The next big thing in mixed-reality is coming — and it’s not from Apple.
Xreal announced its latest pair of smart glasses, dubbed the Xreal One. The wearable shades are a leap forward from the company’s Air 2 model as they come equipped with a first-of-its-kind customized silicon X1 chip. It’s a serious piece of tech, boasting a 50-degree field of view (FOV), only 3ms of M2P latency, and internal speakers made in collaboration with Bose. You get all that for $500. A Pro model is coming as well for $600, which boasts an improved 57-degree FOV.
On paper, it’s the biggest innovation in the AR wearable space to date outside of Apple’s pricey Vision Pro. Ahead of its reveal, I went hands-on with the Xreal One to try it out for myself. While I’ve been skeptics of the emerging tech in the past, the new glasses gave me my most convincing sales pitch for XR wearables yet thanks to their lightweight design, clear resolution, and better stability overall. After a rocky start for the tech, it seems like the Xreal One may finally be the real deal.
Low latency, low strain
Previous Xreal models like the Air 2 Ultra are relatively straightforward devices. You simply plug them into the device of your choice, and that display loads up in your glasses. They aren’t exactly a spatial computing tool like the Apple Vision Pro, which has a load of apps and impressive features like hand-tracking; instead, they function more like a second screen. The Xreal One follows that same plug-and-play philosophy, but it refines that experience in some key ways that make all the difference.
The most important upgrade is its custom chip, which is a first for Xreal’s devices. It doesn’t mean that they act as a computer, but they do add up to a very low latency experience compared to its competitors. How low is it? The Xreal Air 2 model has around 20 to 30ms of latency. The Apple Vision fares a lot better at 12ms. Thanks to the Xreal One’s chip, which takes some responsibility off the plugged-in device’s CPU, the glasses have a minuscule 3ms of latency.
That’s a major difference that becomes clear when actually testing them. When I whip my head around quickly, the screen can more easily follow my movements rather than jerking around. That makes for a more natural viewing experience that doesn’t feel nauseating, even when setting the display to follow my movements rather than anchoring it to a fixed position. There’s less motion blur overall, which is crucial.
That tiny chip doesn’t add much weight to the glasses, naturally. The Xreal One comes in at around 84 grams, with the Pro model only being slightly heavier at 89 grams. Based on my quick demo, the lightweight glasses sat comfortably on my face. I didn’t feel any strain and didn’t leave with an unsightly red mark on my nose. A small part of what keeps that weight down is that the glasses have a camera that sits in between the lenses, but it’s entirely detachable. It’s a modular consideration that makes sure users still get all the features of AR glasses, but have more control over their weight. Rounding out that bit of customization is the Xreal One’s adjustable lens transparency, which lets users choose how dark they want them to appear.
Testing the display
My bigger problem with devices like this has always been the display itself. I’ve always found it difficult to get a crisp image, but the 1080p display used here already feels less blurry to me overall. Not only was I able to see a clean image, but I also didn’t bump into the classic wearable pitfall where the virtual display awkwardly cuts off at the edges of my vision. The 50-degree FOV (and a whopping 57 on the Pro model) and newly designed lens allow me to see more screen at once, with black borders creeping in more naturally. I also have a few options when it comes to display size, which can go as low as 117 inches and as high as 191 inches. On top of that, the Xreal One has an ultrawide display option that only works in anchored view.
I was able to see how all of that feels in practice during a handful of demos. First, I plugged directly into an iPhone and pulled up an episode of The Simpsons. The bright display stood out immediately, as it didn’t feel like I was looking at a blurry or hazy monitor. Toggling between anchored and following views is as simple as pressing a button on the underside of the frames, while changing the display size was just a quick trip into the menu. At 191 inches, I can see almost the entire image at once, with only a bit of the edges getting boxed out by the borders.
When an ultrawide browser stretched out before my eyes, I actually could feel that size.
For my second test, I plugged into a Steam Deck and played a racing game in my glasses while controlling it on the handheld. That test highlighted the Bose speakers, which are more compact than the company’s traditional speakers but still pump out enough volume. Xreal says that the main audio differences come down to different tuning, so we’ll need to spend a bit more time with them to hear what that translates to. On a first test drive, though, they sounded clear and weren’t getting blown out or muddied by the sound of a whining car engine. Xreal notes that this is just the start of what’s set to be a multi-year collaboration with Bose.
My final test would throw me onto a laptop so I could try computing in style. To maximize that experience, I anchored the screen in front of me and hopped into the menu to enable ultrawide mode. That’s the moment where my skepticism about wearables like this loosened. Generally, when I throw on AR glasses, I don’t actually feel like I’m looking at a bigger screen. It just feels like a normal monitor or TV screen is pressed up to my face. Even if the display is technically bigger, it’s difficult to accurately translate scale in a wearable.
But when an ultrawide browser stretched out before my eyes, I actually could feel that size. I was craning my neck to each side to see everything. Though it may not feel quite as grand as Apple Vision Pro’s own impressive ultrawide option (which I tested later that day), it’s a convincing feat in a piece of tech that costs significantly less.
Will the Xreal One be enough to win over doubters who simply don’t want to wear something while they work? Perhaps not, but this is the first time I’ve ever seriously entertained that notion. I’ll need to have spent far more time with the Xreal One to know for sure, but I left my time with the glasses excited to try out how they could fit into my daily life.
I can very seriously picture plugging my work computer into my glasses and working on an ultrawide display rather than buying a big screen that doesn’t quite fit on my desk. I can see myself using them on an airplane to play my Steam Deck with a bit more privacy. The ultra-low latency and clear display, coupled with a more comfortable design than I’m used to, make those scenarios much more practical.
And practicality is what devices like this need more than anything right now. There is no world in which I’m going to do spatial computing in a heavy, battery-powered headset that hurts my head after 20 minutes of use. But some light and subtle shades? Now we’re getting somewhere.
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