.
> People often try to talk to me while I'm walking the dog and I keep having to tell them to repeat themselves after I pause the audio and turn off the noise isolation.
Well that is just plain rude.
I meant if someone with airpods on comes to talk to me, I am reasonably sure they have transparency on or something like that.
> however when was the last time you walked into a room where at least one person wasn't solely focused on their phone.
Yeah and that's really bad.
I have a friend who used to do this, even back when phones first started coming out. He couldn't resist just being on his phone, trying to talk to him was a nightmare.
I think it's weird because the example they used of the birthday is trying too hard to be family-friendly and social.
The HoloLens had some great examples of highlighting where to hit a mechanism to make it work. I have no idea if it was any good in reality.
That doesn't work for Apple, at least not for advertising.
I think it would have been neat to have shown a sports person/dancer/musician looking through the eyes of their instructor to correct their posture, etc. Or at least show them reviewing the recording together.
I don't see phone as being equivalent to a VR headset. Phone is just a few sq. inches of distraction whereas the VR stuff is a 360 degree false world full of delusion.
And people get completely sucked into those few sq. inches of screen, tuning off from the real world.
In my life it got to a point with some friends where I introduced the idea of everyone taking their phones out and putting them face down on a stack on the table, if you really need to check your phone for something important one has to voice out "I need to check my phone", taking a break from hanging out to check it. It annoys me to no end when in the middle of a conversation someone takes their phone out just to check a message, or Instagram, or any kind of trivial notification, and end up lost in it for a few minutes, it's been really great to make them more aware of the behaviour as it completely tunes me off from a conversation seeing someone you're trying to communicate with staring intensely into their screens.
At least in VR I know that they aren't present, easier to adjust, with phones it just annoys me absolutely.
I can't expect that every single person I met or I'm friends with will adhere to "just good manners", given the ubiquitous presence of those few sq. inches of screens around us there will always be instances where good manners aren't followed.
It’s the world of instant information and social contact that makes phones distracting, not the screen dimensions. Actually I’d say the small screen form factor makes this problem even worse - makes it socially acceptable to be half-present with people, the worst thing. It feels like no big deal to glance at a phone while talking to someone, and feels churlish for the other person to take issue with it.
But if someone didn’t remove their VR headset when getting into a conversation with me IRL… I can’t see that ever becoming commonly accepted. It’s completely different from phones because you wouldn’t even know if and when they are glancing at messages or other content (or even filming you), so there’s just way more social norms for the tech to contend with. With a headset, there is a 100% clear distinction between when you’re using it vs when you’re not, and a distinct act putting it on and taking it off, whereas with phones you can flick a glance at it.
Direct-to-brain AR will be another matter though. Then we will be forced to accept that anyone we are talking to may be secretly engaged with other stuff at the same time.
In your mind it's not that different. Consider the importance of media on shaping your thoughts, beliefs, memories, emotions. Whether delivered through a cinema screen or a tiny phone doesn't matter.
VR/AR has wow factor, but you quickly get used to it, and then your concerns are mostly pragmatic: the headset is huge, the battery life short and so on.
Although AR at least has pass through, which is a big benefit, as it doesn't completely hide your real surroundings.
I'm a fan of VR/AR but found Apple's reveal video to be profoundly sad. There's a sense of isolation running through the whole thing. The immediate connection many people made was to Black Mirror.
The father wearing the headset and recording his children play around him really hit that note. From the children's perspective, instead of their father's face they see a pair of black goggles and rather than their father's eyes they see a digital facsimile.
people already film their kids on their phone, take live photos of their dogs, and tiktok/insta themselves in a cool place.
having the ability to share parts of our lives remotely and also remember them is profound. i often look back at photos of the past few years, and remark at memories i've forgotten, places i've been, and i share those things with others as well.
sure no one wants 10 people in a room interacting thru their apple vision pro, but i really don't think it's fundamentally different. and if i could have a 3d video of my deceased family that looks more real than a photo, i'd love that.
look at the parts of the tech that connect us more; there will always be negative things, loners, tech addicts, etc.
and as for the mental illness quip, i honestly don't have an answer because it's so outlandish we can't even begin to quantify it
> The father wearing the headset and recording his children play around him really hit that note
Yeah that was a mistake. It should have been a worker recording how to assemble something to make a training vid. The family recording thing probably turned off a lot of people.
Precisely. Some mechanical training or live assistance is entirely plausible. I experienced a similar thing with HoloLens and other than the limited FOV it was really convincing as a tool.
Apple unironically going for the dystopia angle is a weird flex.
I mostly agree, but on the other hand: when I was a kid in the 80s, my dad spent my birthday parties walking around with a shoulder mounted video camera. It was lame, but not quite dystopian.
Rather than releasing a stand alone camera, I’d expect the vision pro headset to act as one too. In other words I’d expect it to be able to take spatial pictures whilst not being worn. Less creepy, and more like taking a picture with your camera / phone.
This is just plain obvious. Not sure it'll be part of the '23 lineup; WWDC does not showcase new iPhone hardware features, but they have the hardware ready and miniaturised enough for the headset; if it doesn't make it's way to the Pro iPhones by '24 at the latest I'd be very surprised.
The sports clips and experiences are also not captured by people with headsets standing on the sideline; I'm not sure why a lot of commenters see this as the bleak new future?
They showed the iPhone camera can be used for taking Facetime calls on tv using Apple TV boxes, so it would make sense for them to add a way to use an iPhone as additional camera.
The 3D photo thing is super weird, they could release a stand alone camera in future, BUT, I think this is a v1 product, imagine where it'll be in 5 years time, or an SE model which isn't wrap around. I already wear glasses so having AR glasses is no big leap.