This is what it's like to travel with the Apple Vision Pro
Apple's first spatial computing device,
Traveling with Apple Vision Pro – Azad’s Blog
https://azadux.blog/2024/10/08/traveling-with-apple-vision-pro/
Preparation
The Apple Vision Pro has an official ' Apple Vision Pro Travel Case ' that can pack the main body and battery case. However, Balabanian said, 'The Apple Vision Pro Travel Case is unnecessarily large and doesn't fit anywhere. Unless you need protection from the elements, you should never buy it.'
Below is a photo of the Apple Vision Pro travel case placed on top of a carrying bag, which shows how large it is.
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Balabanian put the default cover on the Apple Vision Pro, and then put a generic VR lens protector on the inside, and carried it in his bag as it was. Balabanian reported that even after flying 5 to 10 times while carrying it in this way, the headset did not get scratched at all.
◆Boarding the plane
At airport security, passengers remove their laptops and Apple Vision Pros from their backpacks and put them through an X-ray machine. Balabanian says that Apple Vision Pros have never been treated as 'suspicious' items.
Apple Vision Pro is equipped with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a
Below is a video of Mr. Balabanian actually using Apple Vision Pro on an airplane.
Travel Mode is activated
In travel mode, the IMU data is ignored, so the horizon is determined by the direction and rotation of your head. Normally, the spatial window in your field of view remains horizontal even if you tilt your head, but in travel mode, the spatial window tilts with your head. So you have to cover the Apple Vision Pro with your hand and then set the horizon again. 'This may seem like a small thing, but it's frustrating when the window isn't parallel to the ground,' Balabanian said.
◆ Battery life
The Apple Vision Pro can be used continuously for approximately 2.5 to 3 hours when connected to an external battery pack.
That's enough time to watch one movie, but on long-distance flights of over 10 hours, usage is limited. 'The issue is whether the airplane seat has a 120-240V power outlet. If you have a charging adapter with at least 30W, you can charge the Apple Vision Pro indefinitely,' Balabanian said.
It's also a good idea to bring a large-capacity mobile battery. Balabanian brought a 12,000mAh Anker mobile battery, but charging the Apple Vision Pro once would use up almost all of the capacity of the mobile battery.
'I prioritized charging my smartphone over the Apple Vision Pro,' said Balabanian. 'With a 12,000mAh power bank, I can charge my smartphone three or four times and watch movies and TV shows many times. If the flight is long and there is no outlet at the seat, I don't need to use the Apple Vision Pro as my only entertainment.'
◆ Comfort when worn
Since the Apple Vision Pro's center of gravity is biased towards the goggles, the weight is placed on the front when wearing it. Therefore, when using the Apple Vision Pro, Mr. Balabanian said that he wears a support strap that distributes the weight on the top of his head.
Balabanian also said, 'Comfort also includes 'social comfort.' When I wear Apple Vision Pro, I don't know if people around me are looking at me, who is where, and what they are doing,' and said he took advantage of Apple Vision Pro's pass-through function.
Especially on airplanes, when you have to talk to flight attendants, the ' EyeSight ' function, which displays your eyes on the front of the Apple Vision Pro, is extremely useful, says Balabanian.
Below is a video of Balabanian using Apple Vision Pro to communicate with a flight attendant. However, he said that he took off the headset and made direct eye contact with the other person in order to have a proper conversation. Balabanian said, 'It feels a bit strange to have a full-fledged conversation with someone wearing a headset. Let's take off Apple Vision Pro and talk like a human.'
output
◆UI Interaction
Unlike the Meta Quest series, which requires you to move the controller or your hand directly to point to the screen, Apple Vision Pro can be operated using eye tracking and hand tracking. All you have to do is capture the cursor you want to operate with your gaze and pinch it with your hand. In other words, you don't have to move your body much in a small car, you can operate it just by pinching and opening your hand on your lap. Balabanian sees this eye tracking and hand tracking operation as a major advantage.
