It's been a year and a day since I went to an Apple store in Portland, and walked out, according to my mom, looking the happiest she's seen me since I got the Barbie Dream House for Christmas when I was five. But 366 days later, am I just as excited? The answer is mostly yes.
First, the downsides. Since its initial release, the Vision Pro headset hasn't been updated, and it remains very heavy and harder to wear for long periods of time than other headsets. I was excited to use it to watch movies and TV on flights and had to abandon that idea quickly, as it was just too uncomfortable for me. It is fantastic for watching while laying down, which I do occasionally after a long week when I want to unlock a new level of ultimate dirtbag mode.
The amount of original content for the headset has been limited, and I have heard rumors that Apple has cut funding for new content as Apple TV+ has struggled with budgets and viewership. Maybe this will change now that we are all obsessed with Severance? The content is has released has been a mixed bag, with most of it feeling like a camera test than a narrative -- that said, it is improving quickly. The Weeknd video in particular was fantastic, and even the short film Submerged, which was lacking in story, had some very cool moments. I'm not sure I want to see yet another short doc that doubles as a director's dream vacation, but I'm not necessarily mad at it.
Now on to the good stuff. I spent the last summer filming content and came away with a ton of learnings, as well as some really special family videos. This is truly the secret sauce for reaching a mainstream audience -- when I showed my folks how easy it was to use and film their grandkids, they went crazy. I believe that in the next few years, this will be the killer app that pushes this towards mass adoption.
I also like it for work calls, especially as the quality of the personas has improved. My persona photo's stylish blowout and nice makeup is always on, and now I can get home from the gym five minutes before a call, towel off, and hop on looking like a polished pro when in real life I look like a maniac. It also cuts down on how distracted I am during calls, as it's harder to multitask in headset.
Overall, I'm glad I bought it and while I don't use it daily, I'd say I use it five days a week for various things. I can't say I recommend it for an average user yet, but in a few years it'll be ready for primetime.