The Apple Vision Pro provides the very best way to watch a 3D movie. The screen can be as big as the largest movie theater. You get to sit in the perfect seat in the center. And you don’t have to wear polarized glasses that reduce the brightness of the film; instead, the image is crisp and bright in both of your eyes. When I recently watched the latest Avatar movie in 3D, widely considered to contain some of the best uses of 3D in a movie, I was astonished at how impressive a 3D movie can look. I never knew that 3D could look so good.
According to one post on Reddit, there are over 200 movies that are available to watch in 3D on the Apple Vision Pro. But perhaps the oldest one is the Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie Dial M for Murder, released 70 years ago in 1954. At the time that the movie was conceived, studios thought that 3D movies might be the next big thing as studios started to use polarized glasses instead of the prior red-and-blue glasses. Making this 3D movie was not easy. As reported by Liam Gaughan of Collider, Warner Brothers only had a single 3D camera rig that it could use for this production, and the camera rig took up nearly the entire room. This made the movie particularly difficult for Hitchcock to shoot. For example, he could not have two cameras filming two sides of a conversation, and instead he would have to move around the bulky single camera for every different shot in the film.
Despite all of this effort, as the Wikipedia article on the movie notes, by the time the movie was finally released, public interest in 3D movies had diminished. As a result, there were very few 3D showings of this movie back in 1954. Starting in the 1980s, there have been rare times when select theaters would show the 3D version, and a 3D Blu-ray version was released in 2012 ($21.05 on Amazon). But most of the people who have seen the movie over the last 70 years have seen it in 2D.
Nevertheless, a lot of people have seen this movie, and for good reason. It is a suspenseful tale of murder from Hitchcock, a master of the genre. Almost all of the movie takes place in a single room of an apartment with only a few main characters, so the movie turns on the actors being good, and they are. Grace Kelly, in particular, is amazing. The whole thing feels more like a play than a movie, which makes sense because the movie was based on a play. The American Film Institute ranks this movie #9 on its all-time list of best mystery movies, and even 70 years later, the movie holds up very well. It certainly had me on the edge of my seat. There are a few lines of dialogue that reflect the sexism of that time period (such as references to what was appropriate for a wife versus a husband in a marriage), but other than that, almost the same script could be used today for a modern adaptation. And the film has been restored rather well considering its age, with no visible scratches and good color. When Hitchcock puts Grace Kelly in a red dress early in the movie, a not-so-subtle decision that adds to the plot, the dress pops on screen and she looks great.
But again, the reason that I watched this movie this past weekend is that I was curious to see how a movie that used cutting-edge 3D technology of the 1950s would hold up today in a Vision Pro. Initially, I had hoped to rent the movie. In the Apple TV app on the Apple Vision Pro, Apple has the movie listed, says that it is in 3D, and notes that it can be rented for $3.99. However, when I went to rent the movie, things did not go well. First, I was told that there were two versions to rent, but I could never get the button to click on one of the versions. Second, the single version that I was allowed to rent gave me the 2D version of the movie. I subsequently saw others say online that the only way to get the 3D version is to buy the movie, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay $9.99 to buy the movie and then dispute the charge on the $3.99 rental using Apple’s webpage for disputing a charge. (Less than 24 hours later, Apple refunded me the $3.99, either because they were feeling nice, or perhaps because their system noticed that I also bought the movie.)
Once the movie is purchased, when you select it in the Apple TV app, you see a pop-up window asking if you want to watch the movie in 3D or 2D. Finally, what I was looking for!
I am happy to report that this movie was a complete delight to watch in 3D and the 3D makes a real difference. The 2D version of the movie looks like a restored but still somewhat grainy movie from the 1950s—exactly what I had expected for a movie from this era. In the 3D version, the film still looks somewhat grainy, but I didn’t notice it nearly as much because the 3D effect made the movie seem more immersive and modern.
Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, the way that Hitchcock filmed this movie in 3D adds greatly to the suspense of the film. Hitchcock resisted the urge to overuse the 3D, so there are virtually no gimmicky 3D shots–except for one at the height of the drama that is totally worth it. For the rest of the movie, the 3D is used to make the room in which the actors are located seem more claustrophobic, which adds to the suspense. You see a lamp in the foreground as actors are plotting in the background. Or you see one actor closer to the camera and another a little further back. The end result is that you often get the sense that you are right there in the intimate room with the characters. Imagine watching a play that takes place in a single room where you get to be sitting in that room watching the play unfold in front of you. That is the feeling that you get thanks to the effective use of 3D camera placement. This movie is already good, but it is even better when you watch it in 3D.
So we have one of the greatest mystery movies of all time, made even better by the impressive use of 3D, and yet very few people have ever had a chance to experience it the way that it was intended to be seen. But now, thanks to the Apple Vision Pro, you can watch the movie in a way that is better than anyone has ever seen it before because the Vision Pro is so amazing at showing 3D content.
When my kids were younger, I would often purchase Disney (and similar) movies on DVD because they loved to watch them over and over again. But outside of those films, the number of movies that I have purchased over the decades is rather small because it is rare for me to want to rewatch a movie. I don’t plan to purchase a lot of movies from Apple just to have the opportunity to watch the movie in 3D. Instead, I’m glad that there are some great 3D movies available as a part of my Disney+ subscription and I hope to soon see even more good 3D movie options as a part of my Apple TV+ subscription. I wish that I could have just rented the 3D version of Dial M for Murder, but I enjoyed the movie enough that I probably received $10 of value in having the opportunity to see a classic movie like Dial M for Murder in such an amazing format.
