It's not often that you think about how your VR headset's facepad can be annoying. I've used 3rd party face pads on my Meta Quest headsets for years, and all of them use a velcro backing to connect to the headset, which I've always thought was pretty convenient until AMVR came along and totally changed my paradigm. Now that the company's latest face pad is 20% off for Prime Day, you can also take part in this small revelation for a fraction of the usual price.

The magic in AMVR's FC4M face pad design is a simple set of magnetic connection points that seamlessly snap to the included facial interface. You might think this is a ridiculous notion, but consider how much magnets inside of phone cases (or phones) have changed how we use phone cases and mounts, and you'll quickly realize that magnets are a truly game-changing feature.

If the description doesn't do it for you, maybe this video will help illustrate the difference:

✅Recommended if: You're sick of sweaty face pads or trying to align annoying velcro pads, annoyed with fogged lenses while playing, or wear glasses while playing.

❌Skip this deal if: You have a Quest 3S. This ONLY works with a Meta Quest 3.

Yeah, as you saw in the video above, I removed and reapplied the magnetic face pad twice (and could probably do it a third time) before finishing the velcro one once. This may not seem like a big deal to you until you have to change out face pads, something I find myself doing often since I share my VR headset with others in my house (and my son's sweaty friends).

Velcro pads have always been great, but they require you to perfectly line up all the corners and edges, causing the pad to be uneven and guaranteeing some kind of annoyance. The magnetic interface does away with all of that, and you can even one-handedly remove and reattach a new face pad with zero effort.

Aside from the magnets, the FC4M also features AMVR's brilliant venting design that keeps lens fog at bay, and even includes the company's trademark glasses spacer adjustment knobs. That's perfect for anyone who uses glasses, or if you're passing the headset to someone who uses glasses, as you just have to turn the knob on the side to adjust the space between the headset and the face pad. No more scratched lenses, no more hassle, and a lower price? Now that's a no-brainer Prime Day deal!

More Prime Day 2026 - quick links

• Phones: major savings on Pixel, Samsung, and beyond
• Wearables: up to 50% off Garmin, Galaxy Watch, and Fitbit
• Tablets: Galaxy Tab, Kindle, and Amazon Fire tablets from $50
• Chromebooks: discounts on ASUS, HP, and Lenovo
• Smart Home: up to 60% off Alexa devices
• Headphones/earbuds: huge discounts on Beats, Sony, and more
• Smart TVs: cheap smart TVs from $69.99

There are a lot of reasons to love this time of year, but one of my favorite is all the gaming showcases happening in June. We got the Summer Game Fest, PlayStation and Xbox showcases, Nintendo Direct, PCGamer Showcase, tons of indie showcases, and now the VR Games Showcase!

What aired was genuinely spectacular and gets me uber-hyped for the rest of the releases this year. Out of all the titles shown, a whopping eight have just made it to my wishlist, and several other game updates caught my eye, as well. The whole showcase is in the YouTube link below, but you will also want to stock up on Meta Quest gift cards while they are on sale for Prime Days this week.

There's nothing quite like getting free money, and these Meta Quest gift cards will get you plenty of credit to buy any of the VR games you see in the showcase.

Out of all the announcements, these were my highlights:

• Breachers Outbreak
• Skeleton Crew
• Maestro Attack on Titan DLC
• Sol Protocol
• I Am Your Beast
• Guardians Planetfall
• H3VR2
• Payday: Aces High

Payday: Aces High is certainly the highlight of the showcase and the reason it's prominently shown on the front, but all the other titles I mentioned have me MEGA hyped to keep my Meta Quest 3 on throughout the year. Check the timestamps on the video timeline on YouTube to view them, or just watch the whole showcase in the video above!

Aside from gift cards and awesome games, Prime Day (valid now through June 26th) is delivering tons of fantastic Meta Quest 3 and 3S accessories on sale, in addition to a $53 discount on the Meta Quest 3S. That means you get to save a ton of money and get the best VR console experience. Have fun, because I know I will be!

Getting a great discount on Prime Day is fun, but there's nothing like getting free money on Prime Day instead. Amazon and Meta have discounted Meta Quest gift cards, quite literally giving you free money when you buy one.

Meta Quest gift cards can be used to buy anything on the Meta Quest store, including games, apps, and in-app purchases. That means these are the perfect gift for anyone you know who plays VR games on a Quest, as they can grab any game they want or expand their in-game inventory in titles like Gorilla Tag, Ug, Animal Company, Scary Baboon, and more.

✅Recommended if: You want to get great games at a discount rate, or you're looking to buy a gift for a friend or loved one who is a VR gamer.

❌Skip this deal if: You want a physical gift card. These are digital gift cards only.

My son is obsessed with the idea of glitching out games to duplicate items, and it's always fun to see when companies lean into that obsession with real rewards. In Animal Company, you can duplicate items using a special machine, but on Prime Day, Meta Quest gift cards let you do the money glitch in real life.

Since these gift cards are digital, you won't even have to wait to get them! That means you can pick up great new titles right away, or just stockpile virtual gift cards until the time is right. They also make the best gifts, whether it's for an upcoming birthday, a random summer celebration, or even just to grab some (very) early Christmas presents.

Summer time is here, and maybe this time around you've decided you're going to have a quiet staycation. Your goal is to rest and relax, but maybe you might want to play some video games, and that's exactly what the Meta Quest 3S and Meta Quest 3 are going to help you achieve.

You may be planning to buy your very first VR headset, and right now the Meta Quest 3S is 15% off. Or maybe you already have your headset. With either of these headsets, in order to make sure you have the best experience, you'll want a few accessories.

Choosing the right accessory can be overwhelming, like do you really need a head strap, and do you need that carrying case? I'm here to help you make the most of your staycation with your new VR headset. I've curated some of the best Quest 3s and 3 headsets for you to enjoy that staycation and immerse yourself into a virtual world with a cutting-edge experience.

• Prime Day returns June 23-26: see the full list of deals

Controller Grips

Headstraps

Quest 3 ONLY Face Pads

Quest 3S ONLY:

When is Prime Day 2026?

Amazon has officially confirmed that Prime Day 2026 will be begin on June 23rd and run through June 26th. This means that you have four full days to take advantage of the members-only sale event.

Do I need to be a Prime member to shop during Amazon Prime Day?

Although select discounts may be available to the general public, the vast majority of deals during Prime Day are exclusive to Amazon Prime members. Haven't joined yet? Sign up for Amazon's 30-day free trial to enjoy all of the benefits of a Prime membership without paying a cent. The cost of a membership is $14.99 per month once the trial period is up, but you can cancel at any time with zero hassle.

More Prime Day 2026 - quick links

• Phones: major savings on Pixel, Samsung, and beyond
• Wearables: up to 50% off Garmin, Galaxy Watch, and Fitbit
• Tablets: Galaxy Tab, Kindle, and Amazon Fire tablets from $50
• Chromebooks: discounts on ASUS, HP, and Lenovo
• Smart Home: up to 60% off Alexa devices
• Headphones/earbuds: huge discounts on Beats, Sony, and more
• Smart TVs: cheap smart TVs from $69.99

With heatwaves abound, sometimes it just makes more sense to stay indoors on hot summer days. But it's no fun sitting around vegging out all day, which is why you need to pick up a VR console this year and get some real active play. Thankfully, Amazon has the Meta Quest 3S at 15% off for Prime Day 2026!

Walmart first launched this deal earlier today, but Amazon already responded with a slightly lower price AND the inclusion of bundled extras. This $296.79 bundle includes a free Gorilla Tag skin (a roughly $20 value) and $10 worth of in-game currency, making it an excellent bundle for anyone in your home who wants to run around like a "monke" and get nice and sweaty.

On top of that, all Meta Quest 3S units come with 3 months of Meta Horizon Plus for free, which gives you access to over 100 games immediately. It's basically Xbox Game Pass for VR, and it means you get to play a TON of games without having to buy anything for a while.

✅Recommended if: You're just getting started with VR, need a second headset for someone in your home, or are looking for a great gift idea.

❌Skip this deal if: You want the higher-end Meta Quest 3, which offers better lenses and a slimmer design.

But if Gorilla Tag isn't something you care about, Amazon has several other options to consider. This $318.74 bundle includes a $25 Meta Quest gift card, which can be used to buy any games or apps on the Quest store, a $56 discount over the normal bundle price.

If you think you'll need a bit more storage space, this 256GB bundle for $382.49 includes Batman Arkham Shadow, my personal game of the year for 2024, and an incredible return to the Arkham universe.

You may also want to consider picking up a Meta Quest gift card, especially if you're grabbing the Quest 3S headset as a gift. Amazon has Quest gift cards on sale today, something I can't recall ever seeing, which is a huge opportunity for VR gamers!

BoboVR is a legendary name in the VR space and has been making the highest-rated aftermarket Meta Quest headstraps for years. To celebrate Prime Day 2026, BoboVR is knocking $10 off its newest headstraps when you use our exclusive code. That brings the BoboVR M3 down to just $29.99, while the deluxe BoboVR M3 Pro+ gets a solid discount down to just $49.99.

To grab these deals, use coupon code JOBIWBZN at checkout for the BoboVR M3, or grab the deluxe M3 Pro+ model with coupon code NGRAS7U4. Enter those codes at checkout on Amazon any time during Prime Day 2026 week, and you'll get the extra discount.

Either model works with the Quest 3 and Quest 3S, so all you'll need to decide is whether you want to include a battery and charger in the box.

✅Recommended if: You find the Quest 3 or Quest 3S heavy or uncomfortable, or you need a hot-swappable battery to extend play time.

❌Skip this deal if: You're fine with the Quest 3 or 3S's included cloth strap, or you want the more deluxe BoboVR S3 Pro (which is not on discount today).

What makes BoboVR’s headstraps so good? The latest M3 and M3 Pro+ models are all dual-mode designs, letting you choose between halo or elite styles on a whim. With other companies, you have to choose which style you want before purchasing, and there's no way to change it once you've made the decision. Both models have dual adjustment knobs, so you can get the most comfortable fit for every member of your household (or just yourself).

Any time I have a friend over who hasn't used one of these headstraps yet, they always ask, "dude, why is your Quest 3 so much more comfortable than mine?" The answer is BoboVR.

Both models also support the incredible BM60 battery packs, which are rechargeable and magnetically hot swappable. These batteries double the battery life of your Quest 3 or Quest 3S and are ingeniously designed to make them swappable while you're playing, so you don't even need to take the headset off to get more play time!

While both models feature the same design, the BoboVR M3 Pro+ includes a BM60 battery and a charging dock, so you won't have to purchase anything else to get the best experience. BoboVR's design and construction have always been top-notch, and this year's upgrades are no exception.

What you need to know

• Meta is bringing dedicated Meta Lab spaces to over 50 Best Buy stores across North America.
• The mini stores feature trained Meta specialists, giving shoppers hands-on demos instead of relying on boxed displays and spec sheets.
• Customers can try Quest headsets through gaming, fitness, and virtual theater experiences designed to showcase the appeal of VR.

Buying a VR headset or AI-powered glasses is often a leap of faith. Unless you know what you’re getting yourself into and have tried them out, these devices are hard to tell if they’re worth the money. Meta thinks this is a problem that it can solve.

The company is expanding its retail footprint by launching dedicated Meta Lab spaces at over 50 Best Buy locations in the U.S. and Canada, UploadVR reports. The move gives shoppers a chance to experience Meta’s growing hardware portfolio rather than relying on boxed-up displays sitting on store shelves.

Meta has been selling products through Best Buy for years, but the experience has largely been run by regular store employees. Meta says the new setup is meant to provide something more interactive and personalized. Each Meta Lab space is around 900 square feet and serves as a mini store within a Best Buy store.

Customers will be able to walk through the Meta Quest VR headsets and the company's smart glasses lineup with trained Meta sales specialists. Shoppers can actually experience what the hardware does rather than reading spec sheets.

Quest demos go beyond gimmicks

Meta’s plans include guided demos for VR fans to show off unique experiences. You could be playing a game, watching content on a giant virtual screen in theater mode, or trying out a fitness workout in immersive VR. The goal is to help first-time users understand why people buy these headsets.

The smart glasses side also gets similar treatment. Customers can shop for multiple styles and get help finding the right fit. There will also be guided demos of Meta’s latest wearable experiences, including products that pair with the company’s Neural Band accessories.

Meta Labs will be coming to the first Best Buy locations in San Bernardino and San Carlos, California. Additional stores are expected to come later this summer in Minnesota, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Ohio. Meta says it will roll out to 50 stores across North America by the end of 2026.

Android Central's Take

VR headsets and AI glasses are often difficult to sell when they are packaged in cardboard boxes and marketed with buzzwords, so providing consumers with the opportunity to physically try the hardware should simplify their purchasing decisions. That said, it also feels like Meta is doing what should have been obvious years ago. It was never a great idea to ask consumers to spend hundreds of dollars on new gadgets they couldn't hold in their hands during a demo, and I suspect many potential buyers simply walked away instead of taking that leap.

What started as a social media company, Meta is now a major player in the tech industry, responsible for blending social media with AI and the virtual world with the physical one. The company owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook, and sells Quest VR headsets. The company has a strong focus on virtual reality, and while its VR focus has waned over the years, it's still one of the leading players in the market.

Behind many of its products is Meta AI, which is powered by the company's own Llama family of large language models, and the company leverages this foothold to compete with Google's Gemini. As a result, Meta has partnered with Ray-Ban and Oakley to create AI glasses for everyday use and workouts, which utilize Meta AI to visualize the world and provide users with contextual responses based on what it "sees."

What you need to know

• Viture announced its new Helix product, which is smart safety eyewear powered by Nvidia's XR AI solution.
• With Nvidia, Viture has created smart glasses aimed at industrial, scientific, and clinical use for "AI-assisted workflows."
• These glasses aren't set to debut until Q1 2027; however, individual reservations have begun for $600.

AWE (Augmented World Expo) 2026 is underway, and Viture is wasting no time by introducing safety eyewear powered by AI.

Viture is expanding with its announcement of Helix: safety glasses that bring Nvidia's XR AI to the forefront. Viture states, "Helix is the first wearable terminal designed for industrial, scientific, and clinical workflows that streams a wearer’s first-person perspective to a multimodal AI in real time." Nvidia played a key role at the AWE 2026 keynote, which highlighted the XR AI's ability to "see" and "reason" in the real world.

The Viture Helix gets this done with its 12MP first-person camera and four-microphone array. Nvidia's latest XR AI solution can "coach" users on their respective operating procedures. AI-assisted workflows are the name of the game for Viture's Helix. The company states it's continued to work with Nvidia, the Le Cong Lab at Stanford University, and the Mengdi Wang Lab at Princeton University. Clinical and life science research environments are a couple of areas its AI-assisted workflows have been put to the test.

Viture and Nvidia have reportedly worked on this new device for the past year, tirelessly improving its AI-assisted workflows to provide meaningful aid in the real-world. Elsewhere, the Helix glasses feature "60+ minutes of charge-while-using battery," Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. Seeing as the Helix is meant to be used in the workforce (industrial, clinical), Viture states workers won't need a companion device.

The Helix works entirely on its own, furthering its useful capabilities for workers. Live demonstrations of the Viture Helix will be held at the NVIDIA/Dell meeting room at AWE 2026. This device isn't expected to launch until Q1 2027, starting at $600. Individual reservations are available today.

Things are looking up

Viture has continued to progress in the smart glasses space, and things are looking up for the future of its tech. The company recently debuted a pair of glasses that can pair with the Nintendo Switch 2. That spins the handheld gaming experience on its head—or, your head, rather. A wearable spatial neckband joins its growing portfolio, alongside a few controllers.

Android Central's Nicholas Sutrich sat down with Viture's Optical Lead, Dr Deqing Kong, about its latest products and what's coming. Dr. Deqing Kong teased products that will be at the forefront of next-gen quality and eye comfort. Regarding the latter, Viture's Optical Lead said the company made the switch to Sony's panels, since they offer "greater color saturation and pixel density." There's a lot planned for Viture in the future, especially with its chosen displays, and we might see that soon.

Android Central's Take

Focusing on safety is an interesting idea from Viture. In many ways, this makes the most sense to me. If a pair of glasses can help workers while they're working, wouldn't that make life a bit easier? In these areas, like industry and clinics, I'd imagine workers would get useful information on data, measurements, patient details, and more. Once this arrives next year, it'll be interesting to see how it's received.

