I'm a big fan of my original Xreal Air, I've been using them extensively over the last year when I was commuting a couple of hours every week.
Unfortunately, the left arm broke about three months ago. Since I ordered them from AliExpress last year, before they were available to order officially in Europe, I didn't have warranty coverage, which was a bit annoying. I managed to stabilise the arm with an aluminium sheet, sugru and a lot of tape. The repair holds up much better than expected, although it does feel a bit precarious.
I am very tempted by the new models they just announced - and if I can pull together the money, I'm very likely to get the One Pro that are supposed to come out some time in Q1 next year!
wider field of view of 57°
built-in stabilization and follow mode
a very cool sounding widescreen mode
electrocromatic (is that how it's called?) glasses
Two versions for appropriate choice of range of interpupillary distance, plus software fine-adjustment
I'm still using mine regularly as well. I've babying the arms because of the reports of breaking and mine are still holding strong. I kept looking at the beam add on, but having the tracking built into the glasses would be amazing. I will also be taking a very close look at the One. Reviews look good so far.
Here's my original review of the Air glasses from TPCR back in 2022...________________________________________________________________________________
Even though this isn’t a tablet or phone… I think it’s potentially a great “companion” accessory for mobile computing.
These are the NReal Air glasses. They are marketed as Augmented Reality devices, to which I would hesitate to claim. However, I do think they are highly effective as a portable monitor/display device.
The Airs are probably the only current Head Mounted Display (HMD) that I would actually feel comfortable wearing out in the public. They look scarcely different than a pair of large Ray Ban sunglasses. And you wouldn’t really look out of place wearing them indoors, aside from the fact that you’re wearing sunglasses indoors.
In fact, on my first time I brought them with me for plane travel, there was another person at my gate, wearing them. And they look pretty unobtrusive. You can tell a hint of lights flashing through his dark lenses, but I knew what I was looking for.
The entire kit consists of glasses, a nice cylindrical zippered case to protect the glasses, that also has a storage area for a USB-C cable.
About that cable… the glasses are powered externally, requiring the single USB-C cable that, design-wise, attach nicely to the left frame end.
When I plug the cable into my Fold3… that’s where the magic happens. The Samsung automatically detects this as a monitor and kicks into Dex mode.
The picture here, doesn’t do the display any justice, as the camera can’t focus the image properly. But I assure you, the display is crystal clear. It amounts to having a 200" monitor in front of your face.
The graphics are sharp enough with the fonts, that I have no problem reading websites or editing word processor documents. With Dex, I can do something like put a MS Teams call on one side, and a document or web browser on the other.
The images are bright, and brightness levels are adjustable. They are viewable in sunlight, but slightly washed out. At night, or indoor areas, they shine and it’s a joy to watch content like videos or sports broadcasts. If you turn the Dex background to completely black, the pixels are completely off, and you can actually see the real world like having sunglasses. So you can get a sort of augmented reality effect with windows and icons floating in front of you.
While in Dex, I have the phone display turned into a touchpad, with a keyboard when needed. The Field of View (FOV) of the Air doesn’t fully cover your vision in the vertical direction. That actually works to one’s advantage, as you can actually see the real world if you cast your eyes stright down, where you can see yourself thumb typing on the Fold virtual keyboard.
I’m on week three of having the NReal Airs, and already, it’s in my travel kit. I no longer feel the need to bring an external monitor or Nexdock style device to run Dex on the road. I would still bring a folding keyboard and mouse for max efficiency. But the bulkiness of my travel kit has gotten significantly lighter and more compact with these display glasses.
I finally have gone on a trip where I wasn't driving and I don't have a need or want to bring a laptop or even tablet. I decided to take along my Rokid Max, along with my Cherry keyboard and Logitech MX Master. All running from a Fold 6.
I'm currently enjoying a First Class upgrade:
It's actually all rather useable. With the keyboard and mouse, I probably could have just brought a lightweight laptop, but hey, novelty. And I did just let the steward have a go with the glasses and he loved them!
I'm still not thrilled with the Rokid Max though. The 'viewport' is too narrow, so either the top or bottom corners are blurry. Text isn't the best to read. The bottoms are tapered, so too much of the real world is visable and distracting. The colour callibration is off. They get warm.
