Former Oculus executive Hugo Barra calls Apple’s first-generation Vision Pro headset an “over-engineered devkit” that ships with more sensors than is necessary to deliver Apple’s intended experience. Barra is a former VP of Android and head of Meta’s phased-out Oculus headset brand.
Barra oversaw the Oculus team in 2017 following its acquisition by Facebook and has published an in-depth analysis of Apple’s spatial computing headset.
Barra refers to the Vision Pro’s six tracking cameras, two passthrough cameras, two depth sensors, and four eye-tracking cameras as “over-spec’ing,” which Barra says is “characteristic of a v1 product where its creator wants to ensure it survives the hardest tests early users will no doubt want to put the product through.”
Barra says Apple’s decision to over-spec the Vision Pro mades the headset weigh over 600 grams, and “makes it difficult for most people to wear it for more than 30-45 minutes at a time without suffering a lot of discomfort.”
Because of its heavy weight, Vision Pro has inevitably landed in the world as a high-quality “devkit” designed to capture everyone’s curiosity, hearts & minds with its magic (especially through the voice of enthusiastic tech influencers) while being realistically focused on developers as its primary audience. In other words, the Vision Pro is a devkit that helps prepare the world to receive a more mainstream Apple VR headset that could have product-market fit in 1 or 2 generations.
Barra also believes Apple made the Vision Pro experience intentionally blurry in an effort to hide pixelation artifacts and make graphics appear smoother.
One of our biggest product positioning struggles within the Oculus VR team from the very beginning — especially when trying to convince reviewers — was always related to having underwhelming displays. Every single Oculus headset that ever shipped (including the latest Quest 3) has suffered from resolution/pixelation issues varying from “terrible” to “pretty bad”. It’s like we’re living in the VR-equivalent world of VGA computer monitors.
Barra says the Vision Pro’s “significant motion blur and image quality issues that render passthrough mode unusable for longer periods.”
Barra claims there were many reasons why he decided to return his Vision Pro. “It’s just uncomfortable, leads to unnecessary eye strain, and really gets in the way of anyone using the headset for longer periods of time,” he adds.
You can read Barra’s article discussing his experience with Vision Pro on his blog.
(Via MacRumors)