What you need to know

• Xreal announced its Project Aura smart glasses, equipped with Google's Android XR and Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite.
• Weighing less than 95g, the Xreal Aura features a 70-degree FOV that's "virtually borderless," with hand-tracking and strong multimodal AI.
• Xreal also focused on delivering games and entertainment, such as the Fox Sports XR app, Fallout: Factions, and Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars.
• Consumers can reserve their Xreal Aura today (June 15) for $99.

If Xreal's smart glasses caught your attention at Google's I/O last month, the company's now come forward with official launch details.

This afternoon (June 16), Xreal announced the launch of its Aura with Google's Android XR smart glasses featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite. Combined, Xreal states these technologies provide multitasking, multimodal AI, and performance enhancements for its smart glasses. However, something users can truly wrap their heads around is the Xreal Aura's "premium spatial computing experience."

While Xreal kept things "lightweight" (less than 95g), the Aura glasses feature a 70-degree FOV (field of view) that's "virtually borderless." To elevate the experience, the press release highlights "world-facing sensors." Of course, this applies to the Aura's hand-tracking support, 6DoF tracking, and its AI features that users enable. Furthering the Xreal Aura's spatial capabilities is the company's X1S Spatial Coprocessor, which enables better low-latency spatial display and sensor processing.

Chi Xu, Co-founder and CEO of XREAL, had this to say about the brand's glasses: "XREAL AURA sets a new benchmark for OST XR glasses, bringing powerful AI-driven experiences to both work and everyday life."

Android XR unlocks the Google Play Store for the Xreal Aura. Consumers can download Android mobile and tablet apps onto the smart glasses as soon as they get the device. What's more, Xreal states users can expect "over one hundred" apps designed specifically for XR in the future, as development has already begun. To hold you over, Xreal offered a teaser of the apps Aura users can expect.

For games, Xreal teases development for Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars, which is launching on Aura in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios. This will let players "step into the role of Ryland Grace at a pivotal, untold moment in the Hail Mary mission, diagnosing failing ship systems and improvising ingenious scientific solutions as the spacecraft itself bleeds into their real-world environment." Fallout: Factions was also announced today (June 15), labeled as a "digital adaptation of the hit tabletop game from Modiphius Entertainment for XR." Fallout: Factions is a turn-based warfare game set in the Fallout universe, merging tactics with strategy in "immersive 3D maps."

Users can expect this title to arrive "later this year" on the Xreal Aura and Android XR.

Don't think sports-lovers were left out! Xreal states its smart glasses feature the Fox Sports XR app, packed with "immersive live sports and highlights." On the educational side, Xreal announced Simply Piano XR featuring "fine-tuned hand tracking and spatial computing to merge physical instruments with digital overlays, along with AI-powered real-time feedback for the ultimate XR piano-learning platform." You'll also find ShapesXR offering "immersive 70-degree FOV, allowing teams to sketch environments, place UI, storyboard interactions, and test concepts before writing much code."

Get yours reserved—now

There's more to unpack with the Xreal Aura, such as securing your device. Consumers can reserve theirs today (June 15) on Project Aura's official landing page for $99 in the U.S., the U.K., and Japan. Officially, the Xreal Aura will launch this fall. When it does, the company says consumers can find it in-store with its first retail partner, Best Buy.

Xreal also states, "For a limited-time two-week launch offer, reserve XREAL AURA with a $99 USD Launch Credit and receive $199 USD credit toward your purchase at launch later this year —saving you $100 on the final price. Launch Credit holders will receive priority shipping access when AURA becomes available, along with early customer support and launch updates."

If this is a product launch you can't miss, then the Xreal Aura Founder Priority Pass might be something to jump on. The post states this pass is limited to the first 2,000 reservations globally, aimed at "early adopters," developers, creators, and consumers. If you've reserved an Xreal Aura with a $299 deposit, you will secure yourself "guaranteed launch-day delivery in supported launch regions" when it launches, alongside "numbered special edition hardware."

Android Central's Take

One thing I'll say about the Xreal Aura is that they look good. Another aspect is how light they are. I want to feel like I'm just wearing glasses, and these bring that feel into reality. On an entertainment note, I have to give credit where credit is due. Xreal's choice to focus on delivering games and entertaining apps on launch is a highlight. It's like getting a new console with nothing to play. You can't have that, and Xreal made the right decisions.

What you need to know

• Snapdragon Reality Elite delivers up to 60% faster graphics and 160% stronger AI performance.
• The new XR platform supports on-device AI models and up to 4.4K resolution per eye at 90fps.
• XREAL Project Aura and future Play For Dream devices will be among the first to use the chip.

Qualcomm has announced Snapdragon Reality Elite, a new XR platform designed to power the next generation of smart glasses and XR headsets.

At AWE 2026, we're expecting to see a new wave of smart glasses and XR hardware, and it seems to facilitate those products, Qualcomm has unveiled the successor to the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2. For context, current generation of devices like the Samsung Galaxy XR headset are powered by the XR2+ Gen2.

The new Snapdragon Reality Elite joins the company's broader Elite branding and is designed specifically for XR devices, with a major focus on delivering significantly more on-device AI performance.

There are improvements across the board. Compared to the XR2+ Gen 2, Snapdragon Reality Elite delivers up to 60% higher GPU performance, up to 30% faster CPU performance, and up to 160% higher NPU performance. Qualcomm also claims devices powered by the platform can deliver up to 20% longer battery life while running up to 12°C cooler under sustained workloads.

As with almost every major silicon announcement this year, AI is front and center. Snapdragon Reality Elite delivers up to 48 TOPS of AI performance and is capable of running large language models and large vision models directly on-device. For reference, that's in the same ballpark as the AI performance found in many flagship smartphones today.

This AI horsepower is expected to power experiences like photorealistic avatars, AI agents, live translation, spatial computing, and other advanced XR features.

On the graphics side, the platform supports displays up to 4.4K resolution per eye at 90fps. Qualcomm says improvements to video passthrough technology reduce latency while improving image quality, helping digital objects blend more naturally into the real world.

The first devices expected to use the Snapdragon Reality Elite platform include the Xreal Project Aura and the next generation of hardware from Play For Dream.

Alongside Reality Elite, Qualcomm also introduced Snapdragon START, a new development initiative aimed at helping companies build AI-powered wearables and smart glasses faster through pre-packaged hardware, software, and reference designs.

Android Central's Take

I'm excited to see what this chipset enables for Android XR glasses. We already saw some impressive agentic AI demos at Google I/O, and Reality Elite feels like the hardware foundation needed to actually make those experiences practical.

What you need to know

• Qualcomm is drawing our attention toward its XR work, stating "something new" is coming to that environment.
• The company teases a "smarter and more immersive" XR system, which is likely based on its upcoming Snapdragon chip.
• It leads us to wonder if something big is being prepared for Meta Connect in September, or the new Pico XR headset.

Qualcomm is teasing what's next in the world of XR, and our minds are wondering: is Meta involved?

Qualcomm started teasing that a "new reality is coming soon" on a short X post this week. Of course, it looks like we should expect its Snapdragon chip to be a part of this major reveal—whenever that's set to be. The company has been working to create a new chip that it's positioning as a game-changer for XR.

The teaser continues, stating, "Imagine #XR that's smarter and more immersive than anything you've experienced before." While what Qualcomm's posting has users interested, that's not quite what's got everyone talking (us, included). The post is accompanied by a short teaser video showing a Snapdragon chip inside an XR headset.

It's got users wondering if Qualcomm is teasing another device from Samsung or Meta. Many users theorize that Qualcomm is using a Meta Quest Pro in its video. For us, we think the company is gearing up for a big debut at Meta Connect later this year. The headset involved certainly feels like a Quest product. Just compare it to the image at the top of this article. However, there's always a chance that it's not a major Meta teaser, but rather a Pico prelude.

XR keeps advancing

If that last sentence has you confused, don't worry. Pico is a headset brand that was acquired by ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, in 2021. In a way, you could consider this TikTok's rival to the Meta Quest. The headset that we alluded to is under Project Swan: a "high-end" XR device with custom silicon and an altered design. Pico announced earlier this year that it had plans to bring its new headset to North America this year.

That leads us right into our Meta Quest rival scenario. Circling back to Meta, the company announced its Connect event is confirmed for September 23-24, 2026. We've got AI and the Quest on our minds, and Meta confirmed as much. The company's evening keynote will involve AI, VR, wearables, and more. Meta's given us enough of a teaser to have us brainstorming for a little while. What we're most curious about is whether or not it will give us anything new about the long-rumored Ultralight Quest.

Android Central's Take

Regardless if Qualcomm is teasing something for a Quest or not, Meta Connect is shaping up to be an interesting event. Meta's been going all in on AI, and hopefully that means it's placing equal effort on its next wave of XR headsets. Details are still light, as we're only in June. We should expect to see more in the coming months leading up to the main keynote.

What you need to know

• A user on the Ray-Ban Display subreddit states they've received an update that brings quite a few features to the smart glasses.
• Palm Unlock is a new biometric security feature for the devices, alongside "Live Sports" for the lenses, and a POV camera option for calls in WhatsApp.
• Meta recently opened its door to third-party developers for the Ray-Ban Display, giving them the ability to create mobile and web apps.

Users claim Meta is rolling out a series of new features for its Ray-Ban Display glasses, but curiously, not everyone sees them.

Just before the weekend, reports started surfacing on the Meta Ray-Ban Display subreddit about an extensive list of new features in a v125-related update. The original poster (OP) shared several screenshots of what's new in this patch. One new feature, Palm Unlock, is an added biometric identification feature for the glasses. Meta states, "The distinctive details of your palm provide extra security for your glasses."

This is similar to using your fingerprint (or your face) to unlock your phone. Users' palm data is processed and stored on the device and "not sent to Meta servers." Another new feature the user spotted is "Posture detection." Slouching is a no-go, and it's even worse if you're constantly craning your neck. Meta says it will use the Ray-Ban Display's motion sensors to detect "your head position."

Phone calls were another aspect of this patch. Screenshots show that Meta has started rolling out "Phone call options" and "group video calls and POV camera" for WhatsApp. The former brings real-time captions during calls on your lens display. On WhatsApp, users can join "multi-person video calls" from their glasses and share their glasses' camera so everyone sees what you see.

Curiously, Meta also added a "Live Sports" option for the Ray-Ban Display. Connectivity is another addition users are curious about (us, too). The user captured a "Cellular" connectivity page, displaying SIMs and a "Get Connected" section for adding SIM cards.

Refining the Display

Strangely, users aren't reporting the same thing. One user said they were on the same version as the OP, but they don't see the new features. Others report being on v125.1 and v125.3 and see nothing. Perhaps Meta is just starting to roll out this new patch, and it's taking a while to reach everyone.

Meta had quite an eventful announcement for its Ray-Ban Display glasses in mid-May. The company opened the doors for third-party developers to begin creating for the Ray-Ban Display. Meta intends for developers to begin crafting mobile and web apps for the smart glasses. The Developer Preview was said to begin rolling out over the next few weeks, so, likely, they've already started receiving access.

The company also announced that its new AI, Muse Spark, will arrive in the Ray-Ban Display this summer.

Android Central's Take

Palm Unlock is probably the coolest thing about this update. I like the Live Sports thing, too. I'd imagine you'd see a small update on your HUD, which might make people audible upset if they see their favorite team is losing. Palm Unlock just sounds sci-fi to me. It's probably hard to get a good representation of this for Reddit, but I'd imagine users would need to open their palm and hold it in front of their face (glasses) to complete the scan. With that in mind, yeah, it's cool.

In a move that I never saw coming, Supernatural is coming back from the dead, and its founders and coaches are starting a completely independent company for the relaunch.

The news sideswiped me mid-morning on Wednesday when the Facebook community's post (via Good Virtual Reality) was published, and it's the biggest VR news to hit since Meta closed most of its internal studios back in January.

As you probably guessed, one of those studios was Within, the house that made Supernatural and was acquired by Meta (then Facebook) back in 2021. Despite a landmark legal battle between the FTC and Meta over the acquisition, Meta washed its hands of what it used to claim was "the future of at-home workouts." But because of a thriving, outspoken online community, Supernatural is coming back, and this time it's fully free of Meta's clutches.

What made Supernatural special

Supernatural's original April 2020 launch couldn't have been more timely. Most of the world had shut down due to COVID. People weren't leaving their homes, weren't going to work, and definitely weren't going to the gym, but Supernatural quickly paved the way for people to stay fit at home and still get that coach-led experience they'd been sorely missing. My genuine first impression is pictured above, and it tells you everything you need to know.

Supernatural isn't (or wasn't) just a realistic-looking Beat Saber clone. Each day brought a new coach-led workout, filled with popular music, gorgeous vistas, and gameplay that rewarded those who put in 100% effort. As Russell Holly put it when he wrote about it that May, "I'm dripping in sweat, every inch of me is sore, and I have a huge smile on my face."

At the time, I had never gone to a coach-led gym class and, quite frankly, had very little interest in such things. Russell's recommendation, along with the fervent recommendations from the VR community at large, convinced me to try it. I spent the next several months playing it every day, and I quickly realized the power a coach's voice had. It, along with my wife, pushed me into a substantially healthier lifestyle than I had ever had.

And I'm far, far from alone in that sentiment. The official Supernatural Facebook community has over 113,000 members, and the responses to this week's news have been overwhelmingly positive. "No! I’m not crying at work!" reads one post, and nearly all of the replies are the same. "I cried too." "Definitely crying! This app changed my life." "I’m crying at work!!!!"

It's because Supernatural wasn't just an excellent, coach-led daily workout. It was an entire community of people who found a way to make working out fun and share in those wins together. People encouraged each other. They cried with each other. They won with each other, and the unceremonious plug-pulling that Meta did in January 2026 was more than just heartbreaking to those folks. It was the end of something that changed their lives for the better.

What's the new Supernatural going to look like?

Supernatural is returning, and while most important parts of the experience will remain, plenty of things will undoubtedly change. The team isn't shying away from saying that this isn't the same old app under new management. It's OG management taking back the reins and creating something new (and hopefully better) in the process.

Per the official Supernatural website, your favorite coaches will be back "on day one," new workouts and future features will be built using feedback, and the community will be central to the entire experience. Since the coaches need to be paid for their ongoing work, Supernatural will still be a subscription-only experience, but fans can lock in a "founder's rate" by registering interest in the relaunch, which is currently slated for the fall of 2026.

The standard rate is going up to $20 per month or $200 per year, but let's be real: there's no chance you'll ever find a coach-led gym class that's just $20 a month. Even if you need financial aid to cover the cost, Supernatural Scholarships will be available to help.

While specific platforms haven't yet been announced, Supernatural will still be a "VR workout app." That almost undoubtedly means Meta Quest first, since it's a fully standalone, wireless VR console, but now that Supernatural is free of Meta's funding and influence, it may also mean it comes to other VR platforms.

"We’re returning to our roots and plan to build major parts of the technology from the ground up as a much smaller company," says the Supernatural team, and that tells me that this game will almost certainly be less reliant on Meta's proprietary development tools and, instead, built in a way that's more sustainable for future growth.

There's no chance the core gameplay loop changes, although I imagine plenty of new ideas from the community can be implemented in this rebuilt Supernatural. As licenced, popular music was one of the core facets of what made Supernatural so uniquely powerful, I also doubt that we'll see any real change in the soundtrack.

Regardless of the specifics, one thing is certain: Supernatural is back, the community is on fire for the new direction of its favorite workout app, and VR fitness is about to have a full-on renaissance this fall. The real question is whether other now-defunct Meta studios will also see this kind of revival, as well.

When Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook bought Oculus back in 2014, the company billed VR as "a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform." Seven years later, in 2021, Facebook rebranded to Meta in an effort to become the de facto metaverse leader.

In the five years since then, a lot has changed at Meta, but one thing is clear: the original vision of VR as the next social and communications platform is becoming a reality, even if the path to get there looks very different from what was expected.

Instead of an all-encompassing capital-M Metaverse controlled by a single company (à la "Ready Player One"), a swath of free-to-play games from small indie developers has taken root, serving as social hubs for millions of Meta Quest gamers every month. Gorilla Tag began the movement in February 2021, and no one at the time had any idea how it would fundamentally transform VR in just a few short years.

"When we started our studio, we were building the wrong games," said Spencer Cook, CEO of Continuum, the studio behind the uber-popular Ug VR. The line came from a 2026 GDC panel where the studio helped explain what made Ug VR the success it has become and how VR is different from what seemingly everyone thought.

