What started life as a humble face monitor geared to watching video and playing games wherever you happen to be has now evolved into something drawing ever closer to a Mac-powered Vision Pro.
The Viture Luma Ultra it isn’t perfect, but it is the closest thing I’ve seen yet to what I’d ideally like from a future Apple Vision Air product …
Not buying Vision Pro
When Vision Pro launched, I said that Apple knocked it out of the park. I described it as the most impressive implementation of mixed reality we’ve ever seen, but said it wasn’t something I was willing to buy given the combination of price and form factor.
Trying one for myself confirmed both of my perspectives: how impressive it is, but also how it falls short for me on both pricing and comfort.
One thing that was particularly notable in reviews is that the majority of those who did buy it seemed to end up using it primarily as nothing more than a face monitor for watching movies and TV shows. For that usage, it seemed to me that a way lighter and cheaper product was the better choice.
Viture glasses are the form factor I want
But to me the single most exciting prospect for an Apple Vision product is being able to use it as a virtual widescreen monitor when travelling. I’m not concerned about the headset being a standalone device – I’m perfectly happy for it to be a Mac accessory – but the idea of being able to replicate the 49-inch widescreen monitor on my desk in mobile form is extremely appealing.
The Viture glasses I tested did later get the capability to support multiple Mac monitors, but the biggest issue I found was that the positions of the monitors tended to slowly drift around within my field of view.
This was the biggest contrast with Vision Pro. With Apple’s headset, the position of the monitors remains locked solidly in place in space, while the drifting I experienced with the Viture glasses meant constantly having to recenter them, which very quickly grew old.
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