XReal is at CES, unveiling two new pairs of AR smart glasses. The XReal 1S builds on the XReal One, adding Real 3D technology that converts any video or game into a 3D experience. It also introduces an ultrawide mode, a standout feature carried over from the excellent XReal One Pro. The second model, the ROG XReal R1, is the result of XReal’s partnership with Asus’ Republic of Gamers (ROG) and is billed by both companies as the first pair of smart glasses to support a 240Hz refresh rate.
Real 3D on the XReal 1S is surprisingly effective, especially with video games. Mario Kart World and Yooka-Replaylee both have a compelling sense of depth with the mode enabled, and even 2D platformers like Hollow Knight Silksong and Rogue Legacy 2 get a neat pop-out effect that makes the games seem like you’re playing them in a diorama. Considering none of those games are built for 3D displays, it’s impressive how the Real 3D processing handles them in the glasses.
Video converted to 3D is less impressive. I watched some of Fallout on the glasses, and while some shots showed a bit of depth, it was more subtle and less consistent than the games. One shot of a shade-darkened Lucy against the brightly lit wasteland was outright disorienting, because the Real 3D seemed to assume Lucy was the background and the wasteland was the foreground.
Even with games, I turned off Real 3D after 10 minutes or so. It did a number on the framerate, causing some stuttering and flickering. I also saw regular processing artifacts, and across the board, the general picture just looked less sharp than it did in 2D. I started getting a headache, which usually doesn’t happen with smart glasses. (I have experienced that with 3D glasses in theaters, and with TVs during the 3D TV fad of the early 2010s, though.)
There’s a lot of potential here, and XReal will probably improve Real 3D in future firmware updates. If the company can stabilize the framerate and reduce the video artifacts that come from the 3D processing, it could become a must-have feature. In fact, even though I got a headache, the Real 3D processing I tried on the S1 seems to be a bit less stuttery than an earlier version I tried during a demo a few months ago.
Source: I Played Switch Games in 3D on XReal’s New Smart Glasses, and It’s Wild (and Weird) | PCMag
Robin Edgar
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