It's a powerful example of how each medium has its own draws, and how the same kinds of games that work on a TV-mounted console don't work on a head-mounted VR system.

Social first is how you win

For years, Meta and many VR-first developers chased the idea of creating the next Grand Theft Auto, Mario, Uncharted, or Halo. Meta poured billions into gaming development, creating genuinely phenomenal titles worthy of 5-star reviews. It stacked up big names like Batman: Arkham Shadow, Marvel's Deadpool, The Walking Dead, Assassin's Creed Nexus, and so many more, creating a powerful library of games any gamer should have been jealous of.

But it didn't work, and no one really understands why. Instead, VR gamers by the millions are coming back day after day to play social-first games that are (by developers' own admissions) simple experiences without "polished mechanics" or "clever gameplay ideas". It would sound damning if it didn't work so well.

Ironically, all of the biggest VR games these days follow the advice Andrew Eiche laid out when I interviewed him a few years ago. Eiche is the CEO of Owlchemy Games, creator of VR classics like Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator, and those games all follow the idea of letting you roleplay without letting exposition get in the way. In other words, you're not playing in the shoes of Cal Kestis or Kay Vess to save the galaxy; you're playing in your own shoes and a character of your own creation.

In addition, the most successful VR games in 2026 are almost exclusively designed to enable players to create and share content on the world's most popular social media platforms. From YouTube Shorts to TikTok, these games' videos amass millions of views and have created real success for the people playing them and having fun making content. It's an endless wheel of fun and success, and it keeps giving birth to more games like it.

For a few years, anything that looked or moved like Gorilla Tag was hastily referred to as a Gorilla Tag clone, but players have learned that this label is simply incorrect. Titles like Yeeps, Scary Baboon, Wizherd, Digi Gods, and Ug VR all share similar movement mechanics to Gorilla Tag, but there's often a special gameplay hook that separates these titles from the rest of the pack.

Last week, I spoke with Kyle Joyce, CEO of Enver Studios and creator of Scary Baboon, one of the most popular social VR games today. As you might expect from the name, this one uses familiar Gorilla Tag mechanics and the popular PS1-era art style, but blends it with horror-lite mechanics that fans of Five Nights at Freddy's and Poppy Playtime simply love.

The studio has expanded Scary Baboon recently with new co-op experiences that let players work together to solve problems, fight monsters, and explore the world. The key here is that players aren't fighting each other; they're working together to survive, and it's this concept that has also spawned the "friendslop" genre.

To date, seven million people have installed Scary Baboon (that's unique players, not installs), and Joyce told me the retention rate is impressively high. This tracks with the Ug VR GDC video I linked earlier, where Spencer Cook outlined a 70% retention rate among the game's audience. Scary Baboon's latest update lets players fight back against the monsters regularly haunting the halls. Still, players have to be smart about weapon usage because monsters can become enraged and invincible for a while if hit too much.

Scary Baboon's latest updates have been so popular that the company has been able to ink a deal with "a large, legacy IP" that'll debut in an update this July. Joyce says their numbers have consistently been up in recent months, owing to the success of both the latest updates and the shift from "frustrating PvP" to a friendlier co-op PvE experience.

"Our audience would rather play with their friends than against them," Joyce told me. I can relate to this, as I find myself gravitating toward non-PvP experiences more and more. This is especially the case with free-to-play titles like Scary Baboon or Animal Company, both of which I regularly play with my son and have regular content updates to explore.

Joyce says his studio has been focusing on community feedback and letting players drive the game's future, while also acknowledging that they can't please everyone. Joyce said this focus is why he started creating content for the game and participates in community events, helping other players feel involved in the game's creation.

Unsurprisingly, Ug VR's creators say "our success comes from knowing what entertains our players and from engaging with the community." It's a very different model from what has made games successful in the past, particularly because of the speed and voracity at which the community consumes and shares content.

It's taken a solid decade of learning and growing, but it's become clear that VR games do best when socializing or role-playing are the core experience. Given the impressive rate of growth of these types of games along with the stagnation of more traditional games, it's clear that VR's success will look different from what many initially thought, but players who embrace this change will find a unique, engaging experience that's truly different from what's available on any other video game medium.

Typically, when a company gives its products a UI overhaul, the new design focuses on fixing problems people complained about in the old version. Meta has been working on it for two years now, but the end result isn't exactly getting the reception Meta was hoping for.

Ever since the update started rolling out to everyone a few weeks ago, I've received countless messages from friends (and the parents of my son's friends) asking how to revert to the old UI. The answer is...you can't. The follow-up questions then usually revolve around how to do all the things they used to do every day, since many of the most common tasks now require several additional clicks or menu selections to find.

Meta designed this new Navigator UI, as it's called, to make it dead simple to jump into VR experiences in record time. It absolutely achieves that goal, but as is the case any time you prioritize one specific feature, everything else suffers because of it. If you're confounded by the new Meta Quest UI and can't figure out what to do, here are a few tips and tricks to get you going.

Get those floating windows out of my face

Meta's Navigator UI launched with a brand-new two-layer window system, which has become an immediate annoyance for many people. Pressing the Meta/home button on the right controller now always brings up the app launcher, but all other system windows and apps run in floating windows. The problem is that pressing that Meta/home button again doesn't hide the windows; it only hides the app launcher.

Meta also completely redesigned the universal menu bar at the bottom, which no longer lets you pin apps, quickly close floating windows, or use the virtual camera. Instead, you'll need to double-click the Meta/home button on the right controller to hide the floating windows. It's possible that Meta explained this in one of those pop-up tutorial windows, but many people don't read them, and hiding this kind of important functionality behind a weird gesture makes users very frustrated.

Some versions of the Navigator UI now include a virtual "hide windows" button on the app launcher hot bar, which is at least a moderate improvement to this awful dual-layer design, but it's still a lot of button presses to achieve what a single home button press used to do.

How to update, pin, or uninstall an app

In the old app launcher, every app or game's icon had a three-dot menu button in the top-right corner, letting you perform additional actions on that app. Things like pinning the app to the hotbar, updating it, checking permissions, or even uninstalling were in a pretty obvious place that's similar to smartphone UIs. The Navigator app launcher just shows a series of icons with no obvious additional actions.

To find this hidden menu, hover your cursor over the app or game's icon, then press and hold the trigger button on your controller until the menu appears. From here, you can pin an app to the top of the app drawer, lock it from changes, hide it (usually used for games you own but no longer play), update, adjust settings, go to the store page (see details), or uninstall it (remove from library).

This one is yet another UI change that hides common actions, and it's quite frankly puzzling how this one was ever green-lit from testing.

Closing an app

Believe it or not, I have to write a tutorial on how to close a running app. That's how bad this new UI is. While you were playing an immersive game in the previous UI, you could press the Meta/home button, then click Quit on the menu that appears. It was simple! It was easy! But Meta had to go and make it difficult.

In Navigator, pressing the Meta/home button just opens the app launcher. You could click on another immersive game or app, which will automatically close the open immersive app, but sometimes you don't want to jump from app to app.

Instead, you'll need to: press the Meta/home button on the right controller to open the app launcher, then look at the small row of icons located on the hotbar at the bottom of the app launcher. You should see the icon for the running app. Go ahead and click that, then click Quit on the menu that appears. Yet again, a common action that used to be a single click now needlessly requires additional steps.

How to take a screenshot, record a video, or cast to a TV

If you haven't figured out the theme by now, these three common Camera tasks now take several additional clicks to perform in the new Navigator UI. To save time, here are three ways you can take a screenshot, record a video, or cast to a TV:

1. Press the Meta/home button on the right controller to open the app launcher. Tap the pink/orange camera icon, then click the action you want to perform. This is the easiest way to cast to a TV.

2. If you can't find the camera in the app drawer, you can click on the Quick Settings icon, located on the hotbar at the bottom of the app launcher. Then, you'll click the camera icon in the row of icons to open the camera drawer. This is the second fastest way to cast to a TV.

3. To quickly take a screenshot in some games, press and hold the Meta/home button, then quickly press the trigger on the same controller.

4. To quickly record a video in some games, press and hold the Meta/home button, then press and hold the trigger on the same controller until you hear a "start recording" sound. Perform the same home button/trigger combo to stop the video.

I'm already exhausted, and I'm sure you are too. On the bright side, the new camera bar that appears when you follow steps 1 and 2 above offers much more functionality than the old menu. Try clicking camera settings in that menu and play around with the available options! You can default the recording camera to third-person view, make it Instagram-ready with a 9:16 aspect ratio, add image stability, and more.

Where did settings go?

Finding settings used to be a fairly simple task. You'd press the home button, then tap on quick settings, and a large, lovely Settings button would be right there. The new UI didn't change these steps much, but it made the settings button absolutely tiny and nearly impossible to see. I don't know why Meta wants to hide this so badly, but here's how to find it:

1. Press the Meta/home button on the right controller to open the app launcher.

2. Tap the quick settings icon on the hotbar below the app launcher.

3. When quick settings appears, look for the small gear icon to the left of the Wi-Fi icon, then click it to open settings.

It's just not good...

Look, I don't like to complain about updates or UI changes because, most of the time, even the most dramatic changes can be positive ones once you get used to them. But Navigator is something entirely different. While it makes launching apps quite a bit faster, it does so at the expense of nearly every other action Meta Quest gamers commonly do.

Meta received a lot of criticism for this update during the testing phase, including plenty of posts on social media, in their own forums, and feedback through the official process, but they still went through and pushed the new UI out to everyone without making fundamental changes.

Meta has had a huge problem with buggy updates in the past, and while this update isn't buggy, it's bad in a very different way. The only way to roll back the menu changes is to use Quest Games Optimizer, which you'll need to sideload, but the app also opens a ton of customization and performance options that aren't available otherwise. QGO is a truly great app that I use every time I play on my Quest, but even if you don't get it, you at least know how to get things done in the new Navigator UI.

What you need to know

• Xreal debuts its entry-level sub-brand, X by Xreal (XBX), which debuts with its first pair of AR glasses, the a01.
• XBX highlights these glasses as a pair that's for gamers and movie-lovers, as its displays remain consistent with detailed, vibrant content when on-the-go or laying down.
• The a01 also support interchangeable lenses and customizable front-frames.
• XBX launched the a01 first in China; however, they will come to the U.S. in July for $299.

Xreal looks to solve an entry-level AR market problem by introducing its new sub-brand and its first pair of smart glasses.

The company has introduced X by Xreal, otherwise known as XBX. This sub-brand isn't empty-handed in its debut this week, as a press release states the a01 AR glasses launch. XBX states the a01 features a 1,600nit HDR10 ultra-bright display. What's more, these glasses support 14 levels of brightness, so consumers can adjust their screen for comfort. XBX has combined this bright display with dual-layer MicroOLED screens and a "dedicated image enhancement chip."

Users can make whatever they're looking at feel like it's straight from a movie with the a01's SDR-to-HDR conversion technology. Ensuring that you can see everything clearly and without fail, XBX integrated an "industry-first" anti-shake algorithm. It states this should solve "blurry" or "washed out" colors when viewing content. The a01 is expected to remain consistent while riding public transportation (trains, buses) and more for users watching shows or movies.

As you might assume, XBX is positioning the a01 glasses as a "pocket cinema." However, it's much more than that, as the company is also looking to give a good entry-level avenue into AR glasses for gamers.

"Just Play" is where these glasses come in. Through the vibrant, consistent screen of the a01, XBX says gamers can immerse themselves in the worlds they enjoy. The brand's Just Play motto is further enhanced by relieved limitations through this AR device. These glasses are said to turn handheld consoles and smartphones "into a massive screen in seconds."

Chi Xu, Xreal's co-founder and CEO, commented on this debut, saying, "X By XREAL was created to bring the core magic of XREAL’s flagship experiences to a broader audience. The a01 borrows from years of innovation, found in our flagship products like the XREAL One Series, and refines them into an accessible platform designed to welcome the next generation of AR glasses owners."

Consumers won't find a camera on these glasses. This was a design choice to help keep the glasses light. XBX says the a01 weighs ~62g, so users won't feel so burdened throughout the day. Its nylon body can be thanked for that, while XBX worked on reducing the lens thickness.

XBX style

Consumers can't get a new AR product without having a level of customization. The post highlights interchangeable front frames. XBX gives consumers the choice of swapping between "transparent and immersive viewing scenarios." For users who want to go that extra mile, XBX says they can 3D print their own front-frame accessories for the a01 glasses.

Overseas users will have to wait, as XBX launches the a01 AR glasses in China first. However, the wait won't be so grueling, as it announces U.S. consumers can get their hands on this pair in July for $299.

Android Central's Take

Entry-level AR glasses. It reminds me of mid-range phones. I guess it makes sense, to see the smart glasses market shift in this way. Xreal, or rather XBX, is trying to get ahead of the game with this launch. I like that this is a thing. If you think about it, there are smart glasses out there that are pretty much the price of a phone. Sure, these lack cameras, but that doesn't break anything for me. I'd have my phone with me, or an actual camera, so whatever. I give XBX a strong thumbs up for this one.

It's the season of gaming showcases, and the Meta Quest is now on its second just in May alone. First, we got the Creature Feature showcase in early May, and now the father-son VR podcast duo just had its second-annual Ruff Talk VR Gaming Showcase, with over two dozen announcements and update trailers for Meta Quest gamers to get excited about.

And while I have plenty of favorites from the show, one announcement really struck a cord with me. The full showcase is in the video below, followed by my favorite highlights. Get ready to have some fun!

Walkabout Mini Golf: The Homestar Runner Distraction Pack

If you're a millennial like me, you'll undoubtedly remember Homestar Runner from the Macromedia Flash days. It's a hilarious cartoon that spawned a boatload of memes (everyone knows Trogdor the Burninator, right?), and now it's making its way to the Meta Quest in a special Walkabout Mini Golf pack.

But this one isn't a new course. Instead, it's called The Homestar Runner Distraction Pack and contains:

• 6 Activities to play through and conquer!
• The ultimate hang out spot: Strong Bad’s basement
• 18 collectable Lost Balls
• Custom putters to earn
• Unique avatars and a custom ball trail to channel your favorite characters
• Unlockable hole celebrations
• (Plus more)

I don't know what the "more" part entails just yet, but it's launching on June 25, so you've got a month to save up a few bucks for the DLC. Walkabout DLCs range from $2 to $5, so we're not talking much cash. Either way, I'm STOKED to see the Homestar Runner crew in VR, and this might just be my favorite update since the Wallace & Gromit one from two years ago.

Sky Legends

This one's actualy out now, which is always a blast when it's the first time you've heard of what looks like an impressively polished, immersive narrative adventure. Fix up planes, do some reconnaissance work, and make history in this 1920s-era VR title.

Survive the Night

I have no idea why there was no trailer for Survive the Night, but I don't need much convincing to get interested in The Binary Mill's next game. If you're not familiar with the developer's name, they're the ones behind Quest hits like Gun Club VR, Mini Motor Racing X, Into Black, and Resist. Survive the night is a free-to-play 4-player survival roguelike that's coming soon, and you can wishlist it now.

Cave Crave Multiplayer update

Cave Crave went viral on social media a few months back because of its ability to take players on an adventure 99.9% of them would never be able to (or even want to) in real life. Cave diving can be supremely dangerous, as the Nutty Putty cave proves in the game, and now you can join friends in the new multiplayer update to make things even more like the real thing, just without all the real perils.

Knights of Fiona

From the developers of Ruinsmagus comes a brand new VR JRPG that looks full of polish and character. A brand new trailer was shown during the showcase, giving a deeper glimpse at gameplay, characters, and the world ahead of the next previews that should be coming out next week.

If you happen to be at BitSummit in Kyoto, Japan, from May 22nd to May 24th, you can play it yourself. Otherwise, expect to see some hands-on videos on YouTube and wishlist the game now ahead of its full release.

And there's quite a bit more to see in the showcase back at the top of this article, so check it out and let us know what your favorite announcement was!

It's been a long time coming, but we finally got to see Xreal Project Aura in action at Google I/O 2026. The hybrid smart glasses are designed to deliver a VR experience in a smart glasses form factor, so you get the full power of the Android XR platform without the bulk of a VR headset. Project Aura packs dual displays (one in each lens), speakers, and cameras to deliver an upgraded smart glasses experience.

To achieve this, Xreal Project Aura is designed a little differently than other smart glasses you can buy today. Instead of cramming all the electronics and battery into the glasses, Xreal will be shipping Aura specs with a small compute puck that fits comfortably in your pocket. This little puck holds the battery, Snapdragon processor, and most of the heavier components, so the glasses stay as light as possible and look more like a regular pair of glasses.