If you own an Apple Vision Pro, and if the idea of a classic mystery appeals to you, I recommend purchasing Dial M for Murder in the Apple TV app. Bringing Alfred Hitchcock 70 years into the future is rather fun.
Earlier this month, Apple released the results for its 2024 fiscal first quarter (which ran from October 1, 2023, to December 30, 2023, and did not actually include any days from calendar year 2024) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. I have not yet had a chance to report on these results, and even though they came out a few weeks ago, there are a few interesting tidbits in there worth discussing. The fiscal first quarter is always Apple’s best quarter of the year because it includes holiday sales. And with $119.6 billion in revenue, it was the second-best quarter in the history of the company, second only to $123.9 billion in Q1 2022 (which was based on the last three months of 2021). As always, I’m not all that interested in the financial details. What interests me is that this is one of four times a year when Apple answers questions from a bunch of analysts, so I’m always curious to see what Apple has to say about the iPhone and iPad and related technologies. If you want to get all of the nitty-gritty details, you can listen to the audio from the announcement conference call on the Apple website, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Snell also created a number of useful charts that put Apple’s financial announcements in perspective over time. Apple’s official press release is here. Here are the items that stood out to me.
iPhone
iPhone revenue was $69.7 billion. This was the second-best iPhone quarter ever, second only to $71.6 billion two years ago.
Cook said that an all-time record number of people upgraded their iPhone to a new model last quarter.
Here is how Apple CEO Tim Cook described the new line of iPhones. Yes, there is a certain degree of marketing in this statement, but it is still interesting to hear the features that Apple thinks are worth pointing out: “The iPhone 15 lineup has earned glowing reviews and been embraced by customers. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus feature a gorgeous new design with color-infused back glass and contoured edges, Dynamic Island, A16 Bionic, and a new 48-megapixel camera system. And the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max set the gold standard for smartphones with a beautiful and lighter titanium design, industry-leading performance with A17 Pro, and our most advanced camera system with the equivalent of seven pro lenses and the ability to record spatial video. Features like Emergency SOS and roadside assistance via satellite bring peace of mind to users when they travel, and I’m grateful for every note I’ve received about their life-saving impact.”
iPad
iPad revenue was $7 billion, down substantially (25%) from the one year ago all-time record of $9.4 billion.
Considering that Apple didn’t introduce any new iPad models in 2023, I guess one could argue that it is impressive that it managed to sell $7 billion worth of iPads without any new designs. Don’t get me wrong, even the iPad on sale right now is a fantastic device, but the rumor is that Apple will introduce new iPads perhaps as soon as March 2024, and new models always spark additional iPad purchases.
Other
This quarterly results announcement occurred on February 1, 2024, the day before the Vision Pro officially went on sale. Apple CFO Luca Maestri said: “With the upcoming launch of Apple Vision Pro, we are seeing strong excitement in enterprise. Leading organizations across many industries, such as Walmart, Nike, Vanguard, Striker, Bloomberg, and SAP have started leveraging and investing in Apple Vision Pro as the new platform to bring innovative spatial computing experiences to their customers and employees. From everyday productivity to collaborative product design to immersive training, we cannot wait to see the amazing things our enterprise customers will create in the months and years to come.”
In these calls, Apple executives routinely decline requests to talk about what Apple will be doing in the future. And yet Cook did promise something in the AI field for later this year: “As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in … technologies that will shape the future. That includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we’re excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year. … In terms of generative AI, which I would guess is your focus, we have a lot of work going on internally as I’ve alluded to before. Our M.O., if you will, has always been to do work and then talk about work and not to get out in front of ourselves, and so we’re going to hold that to this as well. But we’ve got some things that we’re incredibly excited about that we’ll be talking about later this year.” That may not sound like much, but it is more than Apple normally says about what it will be doing in the future.
As of the time that I am typing these words, we still don’t know the details on what caused the massive outage on AT&T’s network yesterday except that it wasn’t a cyber attack. Fortunately, service was restored by yesterday afternoon. It didn’t affect everyone. Some cities were worse than others. Here in New Orleans, I didn’t notice it on my iPhone, but my son did. Marlene Lenthang and Katherine Itoh of NBC News report that Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta had more issues than many other cities. And while it was just a minor annoyance for some, I hope that the number of critical calls that did not go through, including 911 calls, were minimal. It all serves as a good reminder that many services that we rely on and take for granted can be quite fragile. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Due to a schedule conflict, Brett Burney and I will not be able to record an episode of the In the News podcast this week. That’s a shame because, over the last few weeks since the release of the Apple Vision Pro, we have had many new listeners to our (usually) weekly podcast, and there is actually quite a bit to talk about this week. But fear not, we’ll make up for it next week. If you haven’t yet become a regular listener of the podcast, I encourage you to check out the latest episode and subscribe in your podcast player of choice so you are ready to join us next week. Or you can always just watch on YouTube: youtube.com/InTheNewsShow
Last week, Brett Burney was at ABA TECHSHOW. While I could not attend, I always enjoy hearing the technology tips at the 60 in 60 session that traditionally ends the legal technology conference. Danielle Braff of ABA Journal reports on that session and even provides a link to the slides so that you can see all of the tips yourself—most of which are useful even if you are not a lawyer.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro are even better than we thought. Apple originally said that the battery would remain in good shape (able to retain up to 80% of its original capacity) for 500 complete charge cycles. As reported by Chance Miller of 9to5Mac, Apple is now saying that it can do that for 1000 complete charge cycles.
