It's only been two years since the concept of the metaverse was born, but now when you mention the word again, you will have a sense of trance like a world away. 2022 is the first year of the metaverse, and in that year, major technology companies around the world have set their sights on this track, wanting to get a piece of the pie from the new track. However, after generative AI has become the hot topic of the year in 2023 and the popularity of the metaverse has rapidly declined, the only major manufacturers that are still working tirelessly on the track are Meta, ByteDance and Apple.
Unfortunately, the headsets of the first two did not make much waves, so people have turned their hopes to Apple, hoping that this leading smart device manufacturer can lead the metaverse to a new future with new devices.
Finally, on February 2, local time in the United States, Apple's first headset Vision Pro was officially launched! Amid the crowd chanting "**P (Apple Vision Pro)", Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the doors at Apple*** on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, to welcome the first users to pick up their phones.
Cook posted on social ** that this is an exciting morning, Apple's Vision Pro has finally been released, which represents the arrival of the era of spatial computing! It's great to be able to see firsthand how people react when they try the Apple Vision Pro for the first time.
The on-site response was very explosive, the network response was very explosive, and the equipment was even more explosive.
As "the most expensive new product in Apple history", 3499 US dollars (about 2 yuan.)50,000 yuan) has generated a lot of doubts on social **: "The cost of buying a pure entertainment and leisure equipment with this ** is too high, and ordinary people can't afford it at all." However, Cook believes that more than 5,000 technology patents make Apple's Vision Pro, a "technology of tomorrow", worthy of the price. Fortunately, Apple buyers are very convinced, even if it is only sold in the United States, and on the 10th day of opening pre-orders, the Apple Vision Pro has sold more than 200,000 units.
So where does Cook call "tomorrow's technology"?
First of all, it's important to mention that the Apple Vision Pro has the best display of any consumer device to date.
Thanks to the miniature microoled technology, the size is only 7Two 5-micron, red blood cell sized displays, have a total of 23 million pixels. With the support of ultra-high resolution and optical AR technology, users can intuitively feel the real natural light with the device, and feel the sense of sci-fi futurism from the digital information superimposed on top of the real scene.
For most headsets, the latency between the screen and reality will always be a huge obstacle in the device's path. The content latency of Apple's Vision Pro camera and display is even only 12 milliseconds, which is almost instantaneous. This means that you can do anything in reality with the device extremely smoothly, even if you play while chopping vegetables, and you will no longer have to cut your hands because of the virtual and real delays.
Secondly, the Apple Vision Pro also has the most advanced gesture tracking and eye tracking system among consumer devices.
The Vision Pro's external camera is designed to track and identify hands, eliminating the need to raise their hands and simply staying in line of sight. Whether your hands are on the couch, on your lap, or on a table, the camera can accurately capture and perform actions like never before in a device of the past. I believe that no matter who you are, the first feeling when using Apple Vision Pro will be that these technologies represent the future!
So with these advantages, will Apple's Vision Pro be able to heat up the metaverse again and lead the world into the "era of spatial computing"?
Unfortunately, after the novelty of the first experience has passed, many early adopters believe that Apple's Vision Pro also fails to solve the intractable problems that restrict the development of headsets.
The same is the display issue.
When the Apple Vision Pro moves its head, noticeable motion blur and peculiar straight-line distortion will follow. In low-light environments, the clarity of image quality is also greatly affected, and even in medium light conditions, more than half of the realistic colors in the environment are still balanced by the system. Even more unacceptable is the limited field of view,** with large black bezels around the process, and a certain degree of distortion and vignetting around the edges of the lens, which can seriously affect the viewing experience.
Again, it's an operational issue.
An external camera with efficient recognition continuously monitors the user's hand movements and therefore records many unexpected inputs. When the user is using the device with both hands but doing something else, the system automatically recognizes and starts scrolling or tapping the interface. At the same time, many controls are too small in size and too close to each other, resulting in inconvenient browsing systems; The on-screen keyboard cannot be directly controlled by hand, and it is also complicated to use because it needs to be selected subtitle-by-subtitle.
The most important issue is still weight.
Although the Apple Vision Pro weighs nearly 100 grams less than the 722G Quest Pro, he has not designed a headband to lighten the weight of the headband. That is, if you use the headset, it is like having a brick of more than 600 grams tied to your head. Even if you can accept it at first, you will still feel unbearable on your face after watching a half-hour TV series.
After all these questions, let's look at 3499 US dollars (about 2.).50,000 yuan), you may obviously feel that the cost performance may be lower than imagined. Although the current sales of Vision Pro are very hot, professional analysts believe that Apple's fan filter and faith blessing may far exceed the product itself, so ordinary users may not be able to pay for support in the later stage of pricing, and the prospect is not as optimistic as imagined.
All in all, the emergence of Vision Pro has undoubtedly stirred up the waves of the metaverse that have been silent for a long time, but we still need to wait and see how much waves it can set off in the future and whether it can bring the metaverse back to life.
Text: Entrepreneurship in the World - Rainy Project