Xreal One review: The revelation smart glasses needed

I've been using smart display glasses for years. From Viture to Xreal, TCL Ray-Neo and a random assortment of other companies that didn't quite last, smart display glasses have been on a path to greatness for sometime but never quite achieved it. That is, until Xreal One came along.

Xreal has always made good, competitive products in the smart display glasses category, but Xreal One presses the reset button on what I thought smart display glasses could do.

That all starts from the moment you plug them in. A Quick flash of the Xreal logo appears, and just a second or two later, you're greeted with a giant floating virtual monitor in front of your face. You've likely heard this pitch before when reading about the best smart glasses, but all of those glasses only offer a slice of Xreal One's functionality, not the whole pie.

The real joy with Xreal One is the simplicity of the product. Three degrees of freedom (3DoF) is enabled by default, so the virtual monitor floats in real space from the moment you turn it on. There's no room for scanning to do or some special mode to enable. It just works, and it's the shot in the arm the product category has seriously needed.

Xreal One: Price and availability

Xreal One is available at Amazon and Xreal.com for $499. In the box, you'll get a pair of Xreal One glasses, a braided USB-C cable with a special angled tip for the best fit, three nose pad sizes, a cleaning cloth, a user manual, and a snazzy protective case to store the glasses and cable in.

Glasses users can order a pair of prescription inserts for about $50 from Hons VR. Hons provides a full range of customization options, including per-eye SPH from -15 to +15, CYL from -8 to +8, and Axis up to 180, plus a blue light filtering add-on if you want.

Xreal One: What I love

Xreal One is the best pair of smart display glasses I've ever used, full stop. I've used my fair share of them over the years, from TCL Ray Neo to Viture and several other brands you might not recognize, but none have done the job as well as Xreal has here. Aside from excellent design and technical specs, Xreal One nails the implementation and concept of smart display glasses in a way none of these brands yet have, and it makes all the difference.

When I first got my pair, I wasn't sure what to expect. Most smart display glasses feel like carbon copies of one another, and few of them work very well. Xreal One not only fixes some of the most major pain points — brightness levels, display edge fringing, weight, comfort, and display clarity — but it also adds near-perfect 3DoF tracking that's enabled by default.

Unlike some other smart display glasses that support the feature, Xreal One's 3DoF tracking doesn't constantly shift or slide over time. When I put on a pair of Xreal One glasses, the giant virtual screen appears in front of me and stays there no matter how much I move. Even if I get up and put the glasses down, the screen is where I left it before I got up. That's a win in and of itself, and it makes these finally fun to use instead of an annoying chore.

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It's impossible to understate how important this is to this category of product. Most smart display glasses requrie some sort of external peripheral to provide proper 3DoF tracking. Even the ones that have 3DoF built-in — like TCL Ray-Neo glasses — often suffer from drift, meaning the virtual monitor will slowly move over time.

This makes 3DoF an essential part of the Xreal One experience, and it's something that just works out of the box without needing to switch modes or toggle something special. In addition to that, the X1 chip allows Xreal One glasses to deliver an industry-leading motion to photon latency of 3ms, meaning that any head movements made are completely lag-free.

While the default settings are wonderful, additional settings are a quick double-press of the power button away. This brings up a menu that looks and feels identical to a proper monitor. It's got all the toggles and options you would expect of a proper monitor, too, including special options that are only necessary on a pair of AR glasses including IPD adjustment — a first for smart display glasses.

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Xreal One is also the only pair of smart display glasses I've ever used that don't give me a headache when using 3DoF tracking. They employ a form of black frame insertion to keep motion resolution crisp. Previous pairs of Xreal glasses used PWM dimming all the time, which gave me a headache in a matter of seconds, but this pair offers a mode that employs DC dimming for folks who are sensitive to flicker.

With that said, Xreal One does use 240Hz PWM dimming when the default anchored mode is used. I haven't been able to use glasses like this in the past because of the low-Hz PWM rate, but I think the glasses' 3ms motion-to-photon latency helps make them usable. They're also only 500 nits of perceived brightness, and I've found that low-Hz PWM affects me most when brightness is greater than 1200 nits.

I've stuck with Viture One for years now as they were the only other pair of smart display glasses that used DC dimming and, even then, only at 100% brightness and with no positional tracking enabled. Xreal Air ticks all the comfort boxes for me and includes plenty of other calibration options to help make the picture look as good as possible.

