Who is this post for?
Is this a paid review?
Well, you might not believe me, but it really isn’t. This is not a sponsored post and I bought the device with my own money (which wasn’t cheap…). The intention of this post is to showcase how my recent purchase impacted my productivity when it comes to being an indie developer and content creator. And I’m pretty happy about my recent purchase and I can see a lot of potential for it, that’s why I would like to share my experience with XReal One Pro eXtended Reality glasses.
XR, AR, VR, so many ‘arrrrs’…
To keep it short and simple, there are different technologies out there that are strictly categorized. So let’s make it crystal clear what XReal glasses really are and what the possibilities are:
- VR – Virtual Reality – think about PlayStation VR, Meta Quest, Steam VR. The idea is that when you put on these big glasses (goggles), you get immersed in a completely virtual world with no connection to the real world. It makes you feel like you are inside the game, usually from a first‑person perspective (usually). These are not XReal glasses.
- AR – Augmented Reality – this is a bit of a mix between the virtual reality and real world. This means, the glasses will show you your current surroundings, but will apply virtual elements on top – for example, virtual enemies to kill or Google Maps indications or live translation of text that you are looking at. XReal One Pro is not this, but there is an upcoming Project Aura that aims to offer true AR (hopefully my next purchase).
- XR – eXtended Reality – this is the simplest option which can be described as basically having a monitor on top of your eyes. There are no Augmented Reality elements rendered in your vision, there is no immersion to virtual worlds, it’s basically having a huge screen in front of your eyes visible only to you. These usually work by connecting any device (phone, MacBook, PC, Laptop, gaming console, etc.) and having the glasses mirror the screen or be an extended screen – as if plugging in a real monitor. These are XReal glasses. And to be fair – there is quite a lot of competition, such as Viture Luma Ultra, Rokid Max 2, RayNeo Air 4 Pro and some other players.
So why did I choose XR and XReal?
First of all, I tried all three types of the glasses (VR, AR, XR) so I have some perspective to offer. At home I used a lot of Meta Quest 2 and 3, I have PSVR2 and I had a chance to look at some AR demos in different conferences like MWC in Barcelona. My take on these is that VR goggles are way too big and uncomfortable for long-term work. Even “lighter” ones such as Meta Quest 3 are still quite bulky and straining on your eyes. Not to mention, you look quite weird in them. They are perfect for gaming though.
AR, on the other hand, at the time of writing this blog post (May 2026), is still relatively an immature product. In my opinion, most consumer AR glasses are still relatively immature (or extremely expensive). I haven’t yet seen a device that offers an AR experience I’d want to use every day. So far, the most promising direction I’ve seen was at Google I/O 2026, where Google and partners showed the future of XR glasses, including the upcoming Project Aura from XReal.
That leaves XR glasses. For the moment, in my opinion this is the most mature option for day-to-day usage. In my mind, I had these use-case priorities when looking for perfect glasses:
- Productivity – writing code, writing blog posts, reading documentation, responding to emails and messages, multi-tasking with multiple windows opened at the same time.
- Media consumption – watching streaming platforms, videos, scrolling social media, reading articles, etc.
- Gaming – PC and handheld console mostly (such as Switch, ROG Ally X).
Specs comparison
Based on everything we know so far, I found four main competitors to look at:
- XReal One Pro
- Viture Luma Ultra
- Rokid M2 Pro
- RayNeo Air 4 Pro
And at this point, you might guess the first one won. That doesn’t mean the other options are worse, they just prioritize different use cases. For example, Viture is an absolute “Beast” when it comes to gaming and watching movies and on paper it has better specs in that regard than XReal. Viture and RayNeo also handle text clarity better than XReal One Pro as a matter of fact. A more detailed comparison is here:
And then, spec-wise we have:
The summary and specs above is based on public specs and reviews I’ve read; always check the latest details on official product pages.
Overall, XReal One Pro is my choice for the best ultrawide productivity and most all-around mature product; for bright, sharp text + versatile AR/productivity VITURE Luma Ultra would fare better; for comfortable movie-first experience pick Rokid Max 2; for best text clarity/value pick RayNeo Air 4 Pro.
This just shows how each product excels at different things, but what I was looking for was something that is good in all aspects and is not just a fancy marketed product. And from all the research I’ve been doing this past 6 months, I decided to go with XReal One Pro and so far I am happy with my choice.
Use cases with XR glasses
So, I’ve been using these glasses for the last month almost every day for a few hours for work, media and gaming. The use case I like the most is the ultra-wide screen where I can put 3 windows next to each other. For example, for my work MacBook, on the left I have my emails, on right I have my MS Teams opened and in the middle I have whatever I’m currently working on (like Excel, Confluence, etc.). I do like to work remotely in a café with these glasses because then no one sees my laptop screen… although I do look a bit weird and I get stares from people.
