this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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[–] Rooki@lemmy.world 83 points 9 months ago (7 children)

In a nutshell if anything breaks you are screwed ;D

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 132 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (49 children)

It's an Apple device, what did you expect?
The thing even has an external battery pack, and instead of using USB-C so you could use any power bank you already own, they designed a completely new proprietary connector. In 2024.
Who the fuck does that anymore, except Apple?

[–] FangedWyvern42@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

It’s even worse. The cable appears to be a bigger version of Lightning, because of course it is.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

I can see the argument for having a connector that can’t be pulled out: if you were crossing a busy street or walking down a stairway with one of these strapped to your head and the cable came out, you’d be instantly blind.

[–] erwan@lemmy.ml 53 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Who the fuck wears a VR headset walking in the street, let alone crossing a road?

[–] Joelk111@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

No one, yet. The idea is (very obviously, I might mention) that we will be wearing AR or VR glasses just like many wear a smartwatch or carry a phone.

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[–] Rooki@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

First of all this should NOT be the use case, it is dangerous, stupid, idiotic and shows that you dont care for your life and others.

[–] weeeeum@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

But the proprietary connector plug itself is almost identical to the lightning connector, the only difference is that the bolster has some notches in it for the BATTERY to lock into. All the locking is in the battery, they could have, should have, used USB C or any other existing connector.

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[–] xenomor@lemmy.world 68 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Just think about it for a moment. Apple made a mask, that when you wear it in your face, projects a 3D animated avatar if you face on the outside. That is so weird, f’ed up and dystopian.

[–] nikt@lemmy.ca 75 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (9 children)

I won’t argue about whether this is dystopian, but the practical reason for the face projection is that they wanted to make this not just something you wear sitting alone in your basement, like most other VR headsets. They wanted it to be usable around other people, at a workplace, with family, etc.

Interacting with someone wearing a full face blind is just weird, so they thought that making the eyes visible would help make this a bit more socially usable.

I’m not sure that’s really going to work out — seems at least as awkward as Google’s failed Glass project — but Apple’s design decision has some merit.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

Google Glass really feels smarter in this particular regard.

Also they decided to stuff everything into the headset.

Maybe making it a separate thing and moving as much mass and volume as possible to something worn on your belt or your back would be a better idea. EDIT: But I do understand how this doesn't fit their marketing.

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[–] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Given the number of TV shows and movies around this topic, I can sense this change coming.

If I have to interact with someone that's wearing goggles, I might go full Luddite.

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[–] weew@lemmy.ca 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think it's just straight up uncanny valley. Don't think it's especially "dystopian" per se.

Honestly cartoon eyes might have actually worked better here.

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[–] SPRUNT@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm convinced that the only reason they did the eye thing is so they can get micro transactions for people buying custom eyes like cats and aliens and shit.

[–] AlfredEinstein@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)
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[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 24 points 9 months ago

I wouldn't go so far as fucked up and dystopian. It's just an odd style choice.

[–] VampyreOfNazareth@lemm.ee 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's really cheesy and cringe, a product looking for a problem.

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[–] erwan@lemmy.ml 10 points 9 months ago

I don't know, I could see the value if it really looked like the mask was semi transparent.

So it's a cool idea, the only problem is that they didn't deliver and the result is creepy instead.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I don’t think I can agree with this.

The face projection was likely an afterthought. They were already deep into the 3D face scan into avatar world with things like continuity camera and lidar. Granted, I don’t believe they are currently able to reposition the face into a completely different angle (top down into forward facing) with continuity camera, but that’s where their tech was going anyway. And they wanted to be able to have user facial expressions in device regardless.

All they did in this case was slap a screen on the front and display the avatar the thing is already generating, then call it a feature and upcharge with a 1000% markup on the total cost.

It’s a gimmick, that’s all it ever was. Meant to make this look like a sleeker device than it is with some clever marketing.

Not dystopian, just disappointing.

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[–] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

That is so weird, f’ed up and dystopian.

It's not as weird as the Meta Quest, where you literally have no idea wether the person wearing it is looking at you or not.

The view of someone's eyes is very low quality - I'll give you that. But it's better than nothing at all. And I'm not sure they could've done better without doubling the price of the product.

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[–] grahamja@reddthat.com 42 points 9 months ago (3 children)

The example video of showing wearing the headset and showing the outer display:

https://valkyrie.cdn.ifixit.com/media/2024/02/03103510/Display-Stack_sm.mp4

It is off putting and reminds me of one of the Robocop 2 Prototypes.

https://www.robocoparchive.com/info/prototypes.htm

[–] TheColonel@reddthat.com 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I don’t know what I expected but that was mortifying.

[–] laughterlaughter@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

This is a fun, silly discussion and I love it!

But hey, what you're seeing is just some internal component, so why would that be mortifying? I found it hilarious!

[–] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 11 points 9 months ago

holy fucking shit what the fuck is that

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[–] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 20 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

🎶It's not the best choice...🎶

[–] laurelraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 9 months ago

You've tried the best, now try the rest!

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