Lots of hot takes immediately dismissing the Apple Vision Pro. They're all short-sighted. Here are some historical fun facts about Apple products:

• iPhone did not get copy-and-paste until the third-generation iPhone 3GS.
• iPhone didn’t get mainstream adoption until the iPhone 4.
• Apple Watch did not have clear killer app until watchOS 3, when Apple doubled-down on Fitness & Health.
• The first-generation Apple Watch had as much compute power as two iPhone 4s.
• When AirPods were first released, it was ridiculed for its looks. Today, AirPods are the gold standard for wireless earbuds and headphone jacks are non-standard on modern flagship smartphones.

So what are people saying about Apple Vision Pro?

"It costs 7x as much as the Meta Quest…"

Yes, that's true. As Ben Evans puts it:

Meta is trying to catalyze an ecosystem while we wait for the right hardware - Apple is trying to catalyze an ecosystem while we wait for the right price.

Both paths are good bets…but I think Apple's vision is smarter.

Zuckerberg envisions everyone wearing VR headsets for most hours of the day, both at work and at home. His belief is that your digital life will be as important as your physical life. To Zuckerberg, living in the digital world is socializing, not isolating.

Apple disagrees. Tim Cook has said for years that the goal is to have AR enhance the real world around you. The Vision Pro is built from the ground up to let interact with both the real world and the digital world at the same time.

Nilay Patel of The Verge, summed it up the best:

Meta Quest 2 is a mid-range Android smartphone on your face.

Apple Vision Pro is a MacBook on your face.

In the pre-iPhone era, the smartphone was thought of as a cell phone with apps. Then Apple launched a mobile computer with a phone app.

If the "metaverse" is going to be a thing, Apple will make it just one dimension of spatial computing.

"The 2-hour battery isn't even long enough for a movie! LOL"

Yup, and that's fine for this v1.0 model! This generation is targeted for developers and will only be used for indoor, stationary situations. The fun begins when it becomes portable, but we need developers to make that meaningful.

"Creepy Black Mirror vibes."

I gotta admit, the spacial camera demo of the father recording his kid's birthday while wearing Apple Vision Pro is a bit cringey…and we all know how Google Glass was rejected. But remember: there was a time when having a camera on a cellphone was considered creepy too.

We'll see how this pans out, but for now, Apple Vision Pro will clearly indicate to others when you are recording.

"I'm not going to walk around with ski goggles on my face."

I'm not planning on it either, lol. But that's fine, because Apple is playing a very, very long-game here.

Overall, Apple Vision Pro is a massive step towards AR glasses. This is a long stop-gap to get developers building on the AR platform until the product is portable to wear outside and affordable enough for the common consumer.

And if there's any tech company in the world that will miniaturize powerful hardware into something the size of a pair of sunglasses, it's Apple.

Okay, the Samsung Galaxy Fold made me feel like foldable phones were 5-6 years away from going mainstream (because of price and hardware bulkiness).

But now this foldable Huawei Mate X makes me feel like it's 4-5 years away.

Still bullish on AR glasses, but foldables will go mainstream much sooner.

Update: I went back to another Best Buy to test another Note 8 demo unit and can confirm: I was able to unlock the Note 8 demo with different Facebook profile pics and Instagram selfies from my iPhone as well.

"Whatever, that's just a demo."

You see, that's actually the problem. I see three possibilities:

• The Note 8's facial recognition tech is actually good and Samsung made a crappy demo…But why would anyone do that?
• The Note 8's facial recognition tech is bad and they faked the demo intentionally, just like how Samsung faked performance benchmarks in the past.
• The Note 8's facial recognition tech is bad and the demo is proof of that.

Which is it?

Played around with the S8 at Best Buy for five minutes. Here are my quick-fire first impressions:

• overall aesthetic is best in market
• screen has much more subtle curve than I remembered in past edge-screen models, in a very good way
• screen is GLORIOUS; watching video is visually immersive
• speakers suck compared to iPhone 7's stereo speakers; dulls video-watching experience
• Iris Scanner not as practical as fingerprint for unlocking; requires phone at very specific angle and eyes at specific distance. For a feature that is used an average of 120 times per day to unlock the phone, this would be a persistent annoyance.

This perfectly encapsulates the entire range of first impressions that the Apple Watch is getting.

By far the most common complaint was how the Apple Watch requires an iPhone. Totally valid complaint. But once upon a time, the iPod needed a Mac. And eventually it grew into the iPhone.

Also, kudos to the kids who understand we don't need smartwatches, the same way we don't need a smartphone or a TV; we just want it the luxury because it delights us and makes our lives easier.