Jason Snell of Six Colors also wrote about the app, and his article includes comments from Apple’s Eddy Cute.
What do you do if you drop your iPhone in water? Apple’s offers advice in this article on its website. Notably, Apple says to ignore the often-heard advice to put your iPhone in a bag of rice because doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.
As reported by Joe Rossignol of MacRumors, this week Apple announced that it will be implementing a new post-quantum cryptographic protocol for iMessage called PQ3 that will offer extensive defenses against even highly sophisticated quantum attacks. I don’t think that I know what any of these words mean, but I guess that sounds good?
Stephanie Stahl and Brad Nau of CBS News report that a man in New Jersey—who purchased an Apple Watch because he thought it looks “cool” “hip” and “in style”—is now thankful for his purchase for another reason: it saved his life, warning him that his heart rate was too low while he was sleeping. The article also notes: “Recently, the National Institutes of Health published research that reviewed 18 studies on smartwatches’ ability to detect cardiac arrhythmias and said the accuracy is high.”
In the demo reel for the Vision Pro, Apple shows short clips of sports in spatial video, and it looks amazing. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that Apple said this week that it will release a film about the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs that will show the soccer being played in 3D, thanks to cameras that filmed the games in 8K 3D with a 180-degree field of view. This sounds amazing. I want the ability to watch highlights from a Saints NFL football game in spatial video.
And finally, an even more impressive Apple Vision Pro video comes from Ryan Hudson-Peralta. He shows off the tons of different ways that you can use and control an Apple Vision Pro even if you don’t have hands. Wow:
For this week’s episode of the In the News podcast, Brett Burney is in Chicago at ABA TECHSHOW, where AI is one of the hot topics. I’m back home in New Orleans, but I have stories to tell after traveling with an Apple Vision Pro this past week. Using a Vision Pro on an airplane is fantastic, but is it worth the trade offs? We also discuss some additional thoughts on using a Vision Pro to get work done, why you might want a clock app on the Vision Pro, apps for the iPhone that you can use to make new photos look old and vice versa, a great article on how an Apple Watch can save your life, and more.
In our Where Y’at? segment, we discuss using an AirTag to find a golf cart.
In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for using Quick Actions in the Files app, such as quickly removing the background in a picture. I explain how to flip a switch in the Settings app on your iPad so that when a friend is using your Vision Pro, you can see on your iPad screen what they are seeking in the device.
The Apple Vision Pro continues to dominate Apple news, and it has now been on sale long enough that we are starting to learn more about its limitations. For one thing, it is not for everyone. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac—who stood in line with me at the New Orleans Apple Store when the device went on sale on February 2—reports that it appears that he cannot use an Apple Vision Pro because ZEISS doesn’t support his prescription. I had this concern myself because my eyesight is poor, and even with glasses my eyesight isn’t great. But fortunately for me, ZEISS supports my prescription. If you are wondering whether this might be a problem for you, there is a page on the ZEISS website where you can enter your prescription and find out if it is supported. For more information on this topic, I recommend that you read the comments to Zac’s post, which includes thoughts provided by eye doctors who discuss the condition called anisometropia and others who suggested some possible workarounds that Zac and others might be able to use. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:
In a long article for Apple Insider, Mike Wuerthele considers which professionals can best get their work done with a Vision Pro.
So far, I haven’t spent much time doing real work with my Apple Vision Pro, partly because I’m waiting for Mobile Device Management support to connect to the networks used by my law firm. But when I have used my Vision Pro to do work, I’ve noticed that it would be nice to have a clock visible at all times so that I could glance at it to see the current time. (There is a clock in the Control Center, but to see it you first need to look up at the top of the screen and select the icon to open the Control Center.) Federico Viticci of MacStories identifies some of his favorite digital clock apps for the Vision Pro.
Apple released its first update for the Apple Vision Pro since it went on sale, visionOS 1.0.3, as noted by Jason Cross of Macworld. The big new change is an option to reset the device if you have forgotten your passcode.
Tom Corwin of The Post and Courier of Charleston, SC—which I just learned is the South’s oldest daily newspaper, having been founded in 1803—reports that an alert from an Apple Watch led a man without any symptoms to discover that he was suffering from atrial fibrillation and needed immediate attention. Unlike most of the reports of this nature that I cite from time to time, this article has a ton of interesting information in it, including comments from both doctors and Apple and even some words from Tim Cook, so consider checking it out.
I’ve seen lots of reports of people using an AirTag to recover an item, but I had not yet seen a report of an AirTag being used to find a stolen golf cart until I read this report from Chance Miller of 9to5Mac.
