What you need to know
- Xreal announced its Project Aura smart glasses, equipped with Google’s Android XR and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite.
- Weighing less than 95g, the Xreal Aura features a 70-degree FOV that’s “virtually borderless,” with hand-tracking and strong multimodal AI.
- Xreal also focused on delivering games and entertainment, such as the Fox Sports XR app, Fallout: Factions, and Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars.
- Consumers can reserve their Xreal Aura today (June 15) for $99.
If Xreal’s smart glasses caught your attention at Google’s I/O last month, the company’s now come forward with official launch details.
This afternoon (June 16), Xreal announced the launch of its Aura with Google’s Android XR smart glasses featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite. Combined, Xreal states these technologies provide multitasking, multimodal AI, and performance enhancements for its smart glasses. However, something users can truly wrap their heads around is the Xreal Aura’s “premium spatial computing experience.”
While Xreal kept things “lightweight” (less than 95g), the Aura glasses feature a 70-degree FOV (field of view) that’s “virtually borderless.” To elevate the experience, the press release highlights “world-facing sensors.” Of course, this applies to the Aura’s hand-tracking support, 6DoF tracking, and its AI features that users enable. Furthering the Xreal Aura’s spatial capabilities is the company’s X1S Spatial Coprocessor, which enables better low-latency spatial display and sensor processing.
Chi Xu, Co-founder and CEO of XREAL, had this to say about the brand’s glasses: “XREAL AURA sets a new benchmark for OST XR glasses, bringing powerful AI-driven experiences to both work and everyday life.”
Android XR unlocks the Google Play Store for the Xreal Aura. Consumers can download Android mobile and tablet apps onto the smart glasses as soon as they get the device. What’s more, Xreal states users can expect “over one hundred” apps designed specifically for XR in the future, as development has already begun. To hold you over, Xreal offered a teaser of the apps Aura users can expect.
For games, Xreal teases development for Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars, which is launching on Aura in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios. This will let players “step into the role of Ryland Grace at a pivotal, untold moment in the Hail Mary mission, diagnosing failing ship systems and improvising ingenious scientific solutions as the spacecraft itself bleeds into their real-world environment.” Fallout: Factions was also announced today (June 15), labeled as a “digital adaptation of the hit tabletop game from Modiphius Entertainment for XR.” Fallout: Factions is a turn-based warfare game set in the Fallout universe, merging tactics with strategy in “immersive 3D maps.”
Users can expect this title to arrive “later this year” on the Xreal Aura and Android XR.
Don’t think sports-lovers were left out! Xreal states its smart glasses feature the Fox Sports XR app, packed with “immersive live sports and highlights.” On the educational side, Xreal announced Simply Piano XR featuring “fine-tuned hand tracking and spatial computing to merge physical instruments with digital overlays, along with AI-powered real-time feedback for the ultimate XR piano-learning platform.” You’ll also find ShapesXR offering “immersive 70-degree FOV, allowing teams to sketch environments, place UI, storyboard interactions, and test concepts before writing much code.”
Get yours reserved—now
There’s more to unpack with the Xreal Aura, such as securing your device. Consumers can reserve theirs today (June 15) on Project Aura’s official landing page for $99 in the U.S., the U.K., and Japan. Officially, the Xreal Aura will launch this fall. When it does, the company says consumers can find it in-store with its first retail partner, Best Buy.
Xreal also states, “For a limited-time two-week launch offer, reserve XREAL AURA with a $99 USD Launch Credit and receive $199 USD credit toward your purchase at launch later this year —saving you $100 on the final price. Launch Credit holders will receive priority shipping access when AURA becomes available, along with early customer support and launch updates.”
If this is a product launch you can’t miss, then the Xreal Aura Founder Priority Pass might be something to jump on. The post states this pass is limited to the first 2,000 reservations globally, aimed at “early adopters,” developers, creators, and consumers. If you’ve reserved an Xreal Aura with a $299 deposit, you will secure yourself “guaranteed launch-day delivery in supported launch regions” when it launches, alongside “numbered special edition hardware.”
Android Central’s Take
One thing I’ll say about the Xreal Aura is that they look good. Another aspect is how light they are. I want to feel like I’m just wearing glasses, and these bring that feel into reality. On an entertainment note, I have to give credit where credit is due. Xreal’s choice to focus on delivering games and entertaining apps on launch is a highlight. It’s like getting a new console with nothing to play. You can’t have that, and Xreal made the right decisions.