Apple Vision Pro, first impressions: how it could change everything

Tim Cook said that WWDC 2023 it would be historical. And it was a boy. At least for a company that is entering a new market for the first time in many years with a new product. Apple Vision Pro These are the long-awaited mixed reality glasses with which the company intends to enter a new era of computing.

Apple calls them a space computer or spatial computer that blends digital content with the real world and the environment around the person using it. This is the device with which they open their way to a new world, where graphical interfaces are no longer limited to a rectangle, that is, a screen, whether it is a monitor on a table, a smartphone in hand or a smart watch on hand. doll. To do this, it is necessary to develop devices that naturally interact with your eyes. Apple Vision Pro This is the first iteration of a long journey in which they will try to make them smaller, lighter, more powerful and less noticeable.

If it succeeds, Apple’s influence on technology – and especially on society – will make smartphones look like objects from the Stone Age.

Apple envisioned a future where the digital world and graphical interfaces merge with the real world. Reflecting it in situations where we want to consume content on giant screens that only our eyes can see, manipulate virtual 3D objects that are on a real desktop, or experience videos and photos recorded in 3D. With a device like VisionProthe way we relate to technology in our daily lives will have profound changes.

But, although it sounds like a fantasy movie, in a distant and unattainable future, Apple Vision Pro they claim to be the door to that new era of computing where the rectangle metaphor dies. Where the interface, in a sense, is you.

Apple Vision Pro: the first step on a long journey to a digital future where screens are a thing of the past

Apple Vision Pro they are the first step in a long journey towards a world where screens are a thing of the past. This is a first generation device that will give us the first glimpses of the whole future, where the real and the virtual are intertwined.

The technical characteristics of the device and even the price are not of relative importance. The Apple Vision Pro is truly special and innovative for two fundamental reasons: the unwavering attention to detail in every aspect of it, and the close relationship between software and hardware.

If we stop thinking Vision Pro is the culmination of almost everything that makes up Apple.. The device has become a reality because it is the only company – at least today – able to offer new ways to effectively interact with technology. In fact, over the past forty years, they seem to be the only ones who have been able to successfully propose new interfaces.

Mac popularized the graphical interface. The iPhone has shown us that we can interact with the screen with our hands and fingers. VisionPro show a new way to manage digital content using a simple looks and gestures. Each element seems to blend very well with the real environment. And it’s the result of years of software innovation that goes hand in hand with all the work Apple has done on its own chips. That they should not only work effectively on mobile devices, but also be extremely powerful.

While the rest of the industry has developed virtual or mixed reality solutions where you need to use your hands in your hands to be able to interact with virtual elements, Apple has made sure that it is done – and apparently very effectively. through looks and gestures. .

Just as manipulating the iPhone interface with multi-touch opened up a world of possibilities for smartphones, glances and gestures will do the same with this new way to interact with technology with Vision Pro.

Apple Vision Pro will be a standalone device

VisionPro it will be a standalone device, not an accessory. You don’t have to be paired with an iPhone or Mac to get all the features. It features the Apple M2 and the new R1 chip that drives the device’s cameras and sensors, with 23 million-pixel high-resolution HDR displays, and inside a new operating system called VisionOS.

Absolute independence from any other device, the fact that it is not an accessory, but a new type of computer / computer, is the key to understanding Vision Pro. Yes, it can interact with the Mac, expanding its screen to more screens. virtual. But this is only the first use, almost rudimentary, of what we might have in the future.

When you have Vision Pro in front of you, you understand two things: this is the first generation of something very big, capable of changing the world. Since this is the first generation, yes: it is bigger than it should be, it will weigh more than we would like, it will have less autonomy than we would like, and it is so expensive that few will be able to access it. Device. Like every other new technology in the last 50 years.

But since this is the first iteration of something so new, it’s hard not to feel some excitement and a bit of dread when you see them for the first time. From an industrial design standpoint, the Vision Pro maintains the build quality that Apple has taught us. Both in materials and in the design of the device itself.

And, in my opinion, the best proof that we are dealing with a device of the first generation: an external battery that connects to the Vision Pro with a cable.

A future that excites, but also a little scary

When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in 2007, he based his presentation on three main applications: the phone, the touchscreen iPod, and the Internet connection device. Today, the smartphone is the center of our lives.

Tim Cook introduced VisionPro shows us a few more uses, but also sums up the three axes. 1: A way to consume digital content in more investing ways. 2: different way to work. 3: New opportunities to interact with other people.

But like the iPhone, the possibilities are huge and very hard to imagine today. While watching the presentation, I felt both excitement and fear. If a device that fits in the palm of your hand has distracted us from the real world so much, what will happen when devices like the Vision Pro become as popular as, or even surpass, smartphones?

I am optimistic and want to believe that as a society we have learned a lot about the use of technology and how to give it a positive meaning. I believe that these types of products are tools that, yes, can take us far from reality, but I also want to believe that we will find new ways to integrate the most innovative aspects of technology into our reality.

Perhaps once we break the metaphor of the screen, technology won’t block reality, but we will look through it to find new and better ways to live it.