And finally, Apple recently unveiled at the 2024 Winter Television Critics Association press tour some of the new and returning shows that will be in Apple TV+ in 2024. And oh my goodness there is a lot of content. The New Look, Masters of the Air (which I’ve already started and I’m enjoying), Presumed Innocent (one of my favorite books when I was younger), Constellation, Manhunt, Palm Royale (from Kristen Wiig), and so many more new shows, plus new seasons of old favorites like Loot and Trying and many more, there is going to be a lot to watch. Here is a sizzle reel from Apple:
Today is Mardi Gras day, the culmination of many weeks of festivities in New Orleans. We had more rain than I would have liked during some of the parade days this year, but nevertheless it has been a fun Mardi Gras season. Mardi Gras is all about having good times when friends and family, so even if you are not in New Orleans today, I hope that you have a chance to do that very soon. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Apple designed the Vision Pro so that you can watch movies on planes. The control center on the Apple Vision Pro contains a special Travel Mode. When enabled, the Vision Pro keeps a window in place even though you are moving. I was curious how this would work, so when I was on two planes on Friday and a train on Saturday, I finished watching the 3D version of Avatar: The Way of Water on Disney+. There were lots of hiccups, unsurprising for technology that is so new, and the process of getting started can be awkward. But once you are up and running, this is an unparalleled way to watch a movie when traveling. It is truly awesome.
Preparing for your trip
Let’s start with what you likely already know. If you want to watch movies on a Vision Pro on the airplane, you need to download them beforehand. On Disney+, 3D movies tend to take between 10 GB and, in the case of the Avatar movie I watched, almost 25 GB. So if you have the least expensive model of the Vision Pro with 256 GB, there is only so much that you can download before your trip.
Physical Space before Virtual Space
So now your are on the plane. Let’s start with the bad news. No matter where you are—on your couch or in an airplane—you need a certain amount of space to put on an Apple Vision Pro. I keep mine in the case that Apple sells, so I need space to open up that case and set it down. Then I need to take out the battery and put it to my side. Then I need to remove the Vision Pro. Then I need to remove the protective cover from the front of the Vision Pro. I typically put that cover back in the case and put my eyeglasses in the cover. Next you need to attach the cord to the side of the Vision Pro and turn it on. There is a certain ritual to turning on an Apple Vision Pro, and to do it carefully so that you don’t accidentally drop any of this expensive equipment, you need some space.
I was on two flights on Friday, both times sitting in the aisle seat in the main cabin. By some miracle, both times I had nobody in the middle seat next to me. How rare is that? Because there was nobody next to me, I had plenty of space to use that seat to put my case there and get my Vision Pro ready to use. But you certainly cannot count on that luxury.
If I had a friend or family member sitting next to me, I suppose I could have asked them to hold items as I got everything connected. But if it was a stranger next to me—or on both sides if I was in a middle seat—it would have been very awkward to put on the Vision Pro. I didn’t travel in First Class this past Friday, but I suspect that in First Class you would have enough room to put on a Vision Pro.
Think about this carefully before you get your heart set on using a Vision Pro on a plane. If I was traveling by myself and had someone sitting next to me, that would probably deter me from using a Vision Pro on a plane.
Environments?
When you use a Vision Pro, you can either opt to see the real world around you or you can put yourself in an environment, replacing the outside world with a pleasant setting.
On the one hand, using an Environment could help to mask the fact that you are in such a cramp seat on the plane. Indeed, everything that I just said above about how you need space in the physical world to put on a Vision Pro is just the opposite once you are in the virtual world. It has never been easier to block out the outside world and pretend like you are alone. While wearing a Vision Pro and dialling in an Environment, you can probably even forget that you are sitting in a middle seat.
On the other hand, there is an advantage to seeing the outside world while you watch a movie. Both flights that I took on Friday were short flights of around two hours or less. There were announcements and there were crew members walking up and down the aisle. Sitting in an aisle seat, I preferred keeping one eye on the outside world as I enjoyed my movie.
I took a screenshot while I was watchiing the Avatar movie and had turned to look at the aisle. When you take a screenshot, Apple replaces the image of the movie with a black screen becuase of Digital Rights Management, so that is why you see a big black box below. As you can see, my movie screen was considerably larger than the ones on the backs of the seats around me.
Speaking of the outside world, nobody on the plane said anything to me about wearing a Vision Pro, except for my son who was in the aisle seat across from me and who rolled his eyes at me. However, on both flights, the flight attendants definitely noticed. On my first flight, one of them chuckled at me and pointed me out to another flight attendant; I’m not sure if she realized that I was looking right at her. On the second flight, the flight attendant understood that I could see her and asked me lots of questions about how it worked, what I was watching etc.
The movie watching experience
If you have the space to put on an Apple Vision Pro during a flight, it is a truly incredible way to watch a movie. Your Vision Pro will immediately sense that you are on an airplane and will offer to put you in Travel Mode. That is necessary to help the Vision Pro to keep windows in place and account for the shaking of the flight.
Once you are in Travel Mode, you can start watching a movie. And the movie looked amazing—just as good as when I started watching Avatar at home. The screen was huge and bright, the 3D effects were incredible, the sound (using my Air Pods Pro) was amazing. Except for the fact that I was also vaguely paying attention to people coming down the aisle of the airplane, I was totally immersed in the movie. There is no question that a Vision Pro is the best way to watch a movie by yourself, and this remains true when you are on a plane. It was awesome.
There were also a few hiccups, but they were relatively minor. As long as I kept watching the movie, the movie worked great. But if I looked to the let or right, the Vision Pro would get confused, even though I was in Travel Mode, and gave me a warning that Tracking Failed. As soon as I turned back to the movie, that error message disappeared.
Also, I found that while in Travel Mode, controlling the screen with my eyes was a little less precise. Most of the time, I was just watching the movie so I didn’t need to control anything. But when I dd need to do something, I sometimes had trouble selecting something so that I could click it, so I would often have to look away and then look back at it to get it selected. It was only a minor annoyance, but I hope that this is something that Apple can adjust in a software update.
