How to Take an Apple Vision Pro for a Test Drive Before Buying One
For its Vision Pro headset, Apple is still holding demos, but you'll probably need to make a reservation at least a week in advance.
Would you like to spend thirty minutes seeing one of the biggest, riskiest, and most contentious product debuts in Apple's history? The tech behemoth continues to conduct Apple Vision Pro demonstrations in US retail locations. If you are like us and don't have $3,500
stashed away in your coat pocket—or else you don't have any other really wealthy pals with whom to hang out—this might be your one and only opportunity to get hands-on experience with Apple's exclusive “spatial computer.” Furthermore, you might not be able to reserve a 30-minute demo for very long.
Before the big reveal, Gizmodo was unable to obtain a headset from the manufacturer. I promptly scheduled a demo session for consumers at one of the many Apple Stores in New York City after the product's debut. I was required to schedule my demo a week in advance,
even though it had just been a few days since the debut on February 2. You need to plan ahead before making a wager on any time slot, regardless of the day of the week, weekend, morning, afternoon, or evening.
You must locate a local retailer and visit the official Vision Pro page in order to schedule the demo. Bookings for demos may only be made through February 18 at this time, and Apple has said that reservations can only be made up to one week in advance. We'll have to wait and
see how long interest lasts, as well as how long Apple intends to support the complex in-store demo equipment, before determining the precise date the company wants to discontinue these trial sessions.
Nestled at the rear of the basement shop, there are sixteen imitation leather couches in the dimly lighted depths of Manhattan's 5th Avenue Apple Store. Every station had a tray that was magnetically fastened to the seat, and a few employees—dubbed "Geniuses"—walked around
dispensing headsets on bamboo platters in a manner reminiscent of wine and cheese waiters. I choose this spot because it was there that Aarish Syed, the first customer of Apple to use Vision Pro, wrapped his arms around the VR headset and took a selfie while the assembled throng applauded him for winning the most expensive scratch-off lottery in history.
It was 11 a.m. on a Monday, and every station was booked. It is important that you arrive on time and register with one of the mobile staff members who oversees the appointments (that person will probably be holding a tablet in their hands). Apple appears to be prioritizing
sanitation based on how clean my device appeared to be. Despite the apparent durability of Vision Pros, they are actually highly particular about how you pick up and put on the gadget. The 30-minute trial is heavily selected and, in many respects, limited, so you should be aware of that before you participate.
The demo space is similar to other Apple releases, such as the most recent iPhone, although the Vision Pro demos are even trickier than typical. Before Apple employees can create a seal that fits your head, you must let them scan your mug. This can cause problems, particularly if,
like me, you have a beard that causes the face-scanning program to act strangely. After you receive your Vision Pro on a platter,You receive instruction on how to precisely fasten your seatbelt, modify the seal, and operate the headset. There are only three movements you'll
need to be aware of: the "pinch" choose gesture, the wave motion to navigate around web sites or photo reels, and the two-handed pinch and drag motion to resize separate windows.
Apple is highlighting the 3D and spatial video viewing experience. Looking at “spatial” photos and “spatial” films shot with the Vision Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro takes up a significant portion of the demo (in case you were wondering, the videos recorded with the headset are
far higher quality than the ones taken with the smartphone). Additionally, you can view a brief teaser for The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 3D in the staff's fictitious in-headset theater mode.
You have a few minutes to browse through Safari and look at one or two other apps if you'd like. By using the digital crown, you can go from the full-color passthrough to one of the faux-3D visual environments—in this instance, a picturesque lakeside vista—and obtain a sense of
the spatial world. Your demo has ended after going through a handful of these apps. To assess general comfort, it's sufficient to sample the headset and feel its weight and curves.
The quantity of demos running at once demonstrates how hard Apple has worked on this.
Employees continuously inquire about your opinions and whether you plan to purchase the $3,500 headset. Stay tuned to hear my opinions on my initial impressions of the Vision Pro and to see how convincingly Apple convinced me to try their non-VR VR headset.
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