What started life as a humble face monitor geared to watching video and playing games wherever you happen to be has now evolved into something drawing ever closer to a Mac-powered Vision Pro.
The Viture Luma Ultra it isn’t perfect, but it is the closest thing I’ve seen yet to what I’d ideally like from a future Apple Vision Air product …
Not buying Vision Pro
When Vision Pro launched, I said that Apple knocked it out of the park. I described it as the most impressive implementation of mixed reality we’ve ever seen, but said it wasn’t something I was willing to buy given the combination of price and form factor.
Trying one for myself confirmed both of my perspectives: how impressive it is, but also how it falls short for me on both pricing and comfort.
One thing that was particularly notable in reviews is that the majority of those who did buy it seemed to end up using it primarily as nothing more than a face monitor for watching movies and TV shows. For that usage, it seemed to me that a way lighter and cheaper product was the better choice.
Viture glasses are the form factor I want
But to me the single most exciting prospect for an Apple Vision product is being able to use it as a virtual widescreen monitor when travelling. I’m not concerned about the headset being a standalone device – I’m perfectly happy for it to be a Mac accessory – but the idea of being able to replicate the 49-inch widescreen monitor on my desk in mobile form is extremely appealing.
The Viture glasses I tested did later get the capability to support multiple Mac monitors, but the biggest issue I found was that the positions of the monitors tended to slowly drift around within my field of view.
This was the biggest contrast with Vision Pro. With Apple’s headset, the position of the monitors remains locked solidly in place in space, while the drifting I experienced with the Viture glasses meant constantly having to recenter them, which very quickly grew old.
However, the thing I love about the glasses is just how portable and comfortable they are. While I was noticing the weight and heat of Vision Pro in less than an hour’s usage, I have happily worn these glasses for many hours at a time without issue.
What I really want from a Vision Air product is the combination of a light and comfortable device with the solidity of the augmented reality environment.
Viture Luma Ultra gets remarkably close
Viture’s latest and most expensive model is the Luma Ultra, coming in at $599 (less on Amazon). This is almost twice as expensive as the first model, but still a fraction of the cost of Vision Pro. It also remains almost as light and comfortable as the original.
The single biggest difference is in how the Luma Ultra tracks movements. First, instead of supporting three degrees of freedom (3DoF) – up/down, left/right, and tilting – they now support 6DoF. This adds tracking for both rotation and position.
Second, the Ultra uses external cameras in the same way as Vision Pro in order to vastly improve the accuracy of this movement tracking. The model has three cameras, one at the front and one on each side.
The result of both enhancements is that virtual monitors are dramatically better at remaining where you put them. There is still a small amount of drift, unfortunately, but it is a night-and-day comparison with earlier models. You can even do the Vision Pro trick of walking out of your home and returning to find your virtual monitors right where you left them.
The combination of the front camera and electrochromic film also makes it much easier to blend the virtual displays with your real-life surroundings. While this performance doesn’t get anywhere remotely close to that of Vision Pro, it’s still a very big step in the right direction.
You also have the option of fully darkening the glasses to completely exclude the real world. Holding down either of the transmittance buttons offers you a range of options from a fully black background to the room being visible somewhat dimly behind the virtual content.
One downgrade with the Ultra (apparently as a result of the 6DoF support) is that it no longer supports the same -5.0D myopia adjustment, being instead limited to -4.0D. This means that some users who could previously compensate for short-sightedness simply by using the adjustment knobs will now require prescription inserts. This was true for me.
While the glasses do support limited video capture, it’s hard to give a real sense of the experience, but you can get a decent idea from the company’s promo video below.
One thing that’s not shown is the ability to have either a single ultra-wide screen monitor or several monitors positioned side by side or one above the other. I found the single ultrawide monitor to be the most reliable, and I simply turn my head in the same way I would with a physical one to view content at either side.
Conclusions
We’re not there yet. Right now, neither device quite meets my needs.
Vision Pro has rock solid performance and super high-res visuals, but that comes at the price of both comfort and literal price. Luma Ultra doesn’t quite deliver the solidity I’m waiting for, but both comfort and price are massive advantages.
I really think the benefits of a standalone device aren’t especially compelling. Anyone who has bought a Vision Pro is almost guaranteed to have at least one Mac, and using it as a face monitor for movies and games requires nothing more than connecting the Luma to an iPhone, which is the equivalent of Vision Pro needing to be tethered to the battery.
So I really think this is the way for Apple to go with a future Vision Air product. Give me the combination of Vision Pro performance in a tethered device with the portability and comfort and affordability of Luma Ultra, and I’ll be handing over my credit card within seconds. I don’t expect Apple to match Viture’s pricing, of course, but something in the $1,000 to $1,500 range ought to be more than feasible.
Whether Apple will go that route remains to be seen. If not, perhaps a few more iterations of Luma hardware or software will deliver the rock-solid performance I’m waiting for? Watch this space …
Viture Luma Pro are available on the company’s Amazon store.
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