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Apple's VR headset will have an external display to show users facial expressions. Will also have waist-mounted battery, 120-degree FOV, Video calls

Alx

Member
For real, I'm sticking to mirrors.

Oh wait it's for OTHER people to be able to see your face.

But that's even worse because everyone could see your face just fine before you put the thing on.
That's the whole point. One of the major stigma of VR is that you appear (often rightfully) cut out from your environment, making it a non-social device (even if it can allow for virtual social interaction, or let you see your environment with external cameras). There were even people who tried to make VR headsets more socially acceptable by sticking googly-eyes on them, because most people don't appreciate interacting with other people without seeing their eyes (even sunglasses are still frowned upon)
 
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ZoukGalaxy

Member
Barebones unit: $3000
External display: $1500
Waist-mounted battery: optional for people with thin necks, $2000
Corrective lenses for the visually impaired: $300 per eye. Optometrist prescription required. Free optometrist check with every Mac or iPhone purchase over $1000
Additional headbands and straps: $30 each

Don't forget the wheels, you may want to drive your VR headset.

fdHvrCX.png


Or perhaps would you prefer to expose it and achieve stability without update ?

SvMMnyJ.png
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Surely the problem with waist mounted though is comfort while sitting?

And $3000 is insane also, but I guess that's Apple tax for you.

I think people need to stop waving a hand at the $3,000 price. That's more than a Apple tax. That's suicide!!! An Apple tax would have it at $2,000. And so far this is without a controller of any kind. Is Apple nuts?!
 

Haint

Member
But if you carry the cord you avoid the problem. A cord is not the issue, being tethered is.

The friction of actually using the headset is significantly higher though. Users not only have the hassle of picking up a bulbous battery and routing a wire EVERY time they want to touch the headset, they also have to find somewhere to strap it on a variety of different clothes, some without pockets or waistbands (i.e women in dresses, neckbeards naked or in their underwear). This is such an obviously stupid design decision it can't possibly be true.

Oculus learned early on people couldn't even be arsed to adjust built-in/attached headphones (like the OG Rift), which is why they started using inferior cellphone speakers in Quest. A wired battery is orders of magnitude beyond that. It's actually worse than a wired tether to a PC or PS5, which at least has a clear benefit in processing power. This is just a hassle and burden for the users. So dumb it can't possibly be true. Maybe for dev kits, but not a consumer product.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Apple is such a trash company. $1000 headset plus 2K for the Apple logo.
 
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midnightAI

Banned
I think people need to stop waving a hand at the $3,000 price. That's more than a Apple tax. That's suicide!!! An Apple tax would have it at $2,000. And so far this is without a controller of any kind. Is Apple nuts?!
True, but I think this is more a professional device than a gamer VR headset so it is priced that high then more in line with their premium devices like the Mac Pro (and that daft monitor stand and stupid Mac Pro wheels)

The whole thing just seems wrong (for me):
Stupid high price
Not Game VR focused at all
One of the main focuses is on VR chat (yeh, that's worth the price of entry /s)
Built with very high cost materials (why? they arent saving that much weight using carbon fibre, and plastic is string enough, but they are massively increasing the cost)
Only works with their own AirPod headphones
Hand tracking only (for now it seems at least) as the primary input (now you can see why focus isnt on games as that immediately rules many of those out if thats the only control method)
The battery on the belt is daft due to comfort issues (if sitting) in my opinion as I have mentioned, however, maybe it needs a much larger battery than other stand alone VR headsets due to the external display, Lidar etc)
Even the external display just seems like a waste of battery power to me, although I can kind of see where they are going with this if its used more for AR and you interact with others around you via pass through cameras, but if you interact with people around you also using headsets then you could just use AR to put expressions on people instead

All of this screams AR rather than VR, so I think it's more like those demos they have done for Quest Pro showing virtual work environments/UI overlays.

Of course, all of this is just rumour it could well not be true, either way, it's certainly not for me even if I would like to play with one from a dev perspective.
 

Mattyp

Not the YouTuber
Apple is such a trash company. $1000 headset plus 2K for the Apple logo.
Except Apple has the most powerful phones, tablets and nearly laptops as well out there priced the same as their competitors.

Do they have over priced honed aluminium parts for professionals? Yes.

But the overpriced for 99% of their goods shit needs to stop, throw in this best chip engineers in the world now people should really be hoping this is a powerful unit and succeeds so VR and gaming might finally be successful
 

Baki

Member
Internal specs sound like it'll be as powerful as a macbook pro. I could see a business justification if you can replace computer & monitors with an Apple headset.
 

TheMan

Member
Dunno if this has been posted, but another company is already working on something like this. I'll post a link below on some of their stuff. Basically a blend of VR and AR and it's pretty cool. Gives you an idea of what this could actually look like in action.

