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Tag: XR

  • Meta’s Holy Grail AR Smart Glasses Have One Big Puck-Shaped Problem

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    Meta’s “Phoenix” XR smart glasses might not be out yet, but if there’s one thing we already know, it’s that when they are, they’ll need a little assistance on the computing side. That help will likely come from a puck that you’ll have to carry around with you—a puck that we may have just gotten our first glimpse of.

    A new mockup render shared on X by Noridoesvr, who claims to have seen prototypes of Meta’s hardware—a rumored pair of lightweight XR glasses in a goggle-like form factor—offers more insight into what Project Phoenix’s puck will entail.

    At first glance, the compute puck looks pretty manageable. It’s not oversized, it looks relatively innocuous, and it even has a waistband clip so you can cart it around without pockets. It sounds like no big deal, but it might also be the one thing that turns people off from Meta’s AR glasses.

    As promising as the future of AR glasses suddenly is, cramming a whole computer into a pair of frames that rest comfortably on your face is no easy task. Miniaturization is rough, and at a certain point, maybe even impossible. Shrinking down a computer to fit on your face butts against Moore’s Law pretty directly—you need the power to do all sorts of stuff in a form factor that’s light and ergonomic, but you need to do all of that without burning a glasses-sized hole through someone’s head (thermals are no joke).

    As a workaround to all of those issues, Meta seems interested in offloading the compute to a puck, which is a solution that Google and Xreal are also interested in pursuing with Project Aura. Google and Xreal’s partnership was recently showcased in December and relies on a wired puck to enable a computer-like experience where people can use Android apps on a big virtual screen. Think Vision Pro, but in a much, much, smaller form factor.

    Framed that way, the value proposition for tethered smart glasses makes sense. The Vision Pro might be an impressive technical feat, but wearing one for long periods of time sucks because of the weight and the resulting not-so-great battery. Tethered smart glasses take all the weight and put it… not on your face, which is objectively a win for your nose and forehead.

    In other ways, though, both of these form factors share the same problem. The Vision Pro, like Meta’s Phoenix smart glasses and Project Aura, also needs its own kind of puck—a battery pack. To shed weight, the Vision Pro connects to a battery that you have to carry along with you, along with a wire. It’s not ideal, but that’s the tradeoff for a face-worn computer that does more than mirror your connected device’s screen.

    It becomes even less ideal when you consider the puck is on your body. As you may have noticed, there appears to be an exhaust fan on the compute puck, which could presumably serve to direct heat away from your body. It’s hard to tell, but based on the renderings, it might be pointing up? That would be a strange choice, and there’s a chance that what I’m seeing as the correct orientation is actually the opposite. Here’s to hoping this thing doesn’t blast hot air at your torso.

    No matter which way you spin it, there are lots of downsides to using a puck for computing, and those downsides might be a little too much for some. The worst part is, if you’re waiting around for Google, or Meta, or eventually Apple to shrink the form factor down and fit it into glasses sans puck, you might be waiting forever. There’s no guarantee that the puck is a problem that can be solved, and Meta’s upcoming Phoenix smart glasses might be further proof.

    For now, we can at least enjoy the head-to-head between Meta and Google when they’re eventually released, which could be sometime in 2027 and late 2026, respectively. May the best XR video glasses with a portable computer puck win, I guess?

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    James Pero

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  • We’re Already Barrelling Toward a Smart Glasses Bubble

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    Things tend to move fast in the world of gadgets—blink your eyes and you’re liable to go from “What’s an iPhone?” to seeing one in the hands of everyone you’ve ever known. That rapid acceleration can be hard to identify in the moment, but when you’ve written about gadgets as extensively as I have, you start to see the early signs, and I’m here to tell you that, if you’re a fan of smart glasses, I suggest you buckle up now.

    If smart glasses are just cropping up on your radar, I don’t blame you. While the form factor has been creeping up for years now, Meta’s entry into the equation with a pair of smart glasses that actually have a display has made quite a splash, especially after making the Meta Ray-Ban Display the highlight of its annual Connect conference. Not only that, but Meta now has its name attached to not one, but five pairs currently being sold right now—yes, five. And the thing is, it’s not just about Meta, nor is it just about Samsung and Apple, both of which are most likely in varying stages of releasing their own pairs of smart glasses.

    © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

    Beneath all of those massive names, there are actually tons of companies that already have their own smart glasses for sale (with screens and without) that are even on multiple generations now. Companies like Rayneo, Viture, Even Realities, Solos, Brilliant Labs, Inmo, Rokid… Should I keep going? You see where I’m going with this—things are getting crowded all of a sudden, which in a lot of ways is great. The more companies making smart glasses, the more options you’ll have as consumers, and theoretically, the more innovation you’ll have in the category.

    I say “theoretically” here because, despite all of that attention, smart glasses haven’t been an easy nut to crack. While initial startups have offered some surprisingly compelling use cases (navigation and open-ear audio, to name a couple of my favorites), the category still has a bit of an Apple Watch issue, which is to say, compelling hardware without the Holy Grail killer feature that makes people rush out in droves to buy their own pair.

    And whether companies will be able to stick around long enough to figure those issues out fully is a whole different issue. Without resources to burn like Google, Apple, Samsung, or Amazon, which also recently dipped its toes into the smart glasses world with a pair of delivery driver-focused glasses, hanging in won’t be an easy task. And when Google, Samsung, Apple, and friends do arrive on the scene… What then?