Xreal is still outfitting Aura glasses with an upgraded X1S chip and a set of cameras that allow it to spatially track your position, so you can get that full VR spatial experience. This upgraded X1S chip focuses on improved speed and multitasking compared to the X1 chip in the current-generation Xreal One glasses.

Fundamentally different from every other pair of smart glasses

Xreal released many of the first official details of Project Aura after the Google I/O 2026 show yesterday, a full year after the initial unveiling at last year's I/O. During a product briefing ahead of I/O 2026, Xreal told me to expect the glasses to make their commercial debut this year. Whether that'll be alongside the new Samsung-built AI glasses in the fall, or slightly closer to the holidays, is up in the air.

Since Tuesday afternoon's information release, there's been some confusion about how Project Aura works. These glasses aren't the same as current-generation glasses like Xreal 1S or Viture Beast. Those glasses are just a wearable monitor that you plug into another device, like your phone, laptop, or even a device like the Nintendo Switch 2.

Xreal Project Aura is intended to be used entirely on its own, though it also doubles as a wearable monitor, if you want. But normally, you'll plug it into the compute puck I mentioned above and get the full Android XR experience. That means full spatial tracking of your surroundings and hand tracking (to enable natural movement and interaction), plus support for all existing Android 2D and spatial apps.

You can see it in action at the link below (jump to 12:16 if the link doesn't do that for you).

The puck itself looks like a phone, but it's not. It's a clear evolution of 2024's Xreal Beam Pro, including the dual USB-C ports on the bottom.

Xreal stopped short of announcing a specific Snapdragon chipset for the compute puck. Still, since it's designed to offer the full Android XR experience, it's going to be far more capable than the chipsets found in all-in-one XR glasses like Ray-Ban Display or even the monocular display glasses Google and Samsung are working on.

Project Aura features a 70-degree field of view (FoV), which is about 15 degrees wider than the best smart glasses available today, but still about 20-30 degrees narrower than a VR headset like the Meta Quest 3. Whether you'll want to play VR games on this regularly remains to be seen, but the glasses should be perfect for mixed-reality games that overlay virtual objects onto the real world or use the real world as a backdrop.

Based on Android Central managing editor Derrek Lee's hands-on time and analyst Anshel Sag's notes, it's clear Xreal and Google have put some impressive work into translating the VR experience into a sleek pair of smart glasses. Sag says the narrower FoV is impressive and translates the Galaxy XR experience faithfully. As a regular Galaxy XR user, this is exactly what I was hoping to hear!

Additionally, the image quality and performance seem to be on par with the headset for daily tasks. Since the glasses have Gemini built in, they can detect faces and automatically dim the display so you can see the person standing in front of you best, making this feel even more like a magic floating display.

Project Aura doesn't have a final product name, price, or specific release date, but we expect it to be available later this year, likely at a similar (or slightly higher) price to the new Xreal ROG R1 glasses announced last week. Xreal is sending out the first 1,000 devkits for free, which means there's no real investment for developers to begin making Android XR spatial apps right now. The future looks very bright for this tech, and Aura will lead the way in the next big XR push.

What you need to know

• Meta announced that it's opening the doors for other developers to begin creating mobile and web apps for the Ray-Ban Display.
• The company will roll out availability for its Developer Preview over the next few weeks; however, devs can get a head start before they enter.
• The Ray-Ban Display is expected to receive Meta's AI, Muse Spark, this summer, and Connect 2026 is on the way this September.

Meta announced late this week that its built-in lens display glasses are opening their doors to developers looking to make the best apps for it.

In a press release, Meta states that while developers have been experimenting with builds for its AI glasses, the Ray-Ban Display now provides two ways for them to create future apps. Meta is rolling out access for developers (via the Developer Preview) for them to begin creating mobile and web apps. The company adds, "You can create display experiences using familiar tools, whether you're extending an existing iOS or Android mobile app or building something entirely new."

It highlights that developers won't have to worry about creating a dev kit from scratch, as the medium—the platform—is already there. Devs can get an early start on their future on the Ray-Ban Display, as availability continues to roll out over the next few weeks.

The Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit is where developers will find what they need for mobile apps on the Ray-Ban Display. This is a native SDK for Android and iOS, allowing devs to extend their apps onto the device's display. There will be tools to add UI features, such as "text, images, lists, buttons, and video playback." On the other hand, the new web apps path lets developers build using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

One big part of the Ray-Ban Display is its Neural Band, which utilizes your hand's movements to complete actions on its in-lens screen. Developers can now take advantage of it by adding informative overlays, real-time data (think sports scores), media streaming, and more.

More coming

This is the second bit of good news for the Ray-Ban Display this week, as the other portion was all about Muse Spark. It's probably better to say this AI announcement is only half good for the Display. Earlier this week, Meta revealed that its new LLM, Muse Spark, was headed for its AI glasses. This gives users access to its smarter, more accurate AI model, capable of handling tasks/requests with speed and precision, thanks to its use of multiple AI agents.

This is rolling out for Meta's AI glasses Gen 1 and Gen 2; however, the Display will have to wait until this summer to get it. That's not all, as Meta Connect 2026 was confirmed to take place from September 23-24. There weren't many details, but what was teased was AI, VR, wearables, and more for its main keynote.

Android Central's Take

This can only be a good thing for Meta. However, it does feel like the company is trying to ensure it can keep up with the changing tide. More companies are stepping forward with their own AI glasses, and with apps that are interested because of the developers behind them. If Meta wants to remain relevant and in contention, opening up the doors for developers outside of their own is a good idea.

What you need to know

• The ASUS, Xreal partnership is finally here, as the ROG Xreal R1 AR gaming glasses have debuted.
• The glasses feature a Sony 0.55-inch micro-OLED display, but users can project a 171-inch virtual screen.
• This device has been crafted to feel like a true extension of the ROG Ally, a handheld gaming console, with smooth fresh rates, vibrant visuals, enhanced sound, and 2D-to-3D conversion for games.
• The glasses are available for pre-order at Best Buy for $849.

If you've been keeping an eye on a specific pair of gaming-oriented smart glasses collaboration, today is your day.

ASUS (ROG) and Xreal's collaboration for a pair of AR smart glasses has been teased since January, and now the ROG Xreal R1 is available for pre-order today (May 15). In a press release, ASUS claims that the R1 glasses have evolved into an extension of the ROG Ally (a portable gaming handheld). ASUS states it's helped to unify the "hardware and software to deliver a cohesive experience." When it comes to Xreal, its XR technology helps bring everything together.

As a result, the R1 smart glasses feature a Sony 0.55-inch (and a projected 171-inch virtual) micro-OLED display with a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. To further the feeling of "wearing" a handheld gaming console on your face, the post states the display offers minimal motion blur and jittering, while providing smooth visuals and a "highly responsive" experience.

Users can adjust the brightness, display size, aspect ratio, effects, and more in real-time. What's more, the collaboration facilitates 95% coverage for the user's "focused" vision. Speaking of staying focused, the R1 glasses feature "Electrochromic Lens" technology. This fancy term encompasses the device's ability to become transparent if the user looks away from the screen. When you return, the area around the anchored display tints, so you can focus on your gameplay.

It's difficult to game without the right equipment, and that's where the ROG Control Dock comes into play. Connected to the ASUS DisplayWidget Center, users can customize their virtual screen via a keyboard and mouse for system-wide control. Other features, like AI-enhanced crosshairs and more, helped push the "PC-like quality" experience, but for a pair of AR glasses.

Breaking the norm is the real-time 2D-to-3D conversion. This lets users turn their standard games into something with more "depth and scale." Users can pin their display to a fixed position or utilize its seamless tracking. Other tools let users customize the level of display tint, alongside a frame rate booster. For audio, the two companies are leaning on Bose to carry the way.

Xreal and ASUS feel confident that this audio support will provide clarity for distant footsteps and explosions for "heightened awareness."

The gaming glasses are here

The ROG Xreal R1 gaming glasses are available for pre-order via Best Buy for $849. The press release notes that pre-order availability will open on the official Xreal store on May 17 at 3 am ET (12 am PT).

ASUS and Xreal's appearance at CES 2026 got us hyped for this release. These glasses are trying to nail down one specific area: gaming. The R1 glasses provide an anchored display in the lens, but the projected display can take your gaming experience to another level. Either way, with strong PC-like gaming quality and controls, users will find a totally new way to play their favorite games.

Android Central's Take

These glasses are cool. I find these cooler than the other smart glasses on the market today, but that's just because I'm a gamer. I already play a few games on my phone, games that I can also play on a PC or a standard gaming console, but this is different. The projected screen is another aspect that's got me curious. Though it can only project this screen from roughly 13 ft away, it's a neat addition that they didn't have to add. I think one aspect about these glasses will be the price. I'm curious to see how many chase these glasses at that price point.

This week, I plugged a pair of Viture Beast smart glasses into my Motorola Razr Fold 2026 to see what it would do. Most phones just mirror the phone screen onto a pair of smart glasses like this, but Motorola does something totally different. A special menu appears on the glasses, giving you a way to quickly launch games, movies, video chats, or even turn your phone into a full-fledged laptop replacement.

As smartphones have become more capable over the years, I've found my travel bag growing lighter and lighter. Smartphones have largely replaced dedicated cameras for the vast majority of people — I've even gone to more than one event without a big camera — and laptops may soon be on the way out, if my experience with the Razr Fold is anything to go by.

Using a phone as a laptop isn't a new thing, per se, but Motorola makes the transition effortless with Motorola Smart Connect, a piece of software they've been improving over the past few years that links all your devices. The brilliant part is that this works on more than just Motorola devices, as it's designed to let you carry over all your digital belongings and information, no matter which platforms you use.

Fulfilling the XR dream

For the past several years, we've seen new VR headsets launch with the idea that they were a "laptop for your face." Apple did it with the Vision Pro. Samsung did it with the Galaxy XR. Both companies were successful in their own ways with these launches, but the price proved prohibitive for most people.

But a pair of XR smart glasses like Xreal 1S or Viture Beast are a different story entirely. While still a bit expensive, these glasses are a fraction of the cost of bulkier VR headsets and offer a much sleeker hardware profile, easily fitting into a travel bag and looking a lot less awkward when wearing in public.

Possibly even better is the fact that the glasses plug into your phone, meaning you don't have to remember to install all your favorite apps or copy your most important files over to another device. On top of that, Motorola's excellent Smart Connect software gives you a completely different UI when glasses are plugged in, and it looks just like your desktop or laptop PC.

For maximum productivity, I recommend slipping a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse into your travel bag. This brilliant Logitech keyboard ($24 as of writing this) has a laptop-style trackpad built into it, so you can get all the comforts of laptop controls without having to pack extra equipment. Just open your Razr Fold's Bluetooth settings and pair the keyboard to the phone, no extra configuration needed!

When you plug your favorite pair of smart glasses into your Razr Fold, a menu will appear, allowing you to quickly launch desktop, TV, video call, or gaming modes. The Razr Fold's screen will automatically turn into a trackpad for navigation, so if you don't want to go the keyboard and mouse route, this is a supremely convenient fallback.

Now, all you have to do is use your thumb (or any finger, really) to slide the on-screen mouse cursor over to your mode of choice, then tap the screen to perform a click. If you launch Desktop Mode, a familiar desktop UI will appear on screen, complete with a mouse cursor.

From this point, there's literally nothing your Razr Fold can't do. Play games, launch your favorite browser, open Google Drive or Gmail, and get some work done. Whatever floats your boat works here, and you can even scale windows, move them around, minimize them, etc., just like a Windows or Mac computer.

To make things even better, you can load up the GameHub app from the Google Play Store and play Steam games natively on your Razr Fold, replacing devices like a Steam Deck. I recently checked out the latest Viture Beast glasses and an accompanying Viture controller that are perfect for this functionality, replacing yet another device in your travel bag.

Now, your phone does it all, and thanks to smart glasses like Viture Beast or Xreal 1S, your neck won't hurt from looking down at a handheld gaming system or laptop for the entire trip.

This past weekend, I was playing Forefront with a large group of friends. The game finally made it out of beta and launched v1.0 a few days prior, so I needed to reinstall it to ensure I didn't run into any weird bugs. Oddly enough, this caused more strife; suddenly, no one in the game could hear me, and nothing I did seemed to fix it.

It wasn't until I quit the game that a friend reminded me about app permissions. Duh! The Meta Quest runs Android, which means each app has to request permission to sensitive information like location, cameras, and microphones. Sure enough, I went into Forefront's app permissions, and it had no permission to do anything other than run on my headset.

Unfortunately, this can easily happen if you accidentally click off a permissions box or click deny without realizing the importance of a permission. To make matters worse, there's nothing on the Quest that will tell you that this is the problem; you just have to figure it out all by yourself. If you find that your voice chat in a game isn't working, or something else is suddenly broken in a Meta Quest game, you might need to check the app's permissions.

Fixing permissions on a Meta Quest

Once you've realized that missing or incorrect permissions might be what's causing you strife in your Meta Quest game, you're halfway to solving the problem. Most apps on the Meta Quest will only need microphone permission to work properly, but some other apps and games, like mixed reality games, will also need spatial data and camera permissions.

No matter what permissions the game might need, you can fix them all in one convenient place. Meta's new Navigator UI makes it a little harder to find some settings, but, ironically, requires fewer steps to get to where you want than the old UI. Here's how to find them:

1. While wearing your Meta Quest, press the Meta button on the right controller to bring up the Navigator menu.

2. Find the app or game you want to change permissions for in the library.

3. Point your cursor to the app, then press and hold the trigger until a menu appears.

4. Click Settings from the pop-up menu.

5. Under the permissions tab, tap any toggle to enable permissions that are disabled.

After making the change, everything should start working normally. It's possible some apps or games might require you to quit and restart them, but permissions changes normally take effect immediately. If that still didn't fix your issue, make sure voice chat is enabled, and voice volume isn't turned all the way down in your game's settings menu.

It's annoying that the system doesn't tell you when an app is requesting permission, but you've previously denied it (or ignored it), but at least it's simple to find out if a permissions issue is what's causing the problem. Happy gaming!

This year has been a wild one for VR gamers, and while there have been plenty of ups and downs, VR-focused publishers like Creature are carrying the mantle with exciting new releases. The live chat was filled with shouts and praises in all caps throughout the show, and it seems like Creature really hit a high mark with Meta Quest gamers!

This year's Creature Feature included tons of announcements, including new games and reveals, plus big updates for existing favorites, and a few Easter eggs thrown in for good measure. Creature is even having a publisher sale for all its existing games!

You can watch the entire show in the video below, followed by my favorite picks. Here's the full list of announcements for the Meta Quest platform before we begin:

• Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades 2: The hot dog-themed shooter finally gets a sequel 10 years in the making, with brand new modes and a Meta Quest release.
• Compass: An open-world flight adventure. Fly high above the clouds, find treasure, and upgrade your ship to go further and further.
• Wordbound: Smash together letters to form words, then smash those words together to create objects, all in an effort to solve puzzles. It's an impressively creative use of interactive technology!
• Janet's Planet:. A planet terraforming adventure that tasks players with saving dying planets via unique terraforming mechanics.
• Sock Puppet Superstar: Put on your Meta Quest and slide your hand into a magical sock that sings at concerts in this new rhythm game that went viral on social media. It channels Trombone Champ in the most Pixar way possible.
• Crepe Master: A VR beat-em-up that'll put the "sweet" in "sweet punch!"
• Spymaster: An action-narrative spy game where you play as three different agents, all with different skills and gadgets.
• Updates for Laser Dance, Deadly Delivery, Crossings, Sweet Surrender, Beat the Beats, and Forefront.

H3VR2

Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. This strange combination of words is known very well to PC VR fans as one of the original VR FPS games, and its renown is now spreading to the Meta Quest with a proper sequel. As with the original Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades 2 (also known as H3VR2) puts you in the uncomfortable skin of gun-wielding hot dogs, including impressively realistic guns and gunplay.

Like any good sequel, this one builds upon the original by introducing a new Facility mode that lets players embark on missions to collect loot and make it back home alive. That, plus the Combat mode, daily challenges, runs, leaderboards, and more, will surely have players coming back again and again, just as they have for the last decade with the original H3VR on Steam.

