A top Apple insider has claimed that the virtual keyboard used for typing on the Apple Vision Pro is “a complete write-off”, urging prospective users they’ll want a Bluetooth keyboard when using the product.
Apple Vision Pro, unveiled last summer, will be available for pre-orders from Friday, January 19, with an in-store launch on February 2. It’s been a big few weeks of Apple Vision Pro news following that official announcement, with new details emerging about the device itself, what’s included in the box, the in-store testing process, and more. But it's not all sunshine and roses.
"The Vision Pro virtual keyboard is a complete write-off at least in 1.0. You have to poke each key one finger at a time like you did before you learned how to type,” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said on X on Friday. “There is no magical in-air typing,” he added, saying that users can also “look at a character and pinch,” but that they will want a Bluetooth keyboard.
Not my type? Apple Vision Pro keyboard worries
Apple didn’t reveal too many details about typing on Vision Pro in its announcement. However, it did give us a better look at the keyboard in this Design for spatial input session. Noted by The Verge last year, the video shows virtual hands typing on a floating virtual keyboard. Apple highlighted the importance of visual and audio feedback to replace the missing tactile sensation of actually typing on a keyboard, highlighting keys that you however over them and making them brighter when you tap on them. It’s this keyboard that Gurman has called out, but the criticism may be unfair.
When you look closely at the aforementioned video (starting at 16 minutes), it seems pretty clear to me that the experience Gurman is describing here is the same one demonstrated by Apple in the video. In theory, any typing experience involves pressing each key with one finger, but Gurman seems to indicate that the Vision Pro doesn’t respond well to using multiple fingers or both hands. For sure, the experience Apple shows off is noticeably less smooth than typing on a mechanical keyboard you can feel, but it doesn’t look that bad. Should it turn out to be a letdown, at least Apple has included support for Bluetooth mice and keyboards. If anyone is planning to use Vision Pro for the exciting Mac Virtual Display feature, a Bluetooth keyboard would probably be a given anyway.
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