My Zeiss lenses finally arrived and so I’ve been trying the Vision Pro for work. First I tried processing about 100 emails that had accumulated in my Inbox over the week. I was just trying to delete, archive or move to a Set-Aside folder to respond later. Just using the Mail app with my eyes and fingers it was almost impossible to manipulate the emails into one of those three places. Archiving was the easiest, but even that was painfully slow. After struggling through about 10 emails, I switched to using a Mac and virtual display. So the Vision Pro became a giant monitor for my Mac. Using this method was much more productive. Using the keyboard shortcuts allowed me to fly through the Inbox.
This is when I noticed that the text on the Vision Pro is not as good as the text on my MacBook Pro or Studio Display. There is also a weird effect where the text looks best where my eyes are focused, but the text at the periphery is fuzzy. When I move my eyes to another area it comes into focus, but if I move my head instead of just my eyes, everything is blurry for a second. It is a bit disconcerting and frankly disappointing. I’ve gotten so used to the retina displays that Apple has been shipping for years now, that this really feels like a step down.
Next I tried doing my weekly review. I spent the $30 for the Things Vision Pro app. I also use Obsidian to write out my plan for the week. So I used the Obsidian app on my Mac. So I had the Mac virtual display in the center and Things to the left of that. Again I found it hard to use the Things app using my eyes and fingers, so switched to use the Mac keyboard and trackpad to manipulate items in Things. This worked better, but again turning my head to look at Things still blurred out the text until my eyes focused on a piece of text.
The last thing I decided to try was writing up this post. I took out a Magic Keyboard and paired it with the Vision Pro. I then opened the Vision Pro Notes app and typed using the keyboard. This worked well, writing in the Notes app is intuitive. It is easy to move the cursor around and selecting and moving text can be done either with your fingers, or the usual keyboard shortcuts. So I’d say where the Vision Pro is best for work is writing in the Notes app.
My opinion so far is that getting work done on the Vision Pro is a mixed bag. It works best when writing and editing text, but is a lot harder when you have to manipulate small items, like task lists in Things only using your eyes and fingers. I think part of the problem is that Vision OS can be really buggy. The eye tracking will just pause for 10-20 seconds and then suddenly jump back to life. The Mac virtual display is definitely cool, but not as good as a real monitor like the Apple Studio Display.
I will experiment more and see if over time it becomes a worthwhile tool for work. It is already the best device for watching movies and entertainment, but I’m hoping for more than that.
Could you not have been using a hardware keyboard and trackpad directly with the Vision Pro native Mail app and Things just as you did with Notes? From what I’ve been reading the hardware input devices are a big improvement over eye tracking/gestures especially for “productivity” type tasks.
I use my VP for work at times. What jcarucci mentioned was an issue early on. But I had a trackpad handy which helped a lot. The difficulty was with apps having icons close to each other. Eye tracking has gotten better. I’m in the beta program so on 1.2 already. The last update they did REALLY helped with eye tracking. Don’t find myself using the trackpad as much.
I tend to use Outlook email, OneNote, Teams, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Edge Browser all for work. The one thing limiting me is the inability to share or present in Teams. Apple recently released a way for Apple Vision Pro users to collaborate and its way cool. Just limited. But - I can do a lot of what I normally need to do with the VP.
One cool thing I do is stand, place the apps all around me, and physically interact with them. You can use your finger to select what you want. Haven’t had a stand up desk since leaving the office to work at home.
I love using my Vision Pro for work. Going back to my Mac where all the windows have to be overlapping on a smaller display seems like going backwards in time. I love having my web browser, email, etc. be spread out all around me.
Does it work well with a keyboard/mouse for typical document editing/viewing?
Is it comfortable enough to use for a full day of work?
If I am used to a multi-monitor setup in my home office (6 monitors) and am hoping to re-create something similar for travel/hotel “real” work, might this work?
Yes - I initially used an old Microsoft foldable wireless keyboard I got years ago. It worked, but not the kind of keyboard I like to use for work. Once I realized the VP was with me to stay, I went ahead and looked for ergonomic wireless keyboards. Settled on a logi ERGO K860. Which works AWESOME. Has three profiles accessed by three buttons. Use one for the VP, one for my MacBook Pro, one for my work Windows Laptop.
And yes, I can wear it all day. There is a trick to it. Took me a while to get comfortable with the headbands. Thought the dual band was the way to go. But the solo band is actually pretty good. You need to position the VP such that the pressure is even on the forehead and cheeks. You don’t want it too much on one or the other. The solo band helps make that easy.
(1) Devonthink is essential for any work I do. Does anyone know if the DTTG iPad app will work with VisionPro? If not then is it practical to use DT3 on a MacBook connected to Vision Pro and go back and forth between the MacBook and VisionPro screens?
(2) Has anyone tried the Rokid or Virture One smartglasses which the article discusses as less capable but much less costly and less bulky competitors to Vision Pro?
I’ll check later, but found this doing a google search. Looks like it should be enabled but they aren’t going to do much work on it until they can get a VP in their hands: