GoKawiil
Tech News
Snap's Specs and Xreal's Aura are new augmented-reality glasses designed to deliver similar overlay experiences to wearers. Both devices remain conspicuously bulky in design, making them impractical to wear inconspicuously in public settings.
Meta let Engadget test a prototype pair of VR Reality Glasses that weigh under 100 grams and connect via a wired tether to a separate 300-gram compute puck. The device uses four cameras for hand tracking and passthrough video, plus pancake lenses with built-in eye tracking, and offers optional prescription lens inserts.
Meta demonstrated a new device called Meta VR Glasses, a $1,299 folding, glasses-shaped VR visor set to launch next spring. The hardware uses eye-tracking and hand-pinch controls, displays sharp passthrough video of the surrounding room, and can run immersive 3D content such as concert footage and sports broadcasts. Unlike Meta's Orion prototype, these are VR rather than AR glasses, though they share some design traits.
Xreal's 1S augmented-reality glasses are on sale for $399 at both Amazon and Xreal's own store, a $50 discount that ties their all-time low price. That narrows the price gap with Xreal's cheaper $299 Air 2 Plus model, which omits several features found on the 1S.
Android Authority tested a working version of XREAL's long-teased Project Aura glasses at IFA and found the software experience far more polished than expected. XREAL now says the Android XR headset will launch by the end of 2026 for under $1,500, though it stressed that figure isn't necessarily $1,499 and could shift.
XREAL's a01 smart glasses, released in May, act as an external display rather than a standalone computer, connecting via USB-C to devices like laptops or Steam Decks. Priced around $300, they use dual mini OLED panels delivering 1080p resolution and up to 1,600 nits of brightness, producing vivid images similar to a personal projector experience. The reviewer tested them for movie watching by pairing them with a laptop streaming the Criterion Channel.
A reviewer tested Xreal smart glasses that tether to a laptop via USB-C and project a virtual screen equivalent to a 170-inch TV directly into the wearer's field of view. Unlike Meta's Ray-Ban glasses, these devices from makers like Xreal, Viture and Rokid contain no cameras or recording features, instead mirroring displays from laptops, phones, tablets or handheld consoles for a personal, portable viewing experience.