Augmented-reality wearable producer nReal has rebranded to Xreal and launched two pairs of AR glasses designed to virtually float a huge screen in front of your eyes. The Air 2 and Air 2 Pro models are up for pre-order now.
The company was set up in 2017 by former employees at Magic Leap, Google and AMD, and released its first AR glasses in 2019. The new models are destined to replace last year's Air glasses, which Xreal says are the best-selling consumer AR glasses on the market.
With this iteration, the company has focused on making the wearables more comfortable for the 50-60% of its user base that "spend between one and three hours" watching content through the AR glasses, "while maintaining superior display and fidelity."
Image quality has been given a boost by employing Sony's latest 0.55-inch Micro-OLED panels for 1,920 x 1,080 pixels in each eye to a maximum virtual display size of 330 diagonal inches with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and response rate of 0.01 milliseconds or less.
The company is promising accurate color reproduction, brightness now comes in at 500 nits and contrast is reported to be 100,000:1. The Pro glasses add "one-touch immersion control using Xreal Electromagnetic Dimming" for a choice of fully transparent to allow ambient light through, a productivity mode that's configured to prevent 35% of the light from spoiling the immersion party, and a blackout setting that's "perfect for enthralling gaming sessions, or watching TV and movies at home."
There's directional audio cooked in too, and EQ-calibrated beamforming microphones cater for calls when connected to a smartphone. Despite the name, the Air 2 series AR glasses are not wireless, and will need to be cabled to a source device over USB-C.
Xreal reports that the new series tip the scales 10% lighter than previous models at 72 g (2.54 oz) for the Air 2 and 75 g (2.65 oz) for the Air 2 Pro, while also being 10% thinner. AirFit "zero pressure" nose pads are said to make for all-day comfort, and the elastic temples feature softer materials to "meet the needs of all wearers, regardless of head-size."
The Air 2 glasses are priced at US$399, and the Air 2 Pro version comes in at $449. Shipping is expected to start from next month.
Product page: Xreal Air 2
