A View-Master For Grown-Ups
650 grams supported primarily by my schnoz
Do you recall the joy of peering through a View-Master as a kid? Sliding in one of those circular reels, hearing the satisfying clunk of moving the slider down, clicking through vibrant scenes, and feeling like you’d unlocked a portal to another world?
Over the decades, technology has transformed. Now, most of us carry devices around that can show us images or videos of fantastic places and things, real or imagined. Still, there’s a unique magic in blocking out your surroundings to immerse yourself in a world that feels real and full of depth. If the View-Master was an unintentional precursor to virtual reality, today’s VR devices have evolved dramatically.
I’ve tried on a few of these devices over the years, but many VR devices, like the Meta Quest, are primarily designed for gaming – a use case that doesn’t particularly appeal to me. Additionally, I’m not immune to motion sickness, so the notion of watching things hurtle around in an artificial environment has kept me on the VR sideline.
And yet, I sit here this morning, typing this with nearly a pound and a half of glass and aluminum clinging to my face. The screen of my MacBook sitting on my lap has been replaced by one floating in the air that stretches several feet in length with a subtle curve wrapping around me. Instead of the familiar furniture and décor in my sunroom surrounding me, I’m seated on a rock in the middle of Joshua Tree national park during the golden hour with a sky full of wispy clouds slowly passing overhead.
This is, of course, not real, but an illusion being fed through two small lenses displaying 23 million pixels, while a system of LEDs and infrared cameras track my eyes, allowing me to select and navigate through menus with a glance and flick of my wrist.
This is the Apple Vision Pro – a potential glimpse into the future.
The Vision Pro is breathtakingly expensive, clearly positioned as a high-end luxury device. It’s clear this isn’t a product for the average consumer – not yet. Wearing this device at home feels indulgent, like flaunting a Tesla Cybertruck or Dyson Zone headphones – high tech symbols of luxury that draw admiration and skepticism alike.
But this is also one of the most magical and fascinating pieces of technology I’ve ever purchased. Something for which I’m genuinely excited to see develop into a more accessible piece of consumer technology and one which, at present, I’m grateful to be able to experience in its early days.
Curious about VR? Head to an Apple Store and demo the Vision Pro.
Pay attention to how immersive environments feel and how the interface reacts to your gestures – it’s a glimpse of what’s possible.
In the meantime, I wanted to share a couple features of this device that I believe have the potential to change how we experience and make memories in the future.
Spatial Photos – The Vision Pro, along with newer iPhone models can capture ‘spatial’ photos and videos. Think of this as an advanced version of those red-and-blue 3D glasses from childhood. But instead of relying on old anaglyph technology, the Vision Pro captures true 3D depth with advanced cameras and sensors.
When the images captured in this special format are fed through the displays into each eye on the Vision Pro, the effect is stunning. For years a lot of 3D content has felt a bit a gimmicky with objects forced into the foreground to create a sense of depth. The effect of spatial photos and videos is far more subtle and lifelike.
The easiest way to explain it would be to describe a portal opening in front of you and displaying whatever photo or video you captured as something so real you could step into it. In short, it feels like a time machine. A recent update allows the Vision Pro to use AI-driven depth reconstruction to transform your old photos into spatial images, regardless of format.
I believe in the years to come; this technology is going to change how we think about capturing photos. One of the main reasons we take so many photos on our phones is to capture these moments, big or small so that we can look back on them at some point in the future and remember how we felt or who we were with. Instead of viewing photos on a tiny smartphone screen, spatial images allow us to relive moments in life-size, with much of the depth and clarity of the original scene.
Feeling like I can step back into a memory
Environments – That unique experience I spoke about earlier whereby your immediate environment is replaced by something completely foreign is the best way to describe the immersive environments in the Apple Vision Pro.
Built-in to the Vision OS (operating system) are several photo realistic 360-degree immersive environments, including some modeled after real locations such as the beaches of Bora Bora and perched atop Haleakalā on the island of Maui.
There are limits to these environments – for technical and safety reasons you can’t get up and start walking around. Yet, as you shift your body around or lean in any direction, the depth and realism feel like less than an illusion as you notice you can peer around rocks or over crevices.
There’s a profound psychological effect to simply feeling like you are ‘elsewhere’. A place where the workday’s clothes aren’t strewn across the floor, or dishes in the sink aren’t waiting to be cleaned. There’s also something cathartic and soothing about coming back to a place where time, in a sense, stands still. Where the golden hour or the twinkling stars in the night sky persist and you are free to simply linger.
As an adult who grew up watching Star Trek, the fantasy of a holodeck-like environment where you can speak out ‘Siri, make it Mount Hood’ and watch as you are transported there feels like it’s come true. Being able to integrate apps into these environments and connect to your Mac has revolutionized my focused work sessions.
As impressive as this feels, I believe it’s only the beginning. In the same way we can create fantastical images and video today via text prompt using platforms like Sora, DALL-E or Stable Diffusion, I foresee the ability soon to create immersive environments to experience in VR simply by describing them.
A future that can recognize your hand but not your mug of coffee ;)
While in some ways, the future feels like now, there’s still a lot of room to grow. There has been much discussion about the device’s isolating nature. And yet, if you’ve been out in public, at a restaurant or in the mall, you’ve probably noticed how most people’s eyes and attention are already locked into the content on their phone screen. A headset designed primarily for home use makes the choice to immerse yourself in a digital space feel more deliberate.
As Verge editor Nilay Patel aptly put it, the Vision Pro is ‘Magical, until it’s not’. I agree with this sentiment but while the ‘not’ in Nilay’s review primarily refers to the drawbacks and downsides of the device, such as the external battery, the weight on your face or the still-not-perfect passthrough display of your immediate environment, I see these ‘not magical’ elements somewhat differently. As these issues are addressed, the real question won’t be about getting people to adopt VR/AR technology, but about finding ways to ensure it complements, rather than overtakes, our engagement with the real world. There’s a valid concern that as these devices improve, we might feel less inclined to take them off to deal with the messy, randomness of our real lives. For now, the weight of the headset, its tethered battery and the imperfect realism of virtual environments motivate me to disconnect.
I remain cautiously optimistic, enjoying the sunny desert landscape of Joshua Tree from my cold Canadian home. But reality tugs – dishes to wash, clothes to hang, and people waiting to be seen. With a mix of relief and gratitude, I remove the headset, returning to the real world.
Coffee: still undefeated in the battle for my attention. ☕️ vs 👓
Excited about the future of 3D content? Share this vision with fellow tech enthusiasts.