You can see Mr. Balabanian actually operating Apple Vision Pro during the flight in the following movie.
Tapping
Balabanian previously used the Meta Quest on an airplane, where he tried to operate it with just his wrist by pressing his elbow firmly against his body, but it was quite difficult. In contrast, Apple Vision Pro minimizes physical movements and makes it as unnoticeable as possible, Balabanian said.
Apple Vision Pro also works in pitch black environments with the cabin lights turned off, but the accuracy of hand tracking is slightly reduced due to a slight delay in the response of the built-in depth sensor.
◆ Sound and image
By connecting AirPods Pro to Apple Vision Pro, you can enjoy low-latency uncompressed audio exclusive to Apple Vision Pro without worrying about sound leakage. AirPods Pro 2 also supports spatial audio, but Balabanian says that spatial audio makes movie audio sound a little different than usual, so it is recommended to disable it.
Additionally, the window of movies played on the virtual screen is natively set to the aspect ratio of the movie and will vary from movie to movie, eliminating the 'letterbox' or 'pillarbox' black bars that you typically see on iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.
'The Apple Vision Pro is without a doubt the highest quality display I own, so I'm really looking forward to using it to watch some visually stunning films,' said Balabanian.
You can see what it feels like to watch a movie in the virtual space of Apple Vision Pro by watching the movie below.
In particular, Apple Vision Pro can display 24 fps images smoothly by increasing the frame rate from 90 fps to 96 fps. Therefore, it will be a fairly high quality movie watching experience. Balabanian also highly praised the fact that Apple Vision Pro's lens uses a concave pancake lens that has little image degradation.
◆Work
Apple Vision Pro has a function called ' Mac Virtual Display ' that displays the Mac screen in a virtual space by wirelessly connecting to a Mac. You can see a video of Balabanian actually working on an airplane by displaying the image of his MacBook on Apple Vision Pro below.
working
There are significant physical limitations to working with a laptop in a narrow airplane seat. If the person in front of you reclins their seat a lot, it can be difficult to open the 13-inch MacBook Air to an angle where you can see the screen properly. However, with Apple Vision Pro, the Mac virtual display is displayed in front of you, so as long as you can touch the keyboard in front of you, there's no problem.
The resolution of the 13-inch MacBook Air that Balabanian uses is 1710 x 1112 pixels, but the Mac virtual display displayed on the Apple Vision Pro has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, so there is no problem in working. Another big advantage is that there is no need to worry about other people seeing the screen, so privacy is ensured.
In addition, macOS Sequoia has made it possible to 'mirror your iPhone.' By using this, you can 'check your iPhone screen while watching a movie or working on Apple Vision Pro.' Balabanian says that this feature was quite useful, especially in a dark cabin, where turning on the bright screen of your iPhone can be a nuisance to other passengers.
◆Meals
During long flights, meals may be served. If the cabin is dark and there is food in front of you, tracking will be lost if you drop your gaze to the plate of the meal. Therefore, it is quite difficult to 'operate Apple Vision Pro while eating,' says Balabanian. It is better to remove Apple Vision Pro when eating unless you are eating something like a sandwich that you can hold in your hands without looking at anything.
Conclusion
'Apple Vision Pro is a very clear example of Apple's vision of connecting all the devices in its ecosystem to provide a high-quality, private, immersive experience for power users outside of the typical home or work environment,' said Balabanian. 'As a travel device, it's a great platform for watching movies and working on your MacBook. It has a lot of shortcomings, but motivated users who want to get the most out of the device will find ways to make up for them.'
However, Apple Vision Pro itself is very expensive, and the OS and app ecosystem are still incomplete, so it's difficult to recommend buying it. 'But everything works well now, so if Apple Vision Pro evolves to the fourth or fifth generation, I'm sure many travelers will wear Apple Vision Pro on flights,' Balabanian said.
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