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by Panini_Jones 851 days ago
I worked for Meta on Quest 2. I also bought the Apple Vision Pro (I returned it today, actually).

I think Quest is better tech right now, but I think the Apple Vision Pro is the better product. I'm excited to see the competition here, either way.

4 comments

that's surprising to me but maybe it's just semantics. i haven't tried the Apple Vision Pro but from what i hear, the things it surpasses the quest 3 on are all what i consider technology features like display, tracking, passthrough, and interface. the things i like about my quest 3 over it are not what i consider difficult technology things, like the controllers, the games, and the integrated battery.

for me "better product" equates to something like "the better thing to buy" which includes cost, and for me the quest 3 is leading in category by a large margin.

"Better product" is mostly subjective, to a degree. I think future iterations of the AVP are going to bring more value per dollar to the public than Meta's Quest or Rayban lines.

The hardware, as I see it, is mostly going to be similar between the two companies (except for form factor, where I see Apple absolutely winning). The consumer market (Apple got people wearing this thing on the subway; I have no qualms giving me eye tracking data to Apple, but I do with Meta and have worked on their recommendation algorithms as well) and the software quality/ecosystem is going to be what makes Apple win this. Meta always positions themselves as the Android of the headset market, which I believe they will be.

My point still stands: I love that there's competition here. If I get to see the laptop and phone be 'legacy' devices in my lifetime, I will be happy to have seen such a transition in technology.

Of course the $3500 have better tech than the $399 thing.

We still have to see what sellable product Apple will throw at us.

Actually I’m pretty confident that Apple may be onto something and that it’s maybe the "next big thing". But they’ll need to cut the price by at least half if not more if they want to bootstrap the market enough to make it the next iPhone.

Of course they could just market it like a high end spatial monitor but I don’t believe they’ll do : they need mass adoption if they want developers to create applications to sell on the App Store.

The real question is: What is happening right now?

The $3500 dollar AVP has just created an entirely new interface for people to interact with computers. There are developers that are working as I type this to get first mover advantage on a new surface that could be as influential as the shift to mobile. Numbers are low now (I read 10,000 subscribers from... the Verge I think?), but that's now, when we're debating the usability of the entire platform.

What is the app that will make you buy Apple Vision Pro 3 in 2 years?

> What is the app that will make you buy Apple Vision Pro 3 in 2 years?

I don’t know and I think, neither Apple. But I do think that, like the GPS embedded in the smartphone 15 years ago, AR is full of potential to change the world but we’ll have to endure a first generation of "10m high shit emoji & VisionBeer & smart small games" before someone finds out.

> I don’t know and I think, neither Apple

This is one reason halo pricing makes sense.

Apple isn't confident on use cases and feature set, and will obviously evolve into an AVc value model at some point.

So if there exist some people who will pay AVP prices, why not put it out there in the market, sell a few, kickstart their AR/VR software ecosystem, figure out how their customers actually like using it.

And then try for the knockout blow with the AVc, informed by that.

> Quest is better tech right now

I don't know anyone who has said that the Quest has better tech.

Better ergonomics, product market fit, ecosystem etc. but not tech.

Better tech because he worked on it. It sounds like ego
No, my code is shit. And in a product everyone's forgotten.

Apple Vision Pro has better hand tracking and eye tracking IMO. Quest has better shared experiences and experience diversity. SLAM feels the same between Quest 3 and AVP. AVP hardware is better, but not significantly.

Being able to iMessage while watching full screen Netflix on Safari while lying in my bed was a game changer (product side). Who cares about the keyboard (as zuck states in the video)? I can either use the magic keyboard from Apple or just use dictate (another thing Siri does surprisingly better than Meta).

Why does Quest 3 make me nauseous in passthrough within 15 minutes but Apple Vision Pro doesn't even after four or more hours in it? I think that is the bigger innovation. Vision Pro is the first headset I can hand my mom and not worry about it triggering vertigo.
I mentioned that I returned my Apple Vision Pro. I have had LASIK and am very sensitive in my eyes. I probably need another LASIK surgery or go onto glasses again. I did scan through almost every return post I could find on reddit to find similar issues.

The kicker? I didn't stumble upon any related to nausea. Having worked on Quest 2, this was a major concern at the time. I couldn't believe how few posts I saw[0].

I'm very happy to hear that your mom is using it! And without vertigo can be a very big step for these devices.

[0] - I'm sure there are posts. I just didn't see any when I was searching about how to return it.

Lasik again? Good luck man. You only get one set of eyeballs, be happy with where you are.
Yup. It may be totally anecdotal but from the last 3 people I know who did it, 1 is happy with the result, another is struggling with bad dry eyes, and another one have had his vision worsened on one eye without possible correction.

I know the operation is statistically safe but risks are pretty real.

Medical risks are always very real for anything.

To pile on the anecdotes, I corrected a -6.5 left eye and a -5.5 right eye with LASIK, had dry eyes the first year, and never had any issues afterward. Life changer.

> Medical risks are always very real for anything.

Sure, and that'w why my doctor don't want to operate me on lasik because of amblyopia.

I'm hoping to go full Homelander this time.

No more LASIK for me. That's why I returned the AVP. What I'm doing is fine now, but the AVP triggered something in my eyes that I don't want to address just yet.

Could you elaborate more.

I’d be bery interested to hear an educated view on this topic.