XREAL Air 2 AR Glasses Review: This shows large promise

AR (Augmented Reality) offers a full fresh planet for us to research as it enables you to interact with the real world, and a virtual 1 in an entirely fresh way. It’s unique, exciting, and offers quite a few possibilities. While an MR (Mixed Reality) headset offers even more tracking features and functions, AR isn’t besides far distant in terms of akin characteristics. However, it’s alternatively limited erstwhile compared side-by-side.

That said, the fresh XREAL Air 2 glasses offer users a fresh way to interact with the virtual world, enabling them to work, play, and consume content in a more immersive way. The Air 2 glasses let users to watch movies and videos on a massive screen, making it feel like they’re in the cinema. You can work with 3 virtual displays simultaneously without buying 3 separate monitors, and you can play selected games to feel like you’re solving a puzzle in a fresh dimension.

The XREAL Air 2 has much to offer, but any limitations could make you second-guess whether it’s right for you. But before we go any further, let’s halt here and talk about where you can buy it and how much it’ll cost.

XREAL Air 2: Price & Availability

The XREAL Air 2 and XREAL Air 2 Pro AR glasses are available for $399 and $449, respectively. They’re available on XREAL.com, as well as Amazon and another retailers across the US.

The XREAL Air 2 series is available in 2 colors, Graphite Grey, and Carmine Red. The Air 2 series besides offers a fashion-forward XREAL Kaleido Kit that lets you change the colors of the frames. The Kaleido Kit can be bought for $9.99, and it comes in six colors: Navy, Verdigris, Royal Blue, light Dogwood, Jonquil, and Dartmouth Green.

It’s worth noting that the kit alone doesn’t include the Beam, a standalone device that lets you hook up the glasses anywhere and offers additional features specified as anchoring yourself, and another viewing modes. The XREAL Air 2 and the XREAL Beam can be bought as a bundle for $499, while the XREAL Air 2 with the Beam Bundle will cost you $549. Additional cables might besides be required, depending on if you want to usage the device with an iOS device, which’ll cost you extra. The Beam alone costs $119.

What’s in the box

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

• XREAL Air 2 AR Glasses
• Travel Case
• 3 different-sized nose pads
• Light Shield
• Prescription Lens Frame
• USB-C Cable
• Cleaning Cloth & Warranty Cards

As a standalone product, the XREAL Air 2 comes in a alternatively stylish, compact box and carry case. The case includes the USB Type-C cable that can attach to the back of the glasses, and a supported device, specified as a USB-C-equipped laptop, desktop, tablet, and smartphone. The box besides includes a guide and a warranty card, 3 types of nose pads, a cleaning cloth, a light shield, and a prescription lens frame.

XREAL was kind adequate to send over a fewer additional goodies, including the XREAL Beam, and another essential adapters and cables to connect it with an Apple product and gaming consoles. As mentioned in the section above, these are all additional accessories that cost extra, so make certain to keep on reading to see what you request to connect it with various devices. As a footnote, you can acquisition a bundle on XREAL.com that includes any of these useful accessories.

Hardware & plan

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

• Lightweight and comfortable plan
• conventional looking glasses
• Ability to add prescription lens

The XREAL Air 2 is simply a lightweight device, weighing just 72 grams. It measures 148 x 52 x 159mm erstwhile open and 148 x 52 x 60mm erstwhile folded. It fits head sizes from 120-186mm and is alternatively comfortable to wear for extended periods. If you wear glasses, or you’re utilized to sunglasses, you most likely know what to expect. While the XREAL Air 2 is bigger than conventional glasses and sunglasses, it borrows many plan elements and features, making it feel ergonomic, compact, and comfortable.

Discussing comfort, I’ve worn these glasses for extended periods, and the experience has consistently been comfortable, thanks to their lightweight and slim design. The frame and overall structure never caused discomfort, and it was effortless to long them over my head, wearing them for hours without any problems.

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

If you wear conventional glasses like I do, you can insert prescription lens to improve your sight while wearing the device, which is simply a good bonus. I would, however, powerfully discourage you from attempting to wear conventional glasses as there would be nowhere to place them, and they would likely be uncomfortable to wear.

Overall, the glasses were comfortable to wear for many hours at a time, and the only issue I noticed was that my eyes started hurting after a while – since they were straight up close to the display, putting extra strain on them. I would encourage you to take a break all 45 minutes or so, stand up, and decision for 5 to 10 minutes before hopping back into the virtual world.

Using the glasses in bright rooms isn’t a concern, since the XREAL Air 2 comes with additional shades that you can attach to the back of the lens. These usually block out adequate light that you can comfortably usage the glasses with ease, even in brightly lit rooms, or in front of your monitor or TV.

