Xreal’s new glasses are a surprisingly good TV for your face

A Glimpse into the Future of Entertainment: Xreal One AR Glasses Offer Immersive Viewing on the Go

Imagine watching your favorite Netflix series not on a cramped laptop screen, but projected onto a personal display in front of your eyes, all while remaining aware of your surroundings. That’s the promise offered by Xreal One, the latest augmented reality glasses from Chinese startup Xreal. These lightweight glasses, weighing just 3 ounces, aim to redefine entertainment on the go.

During a recent flight from Los Angeles to New York, I put Xreal One through its paces, swapping out my usual in-flight movie routine for a test of this innovative technology.

"I wasn’t wearing the Vision Pro or a Meta Quest," I explain. "I was trying the latest pair of AR glasses from Xreal, a Chinese startup taking an unusually focused approach to face computers.”

Available for preorder starting Wednesday at a price point of $499, the Xreal One doesn’t attempt to compete with the full-fledged virtual reality experiences of behemoths like Meta and Apple. Instead, it acts as a sophisticated display mirror for your smartphone, laptop, or gaming console.

The Xreal One employs a custom "birdbath lens" system to deliver a display quality comparable to a 1080p screen with a 50-degree field of view. While not quite achieving the full immersion of a dedicated VR headset, the viewing experience proved surprisingly captivating.

"It’s not like watching something in the Vision Pro. But the fact that I was wearing an 84-gram pair of glasses that didn’t fully occlude my vision more than made up for the difference," I noted.

The choice to leverage a device’s existing processing power and software gives Xreal One a distinct advantage, providing a readily available platform for diverse content.

"For now, Xreal is clearly betting on the idea that, at a cheap enough price point, the glasses form factor is compelling as a glorified display on your face. In a recent interview, CEO Chi Xu told me the company has sold roughly half a million glasses since first launching in 2017, and the top use cases are for in-home entertainment and business travel," I discovered during my research.

Although full-fledged AR functions are still under development, Xreal One delivers a compelling glimpse into the future of portable entertainment, offering a unique blend of convenience and immersion. The ability to casually watch a movie, play games, or even work on a larger-than-life display while maintaining situational awareness is undeniably appealing, begging the question: Is this the future of how we consume media?