On a train
Apple’s website only talks about using the Vision Pro while you are on a plane, but on Saturday when I was a commuter rail train, as soon as I put on my Vision Pro I got the same message about enabling Travel Mode—I presume because the Vision Pro sensed that I was moving. I turned Tavel Mode on, and everything worked just like on the plane.
I didn’t try this myself, but I’ve heard other people report that if you don’t turn on Travel Mode on a train, and if you put a window in a location while you are at a station, as the train leaves the station you will see your window quickly disappear behind you as it stays in one location but you move forward. That’s not useful, but it is sort of funny.
One nice advantage of using a Vision Pro on a train is space. In my experience, I am far more likely to get ample space around myself on a train. Thus, the limited physical space problem of a plane may be a non-issue for you on a train.
I did find that I got a few more error messages on the train. For example, two different times, my AirPods Pro were disconnected and I had to go to the Settings app to connect them again. I don’t know why.
Tear-jerkers and the Vision Pro
As I finished the Avatar movie on the train, I encountered a new issue that had never occurred to me before: tears. I’ll admit that when film directors do something in a movie to tug in my heartstrings, I am the sort of person who will often tear up. And at the end of the Avatar movie when there were some nice moments between the family, I found myself tearing up a little. So of course I moved my hand to my eye to wipe the tears, only to discover that you cannot do that while wearing a Vision Pro. Instead, my teardrops dripped downt to the Light Seal cushion, where they were promptly absorbed. Does this mean that if I watch too many tear-jerkers with my Vision Pro, I’m going to need to start washing my Light Seal? That’s not something that I had thought about before.
Conclusion
There were a few hiccups along the way, but I’m sure that these will be ironed out. And needing space to put on a Vision Pro is unfortunate. But when it comes to the experience of watching a movie on a plane or a train, there is nothing like the Vision Pro. If I was on a long cross-country or international flight where I wanted to eat up many hours by watching movies, the Vision Pro would be amazing for that. You just need to get over the problem of having enough space around you to put it on and off. That’s not a minor issue, and it will probably deter me from using a Vision Pro on many flights unless I know that I am upgraded to First Class or have some other reason not to worry about space.
Brett Burney was in California when we recorded this week’s episode of the In the News podcast. Was he meeting with Tim Cook? I forgot to ask him during the podcast, so I suppose that means that the answer could be yes. Instead, I started by following up with Brett’s previous report on the Starbucks app and the Live Activities feature that tells you when your order is ready. After trying the feature a few times, I have some tips. But most of the episode is devoted to follow-up on the Apple Vision Pro, which is by far the primary topic of news in the Apple world right now. We also bid farewell to iTunes on Windows and discuss a few more topics.
My tip of the week is based on my initial very favorable experiences with the Apple Magic Trackpad ($109.99 on Amazon) as an input device for the Apple Vision Pro.
The Apple Vision Pro remains by far the big topic in the world of Apple. I’ve now seen perhaps all of the reviews. Many of them conclude, as I did, that this is such a new device that it is premature to give it a full review. But others have done their best anyway, and I think that the best review that I have seen so far is this one by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Not only does he do a great job of describing the product, he also puts it in historical context and sets the stage for what the future could be for this device. I definitely recommend that you check out that article. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
Although we know that iOS 17.4 will be released in March, yesterday Apple released iOS 17.3.1. to fix a problem where text may unexpectedly duplicate or overlap while typing.
A while back, I went on a quest to improve the quality of the video for all of the Zoom and Teams teleconferences that I was on. For a while, I thought that I needed a better camera, and for a while, I even used software called Camo so that I could use the excellent lens on my iPhone to serve as my webcam. But ultimately, I discovered that the best solution was just to have better lighting, which made a world of difference. The item that I selected was a 2-pack of the Lume Cube Edge 2.0 LED Desk Lamp, which costs $239.99 on Amazon. I have those two lights set up on both sides of my monitor in my office, and whether I am participating in a videoconference with a court, a meeting with partners at my firm, or recording the In the News podcast, the video quality is so much better thanks to the lights. I mention all of this because I saw an article this week called You Don’t Need A New Webcam, You Need a Light by Corbin Davenport of How-To Geek, and it reminded me of how happy I have been with those lights that I purchased a year ago. A big advantage of the two-camera setup that I have is that it solves having weird reflections off of my glasses and having half of my face look much better lit than the other half. If you want to upgrade how you look on camera, I have been extremely happy with the Lume Cube for the last year.
On May 30, 2007, when Steve Jobs was being interviewed at the D conference, he mentioned how popular iTunes was on Windows computers by saying “We’ve got cards and letters from lots of people that say that iTunes is their favorite app on Windows. It’s like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in Hell.” I thought about that quip this week when I saw Juli Clover of MacRumors announce that Apple has officially launched its new Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps for the PC, which means that just like iTunes is long dead on the Mac, it is now dead on the PC as well. Hopefully, PC users will be happy that they now get three small glasses of ice water instead of one the one big Stanley water bottle that was iTunes.
If you are in the market for AirTags, you can get them at a big discount on Amazon right now. A few days ago, they were down to $79.99 for a 4-pack (list price is $99.99), so I bought a set. As I type this, they are even cheaper at $78.99.