Specifications

The XREAL Air 2 is simply a compact AR glasses. It doesn’t have any ground-breaking specs erstwhile it comes to power, as it relies on the attached device to stream content onto the glasses. As such, the glasses don’t have any built-in batteries, which will besides depend on the primary device.

The Air 2 has 2 Sony 0.55 Micro-LED 1080p displays with a 108% sRGB colour gamut, and support for 16 million colors. It has 500 nits of highest brightness, and up to 120Hz refresh rate with 46-degree Field of View. The glasses are compact, lightweight, and easy to store thanks to the provided travel case.

The device supports 3DoF head tracking that lets you pin the display at a circumstantial location comparative to your head’s position. It’s useful erstwhile you’re doing something else in real life and want to access the virtual screen at a peculiar place close you.

The Air 2 besides has a proxy sensor that can turn the display on or off, depending on erstwhile it recognizes that it’s being worn. This helps save power and is simply a neat way to conserve battery.

Display

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

• Excellent, high-quality displays
• Support for up to 120Hz refresh rate
• Sharp, bright, and colour accurate

The XREAL Air 2 comes with the latest Sony 0.55 Micro-OLED 1080p displays, providing excellent viewing angles, colors and accuracy. XREAL says that the displays support 108% sRGB colour gamut, and 8-bit depth with support for 16 million colors. It has up to 500 nits of highest brightness and 120Hz refresh rate erstwhile Air Casting, 72Hz erstwhile utilizing Nebula on Android, and 90Hz erstwhile utilizing Nebula for Mac or Windows.

The display has a 46-degree FoV (Field of View) and all the TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light and Flicker Free Certificates to aid defend your eyes and to supply a more comfortable viewing experience. In terms of real usage, the glasses felt large most of the time. It took any time to get utilized to the AR glasses and the visual content straight in front, but after about an hour, I was rather assured and more entertained as my eyes adjusted to the Augmented Reality world.

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

The colors looked place on, and the brightness was even advanced sometimes, requiring any fine adjustments to keep it at a more comfortable level. I frequently turned it down by 1 or 2 notches, utilizing the buttons on the glasses. The image quality was never jittery, and I was rather pleased with the Sony panels’ overall quality, sharpness, and response.

Unlike the XREAL Air 2 Pro, the standard Air 2 comes with the standard light shield that blocks out most of the light around you. It converts average glasses into very dark sunglasses, making it easy to usage even in brightly lit rooms and spaces, even in front of brightly lit monitors and TVs. This provided an even more enhanced experience as the dark area improved the contrast, and the overall viewing experience.

Overall, the XREAL Air 2’s display quality is excellent. Whether you’re playing games, watching your favourite tv shows or movies, or consuming content in the browser or social media, it’ll do a fantastic occupation providing a balanced and exceptional experience.

Sound

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

The Air 2 has 2 open-ear speakers. These proved effective and worked well in most cases, but people close could hear audio playing without an issue erstwhile they were close adequate to the wearable due to the leakage. It’s worth pointing out that while the speakers worked well enough, it wasn’t very loud, and I felt it lacked bass. It’s good adequate to watch a fewer videos on the go, but you’ll likely want to connect any decent headphones or earbuds to get the most out of this unique experience, especially if you’re watching movies or playing games.

The built-in speakers do a decent occupation in quiet environments where there is small noise, but it’s hard to hear things erstwhile you’re out and about. If you’re on a plane, train, or bus, you’ll gotta connect any earbuds or headphones to hear anything.

Software

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

Before we get started with the software experience, let’s first talk about the devices the XREAL Air 2 is compatible with. The XREAL Air 2 supports all Android smartphones and tablets with USB-C video output or DP. The AR glasses besides support the iPhone 15 series, as well as older iPhones, although additional cables will be required to connect the glasses, specified as the XREAL Adapter and Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter.

The glasses are compatible with the latest consoles, specified as the PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and even the handheld consoles, specified as the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more. In order to connect these consoles, users are required to have additional cables and/or devices, specified as the XREAL Beam, adapters. The wearable besides works with Windows and MacBook computers too.

When it comes to Android devices and my Macbook, the XREAL Air 2 was plug-and-play. The glasses connected automatically within a substance of seconds of plugging them in via USB-C to either my Galaxy Z Fold 4 or my 16-inch MacBook Pro. It worked reliably right out of the box, and I only experienced connection issues initially while trying to connect my phone. This, however, was fixed after a software update, so whatever the issue was, it appears to be now resolved.

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

On mobile, there are 2 ways you can experience the glasses. erstwhile connected, you can either cast your device’s screen onto the glasses or open the Nebula app and AR Space. In this mode, you’ll be greeted with a virtual hub, where you can view your photos and videos, browse the web, and play a fistful of games made by XREAL. You can besides watch videos on YouTube, or stream content through the browser.

