Opinion
XREAL AURA is not glasses that replace a phone. It is a large screen connected by a cable
Google announced on 28 October that orders had opened. The set is glasses you wear plus a small computer (the puck) on a cable. Japan can order from 2 November. The price through year-end starts at $1,099.
This is not a product you wear all day like ordinary glasses. It is a set that puts a large screen for movies and work in front of your eyes.
On 28 October, Google announced that orders for XREAL AURA had opened. Google calls it the first wired glasses running on Android XR, a new operating system. Japan can order from 2 November, shipping starts in mid-November, and the price through year-end starts at $1,099.
Only the part on your face is light. The computing is at the other end of the cable
The set splits in two: glasses you wear, and a small box on a cable (the compute puck). Screen processing and the battery are in the puck. The glasses do not run on their own.
The lenses let you see the outside world, with a screen about 70 degrees wide on top of that view. Google says Gemini uses both the scene in front of you and the screen as cues. The chip is the Snapdragon Reality Elite, and AURA is the first product to use it. The glasses weigh under 95 g.
XREAL’s numbers put the glasses at 95 g and the puck at 265 g. The screen is a Micro-OLED at 1920×1200 per eye, brightness up to 1,050 nits, and motion up to 120 Hz. Brightness adjusts in five steps.
They are a different product from glasses you wear all day just to read notifications. They are for people who want a large screen at home or at a desk, and they are not meant for walking around outside. Notes on how to buy them are in another article.