Speaking of finding things, Jason Cross of Macworld provides some initial thoughts on the Apple Vision Pro including a good question: why doesn’t this device support Find My like so many other Apple devices? Strange.
The folks at iFixIt have been taking apart a Vision Pro and posting some amazing pictures along with an explanation of what everything does. This firs post explains the EyeSight feature. The second post discusses the dual displays, noting for example that you can “fit more than 50 Vision Pro pixels into the space of a single iPhone 15 Pro pixel. Yes, you read that right.” Wow.
If you are curious about the security of using your eye to unlock an Apple Vision Pro using Optic ID, Apple has posted this page to describe the process. Apple says: “The probability that a random person in the population could unlock your Apple Vision Pro using Optic ID is less than 1 in 1,000,000.” That is similar to what Apple says about Face ID.
How much storage space do you need on an Apple Vision Pro? It depends upon how much you want downloaded to the device—the same thing that you need to think about for an iPhone or iPad. But to give you an example, I downloaded five 3D movies from Disney+ so that I can watch them when I am traveling and they take up a total of about 50 GB. Specifically: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (6.86 GB), Avatar: The Way of Water (23.63 GB), Elemental (9.91 GB), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (7.3 GB), and The Marvels (4.92 GB).
We don’t yet have a YouTube app for the Apple Vision Pro (although Google is working on one), but in the means time, John Voorhees of MacStories recommends Juno, a Vision Pro native app that provides a front end for YouTube.
The day after I published my “initial review” of the Apple Vision Pro, I went back and updated the first paragraph to note that Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports that MDM support is coming in the next software update. I hope that the means that the specific MDM software that my law firm uses it updated quickly, which should mean that I can get my email, contacts, and calendar information on my Vision Pro.
As expected, different companies are starting to come out with cases for the Apple Vision Pro as an alternative to the $199 case sold by Apple. For example, WaterField Designs has a good reputation for building nice products, and they recently released the Vision Pro Shield Case. It’s a little cheaper at $159 (or $179 for a model that includes leather) and it looks like it is much more compact than Apple’s case.
As you can tell from last week’s video episode of the In the News podcast, the current version of digital Personas, used in conference calls on the Vision Pro, leaves a lot to be desired. But Apple is already making significant improvements. Dan Barbera of MacRumors shows off his current Version 1.0.2 Persona versus his Version 1.1 Persona (1.1 is still in beta) and it really is noticeably better. If Apple can improve Personas this much in a small update like this, perhaps they will get substantially better when Apple has even more time.
Trevor Sochocki of the NBC affiliate in Sarasota, Florida, reports that an Apple Watch alert helped to save the life of a deputy sheriff when it warned him of a heart issue that the hospital determined was dangerous blood clots in his lungs.
And finally, Apple Music is sponsoring the Super Bowl Halftime Show this weekend, with a performance by Usher. As a teaser for that performance, Apple released a video starring rappers Ludacris and Lil Jon, actress Taraji P. Henson, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, wearing a T-shirt that I’ve never seen him wear during an Apple product announcement. I guess we will get the conclusion to the story set for in this video on Sunday:
I’ve been using an Apple Vision Pro for just a few days now, and I want to tell you all about it. I want to, but to be fair, I can’t. I don’t just mean that I am speechless, although there is some of that for sure. The issue is that there is so much new about this device that I am going to need to use it for at least a few weeks before I really get the hang of it. Also, the thing that I am most curious to try out and review—using the Vision Pro to be productive to get work done—is way too much in a preliminary stage right now. I cannot currently use my work email, contacts, or calendar because Apple has not yet added Mobile Device Management support. [UPDATE 2/6/2024: Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports that MDM support is coming in the next software update.] I cannot directly use Dropbox the way that I can on an iPad (or even iPhone) because there is no Dropbox app yet. And even for apps that are there, I am still trying to figure out how to make them work well. (For example, only a few minutes ago did I learn how to be much more efficient with the 1Password app having it confirm my identity with a retina scan instead of me typing my password. Tip: tell 1Password to let you log in using “Face ID” even though it isn’t really Face ID.) But even though I cannot possibly write a full review yet, I can provide lots of initial thoughts. And at the risk of spoiling the ending: this is perhaps the most amazing item of technology that I have owned. I am blown away.
Entertainment
I’m definitely ready to start talking about the Apple Vision Pro as an entertainment device. Just one weekend was more than enough time for me to discover that this is an incredible entertainment device and the best way to watch a show if you are by yourself.
I presume that you have seen a 3D movie in a movie theater before. The 3D effects can be impressive, but the movies are less bright and the color is less vivid because 3D glasses act like sunglasses. As a result, I have avoided seeing a 3D movie in the theater for many years. Watching a 3D movie in the Vision Pro removes those limitations. And the end result is simply amazing.
Saturday night, I watched the first half of the 3D movie Avatar: the Way of Water in the Disney+ app, one of many Disney 3D movies available to subscribers of the service. It was beautiful, The colors, the dynamic range, and the realism were all beyond anything I have ever seen before. I started by watching the movie using one of four special Disney environments: I selected the movie theater. When the movie started, the lights around me dimmed and I felt like I was watching the movie in a beautiful theater where I was sitting in the center. But because the movie was so incredible looking, I decided that I wanted an even closer view. When I exited the special environment and just played the movie in a normal window, I was able to look at a corner of a window and change the size of the window—something that you can do in most any app with the Vision Pro. That let me make the video screen just a little bit larger, which for me was even better because it was even more immersive.
