This is exactly my experience. I love my AVP, travel a lot, it’s awesome on the road and I enjoy using it at home as well. The last time I was this excited by a computer was the NeXT. No other device has fostered feelings of awe as the AVP.
111 karma · joined August 13, 2010
So well put. 100% agree. Paraphrasing Steve Jobs I think of it as a mech suit for the mind.
Turns out that I'll typically be at my standing desk for some / most of the morning then move to the Vision Pro in another part of the apartment in the PM. I enjoy using the VP a lot, even after 8 months it still has a magical feel for me, but I also find that immersion is a great focus boost.
One recent app that sucked up a lot of "Vision Time" for me was Fly [1], which is basically Google Earth in the VP. Flying above 3D cities in particular is amazing and being able to dip into Street View to look around a location very cool.
Yup, it's heavy and not particularly comfortable, though I've long since grown accustomed to both, but if it broke I would likely buy another. It's that useful/enjoyable for me.
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40663619
[1]: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fly-explore-the-earth/id650196...
(I do programming, trading, consulting).
EDIT: Thought of one more thing... Immersive environments also help. Blocking out what's around me and escaping to, say, the top of a volcano or Mount Hood or Yosemite, increases my focus, esp. for deep work
With the selfie stick, you can get nice angles, e.g. extending over castle battlements, which are fun to view in VR (as long as you don't have vertigo :-)
I'm also shoot 360 videos. A few precious ones I keep as 360 vids on the AVP, the rest get uploaded as unlisted vids on YT in 360 mode.
Some of my favorite vids are short clips filmed around a dinner table with the X4 in the middle. Really nice way to relive those moments and see the people you love all around you. Extra fun when everyone clinks their glasses together in a toast around the camera!
I'll often have charts, etc. on a massive Safari "window" next to the virtual Mac screen, which is useful too.
Plus, side benefit for me who doesn't always have great posture, it helps me avoid being hunched over my laptop, I can place the screen nice and high in front of me.
BTW, it's not just sculptures. I've scanned rooms (mixed results), relief paintings, loved ones (mixed results but if my children weren't already grown I'd be scanning them at least once a year), and even food.
Food can be quite fun. I showed a restaurateur a scan of one of his appetizers (served on a round stone so it made for good scanning). I used the AR view to project it onto our table and joked "Now I can enjoy one whenever I feel like!" He was so excited that he downloaded Scaniverse on the spot and I showed him how to use it. After that, he took us under his wing and recommended all the dishes he was proudest of. (We still had to pay for them though ;-)
In general, regardless of what AR/VR device you have or plan to get, if you see one in your future, it's good to build a collection of 3D / immersive content.
In fact, few people know about or do this and when I show them they're often quite excited and ask how they can do it too. Always fun to share.
In general, I'm only using the AVP seated and not interacting with strangers (other than the odd flight attendant asking me what I want to drink :-)
I've had people ask me about the AVP, wonder what I'm doing in there, or (rarely) take pics of me. Doesn't bother me. I'd be curious too.
I expected good productivity, and I expected to enjoy consuming content in the AVP.
The changes in how I capture memories I didn't expect but make sense to me retrospectively. For example, the first time you experience one of your panoramas in the AVP is the time your jaw drops and you tell yourself you really need to take more of these! :-)
Consuming content is great of course but the AVP has changed my content creation: I take way more panoramas and now spatial photos (Spatialify on iOS works well). I also bought an Insta X4 360 camera which, while a far cry from Apple's immersive content in resolution, can still be a really nice way to relive memories.
More content: Last year I started 3d scanning (using Scaniverse) sculptures and other art / items that catch my eye during my travels. The AVP makes it really easy to import and place them in my environment. When I'm working I'll often place a favorite sculpture next to me for company & as a reminder of a trip I took.
Finally, even after 4 months of use, it's still really fun and, from a tech perspective, astounding in terms of image quality, stability, 3D placement, integration in environment, etc. I love it and I can't wait for this tech to get better and better.
Watch it for the mesmerizing aerial footage of parts of the earth you’ve never seen before.
More importantly, watch it to hear people from around the world, of many nations, creeds and economic status share their stories, hopes and fears.
It will make you smile. It will bring you to tears. It will make you realize that we are all so much alike. I will make you want to embrace humanity.
If I've just downloaded a new app, I'll have it ask for permissions for every disk access it needs. After a few runs I'll start giving it permanent access to the dirs I'm OK with it using. No app gets to write to /Applications.
It's a little painful to deal with the pop-ups but I like to know what my apps are up to :-)