In a nutshell if anything breaks you are screwed ;D
It's an Apple device, what did you expect?
The thing even has an external battery pack, and instead of using USB-C so you could use any power bank you already own, they designed a completely new proprietary connector. In 2024.
Who the fuck does that anymore, except Apple?
It’s even worse. The cable appears to be a bigger version of Lightning, because of course it is.
I can see the argument for having a connector that can’t be pulled out: if you were crossing a busy street or walking down a stairway with one of these strapped to your head and the cable came out, you’d be instantly blind.
Who the fuck wears a VR headset walking in the street, let alone crossing a road?
No one, yet. The idea is (very obviously, I might mention) that we will be wearing AR or VR glasses just like many wear a smartwatch or carry a phone.
First of all this should NOT be the use case, it is dangerous, stupid, idiotic and shows that you dont care for your life and others.
But the proprietary connector plug itself is almost identical to the lightning connector, the only difference is that the bolster has some notches in it for the BATTERY to lock into. All the locking is in the battery, they could have, should have, used USB C or any other existing connector.
Just think about it for a moment. Apple made a mask, that when you wear it in your face, projects a 3D animated avatar if you face on the outside. That is so weird, f’ed up and dystopian.
I won’t argue about whether this is dystopian, but the practical reason for the face projection is that they wanted to make this not just something you wear sitting alone in your basement, like most other VR headsets. They wanted it to be usable around other people, at a workplace, with family, etc.
Interacting with someone wearing a full face blind is just weird, so they thought that making the eyes visible would help make this a bit more socially usable.
I’m not sure that’s really going to work out — seems at least as awkward as Google’s failed Glass project — but Apple’s design decision has some merit.
Google Glass really feels smarter in this particular regard.
Also they decided to stuff everything into the headset.
Maybe making it a separate thing and moving as much mass and volume as possible to something worn on your belt or your back would be a better idea. EDIT: But I do understand how this doesn't fit their marketing.
Especially considering they already put the battery external, if you have to shove a battery in your pocket and run a wire up to your head they might as well have put more of the electronics there too.
It would conserve a lot of weight and space and make it more comfortable to wear
Given the number of TV shows and movies around this topic, I can sense this change coming.
If I have to interact with someone that's wearing goggles, I might go full Luddite.
I wouldn't go so far as fucked up and dystopian. It's just an odd style choice.
I think it's just straight up uncanny valley. Don't think it's especially "dystopian" per se.
Honestly cartoon eyes might have actually worked better here.
should just be some googly eyes
I'm convinced that the only reason they did the eye thing is so they can get micro transactions for people buying custom eyes like cats and aliens and shit.
I don’t think I can agree with this.
The face projection was likely an afterthought. They were already deep into the 3D face scan into avatar world with things like continuity camera and lidar. Granted, I don’t believe they are currently able to reposition the face into a completely different angle (top down into forward facing) with continuity camera, but that’s where their tech was going anyway. And they wanted to be able to have user facial expressions in device regardless.
All they did in this case was slap a screen on the front and display the avatar the thing is already generating, then call it a feature and upcharge with a 1000% markup on the total cost.
It’s a gimmick, that’s all it ever was. Meant to make this look like a sleeker device than it is with some clever marketing.
Not dystopian, just disappointing.
I don't know, I could see the value if it really looked like the mask was semi transparent.
So it's a cool idea, the only problem is that they didn't deliver and the result is creepy instead.
That is so weird, f’ed up and dystopian.
It's not as weird as the Meta Quest, where you literally have no idea wether the person wearing it is looking at you or not.
The view of someone's eyes is very low quality - I'll give you that. But it's better than nothing at all. And I'm not sure they could've done better without doubling the price of the product.
The example video of showing wearing the headset and showing the outer display:
https://valkyrie.cdn.ifixit.com/media/2024/02/03103510/Display-Stack_sm.mp4
It is off putting and reminds me of one of the Robocop 2 Prototypes.
I don’t know what I expected but that was mortifying.
This is a fun, silly discussion and I love it!
But hey, what you're seeing is just some internal component, so why would that be mortifying? I found it hilarious!
holy fucking shit what the fuck is that
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