The second great use case is when I go to bed and I want to watch some tv show quickly from my phone directly. Having a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (or any Samsung), once connected I get the “DeX” which is the desktop version of screen, which works very well with XReal. I turn off the lights completely, turn on the XReal 3D mode that automatically turns everything to 3D and then I watch Netflix or other streaming. It’s particularly good on anime as well. I don’t use the ultra-wide mode here because the XReal 3D doesn’t support it, but the standard mode is more than enough. This creates a nice cinema effect.
Before buying the glasses I watched tons of reviews and surprisingly most of them were positive. It made me think if XReal company just went out and paid everyone for positive reviews, but now that I had a chance to use their glasses, I believe the positive reviews.
Some people complained that the text crispness is not perfect in XReal glasses and better to take XReal 1s or one of the Viture (Luma Ultra). I cannot say for sure because I only physically tried Viture Beast and my XReal One Pro. Out of these two, I found XReal to be easier to use, connect and work with. The text is crisp and even now I am writing these sentences wearing the glasses. The best option is to always zoom in the screen a little bit so that I have to move my head a bit more, but that makes the text very visible. I used it for writing code, blog posts, messages and emails – no issues and no headaches. On average I sit around 1.5-2h in the glasses and then I take a small break because the top element tends to get warm because of the X1 chip working, but it’s not burning or anything, it’s just making me a bit sweaty 🙂
Finally, for gaming I use an MSI laptop with Windows and here I think it’s not as perfect as I would like to be (probably because the laptop is some years old). I don’t use the ultra-wide mode because then it’s only 60hz, with standard “square” screen I can achieve 120hz, so it’s still okay. But I think the perfect use case is to have a handheld console like Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck (if you ever can grab ahold of one…), Lenovo Legion Go or Rog X Ally which is the recent partner of XReal.
In general, I found that the perfect use cases are turning small screens (like mobile, smaller laptop screen, handheld consoles) into big screens in XReal.
And now for my development setup
So how did it change my development setup? Mostly adds a nice layer of privacy (e.g. when travelling or sitting in public space) and having the ultra wide screen where I can put multiple screens next to each other (usually 3). After some time, when I don’t use the glasses and I have some development task that requires jumping between windows I’m beginning to miss the glasses – could be a sign of some addiction maybe?
What is interesting is the future of AR which is now gaining momentum after the Google I/O conference. Even XReal started recruiting devs to create AR apps. I am really tempted to see if Keran Labs apps would be a good fit for some AR app. The market is relatively new and empty, so at this point a good app has much higher chances of becoming a hit.
Anyway, coming back to the topic, the best configuration so far I have came up with is:
- XReal glasses connected to a MacBook, Windows machine or Samsung phone with DeX.
- Prescription lenses inserted into the XReal glasses (normally I wear glasses so I needed to add the prescription lenses, they fit perfectly and I don’t notice them).
- Ultra-wide mode enabled.
- Screen zoomed-in (232 or 279 inches; screen distance ~3.0 m, although this is irrelevant in ultra‑wide mode)..
- Headphones on – the built-in Bose speakers in the glasses are alright, but in tight spaces people around you can hear it, so better to use headphones for privacy.
- 3 screens side-by-side.
- A break every 1-2 hours to let the eyes rest.
- Display mode: Standard (Vivid I only use for some movies and games).
- Text optimization – maximized to the left (sharp)
- One of these bulky plastic pouches to carry the glasses with cable (the standard box is not big enough in my opinion) – example products here
I’ve yet to buy the XReal Eye and experiment more with different settings and use cases. I don’t consider buying the XReal Beam Pro because I’m not sure what concrete problem it would solve for me (seems like some phone with pairing capabilities to the glasses, but that doesn’t really justify its steep price). There’s also an adapter that allows to connect glasses and some console (like Nintendo Switch) which is sometimes required to connect to some handheld devices. But I haven’t gotten it yet. I heard that it also makes sense to have some kind of HDMI adapter for some other devices like PlayStation 5, but then again, I’m not sure if I want to connect glasses to my PS5 (a lot of effort).
TL;DR impact
After getting the XReal One Pro glasses, I observed the following changes in my productivity:
- Working on 14-17 inch laptops I had to switch between windows a lot – with XReal I can have three active windows at the same time.
- My phone got empowered as a mini laptop with external keyboard and DeX – awesome for quick design work on my apps or blog post writing.
- Privacy enhanced – no one in public spaces can see now what I do on my laptop, especially when travelling.
- Resting is more fun – playing games is more engaging, watching movies in 3D is fun.
- Makes me feel cool, even though I might look weird in public spaces 🙂
That’s it for my setup with XReal One Pro, I’m still exploring and I’m still discovering new use cases and accessories. So if you have any hidden cool use cases or other gems, let me know!