The First Smartphone Made for AR Glasses Isn’t a Phone at All

We’ve already seen companies effort for a laptop alternate utilizing AR glasses arsenic a surface with the Spacetop G1. So wherefore don’t we person a telephone made explicitly for AR? Well, AR glasses shaper XReal has decided to unleash thing phone-like. It volition tally your accustomed slate of Android apps. It volition adjacent instrumentality photos and video with two—I repeat: two—50 MP cameras. But it’s not a phone, adjacent if it looks similar one.

The $200 Beam Pro is technically a sequel to XReal’s 2023 Beam, an adapter instrumentality that allows entree to your accustomed slate of apps connected the company’s AR glasses, similar the astir caller XReal Air 2 Pro and Air 2 Ultra.

This caller plan has a screen, specifically a 2K, 6.5-inch LCD interaction display. The China-based institution noted, “The mean idiosyncratic volition instantly admit the smartphone-like signifier factor.” So don’t consciousness atrocious if each clip you glimpse astatine the images, you instantly deliberation “phone.” It’s much of an ultra-small tablet than anything. The Beam Pro runs Android 14, and its location surface has an unmistakable Android look. XReal’s NebulaOS runs connected apical of Android to facilitate AR capabilities.

Image: XReal

Altered world glasses are inactive successful their awkward teen years. They’re inactive uncovering themselves trading 1 outfit for different and throwing crap astatine the partition until thing sticks. This latest plan seems similar an effort to upset ma by leaving the location successful punk rock, thrift store threads. The telephone is expected to enactment streaming specifically. There’s circumstantial enactment for Netflix and different movie streaming services, arsenic good arsenic the existent slate of game streamers similar Xbox Game Pass. The not-phone has 2 USB-C ports, 1 to judge up to 27 W of accelerated charging and different to plug your XReal glasses into.

The NebulaOS is expected to tally the 2D apps successful the 3D environment, whether successful 3 degrees of state (DoF) oregon 6 (which besides includes depth). The app mirroring connected the glasses is controllable with the Beam Pro by either the interaction controls oregon the Vision Pro-like pinch controls of the Air 2 Ultra.

As you tin already archer with that comparatively low-bar show and deficiency of ports, this isn’t meant for thing but usage with AR glasses. It’s moving connected a Qualcomm Snapdragon Spatial Companion Processor and getting a boost with Nvidia’s CloudXR level to assistance tally AR apps off-device. Otherwise, it’s packing conscionable 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of representation astatine its basal price. For $250, you’ll get 8 GB of representation and 256 GB of storage. It supports WiFi 6, and definite aboriginal models volition besides enactment 5G.

The 2 cameras chiefly instrumentality “spatial video,” popularized by Apple’s $3,500 headset and iPhone 15. They enactment signaling astatine 1080p and 60 FPS. The iPhone 15 Pro records its spatial video astatine the nonstop solution but 30 FPS successful SDR. Of course, that’s ignoring each of Apple’s photograph algorithms that assistance grounds prime images. We’d person to instrumentality it for a rotation to spot if the spatial recordings connected Beam Pro are comparable.

At $200, the Beam Pro initially seems similar an evident get for those who’ve already jumped connected the AR train. Unfortunately, the bid hasn’t made that overmuch advancement extracurricular the station. XReal’s AR glasses inactive request a wired connection, which hampers their existent portability. And adjacent if you disregard the wobbly AR-supporting software, the full kit and kaboodle volition inactive acceptable you backmost up to $700 for the Air 2 Ultra. At that price, it inactive costs excessively overmuch to beryllium connected the bleeding borderline of AR.