Meta Quest Page / Steam Page

Sock Puppet Superstar

Sock Pupper Superstar is very different from the first announcement, but that's OK, given its charm. This unique rhythm game takes cues from Trombone Champ and Maestro by using your hands in ways that only make sense in VR. Some songs require a solo, while others ensure both of your hands will be singing while wearing fancy socks.

Meta Quest Page / Steam Page

Wordbound

I've been stoked for Wordbound ever since its initial teaser, and now we're getting new gameplay footage of the uber-creative word-based puzzle game. You'll solve object-based puzzles by rearranging letters and smashing them together to create something brand new, all while completing a fun story. Mixed reality mode makes this a truly chill experience.

Meta Quest Page / Steam Page

Compass

I'm not sure I've ever played an open-world game where the main goal was to fly as far as possible (although, No Man's Sky is pretty close), but Compass is here to offer that unique gameplay hook with sweeping vistas and fully interactive ships. Ride, collect treasures, upgrade your ship, and repeat to infinity and beyond!

Meta Quest Page / Steam Page / PlayStation VR2 Page

Janet's Planets

There's something very special about holding an entire planet in your hand, but even more special when you realize you've got the tools to completely reshape how it looks. Turn unlivable wastelands into lush forests, thaw the permafrost, and save planets from the brink of destruction with your powerful, Godlike tools.

Meta Quest Page / Steam Page

Tons of updates

One of my all-time favorite Quest games, Laser Dance, is getting new levels with a new mimic laser that moves when you move. It's a unique challenge that'll make your living room feel more like the latest Tom Cruise movie.

Deadly Delivery is another fantastic title that's getting a big update with new enemies, mechanics, cosmetics, and more. And who can forget about the recent Forefront 1.0 release, which I recently called my favorite new multiplayer VR game. Watch the whole Creature Feature showcase to see the rest of the announcements, and enjoy these new games!

Given the state of the gaming industry right now, it's always surprising when a gem comes along and blows me away. It's even more surprising that this has happened more than once this year, and TMNT: Empire City is just the most recent example of developers triumphing during a particularly tribulating era.

But given Cortopia Studios' pedigree, this shouldn't be all that surprising. The developer is responsible for games like Wands Alliances, Down the Rabbit Hole, Escaping Wonderland, and GORN 2, and it's great to see the company working its magic on an IP that's so close to my heart: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I've been a turtle fan ever since I was a kid, and the number of excellent beat-em-up games the property has spawned over the years is nothing short of legendary. This latest title puts the action in first-person via a Meta Quest headset, letting you team up with three other friends — each embodying a legendary Ninja Turtle — to take down the Footclan once and for all after the death of the Shredder, and there's more to it than you ever could have hoped for, too!

Smells like teen spirit

After a particularly fantastic intro that takes you through all four turtles to learn their abilities, you learn that the Shredder is dead, but a new villain threatens to resurrect him in an even more powerful state, putting New York City into a state of emergency. As the city fills with portals to another dimension and the Footclan moves in to take over, you wake up safely in the sewer-bound Turtles' Lair alongside Master Splinter, April O'Neil, and even Casey Jones.

From the onset to the moment you finish it, the game feels like a living comic book. The visual style plays perfectly to this feeling, with thick cel-shaded edges, heavy shadows, and gorgeous hand-drawn textures. The game is impressively interactive throughout, too, with tons of collectibles to find, lots of optional side quests and activities to complete, minigames to play with friends, and plenty of objects to pick up and goof around with.

In many ways, this feels like a TMNT version of the latest PlayStation Spider-Man games. You get a sizable New York City to explore, complete with different neighborhoods and sections, underground sewerways, buildings you can enter to complete quests, random crimes and missions that pop up around the city as you roam its streets, and tons of ways to parkour and show off your ninja skills.

Like any good modern open-world game — particularly in VR — you can climb basically anything you want. Reaching for the side of buildings, windowsills, steel beams, light poles, etc., will present you with a white highlight of where to grab. This mechanic feels accurate for a Ninja Turtle, because you still have to grab specific places to climb, not just bare rock walls, but there's no shortage of ways to parkour up a building to get a better vantage point.

TMNT: Empire City rewards players who approach situations with a stealth-first approach, but you can always just rush in and go ham if you enjoy the traditional beat-em-up mechanics. As you would expect, each Turtle has its own weapon and skillset, with plenty of attitude and jokes to fill the gaps.

Combat is rewarding and visceral, albeit a little easy from the onset, but things get more challenging and varied as you progress through the game. You'll also come across tons of little puzzles along the way. Locked doors might require a keycard or just a conveniently placed computer to hack, or maybe even a power junction box that you need to rewire (via a fun laser puzzle).

You'll also find lots of junk lying about. Plastic parts, electronics scraps, and other pickups can be used in Donnie's machine back in the Turtle Lair to craft items and upgrades. You can hold several items at a time in your pouch, and players can equip two upgrades from a list of unlockables that suit the mission best. There's a ton here, and it deeply rewards players who enjoy exploring, something that's great to see in a game like this.

The new hangout

When I first joined a friend of mine in TMNT: Empire City, we high-fived each other and quickly realized how much fun it is to be a Ninja Turtle. The Turtle Lair is decorated in a way that feels legit. Each of the Turtles' rooms fits their unique personalities. There's even a chessboard in the living room with pieces you have to find throughout the game, eventually culminating in a board you can use to play with friends.

Running and climbing through the city with friends is a ton of fun, and between the minigames and strategizing your next attack, there's no shortage of things to do. And if you want to roleplay, there are tons of ways to do that, too. It's equally great for kids and the kids at heart.

One of the most surprising things to me was seeing a city faction map that constantly changes. When you start the game, the Footclan has taken full control of the city, but you can liberate it by completing missions and destroying outposts. The Clan will eventually rebuild these outposts and take the territory back if you don't defend it, so keep an eye on the crime meter back in the Turtle Lair.

As you clear Footclan outposts, special NPCs will appear in those safe parts of the city to offer you bonus quests and challenges. These can be anything from parkour races to basketball, and are all a blast to play with friends. They've all got leaderboards, too, so if your friends can't join you, you can always compete on your own.

I came into this game expecting a fun beat-em-up that lasted a few hours and was just fun for that brief time, but I came away realizing this is so much more than meets the eye. It's an impressive accomplishment in every way, from the visuals to the size of the city, things to do by yourself and with friends, and even the original story itself.

This is what I'll be doing for the next few Fridays when I play with friends, and I hope to see a ton of Turtles joining the fray as the game launches on the Meta Quest and Steam on April 31 for a crazy good $24.99. Plus, it's crossplay-compatible, so you can enjoy time with friends even if they're on a different platform.

What you need to know

• Samsung's XR glasses, Project Haean, reportedly appeared in One UI 9's code, and there are talks about its launch again.
• The appearance was barebones, only accompanied by its model number, as well as two others, which could be "variants."
• Rumors about Project Haean were plentiful in 2025, with some suggesting its specs could include transition lenses, a in-lens display, speakers, multiple cameras, and more.

It's been a while since Samsung's XR glasses made any headlines, and this one suggests its development could net an eventual launch this year.

A dive into the depths of One UI 9 by tipster AssembleDebug (Android Authority) unearthed a surprising mention of Samsung's Project Haean smart glasses. Supposedly, it carries the model number "SM-O500." The tipster states that One UI 9's code was packed full of Samsung's XR projects, such as its Galaxy XR headset, which holds an entirely different model number.

However, it was stated that there are two other model numbers present, which could also be "variants" of a different pair of smart glasses. Aside from this brief mention, the tipster couldn't find much else about the product.

If we were to guess, this is likely the calm before the storm. There have been instances where a Samsung model number has appeared, followed by an illustration for explanatory purposes later on. This could happen, as the publication theorizes that a launch could take place sometime in 2026.

Looks like it's back

Project Haean was discussed extensively in 2025, with rumors alleging that Samsung was working on a pair of Android XR glasses to rival Meta's Ray-Bans. Early leaks suggested the device could weigh roughly 50 grams with multiple cameras, respond to gestures/facial recognition, and complete payments. Galaxy AI is expected to power the device and display information on its HUD (display), while also producing sound through its frame.

It was reported last year that Samsung was taking a long look at Project Haean to ensure they are comfortable to wear. What's interesting about this new leak is that another rumor last year claimed the device could bear model number SM-O500P. This "P" addition was mentioned by AssembleDebug this week, but as a model "variant." Rumors suspected the glasses would lack mobile data, but would feature Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. Project Haean was expected to debut last year, but that didn't happen.

With rumors coming back—with a model number in One UI 9 to boot—maybe 2026 is the year.

Android Central's Take

Project Haean will definitely be an interesting product once it debuts. Samsung's Galaxy XR headset is already out and that made some waves once people could see it fully. I suspect Project Haean will be the same; attracting consumers interested in the smart glasses market. The display capabilities will be one thing to look out for, I imagine. How will Samsung surface information on these lenses, and what other capabilities will it bring?

What you need to know

• DIRECTV has launched its app on Meta Quest, bringing live TV streaming to VR headsets for the first time.
• The app offers access to 150+ live channels, on-demand content, and free streaming via the MyFree service.
• Users can also subscribe to paid packages for sports, movies, and other content directly within VR.
• The app is available on Quest 2, 3, 3S, and Pro through the Meta Horizon Store.

If you're someone who prefers watching TV shows and movies on a VR headset and also wants access to live TV, you just got lucky, as DIRECTV has officially launched its app for the Meta Quest platform.

DIRECTV announced that its app is now available on Meta Quest VR headsets. You can download it through the Meta Horizon Store or Horizon TV on Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S, and Quest Pro. The company claims it's the first virtual multichannel video programming distributor to bring its service to Meta Quest.

With DIRECTV on Meta Quest, you get access to over 150 live channels along with on-demand shows and movies directly in VR. This includes channels like ABC News Live, NBC News Now, Fox Weather, and even dedicated live sports channels. The company also says a lot of this content can be streamed for free through its MyFree offering for registered users.

In addition to the free content, DIRECTV also offers paid packages for sports and other programming. The company says its existing channel bundles carry over to VR as well, so you can choose specific packages based on your interests, whether that's sports, movies, or lifestyle content, or go with broader bundles.

DIRECTV isn't the first app to arrive on Meta Quest. Apps like Disney Plus and Prime Video are already available on the platform, but DIRECTV is the first live TV streaming service to make the jump to VR. It is, however, worth noting that Netflix is still missing from the Meta Quest platform.

This also comes at a time when Meta has increased the prices of the Quest 3 and Quest 3S in the U.S. due to component costs. The Quest 3S now starts at $350, while the Quest 3 has gone up to $600.

Android Central's Take

This is good news for Meta Quest users, although I'm not entirely sure how big the demand for live TV in VR really is. That said, watching live sports in VR feels like a different experience, and it's nice to see more users will be able to enjoy it now.

For two solid years, a group of friends and I played Breachers every Friday night. It was something I looked forward to all week, and thanks to the game's regular updates, it took us a solid two years to finally call it quits. Since then, we haven't found something that all of us consistently want to play, but that's all about to change with the release of Forefront.

Unsurprisingly, Forefront is made by the same developers of Breachers. Just as Breachers borrows many of the best concepts from the Rainbow Six series, Forefront borrows many concepts from games like Battlefield and PUBG, all while still feeling unique and visceral in the way only VR games can.

I recently had the opportunity to play the final release build of the game with dozens of YouTubers and gaming journalists, and when I tell you this is the next big multiplayer VR phenomenon, I'm not exaggerating. By the end of the three rounds we played, there wasn't a single person who wasn't cheering and asking for another one.

It's a feeling I haven't had since Breachers came out, and while I've played many different (and excellent) multiplayer VR games since then, this is the one that's going to bring me back to consistently playing with my friend group, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Battlefield 2035

Forefront takes place in the year 2035 and puts players in 32-player battlegrounds, vying for control of different points on the map in one of two game modes. It channels classics like Battlefield and Tribes with plenty of bespoke mechanics for VR headsets and is available on Steam VR and Meta Quest platforms, with a PSVR 2 release in the near future.

As you might expect from a game like this, you can choose from one of four classes, each of which has its own special traits and equipment. Whether you choose the Assault, Medic, Engineer, or Sniper classes, you can pilot a dozen different types of vehicles, from jet skis to helicopters, ATVs, tanks, and more.

All vehicles allow more than one player to board, and several even allow players to operate large guns or other special equipment while riding. The environments are semi-destructible, including many buildings that can have walls blown up, as well as other obstacles that can be destroyed to open up new paths of attack.

As someone who poured hundreds of hours into Tribes 2 and Battlefield 1942, it's been a while since I've truly enjoyed a game in this genre. Don't get me wrong, I've tried several similar titles over the past 20 years since those games existed, but few of them have held my attention the way Forefront was able to.

Unironically, the same thing happened with Breachers, as the last time I played a similar type of game was Rainbow Six 3 on the original Xbox. Clearly, there was a time where I enjoyed these types of team-based multiplayer games, and that ship certainly sailed for a bit, but it appears it's back in port thanks to the immersion only VR can provide.

Being able to physically steer vehicles, hide behind walls, climb towers, and slap the paddles together to revive a teammate just hits different. Physically doing something feels objectively different than watching an on-screen character do it, and it's that difference that's reinvigorated these types of games for me again.

It also helps immensely that VR games like Forefront make communication so darn easy. All the equipment needed to talk to my teammates is built into the headset, no silly keyboard menus to navigate through, and no nonsense tech support to deal with just to get a microphone working, either. Just strategize with your teammates using your voice and they hear you.

Forefront has been in early access for several months now, and the difference between this version 1.0 release and the original release is pretty monumental. The odd lag or occassional jank that was present in earlier versions is gone, replaced with an impressively smooth game that delivers Battlefield-sized levels with 32-players, all minus hitching or lag. This is why I love gaming on consoles like the Quest 3, and it's great to see something made so well!

Developer Triangle Factory also introduced a combat bow with the version 1.0 release, and I couldn't be happier about how it feels to use it. Bows are already my favorite weapon to use in VR because of the highly tactile nature of the weapon, and this one is typically an instakill so long as you pulled back far enough on the string.

There's nothing quite as thrilling as setting an arrow sailing across the ravaged town square only to down an enemy in an instant. It's far more rewarding than using a gun, even if guns are more efficient.

I also loved operating vehicles, but will understand if some people need to have others drive. If you're prone to motion sickness at all, you'll definitely want to enable some of the supporting settings to keep that at bay while operating a vehicle. It can be intense.

I'm so happy to have a game like Forefront that reinvigorates this genre for me, and I can't wait to see what Triangle Factory does with the game over the next few years. Their support of Breachers over the years was legendary. Given the community that Forefront has already developed over the past few months of early access, I know big things are coming to an already impressively big game.

What you need to know

• Gucci's parent company Kering is launching luxury smart glasses with Google in 2027.
• The glasses will run on Google’s new Android XR platform, a dedicated ecosystem designed to power everything from headsets to stylish frames.
• Specs and features of the upcoming glasses remain a mystery for now.

The idea of smart glasses that look stylish instead of futuristic has always seemed out of reach. Now, though, the fashion industry and Silicon Valley are joining forces to make it happen. Kering, the company behind Gucci, just announced a partnership with Google to launch luxury smart glasses as soon as next year.

The Gucci smart glasses will probably use Android XR, which is Google’s latest effort to succeed in the extended reality market. While smart glasses have been around before, most versions had trouble being both useful and stylish enough for people to wear.

Now, Google is making another attempt with Android XR, a platform meant to support everything from headsets to lightweight glasses. This time, instead of working alone, Google is teaming up with major fashion brands to solve the design problems that tech companies often face.

Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault says the company aims to launch in 2027, Reuters reports.

Substance over sci-fi

So what can you expect? While there aren’t many details yet, we can expects features like notifications, navigation overlays, real-time translations, and possibly AI tools, all shown right in your line of sight. Essentially, it’s the typical smart glasses features, but designed to look like they belong in a Gucci store instead of a tech lab.

That’s more important than it might seem. Earlier smart glasses often failed because they looked strange or attracted too much attention. Now, companies like Kering are betting that good design will turn smart glasses from a novelty into something people want to wear every day.

Android XR should support several hardware partners, so Gucci’s glasses could be just one of many styles using the same platform. This could lead to a wider range of prices, designs, and uses, from luxury items to more affordable choices.

Still, battery life, privacy issues, and everyday usefulness are still major challenges.

Android Central's Take

The real advantage isn’t just a small green Gucci logo on the hinge. It’s that Android XR will finally have a flagship product, pushing Google to complete the software instead of leaving it unfinished. You’ll probably get better AI, smoother notifications, and maybe glasses that don’t make you look like you’re wearing a relic from the 2014 Google Glass days.

