XReal takes AR smart glasses a step forward with the One. Essentially just a wearable personal display, the One differentiates itself from the competition with a built-in user interface and motion-tracking support. That means you can tweak how it behaves and watch a virtual screen that stays fixed in one spot when you move your head instead of being locked in front of your eyes, without having to pair it with a separate hub like XReal’s own Beam Pro. It helps that it offers a wide field of view and a sharp, colorful 1080p picture. At $499, it’s a little more expensive than the Viture Pro, which is brighter and has adjustable focus support, but the One’s unique tricks are still impressive enough to earn it our Editors’ Choice award.
Design: A Basic, Unassuming Look
The One looks inconspicuous if a bit chunky due to its large, flat black frame. It isn’t as bulky as it might seem when viewing it from the front, and the face is actually a very thin plate that holds the front lenses. The projector and prism assembly, which sits behind the front panel, is also fairly sleek, and the temples are also thin, considering the multiple physical controls and built-in Bose speakers. The glasses weigh just under three ounces (84 grams). That’s a little heavier than the Rokid Max 2 (75 grams) and the Viture Pro (77 grams). I didn’t notice the difference, and the One feels as comfortable on my face as those other pairs.
Both temples feature downward-firing speaker grilles directly in front of the ear hooks and pinhole microphones near the hinges. The One's right temple holds a brightness rocker and a menu button on the bottom, and a shortcut button on the top. The menu button toggles between keeping the image in front of your view at all times and anchoring it in one spot using three-degrees-of-freedom (3DOF) motion sensors with a single press, and opens the built-in menu system with a double press.
The shortcut button can be set to different functions including lightening and darkening the lenses and toggling a transparency mode that makes the projected image fade out so you can see in front of you. This button also supports both short- and long-press gestures, so you can assign it two separate functions of your choice. The left temple has a USB-C port on the end of the ear hook for connecting the glasses to a source device.
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Like the Viture Pro, the XReal One's lenses can dim to block out distractions and provide better contrast. This is always nice to see because it renders physical clip-on light-blockers unnecessary. For comparison, with the Rokid Max 2, you must use an included physical blackout shield to block out any outside light, which is less convenient. The dimming function also enables the One’s aforementioned transparency mode, which lightens the lenses and disables the video with the press of a button so you can see around you.
XReal includes two sets of nose pads in different sizes. The nose pads are on flexible wire arms, and at least one of them should let you position the glasses at an appropriate, comfortable angle that keeps the full projected image in your view.
A prescription lens template insert is also included. If you’re nearsighted, you can take this piece to an optometrist and have it fitted with prescription lenses. Inserts are also available from Hons VR for $149.99 (marked down to $49.99 as of this writing). As always, we prefer when smart glasses feature built-in diopter adjustment dials like the Rokid Max 2 and the Viture Pro do. They let people who wear corrective lenses enjoy a clear image without getting inserts. If your prescription is too strong (both glasses have a limit of +6.00), inserts for either can be ordered from Lensology. We’d like these focus adjustments to become standard in the category, but XReal, along with other manufacturers, including RayNeo, haven’t adopted them yet.
Besides the nose pads and the prescription lens template, you get a fabric-wrapped USB-C cable with an angled head for plugging into the glasses, and a pill-shaped flip-open hard-shell case.
Compatibility and Features: Tweak Your Viewing Experience
The XReal One is compatible with most devices that can output video over USB-C. That includes all PCs that support DisplayPort over USB-C (which covers handheld gaming PCs like the Asus ROG Ally and Steam Deck), all iPhones and iPads equipped with USB-C ports (iPhone 15 and later), and most Android phones. That doesn’t include the Nintendo Switch with its nonstandard video output; for the Switch and other game consoles, you’ll need to get an HDMI adapter, which XReal offers for $49.99.
While the XReal One needs a source device to power it and provide a picture, it has a unique feature in the form of its own built-in menu system. Double-pressing the menu button brings up a settings menu that you can navigate via the physical controls. You can use the brightness rocker to scroll up and down, and the menu button to confirm with a single press or or go back with a double press.
The onboard menu lets you adjust the perceived size and distance of the display, customize the shortcut button, change the speaker volume level, and configure other settings. If you use the view that anchors the picture in space using the motion sensors, the menu also lets you calibrate those sensors if they start to seem inaccurate. Having all of these features available in the glasses themselves and not requiring either blind button presses or a dedicated device or app is useful. Most other smart display glasses have very limited controls and little to no visual interface.
Quality: A Sharp, Colorful Picture
The XReal One's micro-OLED projectors display a 1080p image to each eye with a 50-degree field of view and a peak brightness of 600 nits. The field of view is wide for the category, matched by the Rokid Max. The 600-nit brightness is also the same as the Max 2, though the Viture Pro leads the category with 1,000 nits, albeit with a narrower 46-degree field of view. XReal’s 700-nit One Pro offers the widest field of view at 57 degrees, though we haven’t yet tested it.
The XReal One’s picture is virtually identical to the Rokid Max 2, so it is quite good. Video is sharp and colorful, and while the Viture Pro is noticeably brighter, the One still puts out enough light to allow for very comfortable viewing. Even with the outward lenses nearly transparent, the projection is easy to see in all but the brightest ambient light. I found it to be comfortable for use as an external work display, my most common personal use case for smart glasses. The 1080p resolution is in line with many monitors, and text is easy to read.
The One’s motion-sensing features are some of the best I’ve seen among smart glasses, especially thanks to the built-in menu system and customization options. Regardless of the device I’m using, I can toggle between a 3DOF motion-tracking view that looks like a screen is affixed in space and a fixed-in view that locks the screen directly in front of my eyes so it moves as I do. This feature is available on some other smart glasses, but the fixed-in-space screen size and perceived distance are generally locked. With the menu system on the One, I can set a specific virtual screen relative to me, with sizes ranging from 176 to 286 inches at a distance of around 13 to 32 feet (four to 10 meters). If you have a computer that supports it, the One also has an ultra-wide mode.
The distance options aren’t consistent across all devices, however. I had the full range available with the glasses connected to my Google Pixel 8, but it was locked at around 19 feet (six meters) with my iPad Air. Since the 3DOF sensors only track the direction you’re looking and not your location in space, the perceived distance setting only subtly affects how the screen stays in place as you move your head. In other words, the inconsistency is a minor limitation. The full range of screen sizes was available on both my Pixel phone and iPad.
Audio quality is fairly strong, with the usual caveats that come with smart glasses due to the air gaps between the speakers and the ears. In testing, I had no problem hearing audio through the glasses while watching videos and playing games in a reasonably quiet space. As is customary for the form factor, sound leakage means any outside noise can easily overwhelm what you're listening to, and audio playing through the glasses can potentially be heard by anyone next to you.
Verdict: Putting More Polish on Smart Glasses
The XReal One is one of the most refined pairs of smart glasses I’ve tested. It doesn’t need a separate hub to enable its features, and the ability to adjust settings with a built-in visual interface lets you enjoy a theater-like virtual screen with enough options to ensure it suits your preferences in size and perspective. Integrated motion tracking allows the screen to stay anchored in space as you move your head. The display itself is wide and sharp, and the speakers sound good, offering an excellent overall experience. If you're modestly nearsighted, you might prefer the Viture Pro for its brighter picture and built-in diopter adjustment dials, but the XReal One has a wider field of view and superior mixed reality capabilities, earning it our Editors' Choice award.
The XReal One is a pair of augmented reality glasses that serve as a personal big screen and stand out from the competition thanks to an integrated menu system and adjustable motion-tracking features.
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