I keep bringing my glasses with me for the endless hours of watching kids at gymnastics but haven't pulled them out yet. I'm not sure they would be very viewable with all the stuff on the walls everywhere and I'm not going to put the covers on. I continue to use them daily at home though.
I've read the original Airs and now the Air ultras have the same screens, but the Air 2 and Air 2 pro have worse field of view.
Maybe I should just pull out the glasses and be that weirdo in the back of the lobby.
You could give it a try, but my journey at the moment is with people I will almost certianly never meet again, so no stigmatism to worry about!
I get the feeling that we're on the same page here. The experience is decent enough, at least for video, and we've spent the money now so we might as well make use of them.
Yeah, mine are my only external monitor right now, but I'm far more likely to put a video on up in the glasses and look through the bottom of them to see what I'm doing on the laptop screen. Or, I use dex to set up a video in the upper corner to go for a walk and then put the phone in my pocket. Every now and then I have time to sit in the recliner and watch something with my head back. I can still get small things done with the phone as trackpad and keyboard, but if I'm at a desk, I may as well have one of the bigger things out.
Though, I have to say, it really cuts down on random commentary from my husband when he walks by and sees what I'm looking at on Facebook marketplace.
Update: I'm using them way more than I imagined (daily, multiple hours) and now I'm considering picking up the beam to go with. They are fantastic with Dex on both the Fold and tab ultra. They also make a great second screen on my thinkpad in either windows or linux. A lot of my extra use comes from giving my external monitor to my middle kid when we did his 10-year-old room upgrade. But this morning, I went for a walk around our yard with a video playing in a small window in the top corner.
I can see this being a fun way to go about housework. I only have the glasses right now, so I have a bit of a work-around with a black desktop background so I can see through it and youtube in a small window in the top corner. I can use the phone as a trackpad to set things up to play then walk around with the phone in my pocket. I think I might try to pick up the beam to get body anchor and the small corner view as options.
Nebula on the pc is too glitchy to use for an anchored monitor and none of my machines have a strong enough graphics card to do it well anyway.
They're fun, but definitely a solution in search of a problem. The Nebula app is neat. Dex in the glasses using the phone as a trackpad is neat. I'm currently using it to be an external monitor in the same position as my real monitor above the surface pro x on the desk. This is also neat.
But none of it is quite good enough. The Nebula app is neat, but can't even sign into my google account so I can watch add-free youtube. Nebula on my husband's macbook was neat, but he needs glasses and it was too fuzzy for him to use. The screen as I sit at the desk is slightly smaller than my 24" monitor and 1080p instead of 2K. And having the screen bounce around with my head movements is weird.
I tried to game with them, but I'm not very good at driving first person adventure games, so I kept turning my head to look at things instead of the joysticks.
I watched a youtube video in a dark room while laying down, and that was nice. It is really nice not having to look down, especially with how messed up my neck is.
I'm a big fan of my original Xreal Air, I've been using them extensively over the last year when I was commuting a couple of hours every week.
Unfortunately, the left arm broke about three months ago. Since I ordered them from AliExpress last year, before they were available to order officially in Europe, I didn't have warranty coverage, which was a bit annoying. I managed to stabilise the arm with an aluminium sheet, sugru and a lot of tape. The repair holds up much better than expected, although it does feel a bit precarious.
I am very tempted by the new models they just announced - and if I can pull together the money, I'm very likely to get the One Pro that are supposed to come out some time in Q1 next year!
wider field of view of 57°
built-in stabilization and follow mode
a very cool sounding widescreen mode
electrocromatic (is that how it's called?) glasses
Two versions for appropriate choice of range of interpupillary distance, plus software fine-adjustment
Hopefully more stable arms as well 😉
Here's my original review of the Air glasses from TPCR back in 2022... ________________________________________________________________________________
Even though this isn’t a tablet or phone… I think it’s potentially a great “companion” accessory for mobile computing.
These are the NReal Air glasses. They are marketed as Augmented Reality devices, to which I would hesitate to claim. However, I do think they are highly effective as a portable monitor/display device.
The Airs are probably the only current Head Mounted Display (HMD) that I would actually feel comfortable wearing out in the public. They look scarcely different than a pair of large Ray Ban sunglasses. And you wouldn’t really look out of place wearing them indoors, aside from the fact that you’re wearing sunglasses indoors.