Samsung's Galaxy XR hasn't seen too many notable updates since the XR headset launched at the end of 2025, but that all changed last week when Google and Samsung brought the headset up to a recent security patch and added some nifty new features.

Leading the pack for consumers is a handful of quality-of-life features that make the headset more pleasant to use in many different ways. You can easily pin virtual app windows to walls, for instance, remote desktop sessions restore window sizes and shapes, and you can even tell Android XR to convert all 2D content to 3D.

It's that last feature that really caught my eye, as it sounds a lot like what Xreal and Viture have done on their latest smart glasses. The key difference here is that Android XR would be doing this at the system level, potentially allowing for greater quality and compatibility than the "simpler" solutions from Xreal and Viture. That turns out to be true when it works, and that last part is the worst part of the experience so far.

Auto Spatilization feels like magic

Take a look at the image above and tell me what you see. Since I can't hear you, I imagine you're saying Minecraft, which would be correct. That is, indeed, Minecraft running in a virtual window, pinned to my wall, via the Galaxy XR headset.

But further than that, the game is being auto-spatialized by the underlying Android XR operating system that runs the Galaxy XR. In short, that means the birch tree in the front looks physically closer to me than the oak trees further back. You might say, "Well, duh, Nick," but that's because you're not fully understanding what I mean.

With Auto Spatialization, Android XR takes the depth information it perceives in any app on the system and cleverly places pixels "forward" or "backward" in space to make me see depth. The OS uses a clever AI agent that understands objects and other similar things, which then translates a 2D image into something fully 3D. Since you're just looking at a 2D image above, there's no way to properly see (and therefore perceive) what's actually happening. Even a video won't do the trick.

Likewise, this YouTube video looks as if it were filmed with a proper 3D camera thanks to the same feature. It's an effect that works better for some apps than others, but it's implemented at the system level, and that's a true game-changer for this fledgling feature. Viture debuted the technology on its smart glasses last summer, and this is just the next evolution.

Being at an app level means everything can get the 2D-to-3D treatment, but it's clear this is still a "Labs" feature, as it doesn't always work. While I was playing Minecraft above, for instance, I would notice the window sometimes snapping between 2D and 3D versions of the game, and it was incredibly obvious the moment it happened.

The YouTube app was also very inconsistent with which videos it wanted to make 3D and which it would leave as 2D. I couldn't figure out why, and this is where the real frustration lies. Google will undoubtedly improve this feature over time, so, for now, it's mainly something Galaxy XR users can toy around with but shouldn't rely on.

How to enable Auto Spatialization on a Galaxy XR

As of this writing, Auto Spatialization is a Labs feature on the Galaxy XR. That means it's still technically in testing, and the inconsistent results I saw are fully expected. But if you still want to give it a try (and why not?), it takes just a few clicks to get the job done:

1. Make a pinch gesture with your thumb and index finger to open the home menu, then click Settings.

2. Scroll down to Advanced features on the left-side menu and tap it.

3. Select Labs from the right side.

4. Turn on Auto spatialization.

Once you enable the feature, it should be enabled in all apps. Just to make sure it's enabled, though, open any app you want to try the feature on (YouTube is a good start), then click the app icon in the control center above the app window. If the feature is enabled, you should see "Turn off Auto spatialization" in the menu.

Why Xreal is still better...for now

On a technical level, the Android XR/Galaxy XR implementation of the Auto spatialization feature is superior to everything else I've used, but that's only when it wants to work. As I said previously, I noticed several times when the feature simply wouldn't work at all, or would pop in and out even while I was playing a game or watching a video.

This is why Xreal's Real3D technology on its latest Xreal One series glasses remains the superior option for now. Real3D uses the X1 chipset on each pair of Xreal One, Xreal 1S, and Xreal One Pro glasses to turn everything into 3D content. The feature is either on or off, and there's no configuration to deal with. It just works, and you can even adjust the 3D strength within the glasses' menu, too!

The downside to Xreal's implementation is that everything is 3D, and that feels weird when opening menus or other content that simply doesn't translate well into 3D space. I like to assign Real3D to the shortcut key on the top of the Xreal glasses to help make this a convenient toggle.

I think Xreal will see its technology surpassed once Google and Samsung can get the Auto spatialization feature to work more consistently, though. The lenses, displays, and overall image quality on the Galaxy XR are substantially better than anything a current pair of smart glasses can produce, which means the 3D quality is simply better-looking than what Xreal can produce on its glasses chipset.

There's also the added bonus that Android XR does not limit the 3D feature to a specific framerate, while Xreal's implementation is currently capped at 30FPS. That makes Xreal's tech less ideal for games but just fine for most videos.

No matter if you've got a Galaxy XR or a pair of Xreal One glasses, seeing 2D content transformed into 3D content is an absolutely magical feeling. It's one of those AI implementations that makes a lot of sense, and it feels like living in a future when the content we play and watch feels like we're truly in the middle of it all.

There's plenty of interest in smart glasses at the moment, and Rokid is a brand that's doing all the right things. I reviewed the Max 2 glasses last year, and used the recently-launched AI Glasses Style for most of the last three months, and it's clear that the brand is positioning the product as an affordable alternative to Meta's Ray-Ban glasses.

What's particularly interesting is that Rokid is building out a software ecosystem around its glasses, and the AI Glasses Style come with Gemini integration alongside the ability to add other large language models, so I talked to Degang Xu, head of product at Rokid, to get a better sense of the brand's strategy.

Xu noted that the Gemini integration was a pivotal moment, as it allows the brand to meaningfully differentiate its glasses against its rivals. And as to why Rokid added other AI models to the glasses, Xu indicated that it's about giving users the ability to choose which model they want to run. The best part is that Rokid is interested in building an open ecosystem using global standards, and that was a key driving point in bringing Gemini to the AI Glasses Style and future products.

On that note, while Rokid's AI Glasses Style are a great value, they're sold in a single variant, unlike Meta's Ray-Ban glasses. Xu said that the goal with the glasses was to bring it to market and build out the software features, but additional styles and colors is a consideration the brand is looking into. And because Rokid wanted to hit as close to the $300 price point as possible, they didn't include a charging case with the glasses — this was a point of contention when testing the AI Glasses Style, as charging the glasses isn't anywhere as easy as my Meta Ray-Bans or Oakley Meta Vanguard.

Another area that Rokid is looking to stand out is by adding gesture controls; Xu says this is still something the brand is testing out, but he didn't rule out the feature coming to a future product. While that would be undoubtedly cool, what I'd like to see is a payment interface that can be used with glasses, and Xu talked about a QR code system that could debut sometime down the line.

Also, Xu indicated that Rokid is working on native music integration so that services like Spotify can be controlled with the glasses. Given that the industry itself is still nascent, there's clearly a lot of potential for growth, and each brand is looking to get a meaningful edge over its rivals. Basics like tuning the cameras and audio quality are handled well by every brand, and while Xu indicated that Rokid is looking at adding algorithms that would tune out wind noise, that's something most glasses will deliver within the next few generations.

A big part of the puzzle is battery life. That was evident when I tested RayNeo's X3 Pro glasses; while the glasses had a lot of great features, they were resource-intensive, and the glasses only lasted a few hours between charges. Xu said that Rokid is mulling the inclusion of a low-power chipset that handles mundane tasks — similar to what you get on smartwatches like the Xiaomi Watch 5 — so that the workhorse Qualcomm chipset doesn't need to be activated all the time. That is an intriguing solution, but given that space is extremely limited on smart glasses — even more so than smartwatches — it remains to be seen how feasible it would be to accommodate.

Another solution is an external battery connector, but that adds bulk and weight to smart glasses, negating its usability outside of your home. I asked Xu if Rokid considered silicon-carbon battery tech to potentially add bigger batteries in smart glasses, but he noted that the cost of the battery tech is prohibitive, but that Rokid may consider going this route on future products that cost over $600.

After talking to Xu, I get the sense that Rokid is keen on differentiating its glasses with the software, and that's interesting in its own right. Most smart glasses are largely the same, and much like phones, gaining an edge with the software has the potential to stand out just that little bit more. With the AI Glasses Style now out and the waveguide-based AI Glasses on shelves, Rokid has decent alternatives to what Meta and other brands are offering.

The best Meta Quest headstraps have always balanced comfort and longevity, evening out the headset's weight and adding great features like rechargeable batteries and washable pads.

The BoboVR S3 Pro takes things several steps further by not only improving headset comfort with pads and adjustable components, but it also adds in a fancy fan that'll keep your head cool for as long as the magnetically detachable, rechargeable battery packs last.

I put it head-to-head with the AMVR BS1, a headstrap that looks similar but fails to match the quality and comfort of the BoboVR S3 Pro. You'll pay a bit more to get BoboVR's headstrap (roughly $10 more), but that extra price makes all the difference in the world for comfort and performance.

Comfort meets convenience

Everything about the BoboVR S3 Pro is a masterclass in VR headset comfort engineering. The headstrap comes with ample, removable, and easily washable pads, ensuring sharing your headset isn't a gross experience.

It also features several adjustable components that fit better thanks to a trademark design philosophy. BoboVR's headstraps not only slide onto the side arms of the Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S, but they also don't connect to the top buckle on the headset. That allows the BoboVR S3 Pro to get a better angle than the connector would allow, and it also means the headset can swivel independently of the headstrap itself.

For me, that's an important differentiator as competing straps like the AMVR BS1 are locked at a specific axis, and that happens to be too low for comfort on my face. I've dealt with this problem on some other headstraps before, and I almost always replace them with something else in no time flat.

The back of the headstrap sports a removable battery dock that magnetically attaches to the battery packs. The base headstrap includes one of these 10,000mAh batteries, which is rated for about 5 extra hours of play time on the Quest. Battery life of the headstrap will be reduced depending on how often you use the built-in fan.

That built-in fan will keep your forehead cool in a way I haven't seen with any other headstrap. Fans on headstraps aren't unique, but this one sports a design that fully envelops my forehead and blows air over it at several adjustable speeds, all easily adjusted via the control wheel on the left side.

That control panel also displays the attached battery pack's percentage, so you know when your battery is about to run out. Like all other BoboVR headstraps, the battery will beep when attached or detached, so you don't have to take your headset off to swap out batteries.

This battery pack can be easily charged either via a USB-C cable or with any of the company's battery docks. For this review, I used the BoboVR PD100, which ships with the dock and one extra battery. This dock has an easy-to-read display that shows the battery percentage of the docked battery pack and even includes an extra cable to charge more than one battery at a time.

The charger operates at 30W, which means it will take about two hours to fully charge each battery pack. Considering the battery packs last around five hours each, there should never be a scenario where you run into having a dead battery, so long as you've got two of them. This battery is required to run the fan, so make sure you're using the battery with the headstrap if you want the full feature set.

The last thing I want to look at is comfort, and this is an area where the BoboVR S3 Pro particularly excels. It's great and all to have the fan, battery, and display on the headstrap, but there's no point in wearing it if it's uncomfortable.

The AMVR BS1 that I compared it to is generally uncomfortable, in my experience. It sits too low on my face and uses an angle that's constantly pushing the headset down on my cheeks. The BoboVR S3 Pro's forehead pad sits much lower on the strap, ensuring that all the weight is situated on this pad instead of my face.

You can see this difference in the image above, and while the angle doesn't seem like it would make much of a difference, the surprising reality is that it does. Both straps have a secondary hinge in the middle that swivels, allowing you to get a better angle for the pad on the back of your head, and I find that BoboVR's hinge is much tighter, ensuring it stays at the angle you want.

The one to beat

At the regular price of $89, the BoboVR S3 Pro sits squarely in the premium accessory market and makes no apologies for its price. BoboVR has long been a leader in the premium Meta Quest accessories space, and while the company offers less expensive accessories like the E3 and M3 Pro, people who want the best of the best should opt for the S3 Pro instead.

It's got more padding, more ways to adjust it to your comfort level, bigger batteries, and that all-important fan that keeps you cool and lens fog away for good. It's a winner for everything except maybe your budget, but there's something to be said about equipping your technology in a way that ensures long-term comfort.

What you need to know

• Samsung detailed a major update for Galaxy XR, which loops in Android Enterprise support, laying the foundation for real-world possibilities.
• It states the Galaxy XR is now viable in industries such as training, healthcare, and more.
• Regular users get accessibility updates for single eye tracking, alongside an "enhanced" virtual keyboard for personalization, and a "desktop session restore."

Samsung's Galaxy XR headset is the recipient of a "key" software update this week that gives it a window into the workforce.

In a press release, Samsung announced this update for the Galaxy XR, stating it adds "new enterprise capabilities," while also rolling out improvements for "everyday capabilities." A joint blog post goes in-depth with the Galaxy XR's new Android Enterprise support. Samsung's EVP and head of XR R&D, MX Business, James Choi, said, "Our vision for XR extends beyond hardware — it’s about building a secure, scalable ecosystem informed by our users."

As Android Enterprise joins Android XR (and the Galaxy XR by extension), users will find enterprise-grade controls and efficiency. Samsung states that this creates a "scalable" foundation that could bring the Galaxy XR into real-world industries, such as "training, manufacturing, healthcare, and retail." This update brings protections for sensitive data.

The Enterprise app is said to lean on Managed Google Play, making it easy for users to roll out and update apps. Additionally, the following device enrollment methods are available: Android zero-touch, QR code setup, and Device Policy Controller (DPC) identifier provisioning.

For standard users, Galaxy XR is starting to roll out an "enhanced" virtual keyboard that lets you save alternate keyboard positions for better personalization. Whatever your chosen vertical position or depth was previously, Galaxy XR will remember it. A "desktop session restore" feature is rolling out, meaning users can quickly reopen the last three apps they were using.

Eye Tracking update & Spatialization

On the accessibility side, the Galaxy XR expands single eye tracking and pointer customization to better assist users with differing "sight or mobility" requirements. Auto Spatialization arrives for Google Chrome and YouTube, capable of turning 2D content into 3D (this includes photos, alongside videos). Lastly, the wall panel alignment, a Labs feature for Galaxy XR, is a feature that helps integrate content viewed through the headset to your physical surroundings.

Samsung says this Galaxy XR update is rolling out today (Apr 7).

So far, there have been a couple of ways to use the Galaxy XR that have stood out to us. On one hand, you have its usefulness as a "laptop for your face." Samsung was in a unique position with Galaxy XR, as it made it clear from the jump that "All apps built on the Android platform work right out of the box on Galaxy XR." While it makes it possible for users to quickly hop in and get work done in a different setting, not everyone's going for it, due to its steep price point.

Then, you have its gaming capabilities, which Android Central's Nicholas Sutrich took advantage of, turning the Galaxy XR into a pretty decent Steam Frame.

Android Central's Take

There was another thing pretty clear about the Galaxy XR earlier this year, and that's that it heavily relies on AI; namely Gemini. Google's AI opens apps quickly on the device, helps users find places to eat within the immersive Maps experience, and much more. Samsung is about the "multimodal AI" aspect of the Galaxy XR, which makes sense once you get involved with it. Hell, you can even generate AI videos, thanks to Veo 3 on the headset. But, after today's patch, it looks like Samsung is going all in on what else the headset can be.

It's no secret that XREAL is one of the world's leading manufacturers of XR smart glasses, but these cutting-edge accessories don't always come cheap. Fortunately, Amazon's Big Spring Sale is here to change all that by slashing a straight $170 off the XREAL One Pro, a device that our resident VR expert Nick Sutrich called "the best XR glasses that you can buy today". 

These smart glasses essentially function as a 200-inch monitor that you can fit in your pocket, delivering ultra-bright and crystal clear images with compatibility on most laptops, smartphones, and gaming consoles. Discounts on the XREAL One Pro have historically been pretty rare, so be sure to jump on this deal before the Big Spring Sale wraps up on March 31st. 

• See the full list of deals during Amazon's Big Spring Sale

Powered by XREAL's own X1 Spatial Computing chip, the XREAL One Pro are able to convert any 2D images into 3D in real time without any additional software or equipment. 

Simply plug the glasses into a compatible device using USB-C and the display will be projected onto the micro-OLED display inside the lenses. This virtual monitor gets locked in place through the glasses, so you can move around and get comfortable — just like you would with a traditional screen. The prism lenses also ensure that glare is never an issue, while the 120Hz refresh rate keeps your projected visuals butter-smooth.