Observations

• It took 18 minutes before they said anything of substance at the announcement. The first 18 minutes was entirely fluffed with ambiguous marketing words like, "leading," "best," "innovative." Those are words that you should never say to describe yourself. Those are words should be exemplified in your work. It's like a guy trying to pick up a girl by saying, "I'm confident and attractive!"
• Hilarious: Samsung makes big deal of Galaxy S6 "Edge" curved screen. AND THEN NEVER SAYS WHY THAT'S BETTER. (via @amir)
• Samsung owners the last 5 years: “iPhone sucks! No removable battery or SD card and plastic is so much more durable!” The S6 —> “Um, oops”. (via @HilzFuld)
• Their camera comparison vs. an iPhone 6 Plus was a joke. — RT @BenBajarin: Samsung clearly doesn’t know how to tap on the iPhone screen on the subjects to change the lighting.
• Samsung's new mantra: “Design with purpose." It took them this long to realize that??
• The bottom of the Galaxy S6 sure looks like an iPhone 6.

The Good

• Screen looks great, as expected by the company that makes the best screens in the industry.
• The shiny colored back screens look really, really great.
• Fast charging is AWESOME. Charging for 10 minutes to get 4 hours of battery life is a game changer.
• Selfie camera looks great and is something that Samsung should keep pushing. Because, let's face it, everyone loves a good selfie. The selfie camera is a very humanized technology.
• The upgraded Gorilla Glass is an evolutionary improvement; eventually all smartphones will have it.
• The overall hardware build quality looks FANTASTIC. No more metallic-painted plastic. For the first time, it looks like Samsung has a premium device that will actually feel like a premium device in your hand.

The Bad

• Looks like they removed the water-resistance from Galaxy line this year. That's a shame. That was a really great feature that really should become the standard.

Questions

• Does the curved screen make any significant improvements to the viewing experience? Do videos really look any better?
• How long will the battery last in the real world? Samsung has been known for cheating benchmarks before.
• How well will the battery hold charges over time? Does fast charging mean the battery will degrade faster than normal?
• The fingerprint scanner has been redone to work more like the iPhone's because the old swipe version was shit. Will this new fingerprint scanner be as technically reliable as Touch ID?
• Does fast charging work over wireless charging? Or is it an asterisk where the fast charging will only work when you plug it in?
• How successful will Samsung Pay be in the U.S.? Outside the U.S? They highlighted how only 10% of retailers support Apple Pay right now, but that number will significantly improve; the U.S. is in the middle of upgrading all merchants to the more secure, encryption chip-based point-of-sale system.
• Does Samsung get a cut or kickback of each Samsung Pay transaction?
• How well will this resonate with existing Samsung buyers? Is there a lot of pent up demand for a new Galaxy S by customers who were unimpressed with the past two models? Will this reverse the downward trend of Samsung's mobile profits?
• If someone was on Samsung for the big screen, and went Apple when it matched that, will they move back again because Samsung dumped plastic? (via@BenedictEvans)

As a web developer, I LOVE having dual monitors at my workstation. For my next workstation, I'm even considering a triple monitor setup. But I've often wondered, what if computers weren't bound by screens? What if we could have our entire peripheral vision as our digital screens?

Recently, I've been reading venture capitalists hyping up virtual reality like, "You guys won't fucking believe what kind of stuff Oculus Rift is working on right now!" But I have a hard time picturing everyone wearing goggles on their heads, completely cutting off the real world around them. It just doesn't seem mainstream-ready.

Last year, I borrowed my friend's' Google Glass. Being able to do hands-free video recording of my puppy was pretty awesome, but other than that, the apps didn't improve my life in any meaningful way. Plus, Google Glass seems like it's designed to be used outdoors, but it's too damn creepy and socially awkward to be worn out in public.

Enter Microsoft HoloLens.

Today's demo by Microsoft was impressive. For the first time, I could get a sense of how virtual/augmented reality could be meaningful in the real world. And unlike Google Glass, HoloLens is designed to be used in the privacy of your own home or office (i.e. not creepy at all).

I loved the part when they showed a Skype video session floating on a table top. Having these virtual items stay in position like physical objects is much more practical than constantly having windows fixated in the middle of your vision, ala Google Glass.

I want to live in a world where my entire home office becomes my computer screen. I want my code editor windows, browser windows, and PSD files virtually hanging on my wall. When I get a Skype video call from my boss to go over designs, I can pick up and place the Skype window a little off to the side and focus on the designs in front of me. And when I want to watch TV while working, I can have a virtual TV appear on the other side of my room. For the first time ever, that dream feels like it will become a reality.

It’s still early for HoloLens and this is only a demo video, but their live demo shows promise and I'm excited to see what this will be like in another 5-7 years.

It's definitely an adjustment, sacrificing one-handed accessibility for a larger screen. It's a little harder to take food pics lol, and I found myself having to use both hands when reading while lying in bed. But because of my bad vision in my right eye, I can definitely appreciate the larger screen for reading.

I have yet to really play with the camera but I've definitely noticed it's improved ability for taking photos in low-light conditions.

I'm really excited to test out the quick autofocus with my puppy; taking non-blurry pics of a hyper pup is one of the hardest thing to do.

My only real complaint is a temporary one -- most third-party apps haven't been redesigned to support the larger screen yet, so they all look like blown-up zoomed versions of the 5S. Surely this will become a non-issue soon.