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Project Aura vs Standard Headsets
Comparison of features between traditional headsets and tethered XR systems.
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XREAL's Android XR glasses one-up Apple Vision Pro, here's how
Google says the first Android XR display glasses aren’t coming until 2027, which makes me all the more excited to check out XREAL’s upcoming Project Aura hardware and, at I/O, we’re getting more details about those glasses, including how they one-up Apple’s Vision Pro by turning the wired battery into the brains of the experience, and a controller too. As we covered earlier this week, XREAL Project Aura is on display over at Google I/O 2026, and the first demos are revealing more about the hardware for these Android XR glasses. Of course, like other XREAL glasses, these don’t fit the “normal” definition of smart glasses, instead acting more like a headset that also happens to have the ability to see through the contents of the display – “passthrough,” “see-through,” whatever you want to call it, it’s a better version of what headsets like Galaxy XR, Meta Quest, and Apple Vision Pro accomplish with cameras. That’s one advantage of XREAL’s design, but another is the form factor. Like other XREAL glasses, the hardware here looks remarkably compact because, unlike VR headsets, all of the brains and battery aren’t inside of the glasses. Instead, as it turns out, they’re found inside of a wired puck. That contains a battery, a Snapdragon chipset, and everything else needed to power the Android XR experience. XREAL had previously confirmed this would be a wired experience, but this is the first time we’ve seen the puck itself. Apple’s Vision Pro also has a wired puck attached to it, as pictured above, but it acts solely as a battery. XREAL’s offering one-ups that by acting not only as a power source and the brains of the experience, but also as a usable touch-sensitive controller for Android XR, as Google’s Dieter Bohn showed in a video demo. You can use that controller instead of the typical hand controls, which also work with Aura’s on-board cameras. The folks over at Android Central point out that Aura has three cameras – two used for gesture controls, and one that just acts as a regular camera. There are also buttons on the actual glasses for volume, Gemini (or the homescreen), and the electrochromic dimming that adjusts the level of passthrough you’re seeing. The puck also has DisplayPort (over USB-C), allowing you to use external devices on Aura’s display. XREAL has confirmed that Project Aura is launching before the end of 2026, with select Android developers able to apply to get early access to the hardware. More on Android XR: Google and Samsung’...
Google And XREAL Show Project Aura Android XR Glasses With Impressive ...
XREAL and Google showcased Project Aura at Google I/O 2026, giving attendees a closer look at XREAL’s upcoming wired Android XR glasses. The device is scheduled to launch globally in 2026, but today’s update is a developer and demo milestone, not yet a full-blown retail launch. Project Aura is not in the same product category as Google and Samsung’s new audio-first smart glasses, unveiled today at I/O. It is a visual XR device with an optical see-through display, an impressive FHD 70-degree field of view, Android XR, Gemini, and XREAL’s X1S spatial chip. XREAL’s official Project Aura page describes it as the company’s first tethered XR glasses built with Google for Android XR. The Google I/O demos focused on what people would actually see through the glasses. XREAL showed Immersive Google Maps, large-screen and mini-screen video viewing, YouTube 180-degree and 360-degree VR videos, 2D and 3D video playback, a WebXR 3D painting app built with Gemini, Android XR games, and support for DisplayPort-in laptops. The laptop demo extends content into a three-dimensional AR workspace with Gemini support and auto-spatialization. Just like previous XREAL’s connected glasses, Project Aura is closer to a portable spatial-computing display than to a simple phone accessory. It can be used for maps, movies, YouTube VR, 3D video, games, creative apps, and laptop work, while still letting the user see the real world through the lenses. Anshel Sag, VP & Principal Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, shared hands-on impressions from Google I/O and noted several changes since the January showing at CES 2026: improved image quality, better hand tracking, a cooler compute puck, passthrough support for phones, PCs, and handheld consoles, GPS for location-aware AR, and face detection that disables dimming when the user is interacting with another person. He also described Project Aura as much lighter than Galaxy XR and a stronger form factor than mixed-reality headsets for many users. The product also gives Android XR a second hardware path after Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset. Galaxy XR launched Android XR as a full headset experience. Project Aura moves the same platform into lighter wired glasses, with the main computing hardware handled through a tethered setup rather than a full headset-style design. XREAL and Google also announced the Android XR Developer Catalyst Program. Selected developers will get Project Aura developer kits, applications are open at g.co/dev/catalyst. XREA...
