It's an Apple device, what did you expect?
The thing even has an external battery pack, and instead of using USB-C so you could use any power bank you already own, they designed a completely new proprietary connector. In 2024.
Who the fuck does that anymore, except Apple?

I won’t argue about whether this is dystopian, but the practical reason for the face projection is that they wanted to make this not just something you wear sitting alone in your basement, like most other VR headsets. They wanted it to be usable around other people, at a workplace, with family, etc.

Interacting with someone wearing a full face blind is just weird, so they thought that making the eyes visible would help make this a bit more socially usable.

I’m not sure that’s really going to work out — seems at least as awkward as Google’s failed Glass project — but Apple’s design decision has some merit.

I wouldn't go so far as fucked up and dystopian. It's just an odd style choice.

I think it's just straight up uncanny valley. Don't think it's especially "dystopian" per se.

Honestly cartoon eyes might have actually worked better here.

I'm convinced that the only reason they did the eye thing is so they can get micro transactions for people buying custom eyes like cats and aliens and shit.

It's really cheesy and cringe, a product looking for a problem.

I don't know, I could see the value if it really looked like the mask was semi transparent.

So it's a cool idea, the only problem is that they didn't deliver and the result is creepy instead.

I don’t think I can agree with this.

The face projection was likely an afterthought. They were already deep into the 3D face scan into avatar world with things like continuity camera and lidar. Granted, I don’t believe they are currently able to reposition the face into a completely different angle (top down into forward facing) with continuity camera, but that’s where their tech was going anyway. And they wanted to be able to have user facial expressions in device regardless.

All they did in this case was slap a screen on the front and display the avatar the thing is already generating, then call it a feature and upcharge with a 1000% markup on the total cost.

It’s a gimmick, that’s all it ever was. Meant to make this look like a sleeker device than it is with some clever marketing.

Not dystopian, just disappointing.

That is so weird, f’ed up and dystopian.

It's not as weird as the Meta Quest, where you literally have no idea wether the person wearing it is looking at you or not.

The view of someone's eyes is very low quality - I'll give you that. But it's better than nothing at all. And I'm not sure they could've done better without doubling the price of the product.

I don’t know what I expected but that was mortifying.

holy fucking shit what the fuck is that

🎶It's not the best choice...🎶