visionOS 26 adds a plethora of features that were already on other headsets

Local multi-user experiences and widgets headline Apple's annual software update.

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[TimeWinder]

I do like that they did a not-so-subtle about-face in the "your hands are the only controller you'll need, and the game developers will adapt" when the game developers basically said, en masse, "Uh, no."

But the controller they chose is the Playstation 5 VR2 Dual Shock controller, which looks nice enough, but so far as I can tell isn't sold separately anywhere (even by Sony) except by Ebay scalpers. I'm disinclined to buy a $350 full VR setup for a console I don't own just to get the controllers.

I expect by the time visionOS 26 hits the public, Apple will sell them in the Apple Store (at a "premium price"), but as a dev who'd like to get a set now to play around with, there doesn't appear to be a straightforward market.

 

[TimeWinder]

It’s one screen. Curved glass, overengineered, and likely very expensive. It should be the first casualty in any refresh.

It (the exterior vision pro screen) is also incredibly dim, very slow refresh, and very low resolution. In real life it looks nothing like those bright, reactive demos videos from before it shipped. My wife needs to be within about a foot of me to even tell if it's showing my eyes.
It's weird -- useful or not, the rest of the device is very high quality, and then there's this crappy external display added on. I bet there's a story there, somewhere.

 

[TimeWinder]

People ask about the weight. The weight is real, and will wear on me if I sit upright or stand. It’s not a problem if I recline my seat.

4. If I have back trouble, lying flat on the floor with Safari or a video app on the ceiling is excellent. It makes me wonder why so many screens in my life are vertical or tilted upward.

I agree, especially with the reclining for comfort part. It goes from "uncomfortable in minutes, or after a long day, instantly" to "can watch it for hours", even with a third-party support rig on it. I can easily watch a few movies in a row in bed if I want.

But...for things other than just TV/Movie-like video watching, the software seriously fights with you when reclining, and in many cases (3D video on the web, for example), is entirely unusable when not basically straight upright, since it insists on aligning the virtual and real horizons, and positions necessary content (like the move bars for windows, and any "observed from above" content) in real-world "down." I have frequently (multiple times an hour) had to "unrecline" or stand up entirely in able to perform simple tasks, because I simply cannot incline my chin INSIDE my chest. This doesn't affect the TV/Movie scenario, but any kind of real work or WebXR content is nearly impossible when reclined more than maybe fifteen degrees.

For all the folks in the thread whose killer app is 3D web porn:

1. Hopefully you consume it sitting upright or standing, since the current implementation of WebXR fixes the horizon in place.
2. The built-in sound system is leaky, so it's not a private experience unless you're using Airpods.

Less tongue-in-cheek for audio in general, I'm one of those people for whom earbuds simply don't stay in my ears. You can use any bluetooth compatible headset with it (I use bone conduction ones that fit easily under the headset), but it took me a while to find it -- the settings for a BT headset aren't in Sound, they're in Accessibility.