These Smart Glasses Put Screens All Around You
The xreal air2 ultra are a pair of mixed reality glasses introduced at CES 2024 that aim to position themselves as a competitor to Apple’s Vision Pro. Unlike previous models from xreal, these glasses are not just a wearable screen but are intended to function as a spatial computer, similar to other mixed reality headsets currently available. The glasses provide the user with the ability to see different windows, apps, and even movies as if they were looking at a giant computer screen. The picture quality is described as sharp and crisp, providing a high-quality viewing experience.
These glasses also offer a fully spatial computer experience, allowing users to have a big workspace in front of them, while simultaneously being able to see other apps, music players, YouTube videos, and more, floating around them. The glasses can be interacted with using a pinching gesture, which is described as intuitive and natural, offering a responsive user experience. While not a self-contained computer, the glasses can be connected to a phone or laptop, allowing for various applications and experiences to be built with the glasses.
The xreal air2 ultra is currently available for pre-order and is aimed at developers, with limited apps available at launch. The glasses are expected to be released in March at a cost of $6.99, positioning themselves as a versatile and immersive tool for developers and tech enthusiasts alike.
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I’m here at CES 2024 and I’ve been checking out the xreal air2 ultra now these are a pair of mixed reality glasses that xreal really wants to be a competitor to Apple’s Vision Pro so xreal has made glasses before but a lot of those glasses were really meant
To be a a wearable screen essentially a big display that when you put the glasses on you get a giant TV in front of your eyes so what this is though is a bit different this is really meant to be a spatial computer again kind of like
The vision Pro and some other mixed reality headsets that are out there so basically I’ve had the chance to demo this and once I put the glasses on I’m able to look around the room and see different Windows different apps I’m able to switch between them and I’m able
To manipulate everything and select things with this pinching gesture which in my experience has been very very responsive whenever I look around at something and then just go like this it would select very quickly I didn’t have to do it multiple times and I find that interesting because I for me there is
Usually a little bit of a learning curve with those kinds of gestures but this felt very intuitive and very natural and the picture quality itself also looks really sharp really crisp really clean I was watching a couple of movies earlier like life of pie Despicable Me too an
Avatar and I was able to switch between them just by pinching and every movie looked crisp and clean almost just as if I was looking at a TV but that’s not the only thing you can do with this headset like I said this is meant to be a fully
Spatial computer so some of the other demos I saw were having a big workspace in front of you so you could look at whatever your work project is on a much bigger screen but then if I looked over to the left I would see whatever music I
Was listening to and then maybe if I looked over to the right I would see YouTube videos and and maybe other apps that I have opened I have the xreal glasses on right now and as I’m looking around the room I’m seeing different things as if I was looking at a giant
Computer screen so on one side of the room there’s a music player right in the middle it looks like there’s like a workstation typee of screen and then if I look over to the right I can see YouTube videos and then if I look down I get even more information like stock
Prices and things like that and yeah it’s like having a bunch of mini Windows just kind of floating around you in the room and if I want to interact with any of them all I have to do is make this pinching gesture in front of me and I’ve
Been using it throughout the demo and it’s it’s pretty responsive I am watching life of pie right now in these glasses on a giant virtual screen in front of me if I look down I can see the other movies that are available to me so I’m going to switch over to Avatar right
Now and yeah all I did was pinch and it instantly switched and the picture quality looks pretty impressive very sharp very colorful it doesn’t feel pixelated or anything like that it just it feels like I’m looking at a TV so these little cardboard tokens in front of me let you
Actually manipulate what’s happening in the headset just by touching them so they’re kind of like little external controllers and again this is just a developer kit it’s not a real product yet so um you know this is just kind of meant to show what the headset can do
And the the possibility for maybe types of accessories or games that could eventually be developed for the headset so as I’m looking at them I can basically move this little chip right here and it’s changing what I’m seeing in the headset so right now I’m looking
At a text message actually it’s a full screen view of a text message and not only is it a text message but they come up with uh this like 3D model kind of illustrating uh the the content of the message which is really interesting so I’m going to switch from the text
Message back to home just by moving this little chip and as soon as I look at it once I Mo move it and look at it the screen in front of me changes so now I’m back in my workspace the thing about these glasses is that unlike the Apple Vision
Pro these aren’t a self-contained computer you will have to plug them in to a phone or a laptop or really any device that you want to connect to it and even though anyone can buy these glasses right now they’re really kind of angling these at developers because they
Do want app creators and developers to create apps for this thing so in addition to just mirroring your device there will be some limited apps available right now but they really want to kind of encourage developers to create more and and build more experiences for this so these glasses
Are mainly meant for developers but anyone can buy them right now they’re available for pre-order and it’s coming out in March and it’ll cost $6.9 9 so once again these are the xreal air2 ultra don’t forget to check out CNET for more coverage
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Video “These Smart Glasses Put Screens All Around You” was uploaded on 01/11/2024 to Youtube Channel CNET