 
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Crayon

Member
This will be all about whatever software they have to make this thing useful. I bet they have something worthwhile in mind. I don't buy anything apple but they are clever.
 

mdkirby

Gold Member
3k during an incoming recession lmao truly out of touch
its definitely not aimed as a mass market consumer product, its aimed at business. At a guess, targeting enterprises, many of the apps will also be enterprise level and priced accordingly costing hundreds or thousands per year depending on number of users etc.
 

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
3k during an incoming recession lmao truly out of touch
It's probably aimed at corporates/professionals to start with. The medical, engineering and marketing industries in particular love XR and will may top dollar initially to create XR training software or experiences. If this thing is like Hololense but better in almost every way, I imagine it will gain traction in those kind of sectors. I expect some niche game devs will want to explore games for it too, and by the time the tech becomes mainstream and affordable people will have decent games/experiences ready.
 

brian0057

Banned
but a headset that doesn’t focus on games sounds particularly worthless.
It's completely the opposite. VR has no value inside gaming.
On any other industry, it has extreme potential.
Simulation for training pilots, astronauts, machinery operators, search and rescue personnel, military, and unmaned vehicles.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I truly don't know who this is for. They're putting the kitchen sink in and driving the price point up so high it can barely be considered a consumer product.
 

Robb

Gold Member
It's completely the opposite. VR has no value inside gaming.
On any other industry, it has extreme potential.
Simulation for training pilots, astronauts, machinery operators, search and rescue personnel, military, and unmaned vehicles.
Fully agree with you on that. I’m speaking for myself, none of that would incline me to have a VR headset at home in my living room. Gaming at least has a place in my living room so having a VR headset for gaming is more interesting.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Apple joining will only push VR, good news all around. They will probably see the use in things like education and simulation, travel etc.

Waist battery seems like a good idea
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
It's completely the opposite. VR has no value inside gaming.
On any other industry, it has extreme potential.

Simulation for training pilots, astronauts, machinery operators, search and rescue personnel, military, and unmaned vehicles.

I'm sorry, but this might be the dumbest post of 2023 so far lol. VR's main value so far (over the last 5 years) has been directly tied to or indirectly tied to gaming.
 
The friction of actually using the headset is significantly higher though. Users not only have the hassle of picking up a bulbous battery and routing a wire EVERY time they want to touch the headset, they also have to find somewhere to strap it on a variety of different clothes, some without pockets or waistbands (i.e women in dresses, neckbeards naked or in their underwear). This is such an obviously stupid design decision it can't possibly be true.

Oculus learned early on people couldn't even be arsed to adjust built-in/attached headphones (like the OG Rift), which is why they started using inferior cellphone speakers in Quest. A wired battery is orders of magnitude beyond that. It's actually worse than a wired tether to a PC or PS5, which at least has a clear benefit in processing power. This is just a hassle and burden for the users. So dumb it can't possibly be true. Maybe for dev kits, but not a consumer product.
Nah. Most heavy oculus users webt the opposite route and bought extra batteries.
 

damidu

Member
even for apple this stuff will need couple of decades to go mainstream
(meaning shrinked to size of a sunglasses , or contact lens)
 
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Elysion

Banned
I‘m really confused how this external display is supposed to work. I assume there are cameras on the inside of the headset that project an image of the user‘s eyes and upper face onto this external display? Wouldn’t this look totally goofy in practice, since the footage of your upper face would just be 2d? I doubt they‘re gonna put a 3d screen on the outside of that headset. It would be like holding a 2d picture of the upper half of your face over your actual face lol. Am I missing something here?
 
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Apple opens up their own online university and it is “free” if you buy the VR.

Eventually Apple with do something like this it is a matter of time.
 

the_master

Member
Yes. What these trillion dollar companies don't seem to get is that if you want VR to become "the next big thing" you gotta make inroads with gamers first. Low cost devices with a solid library of games is how VR breaks into the mainstream.
Seems like they got the low cost thing figured out, but probably super anti gamer. Partner with Unity only, and no games by default.
Forget about AAA experiences then, which is what would make a VR headset very successful. Several exclusive AAA titles, but of course, nobody wants to risk so much money now a days
 
Seems like they got the low cost thing figured out, but probably super anti gamer. Partner with Unity only, and no games by default.
Forget about AAA experiences then, which is what would make a VR headset very successful. Several exclusive AAA titles, but of course, nobody wants to risk so much money now a days
Meta should have been making deals with developers to get their games published on the Quest 2. We are plenty of devs making mobile versions of their biggest IPs and they are very well received in most cases. Needs to happen with VR as well.
 
Meta should have been making deals with developers to get their games published on the Quest 2. We are plenty of devs making mobile versions of their biggest IPs and they are very well received in most cases. Needs to happen with VR as well.

That's exactly what they did, their just not the developers making games that people on this board would play. But the people who play most mobile games or on the Wii would play.

At the moment VR is too expensive to balance both ends, well, until Apples headset is available in installments at T-Mobile and Verizon.
 
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