How the $400 XR glasses made my FOMO for the Apple Vision Pro go away
One XR glasses from Viture are a clever and portable way to work and play, and they manage to support the standout feature of Vision Pro.
ZDNET’s main conclusions
- Travelling professionals, gamers, and those seeking a more private yet accessible display experience may all consider the Viture One XR glasses.
- They have field myopia adjustment dials for better clarity, and they are reasonably priced at $439 (with 10% off on Amazon).
- However, when you browse around the imaginary 120-inch monitor, be prepared for some blurry edges.
Moving towards the rear of the commuter bus, I take out what appears to be a regular pair of sunglasses (the frames are just a little bit thicker), plug in its MagSafe-esque power adaptor to my MacBook, take a seat, and begin to click, drag, scroll, and text.
This nearly sounds like the Vision Pro ideal that many will soon be able to realise, except instead of an expensive headset with a lot of moving parts, it’s accomplished with a $400 wearable.
Seen from the sidelines, I appear to be the most formidable keyboard warrior, producing vast amounts of text without ever having to glance at my laptop’s QWERTY keyboard layout. I can see a 120-inch screen projected two feet in front of me because the Viture One’s XR Glasses have carefully placed mirrors and lights inside of them.
The Viture glasses function as an ultraportable on-your-face monitor by merely extending from and drawing power from the source they are linked to, as opposed to projecting you into a virtual or augmented reality like Apple’s Vision Pro does. To be clear, it is unfair to compare the XR Glasses to a productivity wearable that costs $3,500. The two devices’ target markets are very different, unless you count yourself among the early adopters.
People who wish to play games, watch movies, or browse the internet without being physically in front of a TV or desk at work are the target market for Viture’s glasses. The 120-inch projection on the glasses is better suited for people who prefer to binge-watch television while in bed or who want privacy when using a phone, tablet, or laptop when travelling. However, the use case overlap is striking and deliberate.
I’ve also tested a few other top XR headsets, including
My use case falls somewhere in the middle: I want a bigger platform so that, while pretending to be comfortable on public transportation, I can write news articles, reviews, and covert communications. If you’re more interested in the union of basketball and the spirit of competitiveness, the glasses are also useful for when your significant other wants to watch The Bachelor on the TV in the living room.
I can pair the Viture glasses with my Android phone or MacBook with ease because it only requires a single USB-C cable to charge the device. Extra points for the latter, if it’s a Motorola phone that supports Ready For or a Samsung Galaxy that supports DeX mode; on those two platforms, you’ll see a desktop version of your typical mobile services and apps.
Additionally, I demonstrated Xreal’s AR glasses for spatial computing, and they perform better than I had anticipated.
The most amazing thing about the Viture glasses is this: Support for spatial video and 3D playback similar to that of the Vision Pro. The business has created a new SpaceWalker iOS software that allows users to watch spatial films captured by an iPhone 15 Pro or Vision Pro, even if an adapter is required for the glasses to pair with an iPhone. I saw a few videos that I had saved for the Apple headset, and it was really eye-opening to experience those moments again with such richness and authenticity.
Naturally, I can’t compare the spatial video playback quality to any standard, but from what I could see, the format’s essential elements were present. The distance between the subjects in the films was visible to me, and it stayed that way as long as my camera was focused and at a good distance.
In terms of the glasses’ visual experience, it’s passable but nothing special. Two Myopia rotary knobs (imagine focus dials) on the top of the Viture One allow you to fine-tune your vision for those who use prescription glasses, like me. This implies that wearing the XR glasses on top of your current pair is not necessary nor should it be done. As opposed to the Vision Pro, you do not have to pay $150 for custom-made prescription lenses.
Also: The top VR headsets available right now (as well as how Apple Vision Pro compares)
I discovered that closing the other eye while I adjusted each side was the most effective approach to calibrate this. The 120-inch projection’s corners and edges will stay fuzzy even after you believe you’ve reached the ideal focus point, so it will take some trial and error to get it just right.
Because of how big and near the projections are to your eyes, it seems impossible to prevent that. For instance, you’ll discover that it’s hard to focus on an object if you hold it an inch from your eyes.
Nevertheless, Viture has included several ingenious processes within the lenses, such as an electrochromic film that dims itself on its own and may be turned on or off based on ambient light levels. It functions primarily as an integrated projector shade when you use the glasses outside.
I’m impressed with Viture’s collaboration with Harman to create and fine-tune the wearable’s side-firing speakers. They have a lot in common with bone-conduction headphones, which project sound into your ears by pressing on your head’s side. The company is focusing more on privacy because no one else can hear the audio output because the speakers are positioned against you.
Whether or not these wearables induce motion sickness and dizzy symptoms is perhaps the most important unanswered question. I’ve used the glasses for one to two hours at a time, and I never experienced any pain.
Also: reviews of the Vision Pro: This is the current consensus of Apple’s $3,500 headgear
I attribute that to the wearer’s ability to maintain spatial awareness as well as the wearable’s lightweight design in comparison to conventional headsets. Recall that the glasses are not an independent gadget running a separate operating system. All they are is an external monitor that has been redesigned to be more portable. Additionally, wearing the lenses will never make you feel as though you’ve entered a different universe because of their transparency.
ZDNET’s purchase guidance
The Viture One XR Glasses retail for $439 as of this writing, and that price includes a travel case, a power adaptor, and nose pads in different heights. Travelling professionals, gamers, and anyone looking for a more private but still accessible display experience should definitely consider these given the pricing. The Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro are superior to the Viture One XR Glasses, but they still have enough advantages over the competition to allay any FOMO you may be feeling until more costly headsets become available.