Drawbacks with the XREAL One Pro include a 30FPS graphics cap, which could irk some gamers, while the steep price tag could be a major barrier if you're shopping on a budget. That said, the XREAL One Pro offer one of the best XR experiences on the market, and if you've had your eye on these glasses for a while, this Amazon deal might just be the push you need.

There's a lot of excitement around AI glasses, and while Meta had the early advantage in this category, Chinese brands are going on the offensive. Rokid in particular is doing interesting things with its latest products — the Rokid AI Glasses Style are a straightforward rival to the Meta Ray-Ban, and the best part is that they don't cost as much.

The AI Glasses Style debuted for $299, and they're now down to $279 during Amazon's Big Spring Sale. I know that it's just a $20 discount, but the glasses under the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2 by $100, and that's no small feat considering you get a camera and all kinds of useful AI features on the AI Glasses Style as well.

• See the full list of deals during Amazon's Big Spring Sale

I used the Rokid AI Glasses Style for over a month now, and the glasses are generally great. While Rokid says they're 38.5g, that isn't the case — I measured the glasses, and they weigh 45g. Still, they're a smidgen lighter than Meta's glasses, and you can tell the difference.

I'll admit that the design is generic to an extent, you don't get the customizability that Meta offers with the Ray-Bans, and I don't like the glossy finish — it proved to be a dust magnet, and I was constantly cleaning the glasses after every use. Thankfully, there's a microfiber cloth bundled in the box, and you'll be using it regularly.

In spite of those quibbles, the AI Glasses Style do a good job with the basics, and I didn't see any issues with fit or comfort even with extended use. On that note, the battery life is better than the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2 as well, and that's a definite plus point. Oh, and Rokid lets you select lenses, and there are prescription options, including progressive correction.

They're also easy to set up and use, and Rokid's mobile app includes a lot of features. The onboard sound is good too, and I like the image quality of the 12MP built-in cameras; they take decent photos and videos.

Where the AI Glasses Style truly shine is the AI assistant integration. You can interact with Gemini, use real-time translation, and use AI-assisted object recognition and transcribing when attending meetings. These are all nifty use cases, and I like how Rokid is building out an AI ecosystem around its glasses. While some of the features proved to be flaky in the beginning, a recent update sorted out some of the problems, and AI scene recognition does a good job now.

Overall, the AI Glasses Style are a decent alternative to the Meta Ray-Ban if you need a pair of sunglasses with the ability to shoot good imagery and videos. I don't like the glossy design or the fact that the case doesn't have charging — you'll need to use a dedicated cable that's bundled in the box — but other than those issues, the AI-focused glasses have plenty to offer. If you're just starting out and want an affordable alternative to the Meta Ray-Ban, the AI Glasses Style are a legitimate contender.

What you need to know

• Xreal detailed its major nebulaOS 2.0 update this week for the Beam Pro, refining its spatial experience with 3D icons and a refined control center for the launcher.
• The Beam Pro's 3D SBS (side-by-side) support covers "mainstream" streaming apps, browsers, and more.
• Earlier this year, Xreal and ASUS showed off the ROG Xreal R1 AR gaming glasses to take gaming on handhelds, PCs, and consoles to a new level.

Xreal's latest OS update is rolling out for users with a Beam Pro, bringing a major revamp for its spatial experience and more.

Xreal shared the contents of its latest update in a press release, which involves nebulaOS 2.0 arriving on the Beam Pro. The company highlights this as its most "significant" update yet, and that might ring true with this new spatial experience launcher. Xreal states the launcher has been given 3D icons and an updated control center "for a more immersive, intuitive environment." In its patch notes on Reddit, the 3D icons are lively, reacting to the user's presence amidst a cleaner UI.

How users interact with the Beam Pro's UI has been reworked. Xreal states it has optimized the control panel layouts, added "Broad View" for tablet-mode, and included three-level content scaling. If you're looking for depth in your AR days, nebulaOS 2.0 adds 3D SBS (side-by-side) support.

This enables users to view 3D content in "mainstream" streaming apps, browsers, and cloud storage services. Screen-recording takes a step up this week. Xreal says it has cleaned up the feature's algorithms, which should facilitate clearer captures with enhanced smoothness. Finally, as you'd expect with all major patches, Xreal is rolling out a few fixes for bugs within its nebulaOS for Beam Pro users.

Beam me up, Xreal

If you've never seen the Xreal Beam Pro before, it's a companion device that works with the brand's AR glasses. The Beam Pro will be two years old this June. It launched at a $200 price point, with the ability to turn Play Store apps into 3D experiences. That's not all it can do, as Xreal highlighted its dual 50MP for 3D photos and videos. The Beam Pro pairs well with the company's Air and Air 2 (Pro and Ultra) glasses through a USB-C connection.

It packs a little more punch for its AR experiences, especially from a 3D perspective. What also might pack a bunch is the Xreal and ASUS partnership we first heard about early in January. The two showed off the ROG Xreal R1 AR gaming glasses with a low-latency FHD display for handhelds, PCs, and consoles. These glasses can also connect to the ROG Ally. The ROG Xreal R1 AR can project a 171-inch virtual display with a smooth 240Hz refresh rate.

Android Central's Take

The Xreal Beam Pro looks like a phone, but its uses are more functional. You're probably going to want an actual phone for scrolling, but it truly shines once those apps you've chosen are on your glasses. To facilitate a 3D experience across most mainstream apps is pretty cool, but Xreal makes it known that it's not going to magically turn 2D content 3D. Content does have to be in its SBS 3D format if users want to enjoy that. Still, for what it's worth, it's an enticing feature for tech-lovers.

This week, Meta announced the latest evolution in its Metaverse strategy, and while it's not totally unexpected, it is still a bit surprising. Horizon Worlds, Meta's Roblox-like Metaverse ecosystem for Meta Quest headsets, is officially being killed off on Meta's VR platform, with the last day of service happening on June 15, 2026. This was detailed in an email sent to Meta Quest account holders:

"Starting June 15, 2026, you will no longer be able to build, publish or update VR worlds." Meta initially said all VR access for Horizon Worlds would be suspended on that date, but Meta's CTO gave an update in an Instagram AMA, clarifying that existing worlds would continue to be playable in VR, but new worlds would be mobile only.

Meta spent much of 2024 and 2025 deeply integrating Horizon Worlds into the Meta Quest experience, going so far as to rename the Meta Quest's operating system to Horizon OS and making Horizon Worlds the first thing you see in the headset and on the companion mobile app. Meta recently announced that the Horizon feed would be sunset, and now it's fully pulling the plug on everything from the Horizon Central social hub and the Horizon Worlds app.

In other words, the Meta Quest experience is going back to the golden age of 2022 when the Meta Quest was a gaming-first platform. It's a move many (including myself) have been calling for for years, and proves Meta really is cleaning up all the junk and getting back to basics with the Quest.

What 'gaming-first' really means

Back in December, I wrote about how Meta was "cutting the fat" and getting back to basics. Based on what I knew, that meant abandoning the concept of an integrated Metaverse and going back to making big games to attract large numbers of gamers. Unfortunately, I was wrong about the latter half of that equation. Meta isn't the next Nintendo or Sony, and that's a real shame, considering the quality of the games we got from its first-party studios over the last decade.

Instead, Meta will focus solely on funding third-party games and studios, but, even then, it won't be the "gravy train" as it has been for the past few years. Meta said that Oculus Publishing shipped over 140 games in 2025 and has many more shipping this year, so while blank cheques will no longer be written, the company still appears to be serious about funding game development.

Unfortunately, the changes being made to Horizon Worlds also mean a few good projects will be tossed to the wayside. Back in November, Meta debuted social Hyperscape worlds using the updated Horizon engine, allowing users to socialize in hyper-realistic environments. This service will be sunset along with Horizon Worlds, but at least the scanning and building of Hyperscape environments in the original app will stick around.

And while it's sad to see some of these things go, the reality is that they have to die to save the rest of the ecosystem. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has stated many times that Meta "is a big company and can work on many things at the same time," but users only have so much time and attention, and it's clear that Meta's focus on a Metaverse-first platform is not what's been winning gamers over to the platform.

The gamers have spoken

To prove that the Quest is a gaming-first platform, Chris Pruett, Director of Games at Meta, spoke at GDC about the state of the Quest ecosystem. "Quest usage has been growing year over year, and in 2025, we hit our all-time highest numbers of unique users ever in our history." That's not a sign of a dying platform — quite the opposite.

In 2025, "over 100 titles generated $1M+ in gross revenue in 2025," and Pruett explained that "premium app sales remain the largest revenue driver for our ecosystem, but IAP grew significantly in 2025, by over 10%." That's great news for games, and what's particularly telling is that Pruett doesn't mention Horizon Worlds numbers once. Meta is no longer trying to justify funding a feature no one wants.

So instead of garbage-tier free content being thrust in your face the moment you turn on the headset, Meta looks like it's going back to promoting actual games that people are spending lots of real money on.

To back that up, Meta will continue expanding its Meta Horizon+ gaming subscription, which gives gamers access to over 100 games for only $8 per month. To make things even better, Pruett noted that Meta doled out over $20 million to developers who participated in the program in 2025, proving there's actually profit to be made for developers as part of the service.

Meta still maintains that its promotion of Horizon Worlds had a limited negative impact on game sales, but the data doesn't align with what developers have told me and other publications. Pruett noted that despite the low impact, promoting Horizon Worlds front and center "was universally unpopular with our developer community, so we've removed them from the Store shelves."

Meta is often criticized for acting "too Silicon Valley" in that it constantly tries new things and abandons them before users truly have a chance to accept them or change habits. "The cycle of experiment-learn-adjust is typical for Meta. We are cautious not to make assumptions we cannot prove, and when our assumptions are disproved, we change course."

Slow down

My advice to Meta is the same I gave last year regarding monthly software updates that were pushed out before being tested enough: slow down. The adage of the tortoise and the hare absolutely applies to gamers, who are infamously resistant to change of any kind, and Meta needs to start recognizing that.

This is going to be a weird year for VR gaming, undoubtedly, but plenty of amazing games are still on the horizon (pun intended), including the next VR Games Showcase next week (trailer above) and new hardware from several companies over the next year, including Meta itself.

While I think it's a massive mistake for Meta to abandon first-party game development, the company is still getting back to basics and focusing on gaming as the primary purpose of the Quest platform, and that's the right move at the end of the day.

As I rode my way down the elevator with my wirecutters, screwdriver, blowgun, and assorted other tools at the ready, I gleefully anticipated what my next mission would look like. Would I encounter AI-powered robots that were sure to blow my cover? Maybe take down a few fields of laser traps? Hack into the security cameras and gather my intel that way? The choices seemed infinite, and the best part was that I rarely knew what to expect next.

It was this sense of exploration and adventure that was most unexpected in Unseen Diplomacy 2, the surprising sequel to an incredibly niche VR tech demo from the original HTC Vive's 2016 release. I recall being enamored with the physical movement required to play the original title, and I showed it off to numerous people who visited. Still, that game was little more than a well-executed, unique concept that lacked any real gameplay depth.

The sequel is, quite frankly, one of the best VR games I've ever played. The visuals are not only impeccably stylistic and fit the mood very well — think back to the 2003 pseudo spy game XIII with its graphic novel style — but the concept is properly fleshed out and utilizes all of the Meta Quest 3's best and most unique hardware features. Full wireless freedom, the ability to map out your whole home and convert it into a playable virtual space, and the fantastic possibility that comes with moving your body like a real spy would, all without the potentially fatal consequences at the end of the day.

Time to suit up, agent

Like the original, Unseen Diplomacy 2 was designed around the idea that your home can become a virtual playspace that looks and feels totally different. This isn't a mixed reality game, although it does have mixed reality missions you can do if you like that sort of thing. This is still very much a VR game that transports you to new places, but the difference is that this release not only allows for the full range of physical human movement, but it also recognizes that not everyone has the space or physical ability to move around like a spy.

As you begin, I recommend two things right off the bat. First, if you're playing in full roomscale mode — which means you'll be walking around your room and relying on full physical movements — make sure the floor plan it shows you before playing is correct. My space worked best when I cleared the whole thing out and drew a long rectangle in my living room to play in.

Second, play the tutorial first. This is not the first game, which means there's a lot more going on. You'll need to familiarize yourself with all the gadgets in your inventory (and there are a lot of them). Otherwise, you'll get to a puzzle and be totally stumped in the real game.

After you've started, get ready to sink some serious time into this. You can play for as long or as little as you'd like, but I found the gameplay loop to be ridiculously addictive. Each day starts out at a sort of game board that loosely resembles a mix of Risk and Catan. Each day, pawns will move around the board, showing where spies are located throughout the world. Selecting a spy will give you a range of actions, including further movement, investigation, and mission execution.

You'll have 17 days to stop "doomsday" from occurring, so gathering intel and completing missions is paramount to this goal. Each mission takes place in a different location based on intel, and as you might expect, missions have individual goals. Sometimes you'll have to collect more intel and upload it back to HQ, while other times you'll be disarming missiles, sneaking into server farms or mansion basements, and fighting plenty of police bots along the way.

The best way to play the game is with roomscale movement, as the rooms and corridors are all fully scaled to fit within the physical confines of your home. But don't worry, these rooms don't work like "normal" rooms do. Doors take you to new areas through a clever mix of procedural generation and brilliant programming, requiring you to physically walk through them and into a new space, even though you've only walked in a circle in your living room.

It's enough to truly boggle your mind the first few hours you play the game, and it'll continue to bake your noodle throughout the entirety of the gameplay experience. That's not to mention all the physical puzzles like cutting wires and rewiring panels, ducking under and around lasers, climbing through vents, etc., that you'll come across, plus a multitude of hacking minigames, climbing up and down ropes, ladders, unmarked walls with McGuyver-style climbing gear, etc.

The campaign spans several different countries and continents, sports 3 different save slots, and half a dozen different difficulty modes, and even includes a dedicated fitness mode that gauges your level of movement and intensity with lots of follow-up stats to tie everything in. Plus, of course, the mixed reality room mode I mentioned earlier, adding yet another layer of depth to this package.

It's quite literally the full package and one of the most memorable bespoke VR games I've played in quite some time. Developer Triangular Pixels maintains a roadmap for new features, bug fixes, and general improvements, plus you can suggest new ideas on the Discord server. At $15.99 on both Steam and Meta Quest platforms, this one's a no-brainer day one buy when version 1.0 lands on March 16.

What you need to know

• CNBC held a brief interview with Samsung's vice president of mobile business, Jay Kim, who touched on the brand's smart glasses ambitions.
• Kim says the glasses will feature an eye level camera that will lean on AI to "understand" what users see before sending it to their phones for processing.
• Samsung confirmed in an earnings call earlier this year that its AR glasses are on the way in 2026.

Samsung hasn't forgotten about AR glasses, as a recent report highlights an interview with an executive who's talking about what consumers might expect.

In an interview with CNBC, Samsung's vice president of mobile business, Jay Kim, briefly discussed the company's upcoming smart glasses. As MWC 2026 wrapped up, Kim got candid, stating Samsung's smart glasses will feature a "built-in camera" that will be positioned "at eye level." Kim informed CNBC that AI was a big part of Samsung's glasses that it wanted to get right. Specifically, the glasses needed to have AI software that could "understand" what the user is looking at.

From there, the AI would send the information it gathered from the lenses to your phone for processing. Kim adds this would result in users receiving "a lot of information." This back and forth is reportedly a significant portion of how users would interact with Samsung's smart glasses and (likely) their Galaxy device.

Kim states the lenses will be connected to your phone to process the camera's information. When questioned on whether or not the product would feature a display, Kim reportedly declined to answer.

Lookin' smart

We've been wading through Samsung smart glasses rumors for a while. Last year, it was reported that Samsung's bold move—smart glasses—could launch in 2026. Samsung wanted to move itself into a position to become a noteworthy smart glasses maker to compete with others. Its own brand of glasses would be separate from what it's working on with Google. Those rumors claim that the company's product would not feature a display, so Kim's silence on the matter might not be that much of a shock.

It was reported that Samsung was developing glasses under Project HAEAN. During Samsung's earnings call earlier this year, the company made a brief note about its pursuit of smart glasses. In reality, it confirmed that its AR glasses will see a 2026 launch, as part of its broader AI expansion. These glasses were reported to be made in partnership with Google, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster. Additionally, there could be two versions of its smart glasses on the way.

