Wearables

Lightweight AR glasses float a big screen in front of your eyes

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The Xreal Air 2 series AR glasses feature Sony's latest Micro-OLED displays wrapped up in a lightweight package that puts the focus on user comfort
Xreal
The Xreal Air 2 series AR glasses feature Sony's latest Micro-OLED displays wrapped up in a lightweight package that puts the focus on user comfort
Xreal
The Xreal Air 2 Pro AR glasses feature three electrochromic dimming levels for controlling the level of immersion
Xreal
Full HD visuals to each eye at a refresh rate of 120 Hz
Xreal
The Xreal Air 2 series AR glasses can produce a virtual display at up to 330 diagonal inches
Xreal
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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 Xreal Air 2 series AR glasses can produce a virtual display at up to 330 diagonal inches
Xreal

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

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6 comments
paul314
So how do these things work for people who need glasses/contacts?
Trylon
What a joke. "330 inches diagonal." At what distance? That spec is always useless. It's only when you see the other specs that you get the clues to figure it out. 46º field of view, which combined with 49 pixels per degree is consistent with 1920p. Sure, 330 inches. 33 feet away! Hardly "big screen."
Ric
This 330 inches absurdity (as pointed out by Trylon) doesn’t inspire high expectations regarding the quality of this tech either, and shows very little respect for its audience.
windykites
A case of try before you buy. Don't buy on spec(s) LOL
kwalispecial
@Trylon - Yes, the measurement doesn't mean much without a distance, but I think your calcs at 1920p are good. That means it is equivalent to 27.5ft across at 33 feet - how close would you want to be to a 27ft screen? That also means the projected size is equivalent to 120" diagonal at 12' away. If a 10ft TV doesn't qualify as a "big screen" I don't know what does.
ANTIcarrot
@kwalispecial - I sit one foot away from my computer monitor, like a lot of people. At that distance, this is a 14.5" screen. I'd call that pretty small, and at only 1080p, not particualy high resolution. Now with a laptop (and typically 1.5-2 feet away) that turns to a 21.5" or a 29" screen. Which is significantly better than most laptops can do, but the resolution is still entry level at best.

Reviews of the Air 2 say it's an improvment, but are still mixed. I hope this company keeps going, and that they and their competitors eventually to to the Model-T point of tech development. As it stands, I think they have a way to go.