In fact, on my first time I brought them with me for plane travel, there was another person at my gate, wearing them. And they look pretty unobtrusive. You can tell a hint of lights flashing through his dark lenses, but I knew what I was looking for.
The entire kit consists of glasses, a nice cylindrical zippered case to protect the glasses, that also has a storage area for a USB-C cable.
About that cable… the glasses are powered externally, requiring the single USB-C cable that, design-wise, attach nicely to the left frame end.
When I plug the cable into my Fold3… that’s where the magic happens. The Samsung automatically detects this as a monitor and kicks into Dex mode.
The picture here, doesn’t do the display any justice, as the camera can’t focus the image properly. But I assure you, the display is crystal clear. It amounts to having a 200" monitor in front of your face.
The graphics are sharp enough with the fonts, that I have no problem reading websites or editing word processor documents. With Dex, I can do something like put a MS Teams call on one side, and a document or web browser on the other.
The images are bright, and brightness levels are adjustable. They are viewable in sunlight, but slightly washed out. At night, or indoor areas, they shine and it’s a joy to watch content like videos or sports broadcasts. If you turn the Dex background to completely black, the pixels are completely off, and you can actually see the real world like having sunglasses. So you can get a sort of augmented reality effect with windows and icons floating in front of you.
While in Dex, I have the phone display turned into a touchpad, with a keyboard when needed. The Field of View (FOV) of the Air doesn’t fully cover your vision in the vertical direction. That actually works to one’s advantage, as you can actually see the real world if you cast your eyes stright down, where you can see yourself thumb typing on the Fold virtual keyboard.
I’m on week three of having the NReal Airs, and already, it’s in my travel kit. I no longer feel the need to bring an external monitor or Nexdock style device to run Dex on the road. I would still bring a folding keyboard and mouse for max efficiency. But the bulkiness of my travel kit has gotten significantly lighter and more compact with these display glasses.
I finally have gone on a trip where I wasn't driving and I don't have a need or want to bring a laptop or even tablet. I decided to take along my Rokid Max, along with my Cherry keyboard and Logitech MX Master. All running from a Fold 6.
I'm currently enjoying a First Class upgrade:
It's actually all rather useable. With the keyboard and mouse, I probably could have just brought a lightweight laptop, but hey, novelty. And I did just let the steward have a go with the glasses and he loved them!
I'm still not thrilled with the Rokid Max though. The 'viewport' is too narrow, so either the top or bottom corners are blurry. Text isn't the best to read. The bottoms are tapered, so too much of the real world is visable and distracting. The colour callibration is off. They get warm.
I'd return them if I could and get some Xreals.
Update: I'm using them way more than I imagined (daily, multiple hours) and now I'm considering picking up the beam to go with. They are fantastic with Dex on both the Fold and tab ultra. They also make a great second screen on my thinkpad in either windows or linux. A lot of my extra use comes from giving my external monitor to my middle kid when we did his 10-year-old room upgrade. But this morning, I went for a walk around our yard with a video playing in a small window in the top corner.
I can see this being a fun way to go about housework. I only have the glasses right now, so I have a bit of a work-around with a black desktop background so I can see through it and youtube in a small window in the top corner. I can use the phone as a trackpad to set things up to play then walk around with the phone in my pocket. I think I might try to pick up the beam to get body anchor and the small corner view as options.
Nebula on the pc is too glitchy to use for an anchored monitor and none of my machines have a strong enough graphics card to do it well anyway.
They're fun, but definitely a solution in search of a problem. The Nebula app is neat. Dex in the glasses using the phone as a trackpad is neat. I'm currently using it to be an external monitor in the same position as my real monitor above the surface pro x on the desk. This is also neat.
But none of it is quite good enough. The Nebula app is neat, but can't even sign into my google account so I can watch add-free youtube. Nebula on my husband's macbook was neat, but he needs glasses and it was too fuzzy for him to use. The screen as I sit at the desk is slightly smaller than my 24" monitor and 1080p instead of 2K. And having the screen bounce around with my head movements is weird.
I tried to game with them, but I'm not very good at driving first person adventure games, so I kept turning my head to look at things instead of the joysticks.
I watched a youtube video in a dark room while laying down, and that was nice. It is really nice not having to look down, especially with how messed up my neck is.
They're here!