A Student Perspective on the Apple Vision Pro
What happens when you lend a college student an Apple Vision Pro headset for a couple of weeks? This:
When the Apple Vision Pro came out in February I was intrigued by how our undergrads would react to it. And so I loaned our ASU Future of Being Human initiative headset out to one of my students for a couple of weeks.
This was his experience:
Virtual Reality on the Verge: A Student Perspective on the Apple Vision Pro
Caleb Lieberman
As a student studying innovation at Arizona State University, I always look forward to ending off a long week of classes talking about emerging technologies, discussing the future of being human, and eating pizza through none other than the signature course Pizza and a Slice of the Future.
Our conversations frequently mention parallel developments in the tech world such as the release of new AI models, tech wearables, and virtual reality headsets. So showing up to class after the recent release of the Apple Vision Pro, I was excited to see my fellow peers of all ages gather around to watch and experience firsthand this new jump in extended mixed reality technologies.
The new Apple VR headset screen swirled a deep purple as students reached out in front of their faces to pinch the empty space in the air. I stayed around after class to put the headset on and got a glimpse into the future, watching an airship fly overhead immersed in the 3D world of Blade Runner 2049.
I walked home that night listening to the Tears in Rain monologue from the end of the first Blade Runner movie, looking around my imagination as it ran freely through the sheer potential of the future — the magnitude of virtual reality on the verge, an awakening to the possibilities …
So when I received a message from Dr. Maynard just a few week later asking if I’d like to borrow the Apple Vision Pro for some time, I immediately said yes!
My Student Vision Pro User Experience
My Vision Pro User experience as a student was marked by learning, leisure, and a little bit of craziness all around.
First a little bit about me as a student: I’m in my freshman year in Arizona State University’s Future of Innovation in Society program in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society. My academic background lies at the intersection of disruptive markets, emerging technologies, and responsible innovation for better futures.
I also work as a Studio Associate at Next Lab, a signature technology hub of Arizona State University, leveraging virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and digital twins to design innovative digital solutions. And when I get tired of technology and people, on weekends I work in the monkey village at the Phoenix Zoo.
All this is to say that my experience with the Apple Vision Pro was one full of techno-optimism. And while virtual reality is in my wheelhouse, I tried to find ways to use it to best balance and cater to the time in nature I enjoy out in the real world as well.
The user interface of the Apple Vision Pro was seamless, the setup was straightforward, and anyone who has used Apple products before immediately has a sense of familiarity with the applications.
The headset was comfortable, the eye tracking was quite notable and effective, and pinching was an easy way to maneuver the display.
The video passthrough was the best I’ve had the chance to try. In good lighting it was like looking around as if I didn’t have the large headset strapped to my head.
The virtual environments were particularly powerful in achieving full immersion, and provided focus and clarity to the virtual world.
The Vision Pro and Five College Student Personas
So how did the headset work with my various college student personas?
The Academic: As a busy college student always on the move, I found myself too tired by the end of most days to take the time to take the Vision Pro out of the case. Rather, if needed, it was often easier just to work from my laptop.
However I did seek to maximize my workflows and productivity, and find ways in which I could utilize the headset to engage in tasks I couldn’t normally do otherwise.
This is where some of the value lies to this particular user persona — as a tool to scale learning outcomes and efficiency.
Just to test this scenario, I even wore the Vision Pro to an AI Hackathon, as a means to develop an app prototype!
The Lazy Guy on the Weekend: Unlike some students I know —where the classic late night pizza, soda, and video games combination is how every weekend is spent—I tried to find ways to be studious with the Vision Pro. That said I did venture into this staple of the college student experience with the gaming and entertainment space!
The Student Worker: For a few months this spring semester, I worked as a desk assistant on the overnight shift. It was brutal! My first shift was scheduled to start at midnight into the early morning.
It’s got to be barely legal looking back — no music, no social media allowed, and a severe lack of human interaction. But as an exception this is where the Apple Vision Pro came in to save the day, I could be in the real world one second assisting residents, and in the mountains of Haleakalā watching a full screen movie the next.
The Party Animal: I’ll be honest and admit that there was a day where I did wear the Vision Pro to a party. And it was awesome!
While chatting with some friends I could simultaneously finish up projects without seeming like I was completely absorbed in my phone. I was also something of a center of attention, which isn’t ideal for me — but definitely got some interesting conversations started around the use of emerging technologies and virtual reality in everyday life.
People were intrigued!
The Innovator: On a more serious note, there are a lot of college students at ASU who are ambitious to startup the next big thing. With new interfaces like the spatial computing environment of Apple’s Vision Pro, and long term speculation around this technology being widely adopted, the development space looks like a tremendous opportunity.
There were times in which I would try out projects and write down ideas that came to mind for what the Apple Vision Pro could provide for future generations with valuable applications in extended reality.