Project Aura: Everything to know about Xreals Android XR glasses
Google's annual I/O showcase focused heavily on AI news, but the event also contained some exciting developments in the XR glasses front.Namely, Xreal used the event as a way to show off Project Aura, an ambitious new pair of XR glasses that were originally announced in December. They offer a massive 70-degree field of view, the biggest of any Xreal glasses, and have plenty of nifty-sounding XR capabilities. Some media members, including Mashable alum Ray Wong writing for Gizmodo, got to try Project Aura out and gave us a decent idea of what to expect when the glasses launch later this year.Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creator today! You May Also Like The first thing to know is that these are more advanced than the Meta Ray-Ban glasses that have been en vogue for a while now, in the sense that they offer a visual display inside the glasses, rather than relying entirely on audio cues from an AI voice assistant. Project Aura actually occupies an interesting middle ground between the Ray-Bans and something like Apple's Vision Pro headset, in the sense that it comes with a small computing puck that is attached to the glasses via a wire. According to Gizmodo's preview, you can wear the puck around your neck via an attached lanyard.Previously, Xreal has focused on augmented reality glasses, which project a virtual display into the world around you. With Project Aura, Xreal is moving into new territory — the Android XR platform. Mashable Light Speed Like a Vision Pro, Project Aura makes use of hand tracking to interact with augmented reality elements in the display. Unfortunately, there's no eye tracking, which is definitely a compromise compared to a full headset. However, Gizmodo said the hand tracking worked well enough, and the 70-degree field of view was enough to fit at least three app windows next to each other, with Xreal claiming as many as five could fit in the field of view.Other interesting nuggets included the ability to play video games like Demeo, a tabletop role-playing-like experience that's been available in VR for some time. Like other Xreal AR glasses, you can also connect the glasses to a laptop to make them act as an external monitor. Overall, press previews sounded pretty positive about most aspects of Project Aura. If Xreal can figure out how to make a Vision Pro-like experience in a more convenient and less cumbersome form factor, that could be huge.Just as long as it doesn't also cost $3,500.Are you an Apple superfan?...
I just tested Xreal's Android XR glasses, and they are an early glimpse ...
(Image credit: Future) Alongside AI glasses made with Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, Google is also tying up with Xreal on Project Aura. We’ve been seeing small glimpses of them for the past year and finally, I was able to go fully hands-on (and eyes-on) at Google I/O. And in three words: it’s the future.For those uninitiated, Project Aura is Xreal’s best pair of AR glasses connected to a compute puck with Qualcomm silicon inside — taking on Meta’s Project Orion from a while back and figuring out how to stuff the experience of a full-blown VR headset like the Samsung Galaxy XR or Apple Vision Pro into something the size of a slightly oversized pair of specs.As the smart glasses guy on the team, it’s been my dream to watch the worlds of the best smart glasses and best VR headsets come together. And while they’re definitely not all the way there (you won’t be taking these outside in public without getting second looks), it’s a damn good starting point.A new window (Image credit: Future)The field-of-view battle has been ongoing between the likes of Xreal and Viture, and so far that ceiling has been 58 degrees in the Viture Beast. When Xreal’s CEO came out and announced a 70-degree field of view for Project Aura, I was very much in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” camp…Well, I saw it and yes, it’s a true generational leap for immersion. The prisms are massive and while you can definitely see some edge blurring, the fact that said blurring is kind of moving off to your peripheral vision masks it nicely.It’s that missing link between just being a nice big screen for your phone or laptop on your face and becoming that stepping stone into being a VR experience to boot. On the sides, you’ve got two cameras along with a centrally-placed lens for full 6 DoF tracking, and the whole thing is tethered to a compute puck (with a strap to shoulder it) that’s roughly the same size as my iPhone 15 Pro.Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Future)We don’t know anything about what’s inside the puck except for a 4455mAh battery (probably good for 2-3 hours of heavy use), and some unnamed Snapdragon chip inside.Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.My guess is an XR2 Gen 2 or something maybe newer (Gen 3? Couldn’t be sure). But the end result is mostly accurate hand tracking and impressively fixed windows in place — to the point that you can walk around them a la VR headsets.Getting to use them (Image credit: Future)So what ...