    As surprisingly functional as smart glasses made by startups are right now, they don’t exactly have the robust ecosystem of mobile titans like Apple and Google, which own the platforms that smart glasses have to connect to. Why does that matter? Well, the more interconnectivity, the easier and more useful smart glasses become; suddenly, critical features like messaging, calling, and taking pictures feel seamless. Call me a cynic, but I doubt that third-party smart glasses will ever enjoy the same level of integration as a pair of Apple-made smart glasses connecting to an iPhone.

    I’m leaving room to be wrong here, too. Maybe a startup will figure out something game-changing and beat Samsung or Apple to the punch, though the clock is ticking for that to happen, since Samsung and Google have already gone as far as to preview a prototype of smart glasses. Or maybe, those tech titans pushing towards smart glasses just don’t have the chops to make things work, and a startup with some groundbreaking waveguides, or an awe-inspiring input system, will swoop in and steal the thunder. But if I’m being honest, that feels less likely to me, which is a bummer—to think that all this excitement could actually just be one big bubble.

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    James Pero

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  • Samsung’s Vision Pro Killer Is Way Cheaper, but Still Very Expensive

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    At long last, Samsung has fully unveiled Project Moohan, its rebuttal to the Apple Vision Pro, which we can now officially call the Galaxy XR. The headset wasn’t exactly under wraps to this point, given the fact that it was initially shown off in January of this year, but we now have all of the details, including the one major thing we were dying to know: the price. Without further ado: Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset costs *drum roll* $1,800…

    That is, as you may have noticed, quite a bit of money to spend on a headset. It is cheaper (about half the price) than the Vision Pro with M5, which still costs $3,500. It’s also $300 more expensive than the first “Pro” headset to make major splashes with its price, the Meta Quest Pro. As a refresher, that short-lived headset debuted at $1,500 in 2022, which caused a major uproar at the time. While that’s a lot of money to pay for a headset, Samsung is at least offering a Vision Pro-like experience on paper, so I guess (based on Apple’s absurd pricing) it’s technically a discount? Kind of?

    The Galaxy XR’s display is, like the Vision Pro, micro-OLED and clocks in at a resolution of 3,552 x 3,840 pixels per eye. That’s comparable to the Vision Pro, which has a resolution of 3,660 x 3,200 pixels per eye. The Galaxy XR headset will top out at 90Hz with a 72Hz default, while Apple’s Vision Pro with M5 brings a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. For reference, the original Vision Pro (with M2 chip) topped out at 100Hz and had a 90Hz standard refresh rate.

    © Samsung

    In addition to the premium display, the Galaxy XR headset also has a similar UI to the Vision Pro that is centered on hand and eye tracking, allowing you to pinch and grab things in virtual space without a controller. To enable that Vision Pro-esque UI, which is built on Android XR in collaboration with Google and Qualcomm, there are two hi-res cameras for passthrough, six outward-facing cameras devoted just to tracking, four inward-facing cameras for eye tracking, and a depth sensor. All of that should deliver an experience that feels similar to the Vision Pro, but if you do want a more traditional controller-based experience, you can go ahead and purchase controllers for an additional… $250. If you’re thinking, “Jeez, that brings the price to more than $2,000!” I’m here to tell you that your math is unfortunately correct.

    Xr Controllers Gray
    © Samsung

    In the battery department, you’ll also find near-parity. Samsung says the Galaxy XR headset is rated for 2 hours of general use and 2.5 hours for video playback, while the newest Vision Pro with M5 chip is rated for 2.5 hours of general use and 3 hours for video playback. Both headsets use an external battery pack to help alleviate the weight from your face. Samsung’s Galaxy XR is naturally powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which is Qualcomm’s newest XR chip.

    But enough about hardware for now. You’re probably wondering what it is you can even do with this headset, and on that front, there are even more Vision Pro similarities. Samsung says Android XR is built for all sorts of standard XR stuff, including gaming and immersive sports, and can also “spatialize” 2D videos so that they can be watched in 3D on the headset. Given the close collaboration with Google, there’s also a noticeable dose of Gemini here. Samsung says that the Galaxy XR headset will feature a Gemini gaming coach and Gemini-powered features like Circle to Search.

    Google Maps Xr
    © Samsung / Screenshot by Gizmodo

    There will also be a few Google services that Samsung says are optimized for XR, including Google Photos, YouTube, and my personal favorite… Google Maps. I have no idea who is going to strap on a headset to use Google Maps, but Google has been building out Immersive View in Google Maps, which could be kind of cool to experience in XR, so I will suspend my disbelief until I try Google Maps in Android XR for myself.

    One area that I’m very curious whether Samsung will pull away in is comfort. Probably my biggest complaint about the Vision Pro is that it’s very heavy, and after long periods of use, it can really start to feel uncomfortable on your head and nose. The latest Vision Pro with M5 chip tries to combat that with a new headstrap with better counterbalances, but the Galaxy XR headset still has the Vision Pro beat in the weight department. According to Samsung, the Galaxy XR weighs 545g, while the latest Vision Pro with M5 weighs between 750 to 800g. A lot of the comfort does come down to how weight is distributed, so no winner can be decided on numerics alone.

    On paper, Samsung’s Galaxy XR sounds very similar to the Vision Pro, which could be a bad thing, but when you consider the huge difference in price, $1,800 looks a lot more palatable—especially when you consider headsets are still more of a toy than anything. If you’re eager to get your hands and your face on Samsung’s first headset, you can buy the Galaxy XR now on Samsung.com or in Samsung Experience Stores. Samsung is also offering 24-month financing, while Samsung Experience Stores are offering both 12- or 24-month financing options if the $1,800 price tag is too much in one sitting.

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    James Pero

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