It’s neat but severely limited, and most icons and widgets are only there to make it feel more lively. For example, the weather widget does nothing and relies on the phone’s location to populate the temperature reading. Most widgets are there to fill up the space and offer no value.

XREAL is clearly inactive working on this experience as the company is slow adding more features in all software update, but as it stands, I would likely encourage you to buy it for the casting feature alone as the AR Space is confined to a large extent.

Connecting the glasses to my Mac, the Nebula Mac app allows you to have one, two, or 3 virtual desktops. The app besides allows you to change the refresh rate from 72Hz to 90Hz, and you can adjust the distance of the displays from your eyes, as well as their sizes. While all of this sounds great, I would’ve loved to add a virtual monitor to my existing dual monitor setup, yet this wasn’t an option. Instead, you’re given 3 fresh virtual desktop environments that require any work to decision over existing windows from existing monitors.

This can be done in a fewer minutes, but there are any flaws. utilizing the glasses for work, I sometimes experienced fatigue as I moved my head and eyes around to find the tiny mouse. Making things worse, the glasses would besides periodically frost or hang for a fewer short seconds, despite being connected with a cable.

XREAL hasn’t released the Nebula app for Windows yet, and we don’t know erstwhile that might happen. As it stands, the software experience leaves a bit to be desired, and while the current features work most of the time, XREAL has a bit of catch-up to do if it wants to be taken more seriously, especially if it wants users to think of it as something more that can offer video and casting features in AR. That said, the glasses are excellent for streaming games and your screen’s content onto the glasses. The experience is alternatively smooth and convenient, and it’s truly a plug-and-play experience if you have a compatible device.

It’s worth noting that if you’re looking for the Body Anchor, Smooth Follow, or Side View formats, you’ll gotta pay more for the XREAL Beam accessory. This will enable you to connect to gaming consoles like the PlayStation 5, and Xbox. This tiny device besides supports AirPlay, Miracast and DLNA. It enables users to pin and resize the screen, making utilizing the glasses easier and more comfortable. The only downside is that the Beam costs $119. It’s sold separately unless you buy it as a bundle with the glasses.

XREAL Air 2: Should you buy it?

XREAL Air 2, Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow

You should buy the XREAL Air 2 if…

• You’re looking for a new, more comfortable, and easier way to consume media on-the-go or at home
• You want to up your gaming experience
• You’re curious in Augmented Reality and want to give it a effort with glasses that are plug-and-play and work with a large selection of smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and computers

You shouldn’t buy the XREAL Air 2 if…

• You’re looking for lots of built-in features and a flawless software experience
• You don’t want to spend more money on additional accessories
• If you’re after a mixed or actual virtual reality experience

XREAL offers a large overall AR experience with the fresh XREAL Air 2 glasses. It is reasonably priced, widely accessible, and easy to use. The displays supply a wonderful overall experience for watching movies, playing games, and, in general, consuming content. It’s a terrific plug-and-play device that works right out of the box, only requiring you to plug it into a compatible device.

If you’ve been looking for a pair of AR glasses with a large display set, comfortable design, and ease of use, the XREAL Air 2 ticks nearly all the boxes. However, it’s worth noting that there are a fewer areas that I want XREAL would improve on in the coming weeks and months, and that is the software.

The software on my Mac and Android telephone wasn’t all that smooth. The mobile app sometimes made my telephone come to a halt, and even after a software update, there was small reason to usage the built-in AR Space Hub as it offered very fewer features and games. And while I realize that’s not the main selling point here, it’d be large to see a platform that’s full of games and additional features that enable you to interact with the virtual world, and play games utilizing the telephone and the headset. I especially would like to see even more emphasis on productivity features, as AR has a chance to change the way we work and consume content utilizing existing technologies.

XREAL Air 2

The XREAL Air 2 AR glasses improve on their predecessors by offering a more immersive visual experience, spatial audio, and spatial display. It comes with advanced functionality, and a plug-and-play plan that lets users experience virtual worlds and experiences across most popular platforms.

The another nitpick is that the XREAL Air 2 is limited, and requires additional accessories to take advantage of its features. For starters, the AR glasses request the XREAL Beam if you want another viewing modes, and that’s not a inexpensive accessory costing $120. certain enough, you can buy it in a bundle with the glasses, but it seems besides steep.

That said, the promised and advertised features did work, and it provided an excellent overall experience. While there are any limitations, all I can say is that I’m impressed, and that I would urge the XREAL Air 2 to anyone looking to effort the AR experience for the first time in 2023.

If you have a compatible device and a legitimate usage case, or you just want to play games more immersively, the XREAL Air 2 is simply a fantastic accessory that won’t break the bank. It offers an excellent set of displays, a plug-and-play design, and it’s easy to usage and comfortable to wear.