Nreal
As augmented reality (AR) glasses continue to try to gain a foothold among tech enthusiasts, we’re seeing another option becoming massively available in the US. In addition to selling the sunglasses-like Nreal Air specs in America, Beijing-based company Nreal today also announced a version of its Nebula AR operating system that will work with Apple M1- and M2-powered MacBooks.
The Mac version of Nebula works with MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops with Apple silicone and is launching as a beta version. If you attach the Air goggles to a MacBook, you won’t get the same Nebula “AR Space” experience available for supported Android phones. AR Space includes a mixed-reality interface and games and other AR apps made for the glasses. Instead, Mac users will see a virtual user interface Nreal calls AR Desktop that projects up to three virtual screens at once, an Nreal representative told Ars Technica. A representative from Nreal would not specify when AR Space would come to MacBooks or iOS.
In a statement, Nreal co-founder Peng Jin said the company expects AR glasses to gain traction with consumers initially by serving as a display technology, so “the thinking behind Nreal Air is very focused on the aesthetics, display quality and performance. connectivity with other hardware devices.”
Currently, you can connect Nreal’s Air to a Windows PC or iPhone, but only for screen mirroring, mimicking a 130-inch screen that’s 13.1 meters away (compared to a 201-inch screen that’s 19.7 feet away). meters away in AR Space mode).
Nreal also today announced the Nreal Adapter for iPhone, a bulky block that lets you plug in an HDMI to Lightning dongle so you can plug in your iPhone. You can also use the adapter to attach the Nreal Air to a Nintendo Switch, so it looks like you’re playing on a big screen.
However, even with the iPhone adapter, the functionality is limited to screen mirroring. Still, it’s at least somewhat reassuring to see Nreal extending support, even a little. Although wearing glasses attached to a phone already feels cumbersome; adding a 2.42 × 1.79 × 0.88, 2.61-ounce brick to the mix just makes things worse.
Nreal
The Air’s most robust AR experience remains reserved for supported Android devices. They will be the ones to take advantage of Nebula’s updates announced today, including a new “borderless curved wall design,” animated 3D icons, and a content recommendations widget.
Nreal has updated the Nebula web browser, Spatial AR, to provide two display modes (horizontal or vertical). It also added a few new “casual” AR games and experiences to Nebula, including Teleport, which allows users to “jump through 3D models of real world structures scanned by their smartphones and leave photos, text and voice messages for other users.” to see” – although we don’t expect many other users to be here.
I tried out some of Nebula’s AR experiences prior to the release of its first pair of glasses, the Nreal Light. Even at that early stage, the graphics came across quite strong and crisp, but the navigation was far from intuitive and the games weren’t detailed enough to play regularly. Things may have improved now, but even the best AR gaming and experiences are far from mainstream, especially when compared to console and PC gaming.
Nreal
Nreal’s Air claims a 3840×1080 resolution, 108 percent sRGB coverage, 100,000:1 contrast, and a 60Hz refresh rate with its Micro OLED displays. A scaled-down version of the more expensive ($600) Light, the Air has a field of view (FOV) of 46 degrees compared to 52 degrees for the light and 3 degrees of freedom (DoF), compared to tracking the light’s 6-DoF.
We’ve yet to try Nreal’s Air, but reviews from sites like Tech Advisor and TechRadar pointed to stronger image quality, but clunky navigation, and limited AR functionality and phone compatibility. At the time of writing, the only apps that AR Space supports are Amazon, Cycling, Google, Message, PhotoGun, Pupup, QB Planets, Teleport, YouTube, Yahoo, Wikipedia. And Nreal says the battery life is limited to a maximum of 5 hours of video streaming.
Enthusiasts have few options when it comes to true consumer AR glasses, despite companies like Meta and Apple showing interest. A potentially strong competitor to the Air is the upcoming Lenovo Glasses T1. Unlike the Air, functionality is expected to be the same across Android, PC, iOS, and macOS products (iPhones require an adapter). The glasses are equipped with a resolution of 1920×1080 per eye, Micro OLED panels, a refresh rate of 60 Hz and a field of view of 38 degrees. They should be released next year with a price expected to stay below $500.
The Nreal Air has a suggested retail price of $379 and the adapter costs $59.
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