Vision Pro Review: 24 Hours With Apple’s Mixed-Reality Headset | WSJ

– You’ve heard all about it. Apple’s Vision Pro. It’s the company’s biggest bet yet on a future beyond the iPhone. Let’s do this. (upbeat music) Yes, I got my hands on it and didn’t take it off my face for 24 hours. Oh, amazing. Or at least the better part of 24 hours. Ugh, that feels really nice. Ever since Apple announced this headset, I’ve wondered how is it going to fit in our lives? We’ve already got screens everywhere. What does this $3,500 face computer do better? Since I couldn’t test it for long stretches in my real

house. Can you see my eyes? – No. (child mutters) – I headed to the Pocono Mountains and rented this ski cabin because what are these really, if not super high tech ski goggles? No one’s gonna know. So it’s noon, which is the start of this journey. What could go wrong? As soon as you put on the headset, you see the real world. Right here is a grid of apps. The home screen. You just look at what you wanna select, then you use your hands to select it. Right now I’m looking at settings, now App Store,

Notes, photos, Safari, and to select one I just pinch. It’s really intuitive. And to scroll, you just pinch and drag. The coolest thing is how you can

place apps all around you. Apple calls this spatial computing. So I can start writing over here in a document in front of me. I’ve got email over here on the left and I’ve got music over here on the right. I was all set up to do some real work, except one big problem. This is typing. Yeah, it’s a struggle for anything longer than a quick message. Thankfully, I have

never been so happy to see a keyboard. The real game changer for getting work done. Adding in a Mac. We are connected. Yes, you get a giant desktop for your Mac apps and you can run Vision Pro apps right next to them. And you too can have this for the low, low price of. But really, I continued to work in the headset for the next few hours and got a lot done. Next, I had to prepare my persona. Remove Apple Vision Pro to begin capture, fix my hair, lips. Can I get a light? – Keep

your arms and shoulders relaxed. – See, when you video call in the headset, it can’t capture your entire face. Most of the Vision Pro’s cameras are pointed outward. So Apple scans your face to create a 3D stand-in for you. – Smile with your mouth closed. Capture complete. – It says creating persona. What is going on with my cheeks? – And when I FaceTime people looking like this, it was universally agreed upon. – I think you look awful. – It’s like Botox from hell. – They did you so dirty, dog. – What? And yes, FaceTiming with

other people in Vision Pro is as crazy as you’d think. Oh my goodness. Sure there’s a lot of remarkable tech here, but can you really take me seriously right now? Apple says the persona feature is in beta. That persona scan is also used to show your eyes on the front display so people know you’re looking at them. But it can be hard to see. I’m looking right at you. Now, it would be around this point where most people would take a break from this thing. I think it was the combination of FaceTiming and screen recording.

But the top of this is very warm. I think it’s time to switch into the the dual loop band and feels pretty good. I ended up being happy that Apple didn’t strap this thing’s battery to my head. I got used to the hanging pack, especially when I put it in this. It’s as cool as a Blackberry holster. I had to charge the battery every two to three hours. So most of the time I just stayed plugged into the wall, but not for my next activity. And here is our recipe, balsamic mushroom and sausage pasta. Crouton

is a recipe app for the Vision Pro. So I put the window on one side of the kitchen and got cooking. It is not recommended to prepare food while wearing the Apple Vision Pro. Okay, sure. Don’t worry. My producers were standing by to make sure I was safe. Prepping food was really natural, especially I could cut onions all day in this. My eyes do not burn. This is amazing, but the absolute best thing. So I see the timer here and now I can move it over the pasta. And now I have a second timer for

six minutes that I’m putting over the mushrooms. This is just the coolest. Was it perfect? No. You’re still looking at life on a screen. In low light, I couldn’t read things with smaller print because of pixelation. Is there even Pepper coming out? I cannot see it. And some stuff just didn’t look like the right color, but the display quality is far better than the other leading though far more affordable headset. The $500 Meta Quest 3. This is pretty much ready. That’s very good. (pensive music) What should I watch? Let’s start with some Apple TV. You

can create a giant personal home theater in the Vision Pro. Because of rights, I couldn’t screen record the 2D or 3D movies and shows that I watched. And even then seeing it in this video wouldn’t do it justice. There’s Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus and Paramount Plus, but no Netflix or YouTube apps. You have to watch those through the browser. And the cinematic 3D virtual reality videos Apple’s offering. This is the kind of stuff that makes me nauseous. I do like one of the virtual reality features. Turn the digital crown on the top of the

headset and I am now in 180 degree view of Yosemite. If you’re like me and glasses on, you have to get prescription inserts to use The Vision Pro. I just click in like that. Wow. Crazy browser. Okay, I didn’t sleep with it. I’m not insane. Morning everyone. (coffee dripping) That sounds delicious. Siri, what’s the weather gonna be today? – 51 and a chance of Rain. – Perfect skiing conditions. Let me be clear. No one should ski with these on. Apple’s very explicit when you first set up the headset to only use it in safe areas.

But I headed to Camelback anyway and worked with the mountain to make sure the entire bunny hill was closed off from others. Hi. And I only wore them briefly to record some video. Siri record spatial video. Nope, you gotta press the button. Poles on. Gloves on. Here we go. The Vision Pro’s ability to record and then watch Spatial or 3D images and videos is pretty great. You can record spatial video with an iPhone 15 Pro, but hands-free recording is one of the best uses of connected eyewear like Meta’s Ray Bans. So what’s it like wearing

these for a day? Painful, but also insightful. The Vision Pro has every characteristic of a first generation product. It’s heavy, it’s battery life sucks. There aren’t that many great apps yet. And sometimes it’s bugged. No. And oof. Personas. But when you imagine a device without those constraints, you see where it could be better than holding a phone to your face. Vision Pro is a cooking computer. For right now, it gives you a pretty great way to work and watch movies. Is that worth $3,500? That’s between you and your bank account. But in those 24 hours,

I could see Apple’s future vision here. A pixelated yes, and a little distorted glimpse of it. That is, where are you? (laughing)