Google unveils XREAL AURA, wired XR glasses with built-in Gemini
IA en un minuto newsroom · Editor: Jon Elgezabal
In 30 seconds
The XREAL AURA are wired glasses whose transparent lenses let wearers see their surroundings while apps are projected over them. They stay light because a separate processing unit, linked by a wire, does the work, and Gemini assists the wearer with whatever they are looking at or doing. Orders opened on October 28 for buyers in Korea, Canada and the United States, at an opening price from $1,099.
Google and XREAL have introduced XREAL AURA, which they describe as the first wired XR glasses that run on Android XR. The announcement is signed by Shahram Izadi, Google's vice president and general manager of XR, on the company's blog, on October 28.
The lenses are transparent: wearers see their surroundings with their own eyes while content is projected into a 70-degree field of view. The glasses weigh under 95 grams because the heavy lifting happens outside them, in a portable compute unit connected by cable. That unit holds the battery and Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Reality Elite platform, which debuts with these glasses, and it can double as a trackpad.
Gemini, Google's assistant, runs on Android XR and understands what the user sees and does, both in the real world and on their screens. According to Google, when the view is shared Gemini can also point out what to look at, in the room or on the screen. Several apps can be opened at once and placed around the wearer, and Google cites more than 150 apps built for XR.
With Wired Mirroring, a laptop plugged in through a USB-C cable that supports video output shows up as one more window, with nothing to install. Google also suggests using the glasses to watch content on YouTube or Google TV, dimming the lenses to shut out the surroundings, and to play Android games.
Orders are open from October 28 in the United States, Canada and Korea, and from November 2 in Japan, for people aged 18 and over, at xreal.com and BestBuy.com. Launch pricing starts at $1,099 through the end of the year. In the US, shipments from BestBuy.com begin in mid-November.
Why it matters · analysis and opinion
Google's bet is to bring Android XR to a lighter format by separating the computing from the lenses: with the processing in a separate unit, the glasses become comfortable to wear for a good while, in exchange for a cable. For a professional who travels or works across several screens, the appeal is the mix of multiple windows, the laptop turned into one more window and an assistant that sees what the user sees. For everyone else, interest will depend on whether the price holds once the launch offer ends, which Google limits to this year. It remains to be seen how they behave over long working days and how many apps are truly designed for this format; the announcement comes from the company itself and includes no independent testing.
Official source: Google · Written with the help of AI: how we make the news