Use Cases
These user personas of me as an ASU college student led me to the following use cases:
Learning: I used apps on the Vision Pro to look at the inside of the workings of a heart and a jet engine, as well as to visualize the proof of concepts for projects I was developing — such as speaking with Steve Jobs through a chatbot and having his picture up as if he was sitting in front of me (see the video below to get a sense of what this was like).
Leisure: I watched 3D movies such as Avatar: Way of Water as if I drove out to an IMAX theater from the comfort of my room. I played 3D puzzle games, and rebuilt historical buildings in France.
Work: I was able to open multiple tabs with the Vision Pro at scale by linking it to my laptop, and block out all distractions as I worked.
I was able to achieve a higher level of productivity in certain tasks that required various mixed media such as watching video lessons and lectures and taking notes.
I brought the Vision Pro to my office at the ASU football stadium as well one day, and took it to the break room for a few minutes on a virtual vacation!
So what were my takeaways as a student user?
Positives
The current model of the Apple Vision Pro was seamless in navigating and adapting for use cases. It enabled higher capacities for workflow and efficiency and Apple should consider marketing it a such for the future.
Upon first use, you can feel the potential for use in the workplace in the next generation of models, and it is really exciting at first to explore all it has to offer.
I think the Apple Vision Pro is the only headset on the market that has the potential to really have lasting value and impact in our changing world today in as virtual reality becomes commonplace.
Negatives
It was very difficult to find a direction that the Apple Vision Pro was pointing towards for the value of me using it, especially when juxtaposed with the high price tag.
This left the headset feeling often barren and empty even when packed with so much new tech. It was hard to find reasons to use it consistently that positively integrated with my busy lifestyle.
My few weeks with the Apple Vision Pro were exciting and an interesting experiment in the role of advanced technology in everyday life. Beyond my direct experiences with it though, it stimulated my thinking about the future of virtual and augmented reality.
Virtual Reality on the Verge
Virtual reality is on the verge of changing society in many different ways. Technologies like the Apple Vision Pro are part of a coming advanced technology transition that could be transformative — if we get it right.
From my perspective, the release of the Vision Pro is a major step forward here. For a first-generation product, it paints a picture of a future that blurs the lines between the physical and digital world.
What is less clear at the moment is how people will end up using virtual reality in their everyday lives.
There are also questions around whether virtual reality should become commonplace, how it could amplify — or possibly undermine — important values, and even what it means to be human?
In other words, what does an ideal future look like with virtual reality?
These are all questions that are critical to the success and positive impacts of technologies like those used in the Vision Pro.
Convergences
The Vision Pro cannot be seen in isolation. It’s part of a social and technological series of ecosystems where transformations will arise from the convergence between different ideas, capabilities, and ways of seeing the world. These include:
AI and Virtual Reality: The convergence of AI and the Vision Pro could allow for students to speak face to face at a roundtable with the greatest thinkers of history, imparting the wisdom of previous generations.
Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things: If the Vision Pro was not just connected to your phone and your personal digital ecosystem, but rather the broader physical environment, mixed reality could be taken to a whole new level.
Virtual Reality and Humanoid Robots: Using the Vision Pro to experience the world through the eyes of humanoid robots could allow for manual control of assistive tasks that would be hard to achieve otherwise. This is a particularly interesting possibility given current efforts to develop commercial humanoid robots.
Technology in service of human-centric goals
I believe that virtual reality has the potential to allow us to experience the perspective of others and, as a result, to enhance empathy.
For instance, it’s possible to imagine a project that records the daily experiences of life in rural or vulnerable communities, allowing viewers from around the world to experience this firsthand in ways that inspire them to both learn and support positive change.
The same goes for interacting virtually with endangered and extinct species of animals to preserve their legacy as part of a humanity centered future that encompasses all life on Earth.
The future of being human
Advanced virtual and mixed reality present interesting possibilities for the future of being human as it brings people closer together from far away, while potentially distancing us from people who are close to us.
As with any technology, there are many ethical dilemmas posed by the multiple sides of virtual and mixed reality. I would argue though that the Vision Pro can augment our lives by allowing us to expand our minds and imaginations in new ways.
Speculative futures
A future in which virtual reality enhances society lies in future generations of extended reality technologies that are seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives; and that enhance workflow and productivity, entertainment, and play, at the free will and agency of the user.
It’s a future where virtual reality amplifies our humanity!
Final Thoughts
If I’m honest, I was blown away by the Apple Vision Pro. It’s still a first generation product, and far to expensive for me to purchase as a student. But from my short time with it I can see it’s potential to usher in a new wave of transformative technological capabilities.
Even though I used it for entertainment, the potential for this type of technology — and Apple’s spatial computing — extends far beyond this. It allows for more productive work environments, stimulates creative and innovative ideas, it has the potential to bring people together, and it could enable users to see the world and those around them in very different ways.
I hope more students get the chance to experience and experiment with this technology on their own terms, so that they can help explore and reveal what is possible.
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