A Manchester man has confirmed that his £2,400 Apple Vision Pro 2 headset has revolutionised his evening routine by allowing him to watch EastEnders in a virtual window positioned approximately three feet to the left of where his actual television sits.
James Thornton, 34, purchased the spatial computing device last week after watching a promotional video in which a diverse group of impossibly attractive people designed cars and watched films while floating in the cosmos. He has since used it exclusively to consume BBC programming whilst sitting on the same sofa he bought from DFS in 2019.
“The clarity is phenomenal,” said Thornton, adjusting the £400 additional battery pack clipped to his belt. “I can see every pore on Denise Fox’s face. It’s like she’s really there, except slightly translucent and hovering in mid-air near my bookshelf.”
Thornton’s girlfriend, Emma Hartley, reported that she can no longer make eye contact with him during their evening viewing sessions, as he now resembles “a divorced dad wearing ski goggles at a beach barbecue.”
“He keeps saying he’s experiencing the future of entertainment,” Hartley added. “But he’s literally just watching the same soap he’s watched for eight years, only now I can’t ask him questions because he claims the hand gestures required to pause it are too complicated to interrupt.”
The headset, which Apple describes as “a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with your physical space,” weighs roughly the same as a small Yorkshire terrier and requires charging every two hours. Thornton confirmed he has already ordered a third battery pack.
Dr Rachel Okonkwo, a consumer technology researcher at Brunel University, suggested that Thornton’s experience was representative of the wider market. “We conducted a study of 127 Vision Pro owners and found that 89% primarily use the device to watch content they already have access to, but with added neck strain,” she said. “One participant spent £3,800 on the device and prescription lens inserts purely to browse Rightmove in VR. He described it as ‘like being inside the flat, but worse.'”
Thornton dismissed suggestions that he had wasted his money. “You can’t put a price on innovation,” he said, before admitting that he had put the purchase on a credit card with 23% APR.
He added that he was particularly excited about the headset’s potential for productivity, having already used it twice to read emails while sitting at the desk where his laptop lives. “I can have multiple windows open in 3D space,” he explained. “It’s incredible. Yesterday I had Gmail floating next to my head and a spreadsheet sort of behind my left ear. I got a migraine within six minutes, but that’s progress.”
Hartley confirmed that she would be watching EastEnders on the actual television this evening, as Thornton had left his Vision Pro charging in the bedroom after the battery died during Holby City.