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The viewable area is substantially increased over previous generations, with a 20% larger FoV at 50 degrees. In plain English, that means you can see the entire virtual monitor without having to move your head a bit to see the edges — a common problem among most smart display glasses. Edge fringing is completely gone, too, eliminating another common pain point.

Xreal One supports 3D video and an incredible ultrawide mode that has to be seen to be believed. The ultrawide mode makes the monitor 3-4 times wider than a traditional monitor, making multitasking a joy on a laptop.

You can customize the top button to perform one of several functions, including different ones for short-press, long-press, and double-press. I found that toggling between electrochromic tint levels was my favorite use of the double-press while single-pressing the button completely turned the display on or off so I could quickly see what was around me.

Xreal One PWM tests and best display settings - YouTube

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Electrochromic dimming isn't new to smart display glasses but there aren't too many pairs that employ the feature this well. The darkest tint level completely blacked out what was in front of me, making it super easy to see the display even in a sunlit area.

The frames are by far the most comfortable smart display glasses design I've ever worn, too. They use the same temple adjustment mechanism as some previous pairs of Xreal glasses — meaning they adjust to three different angles to fit different face shapes — and have a new nost pad design that's more comfortable than ever.

The weight is comparable with other smart display glasses like Viture One, but the design of the lenses — that trademark Xreal larger frame design — looks superb along with the new thinner optics. Xreal even curved the ends of the temples to keep them from sliding down your nose, a problem that occurs on some other brands' designs.

Xreal One: Not much left to improve

The biggest downside to Xreal One is the price. At $499, they're the most expensive pair of smart display glasses as of this writing. Tack on another $50 or so to that price if you need prescription inserts, and all of a sudden, you're spending more than what a Meta Quest 3 costs. Considering these are just a wearable monitor, $500 can be a hard ask.

Of course, using a pair of glasses like this will literally save your neck if you find yourself traveling a lot or working from a coffee shop regularly. Looking down at a laptop is horrible for you and will cause problems over time. Wearing a pair of Xreal Ones will save you from neck pain since you can look straight at a big virtual monitor instead of down at a screen.

Furthermore, Nintendo Switch players will need to pick up a $40 Xreal Hub to make it work with the glasses, and you'll also need an external power bank capable of 45-60W output. Any of the best power banks will do. All this nonsense is the Switch's fault — not Xreal's — since the Switch has to be docked to output video. Still, be aware that you'll need some extra hardware if you want to use this with a Switch. Other devices like the Steam Deck and simply plug-and-play.

Xreal One: Competition

If $500 is too rich for your blood, Viture One is the best budget alternative. These glasses regularly go on sale for under $300 and have similar plug-and-play capability with laptops and the Steam Deck but don't offer 3DoF functionality out of the box. They also don't get as bright and have distortion on the edges of the displays, but they do offer DC dimming at high brightness, so they're great for anyone with PWM sensitivity.

Viture Pro is the closest competition based on display quality, offering a similar edge-distortion-free experience and a super bright OLED panel. They're regularly $100 less than Xreal One but don't offer native 3DoF support, just smooth follow. Viture offers a lot of fantastic accessories, though — like the Switch dock, which doubles as a power bank — plus the excellent new Viture Neckband that turns it into a full spatial computer. Xreal's best competition is the Xreal Beam Pro which is essentially an Android phone without a cell modem inside.

Xreal's upcoming Xreal One Pro glasses appear to offer an even better experience based on specs, including an even wider FoV, an optional camera module, and more. If you want to wait for the best of the best, they're expected to launch sometime in spring 2025.

Xreal One: Should you buy?

I've been a firm believer in using smart display glasses instead of my laptop's monitor when I travel. I've tried bringing a more full-featured VR headset on trips, but they're just too big. Xreal One is two very important steps closer to being a full-fledged spatial computer — native 3DoF and an industry-leading motion to photon latency, and that makes them more attractive than any other smart display glasses option available today.

Since I received the pair back in December, I haven't needed (or wanted) to use any other smart glasses. Throughout 2024, I used my Quest 3 as my main virtual monitor machine when not working at my desk, but Xreal One has all but completely replaced that headset as a daily work device for me.

These glasses have been a huge game changer for me in finding places to work in my house when my basement office isn't usable — either because it's too cold or the Radon levels are too high — and that's been reason alone for me to justify a purchase. If you're looking for the best pair of smart display glasses available, these are the ones.