Apple Augmented Reality - Maybe VR too

[IckyAtlas]

The new Apple headset for Augmented Reality seems impressive, really impressive and very expensive.

Very expensive but it opens a new way of using our laptop or PC.  They seem to have packed a very powerful PC CPU-GPU equivalent power into the googles. If true you can basically get rid of it for a lot of stuff that is around you, so the price is to be compared to a very powerful PC + Top quality Oled Screen that you do not need anymore. On this point it can be game changing for home computing. This could also be a tablet killer when referring to personal use. Instead of moving around the tablet you move around your googles.

Until I can try one I will not say more as the specs are just out of this world.  The googles run a new special full Apple OS version for Visual Computing. For us the question is what is there here for gamers. In short nothing for the following reasons:

• Gamers are on PC or consoles like PS5 and not on MAC. These googles are for the MAC world.
• The only demos I have seen are AR related. Nothing has been shown for VR applications. I am sure that VR is possible because the technology is there and has all the required specs for tremendous VR performance. 
• There are in short nearly no games made for the MAC world, and these googles will need that games be designed to be compatible with them. No gaming company will bother to release a version for the special Visual Computing OS. Exception made if this becomes such a tremendous success that will uplift the entire VR gaming world that will make it a must for everyone like the smartphones have become. Only time will tell, but first the price has to go down to max 500 US$ which is the price for a good smartphone. The googles are stand alone, so this means you do not need a MAC to use them. They are already a full very powerful MAC.

 

Now the bad news. Whatever the incredible specs that may have you drooling, it is still a headset. This means big large googles that you must wear on your head with a band around your head. This means that the experience will be very personal and different for any of us. THis is not made for die-hard gamers but for the general public and here there are some of the issues:

• What about those who have eyesight problems. 
• What about the neck fatigue issues. Our body has neck muscles adapted to our head weight and balance. How long can you wear such a thing that whatever you do will have a certain weight and will be front heavy, so you will need to compensate. You can work for hours on a PC, watch TV for hours too, no problem. But wearing such an object on your head, how long can you bear it. Maybe you will have to lie on your back for long sessions.
• And then what about perspiration, heat dissipation etc. For some of us it could become quickly unbearable. The band behind the head. Some will be allergic to skin contact of these synthetic materials when it is for long term. And in summer heat it can turn quickly unbearable.

As a conclusion I applaud what apple did. An absolutely impressive product. Will it succeed ? The jury is out.

 

 

 

 

[Mysticpuma]

And only a 2 hour battery life 😳

[javelina]

3 hours ago, Mysticpuma said:

And only a 2 hour battery life 😳

I caught that as well. 🤔

[IckyAtlas]

This is an non issue for us. When you are seated in your cockpit, you do not move around. You can connect to a permanent power source, this will be no problem.

What I find interesting is that these glasses have lidar that will map the environment and insert a digital 3d recreation inside your  view.

This means that you can have your hands with gloves or whatever mapped inside your environment. When you move your hands you will see this in your view, and as you move the throttle and stick you will be able to see this in real-time. It is your hands motion that you see and not an artificial simulation. 

It opens an incredible world of possibilities towards the simulated hands on cockpit where you can press buttons and move switches of your cockpit with your hands like in the real cockpit. You will not have backpressure and feeling of the switch, but this is already a major step in realism. In the future with special haptic gloves connected to the glasses you will have the ultimate simulator. 

[javelina]

you could slap an Apple logo on a car, and you'll find a market....  😁

[SharpeXB]

We shall see… it’s possible that people simply won’t like wearing nerd goggles no matter what they do. It’s interesting to note that the announcement never showed any of the cool Apple people like Tim Cook wearing it 😆

[Trooper117]

On 6/7/2023 at 3:56 PM, Mysticpuma said:

And only a 2 hour battery life 😳

Yep, but you can plug the headset into the mains as well...

Edited June 9, 2023 by Trooper117

[javelina]

I would've rather have a Reverb G3, but alas, never to be....

(when I first heard the Apple announcement, my initial reaction was how much coin...  they didn't let me down)  😁

 

[Trooper117]

lol... yeah, more than 3 grand for 'nerd goggles' (love that term) is way out of my league.

[Rjel]

Maybe if I sign up for another new phone line some cell carrier will give me one???

[DD_Arthur]

20 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

We shall see… it’s possible that people simply won’t like wearing nerd goggles no matter what they do.

Apple are about to find this out.
When they produce something comparable to a pair of glasses  VR will really take off.

Whilst you have to put something on your head that Jacque Cousteau would have been familiar with, the market for such devices will remain limited….

[IckyAtlas]

23 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

We shall see… it’s possible that people simply won’t like wearing nerd goggles no matter what they do. It’s interesting to note that the announcement never showed any of the cool Apple people like Tim Cook wearing it 😆

I think this a very valid argument. I was absolutely surprised about that. He should have wear it and in real-time displayed what he sees on a screen. This means having the whole auditorium visible as a background and then maybe switch to the surface of the moon etc. He could have done some incredible on the scene display of this technology. But it was only a description on a big screen.

Very very bad. The message is : this is for you. But  I (Tim cook) will never wear such a ridiculous contraption.