As great as that movie was, I was even more impressed by content that filled even more of the screen. In the Apple TV app, there are a few Immersive Videos. They are fantastic, and Apple needs to add many more of these. This is the future. You’ve probably heard a little about them because Apple shows small clips of these videos in the demo reel shown to earlier reviewers that has been written about extensively. One video places you in a music studio with Alicia Keys. Another video, a show called Apple Immersive Adventure, has only one episode available so far and it features a woman walking across a high wire stretched between mountains in Norway. These Immersive Videos fill your entire field of view, and as a result, they do the best job of making you feel like you are actually there. The video quality is crisp, the colors are vibrant, and these experiences make a regular 3D movie with a 16×9 screen feel almost boring in comparison.
Your own photos and videos
And then there is the entertainment value that comes from looking at your own photos and videos. Because you can make the Photos app as big as a wall, your photos and videos are huge and beautiful. If you take a Spatial Video using either an iPhone 15 Pro or the Apple Vision Pro itself, you get a 3D home video that is so much more realistic that it can actually provoke an emotional response. I do wish that you could expand the size of the 3D home videos even more so that they were close to the size of the Apple-produced Immersive Videos. Instead, you can tap a button at the top right to change to Immersive mode, which makes the video even bigger but then produces clouds around the edges and through the rest of your field of vision. Don’t get me wrong, this is pretty cool too, but not as impressive as a video that fills the entire field of sight.
If you take a Spatial Video using the Apple Vision Pro itself, the quality of the camera doesn’t seem to be any better than what you take with an iPhone 15 Pro, and in fact, based on the tech specs, it may actually be worse. However, the videos that you take with the Apple Vision Pro take up a little bit more of your field of view than the iPhone Spatial Videos because they are square, so you see more at the top and bottom. However, Spatial Videos that you create using the Apple Vision Pro still do not come close to taking up the entire field of view like the immersive videos offered by Apple TV+.
Also, Spatial Videos that you take yourself are not as bright or as crisp. My guess is that this all comes down to the quality of the cameras. If a future iPhone (or Vision Pro) supported taking spatial video and pictures with a camera system that supported 4K and HDR, then I suspect that we get closer to the quality (if not size) of what Apple is offering. That would be something special, so it is now on my bucket list for what I hope to see in a future model of the iPhone: take 4K HDR Spatial Videos.
Having said that, don’t misjudge what I am saying about Spatial Videos that you take yourself. They are truly magical and represent a major leap in home video technology. When my son was a baby, my wife and I purchased an HD video camera that recorded to tape. It was expensive, but I figured that in the future I would appreciate having HD videos of those early years instead of standard definition videos. Now that the family TV supports 4K HDR, I’m so happy that I don’t have to look at standard definition videos of my kids when they were young and cute. So at some point in the future, when using who-knows-what generation of an Apple Vision device, I’m sure that I’ll be happy that I took as many Spatial Videos as I could back in 2024.
Augmented reality
The core feature of the Apple Vision Pro is that you can see things all around you. And it is amazing, a new revolution in computing. We are all used to window management on a computer, where you can have multiple windows that overlap to a certain extent—less so if you have a big enough monitor. But when all of the space around you that you can see, even above and behind your head, can be filled with windows, it really is something to experience.
Moreover, if I stand up from the desk where I am typing—and yes, I’m tying virtually all of this review using an Apple Vision Pro—I can walk to another room and then look back and all of these windows are still just sitting where I placed them around the table where I was working. The back of the windows are just gray boxes, but for many of them I can still see some of what is on the screen, and it is just mind-blowing to walk around and even through all of these virtual screens.
You can also open a different window in a different part of the room or even a different part of the house. You can leave a timer app in the kitchen, the Notes app in a different room, etc. There is something incredible about standing in a doorway and seeing different windows floating in different rooms of your house. But they don’t have to stay there forever. You can simply tap the Digital Crown button to move your apps to your current room.
In the future, I’d love to see some setting or third-party app that you could use to perfectly arrange a bunch of windows from a bunch of different apps and then save that setting so that you could restore it in the future. For now, if you turn off the Apple Vision Pro, you need to arrange the windows anew.
Other augmented reality features are also very cool. I’m using a Bluetooth keyboard, and just above my keyboard are autocorrect buttons that I could select to automatically type the next word, activate Siri, or bring up a full virtual keyboard. If I move my physical keyboard, the window floating above my keyboard moves too. It helps to create the illusion that this virtual additional display is a part of my non-virtual keyboard, blurring the distinction between the real world and the virtual world.
Given that this device can recognize a keyboard, I wish that it could also recognize and work well with an iPad or iPhone. You can easily see either one of those devices when you are using a Vision Pro, but Face ID does not work because your eyes are blocked by the Vision Pro device. I’m surprised that Apple did not already create a solution for this. For example, once the Vision Pro authenticates who I am by checking my eyes, it should communicate that to my iPhone or iPad if I am clearly looking at one of them with the Vision Pro. This is just one of many examples of situations in which it is clear that we are using an early version of the system software.
For now, there are only a limited number of ways in which the Vision Pro truly augments reality, blending the real world and the digital world. But it is really cool whenever it happens, and I look forward to seeing more of it.
