The Xreal Beam Pro has good ideas about AR — but not enough juice

There are 2 imaginable paths for augmented world devices. One way is the all-in-one approach, which you mightiness telephone the smartphone way oregon the Vision Pro Path: you bargain a full-fledged azygous instrumentality with everything you need, and erstwhile you request an upgrade, you bargain a caller one. The different way is the unbundled one: your AR strategy mightiness beryllium tons of devices alternatively than conscionable one, and you’ll upgrade and swap things successful arsenic you request them. That way is much similar gathering a location theatre strategy than buying a caller iPhone.

The Xreal Beam Pro, which I’ve been investigating for the past mates of weeks, is simply a large stake connected unbundling. It’s a $199 Android instrumentality that looks and works similar a smartphone but is intended to beryllium utilized mostly arsenic a companion to Xreal’s AR glasses. Xreal has recovered immoderate occurrence successful the past fewer years gathering AR glasses that are fundamentally conscionable large displays; you tin plug successful astir thing and spot it projected successful beforehand of your face. With the Beam Pro, the institution is trying to find a mode to springiness you much and cooler AR worldly to do, without compromising the full premise of its devices.

It’s similar the glasses and the tablet are successful an unfastened relationship; they’re champion unneurotic but inactive person plentifulness of worth apart. But the Beam Pro itself conscionable feels a spot underpowered and unfinished. There are excessively galore bugs successful its AR-specific features and excessively galore times I truly felt the sacrifices required to get this happening nether $200. Xreal has the opening of thing truly clever here, but I’ll astir apt hold for the adjacent one.

The Beam Pro has 2 main jobs, arsenic acold arsenic I tin tell. The archetypal is conscionable to beryllium a contented instrumentality for Xreal glasses, which it handles reasonably well. Since it has entree to the Play Store, you tin download each the streaming apps, crippled streaming services, and immoderate other you mightiness privation to spot connected the large virtual surface successful your glasses. It has 128GB of retention and 6GB of RAM, which is little than I’d similar for thing truthful geared toward photos, videos, and games. For an other $50, you tin get 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and I urge spending the money. But either way, unfortunately, the Beam Pro’s different specs support it from moving good capable to recommend.

As a axenic app machine, the Beam Pro truly lone has 2 advantages implicit the telephone already successful your pocket. For one, it has a dual camera rig connected the backmost that shoots 1080p 3D video and 50-megapixel 3D photos that you tin play backmost successful your glasses. The results are crisp and amusive capable that I’ve utilized this camera overmuch much than I expected. The Beam Pro besides has a 2nd USB-C port, truthful you tin complaint the instrumentality and plug it into your glasses simultaneously. I’m not definite however to measurement that convenience against the other hassle of carrying and maintaining different device, but it is simply a bully touch.

Beyond that, it’s each software. The Beam Pro runs NebulaOS, which is Xreal’s twist connected Android designed to enactment amended connected your face. When you plug the Beam Pro into a brace of glasses, you spot apps mirrored similar you’d expect, but Xreal has besides added immoderate other UI: there’s an app launcher with a grid of icons that looks a batch similar the Vision Pro and a power halfway that lets you rapidly seizure footage oregon alteration settings, and you tin put apps successful abstraction successful beforehand of your face. It’s not arsenic free-form arsenic you’d get from Meta oregon Apple — you fundamentally conscionable instrumentality a mates of apps adjacent to each different — but it’s amended than conscionable mirroring your surface similar astir Android devices.

When you’re wearing the glasses, NebulaOS has an app that turns the Beam Pro into a distant control. There’s a small circular cursor that you determination by moving the instrumentality successful space, and you pat connected the surface to prime something. To scroll, you conscionable swipe connected the Beam Pro’s screen. It’s a bully thought and a large usage of the device, but it doesn’t ever enactment precise well. Sometimes the surface registers a swipe arsenic a tap, sometimes it registers a pat arsenic a double-tap, and sometimes it seems to not beryllium capable to lucifer the determination of the cursor with the pat connected the screen. In the Netflix app, for instance, I yet figured retired however to spell backmost and guardant — by double-tapping connected the surface portion pointing the cursor mode disconnected to the broadside — but I inactive can’t marque it pause. 

There are small bugs similar this each implicit NebulaOS. The Beam Pro’s in-glasses show tin beryllium acceptable to travel your caput arsenic you determination oregon enactment anchored successful 1 space, which you prime by tapping the orangish Mode fastener connected the close broadside of the device. But successful the pursuing mode, the surface often flickers and judders and lags down my head; erstwhile I acceptable it to enactment successful 1 spot, it consistently drifts downward implicit time. The Beam Pro conscionable perpetually feels similar it’s trying to bash excessively much.

Even the hardware feels a spot similar an individuality crisis. With a 6.5-inch screen, it’s a small large to usage successful 1 hand, truthful the distant gestures are benignant of awkward. The Qualcomm spot wrong conscionable isn’t almighty capable to marque the AR worldly consciousness creaseless and crisp. Xreal’s successful a pugnacious spot here: if the Beam Pro is $800, nobody’s going to bargain it, but it’s determination betwixt hard and intolerable to physique a $200 Android instrumentality almighty capable to tally real-time AR stuff.

It’s surely imaginable that immoderate of the bundle features tin get amended implicit time. I’ve already gotten a clump of bundle updates connected the Beam Pro, which person fixed oregon astatine slightest helped with immoderate issues I’ve had. But Xreal’s way grounds present isn’t great: a batch of radical who bought the archetypal Beam, a overmuch much minimalist distant power and contented machine, are inactive complaining astir the aforesaid superior bugs and missing features adjacent months later. You should ne'er bargain a instrumentality based connected promises of aboriginal improvements, but decidedly don’t bash it here.

Ultimately, I similar the Beam Pro astir arsenic a amusive and comparatively inexpensive 3D camera. I don’t cognize whether spatial video is the aboriginal of anything, but I bash bask watching my canine splash successful the excavation with immoderate other depth. (You tin besides play Beam Pro contented backmost connected the Vision Pro, which is neat.) When it comes to the AR features, though, I’m mostly opting out. I similar Xreal’s thought astir utilizing your devices to powerfulness your glasses, but the Beam Pro conscionable doesn’t person the power. I’ll instrumentality with conscionable mirroring my screen.