Controls
You control the Apple Vision Pro by looking around and then, when you want to select something, you pinch your thumb and pointer finger together. To scroll a window, you put your thumb and pointer finger together and then move up or down or side to side as if there was an invisible string between your fingertips.
For the most part, it works quite well for me. However, I have noticed two issues, which are a result of problems that I have with my eyes. I mention them in case you have similar eye issues.
First, I have pretty severe nearsightedness. My prescription addresses this as best as it can (my Sphere is -5.25 for my right eye and -7.00 for my left eye), but because my right eye is much stronger than my left eye, I found that I got better results when I tell the Vision Pro to just track my right eye. You can do this in the Settings app under Accessibility -> Eye Input, where your choices are the default of Both Eyes or Left Eye Only or Right Eye Only. If one of your eyes is better than the other one, this setting is made for you.
Second, I have a condition called Nystagmus, which means that my eyes shake, especially when they get tired. It’s a reason that even a good prescription cannot get me to 20/20 vision. When your eye is your pointer device and your eye shakes, the result is that it is more difficult to select specific items. You can see whether this is an issue for yourself by opening in the Settings app and going to Accessibility-> Interaction (under Physical and Motor) -> Pointer Control -> and then flip the switch for the first option, Pointer Control. This will make a semi-translucent dot appear in the virtual world wherever you are looking, and it is very similar to what you see when you use a trackpad or mouse on an iPad. If you find that the dot cursor follows your eye very precisely, then I suspect you can be very precise in controlling the Vision Pro experience. For me, the Vision Pro just gets a little harder for me to control at the end of a long day.
There are a few times when you can use your hand to “touch” something in virtual space. For example, when the on-screen keyboard comes up, you can use one finger to touch keys on the keyboard, as if you are typing using hunt-and-peck. I find that it is easier to use the on-screen keyboard by looking at a letter and then pinching your fingers on that letter. And for most of your Apple Vision Pro use, you will just be looking with your eyes to simulate a mouse and pinching with your fingers to simulate a click.
Getting work done
This is the part of this review that I had really looked forward to writing. But for now, it will have to wait. As I mentioned at the outset, everything is still just too new. Most of the apps and services that I need to get my work done just don’t exist yet. And even the ones that do exist need more work.
But I can already tell that at some point, hopefully soon, this is going to be an amazing device for getting work done. I’ve already mentioned how interesting it is to place windows anywhere. If you are working with a document and want to set it aside as you type in Microsoft Word, it is great to have so much space. You can just put it up on the ceiling if you want, or to the top right. I enjoyed reading legal briefs using the PDF Expert app on the Vision Pro. PDF Expert doesn’t (yet) have an app specifically for the Vision Pro, but the iPad app works fine.
I’ve seen devices that you can buy to hold an iPad on an arm so that you can position it over you in a bed or right in front of you as you are sitting on the couch. This is what you get with the Apple Vision Pro—plus the ability to pinch the corner of your window and change it from 11” to 70”, which of course you cannot do with an iPad.
And the fact that each window can be so big is truly amazing. I love being able to work with multiple huge virtual monitors—with screens larger and more crisp than anything that I could ever afford in the real world—no matter where I am located. I can easily envision sitting at a small desk in a hotel room and taking full advantage of this setup.
But getting work done requires more than just a screen. If you are typing, you will want to use some sort of external keyboard. The Vision Pro’s virtual keyboard is fine for typing a few letters or words, but for anything more than that you will want an external keyboard so that you can type quickly.
My opinion that you need an external Bluetooth keyboard to get real work done should not really be surprising. I would say the same thing about getting work done on an iPad. Or even an iPhone, if you are typing something long.
One surprise for the keyboard: I had expected for Command-Tab to switch me between apps, or at least to bring up some sort of app switcher. That is missing, and it seems like something that Apple should add. I’m sure that you know how quickly switching apps on any computing device is a core productivity tool.
I also suspect that a physical pointing device could be very useful. Unlike an iPad, you cannot use a Bluetooth mouse with an Apple Vision Pro. Right now, I believe that the only device that works with the Vision Pro is the second generation of the Apple Magic Trackpad, which is currently discounted 15% on Amazon for $109.99. I ordered one so that I can see if it will help me to work more quickly. (I suspect that it will also help with my Nystagmus.)
As the system software improves and the third-party app situation starts to become more complete, I strongly believe that a day will come when I will find that I will prefer to get work done with an Apple Vision Pro (plus a keyboard and trackpad) instead of an iPad (plus a keyboard and pointer device). It’s not there today, but I hope that it comes soon.
Conclusion
As I begin my journey with the Apple Vision Pro, I am incredibly excited. As an entertainment device, it is already amazing. Moreover, it is clear that Apple did a great job at coming up with the 1.0 version of a spatial computing environment. As I type these words, I am looking at these incredible, large windows all around me, floating in virtual space, and I almost cannot believe what I am looking at. The “wow” factor is definitely there. As for using an Apple Vision Pro to get work done, I did write this blog post, so the ability to write and edit is already there right now. But you can tell that it is still early stages. It took the iPhone two years to add the cut, copy, and paste commands, and I cannot imagine using an iPhone or iPad today without that basic feature. I expect to see similarly important improvements over the next year or two with the Apple Vision Pro.
Because there is clearly so much more to come, it makes perfect sense that many folks will wait until a second-generation device comes out and/or wait for the system software to mature. But if you decide to be an early adapter and get a device now, there is certainly a lot to love.