I didn't expect it, but the Samsung Galaxy XR has become the ultimate portable gaming machine. Not only can it natively play any Android game from the Google Play Store, but one free app even lets you run Steam games with no configuration or nonsense involved. No cloud streaming, no ridiculous subscription. Just your favorite Steam games, all running natively on the Galaxy XR (and even your Android smartphone).

If you haven't heard of GameHub yet, it's about high time you check it out. Available for free on the Google Play Store, GameHub is a fork of the popular Winlator app that integrates several cloud gaming services and social features, plus a friendly user interface and automatic configuration for every game you download. It's as easy to use as a Steam Deck, and the wearable hardware makes it even better.

Why choose an XR headset to play these games on instead of a phone or a portable system like a Steam Deck? Neck and arm comfort, mainly, as you don't have to look down at a system or hold it up high for hours at a time. The screen just floats in front of your face, no matter if you're sitting up or lying down. Really, it's as good as a portable gaming system can get. It's the sort of functionality you'll get on the upcoming Steam Frame headset, except you don't have to wait for Valve to release it.

Playing Steam games on the Galaxy XR

GameSir, makers of many of our favorite mobile controllers, debuted an app called GameHub on the Google Play Store last November. It's a customized fork of the popular Winlator app, which people have used for years to emulate Windows on Android, but it's more user-friendly.

In the app, you connect your Steam account, and it more or less ends up looking like SteamOS running within an app window on the Galaxy XR. Fire up the app, tap Steam, and your entire library is now fully playable on the Galaxy XR without any further configuration. I connected the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Bluetooth controller to my Galaxy XR to play the games, but I'm sure GameSir would appreciate it if you used one of their controllers instead.

When the app debuted, it caught a lot of flak on places like Reddit for requiring too many permissions, but the latest version of the app doesn't require any permissions to get it running. Not even notification permission, although it'll harass you from time-to-time about enabling them. If you're concerned about telemetry data, someone forked a version on Github with that stuff removed. Another option is GameNative.

Once you've got GameHub installed, run it and sign into your GameSir account, or just use the modded GameHub Lite version linked above, which doesn't require an account. Then, you'll open up the menu on the left, select Steam from the list, and sign into your Steam account.

Now, any time you launch the app, you'll be greeted with a Steam button right on the front that takes you to your Steam library. Just like on a Steam Deck, find the game you want, hit the install button, and then you can just play it from there on out. No cloud connection needed, no subscription required. It's all running on the Galaxy XR.

If you're worried about compatibility or performance, you can run a check on each game before it's installed, which gives you a decent idea of whether the game will work or not.

You can also configure additional options if you want or need to make performance adjustments, but I found the default settings to be more than adequate for my needs. If you run into issues or just want to touch up on your GameHub knowledge, this YouTube video is an excellent resource and uses a phone that sports a processor slightly slower than what's in the Galaxy XR, so those settings (starting at the 4:50 mark) will help you get the best out of the system.

If you want to experiment with just one feature, though, I'd recommend enabling Snapdragon Super Resolution, which is available in GameHub's menu found when pressing the home button on your connected controller. You can also learn about it in the video linked above at the 9:18 minute mark.

I found performance to be incredibly similar to my Steam Deck, despite that this app has to translate x86 code to the headset's ARM processor. Portal 2, for instance, ran at a locked 60fps on both my Steam Deck and the Galaxy XR, but newer games like Resident Evil Requiem are simply too taxing to run on this level of hardware. We'll have to wait and see if the actual Steam Frame fares better with them since it has a faster processor.

Taking all the best Steam Frame features now

I recently wrote about how two of the Steam Frame's best features already work on the Galaxy XR, and now even the emulation of Steam games is possible on Samsung's Android XR-powered headset. That means three of the four big pillars of what's going to make the Steam Frame great — foveated streaming, a dedicated wireless network, and native Steam game compatibility — are available on the Galaxy XR right now. The only thing missing is running PC VR games natively, something the Frame might continue to stand out for.

The only thing you'll need for standard Steam games to work is a Bluetooth controller of some kind, like this GameSir Cyclone 2. For PC VR games, you'll want a pair of Galaxy XR controllers and the Virtual Desktop app on the Google Play Store. Once you've got those (and a VR-ready PC), you're all set.

It's pretty wild seeing the Steam Frame's best features already make their way to other headsets before Valve's next-generation headset even launches, but it's (ironically) all thanks to Valve and the work they've poured into Proton and FEX over the years.

Meta Quest games that primarily use hand tracking are extremely cool, there's no doubt about it. Being able to interact with a virtual world using your actual hands feels like something out of a sci-fi movie, but that sense of realism and interaction also means that inputs are a bit more restrictive than when using controllers with joysticks and buttons.

That means when playing a game like Dimensional Double Shift, you can interact with the world and other players like never before. Still, it's not as easy to perform system tasks like taking a screenshot, recording a video, or muting your microphone. Thankfully, there's a solution for that, but it's a bit hidden within the system menu.

It's called Expanded Quick Actions, and it adds five buttons to the menu on your palm, allowing you to instantly mute your microphone (huzzah!), recenter your view, record a video, open the menu, and see your surroundings without having to remove your headset. The microphone mute is particularly helpful for me, as I've got a busy family and sometimes have to carry on a conversation while playing, something I don't always care for the whole internet to hear.

How to enable Expanded Quick Actions

On your Meta Quest headset, press the home button on the right controller or perform the home action with your hands by pinching your index and thumb together while your palm is facing you (as pictured above). This will bring up the Universal Menu Bar, which includes shortcuts to the app drawer, recent and pinned apps, and settings. Next, click on the Quick Settings panel, which is a button on the left side of the menu bar that shows the time, Wi-Fi status, and battery.

After that, you're going to want to click on Settings in the top right corner, then select Movement Tracking from the left-side menu. In this section, you'll find the option for enabling hand tracking and Expanded Quick Actions. Ensure that hand tracking is enabled, then tap the Expanded Quick Actions toggle to enable it.

Now, when you face your palm toward you, pinch your index and thumb together and hold them for a second, and a more robust action menu will appear. This unlocks the aforementioned menu that contains mute, screen record, recenter, mixed reality, and home buttons. Expanded Quick Actions works on any Meta Quest headset, but it's best on a Quest 3 or Quest 3S since those headsets feature full-color mixed reality vision.

If you want to just go home, you can still quickly tap your index and thumb together to perform the home gesture. While you're in this menu, feel free to tweak a few settings as you see fit. One that's particularly useful is "double tap controllers for hand tracking," which lets you instantly swap between controller-based and hand tracking methods without having to put the controllers down and wait for them to go to sleep.

Hand tracking can't be used everywhere, but I've found myself defaulting to it when putting my Quest on before I launch anything, and I often find myself working from my headset without using controllers at all. It's genuinely impressive how far hand tracking has come along and how it's legitimately a replacement for controllers in many situations, especially now when you can pull up quick menus with handy actions with just a pinch.

What you need to know

• The upcoming Pico OS 6 completely redesigns the OS, including a new spatial rendering engine, brand new UI design, powerful new open SDKs built on Android Studio, and more.
• Project Swan is a high-end XR headset featuring custom silicon, 40-45PPD resolution, and a new design, launching globally sometime in Q2.
• Pico, owned by TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, will be bringing its headsets and software to North American consumers for the first time this year, marking the end of an era of restrictive releases.

In a special developer event, Pico announced its biggest OS update yet, coming alongside a massive redesign and powerful new development tools. The 15-minute-long presentation was tightly packed with information, with no time wasted to highlight the advantages of the new OS and the problems Pico aims to solve.

Additionally, Pico announced a new headset, currently called Project Swan, which is scheduled to come to the U.S. for the first time, likely sometime in Q2 of this year. Project Swan marks a huge step forward for Pico, which is owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, as it will finally debut consumer products in the U.S. for the first time. To date, Pico's U.S. presence has been limited to enterprise customers.

Project Swan aims to be the first headset that can "fully replace your monitors," according to the keynote presentation, by delivering 40-45 pixels per degree (PPD) resolution, a first for a consumer VR headset. High-end headsets, like Galaxy XR, only sport 35 PPD.

This is achieved through a combination of new, higher-density micro-OLED displays with 4000 ppi resolution (not a typo), which is 10x the density of modern smartphones. Additionally, Pico has developed its own lenses and custom silicon to drive the best visuals and performance needed to achieve these goals.

Pico says its custom chipset is 2x the CPU and GPU power of existing Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processors, which power the latest Meta Quest headsets and the Samsung Galaxy XR. It's not known if Project Swan will ship with controllers or if it'll be designed more for productivity and entertainment, like Galaxy XR.

Ahead of the official launch, Pico is conducting a global test of the new Pico OS 6 and will be sending out a Project Swan headset to a few lucky individuals to test. You can sign up for the beta here. Pico OS 6 aims to solve several problems with existing XR OS's, including an advanced rendering pipeline that can run standard Android apps "directly in immersive layers" rather than separate 2D windows.

This is likely a direct call out to Meta, which has traditionally organized its OS in a layered fashion. Pico says this new paradigm will result in proper interaction between 2D and 3D elements, including remote avatar interaction with virtual and physical worlds. Pico says its new OS "supports a diverse range of app ecosystems, including Spatial apps, OpenXR, WebXR, Android apps, Web apps, and PC VR streaming."

Android Central's take

It seems ByteDance may be celebrating the victory of the TikTok U.S. deal by trying its hand at another major pillar of the company's vision. ByteDance acquired Pico back in 2021 when it was clear the Oculus Quest 2 was selling gangbusters, but failed to capitalize on that growth immediately because it wasn't able to roll out new headsets in key markets like North America.

Now, this new headset, which is almost certainly going to be expensive, has the chance to be a true competitor to the upcoming Meta Project Phoenix in more ways than one. Given Pico's open-source stance and unwavering commitment to VR over the years, there's a real chance the company could have an excellent foothold in the market and become the real competitor to Meta that the market has sorely needed.

Samsung's Galaxy XR is one of the most interesting VR headsets I've ever used, and I've been testing VR headsets for over 12 years now. It's far from Samsung's first VR headset — that would be the Gear VR, launched in September 2014 — but it's easily the best headset the company has ever made.

That all starts with cutting-edge hardware, excellent design, and an operating system that's made for the modern XR age. But you've probably heard all this at least once in the four months since the headset launched, so how does it hold up over time?

Mostly very well, and that's because this headset's real superpower isn't in the hardware at all. It's held almost entirely in the fact that this headset features seamless Android app compatibility through the Google Play Store. That means every app you already know and love to use is already available, and it works so seamlessly that it almost overpowers the negative aspects of the headset.

I've put a ton of hours into using the Galaxy XR and have made it part of my daily routine. While I may be at my desk part of the day, I also find myself working elsewhere in the house from time to time. When I'm on the couch, looking down at my laptop hurts my neck after a while. Using the Galaxy XR as a monitor is easy as can be, especially with apps like Virtual Desktop, which also make a perfect way to play SteamVR games on the headset.

Running my computer's virtual monitor alongside several Android apps means that I can put down my phone and do everything in-headset. That keeps me in the flow and focused on my work better than constantly being distracted by the phone next to me. It also means I can get everything done without regularly needing to juggle between devices. This headset does it all, and it does it extremely well.

Every single Android app I tried worked flawlessly on the Galaxy XR. Whether it was playing Minecraft or Roblox with my son on a giant virtual screen (using my favorite Bluetooth 8BitDo controller), or using Google's handy Quick Share to send and receive files between my phone, PC, tablets, and family's devices, I was constantly impressed with how well a Samsung device worked with all of my non-Samsung products.

In fact, navigation works so well that I often find myself looking at things in real life and attempting to pinch to select them as if they were part of the XR experience. If you're not aware, the Galaxy XR features eye-tracking capabilities on its lenses, allowing you to look at UI elements and select them with a finger pinch. Just like on Apple Vision Pro, you don't need to raise your hand like a laser pointer. Just leave it in your lap, and the cameras on the underside of the headset can see them just fine.

Samsung is also using built-in eye-tracking to automate lens spacing to accommodate various interpupillary distances (IPD). An incorrect IPD can lead to headaches and dizziness, so it's great to see the system doing this without the need for user intervention. The Galaxy XR also features biometric iris identification (yeah, that one), making it dead simple to log into all your services and pay with full security. This is another area where the Galaxy XR absolutely trumps Meta Quest headsets, especially when it comes to making it easy to log into all your favorite apps and services.

The OLED display behind the lenses is extremely crisp and sports plenty of brightness to make mixed reality content look great. While the PWM dimming on most Samsung Galaxy phones typically gives me a headache, the Galaxy XR only gave me mild discomfort if there wasn't enough ambient light in the room.

It's also incredibly easy to multitask between apps or run them side-by-side, although Android XR has a bit of maturing to do to properly compete with desktop operating systems. Snapping windows isn't as seamless as it is on Windows, Mac OS, or even a Meta Quest headset, and while it's dead simple to move them around and resize them, there are no advanced options for curving windows or anything like that.

This touches on the main area where Galaxy XR needs the most work: polishing. Taking a screenshot is easy, but you have to navigate through several menus to record the screen. Launching apps from the home screen is ridiculously easy, but Google's promise of a Gemini AI that can control everything simply isn't true. I found lots of things Gemini can't help with on the Galaxy XR, and that might have been the most disappointing thing of all, given the hype of this being the first version of Android "built for the Gemini era."

I'm also confused about Samsung's decision not to include controllers in the box. Yes, this headset is primarily designed for productivity or entertainment purposes, where controllers simply aren't necessary, but the lack of controllers means most VR experiences won't work without them. Buying them separately might also be fine if they weren't $250 for a pair, but both of these negative factors weigh heavily on the headset's value.

This one would easily be the best wireless SteamVR headset available if Samsung just included those controllers in the box, and the lack of default controllers has also created an environment where most VR developers won't port their games to the headset. In other words, you should only consider this for gaming if you also plan to buy the controllers.

I hate that this is such a huge downside to the headset, because I genuinely love the design, fit, comfort, and battery design, even if it won't work for everyone. The overall design is strikingly similar to 2022's Meta Quest Pro, offsetting the headset's weight with generous forehead pads and a built-in cradle for the back of your head.

But while Samsung improved the forehead pad design with modular, magnetically attachable pads, it didn't learn from Meta's headstrap design. Both headsets use a rigid plastic strap that is not detachable and cannot be rotated, so there's a specific way to wear them rather than allowing users to adjust them to their level of comfort.

For me, the design is great, but I can also see how some people would like to be able to offset the weight onto some other part of their head. That great design extends to the weight, which is made lighter by offsetting the battery's weight into a detachable pack that you can leave in your pocket.

This also makes it dead easy to plug into a wall for long-term "office work" or connect to another battery to keep playing for longer, a massive improvement on the Quest Pro's built-in, non-removable battery design.

If Samsung could just include controllers in the box, it would be substantially easier to recommend this headset. That's especially true now that Meta no longer has the first-party studio dominance it once had, meaning Android XR and the Galaxy XR could be the de facto alternative to Meta if developers started porting to the OS.

As it stands, the Galaxy XR's primary purpose is to be an "infinite canvas" for all your apps, and while it achieves that goal spectacularly well, it lacks the bespoke VR library that Meta Quest headsets have. Still, the capability to run all Android apps from the Google Play Store is a monumental achievement that ultimately makes this headset something truly special and achieves what Meta or Apple simply were unable to do: give you every app you love in infinitely resizable, movable windows anywhere you are.

For years, Meta has been trying to get Android developers to port their apps to the company's Meta Quest platform. It's a natural fit since the Quest's Horizon OS is built on Android, but most Android developers have never accepted Meta's generous incentives to port. The result is that Quest users mainly use their headsets for bespoke VR games rather than as "the next computing platform," as Zuckerberg and co originally intended.

Because of that, I wasn't entirely convinced that using a VR or XR headset was truly worthy of replacing my smartphone or laptop for my daily needs, but the Galaxy XR has proven me wrong. You see, at the heart of the Android XR operating system that powers the Galaxy XR is the Google Play Store. While that might seem like no big deal at first — afterall, most Android-powered devices have full access to Google's app store — it turns out that the app store is the killer app the Galaxy XR needs to succeed, playing to the headset's strengths nicely.

My realization of that success started last week. Right when Sony's State of Play presentation was about to begin, my son asked if I wanted to join him on Roblox. While I never need to pay close attention to these kinds of presentations — I'm a picky gamer, and only certain games really appeal to me — I also knew that Sony was bound to air something I wasn't comfortable with him watching. That's when the Galaxy XR's multitasking capabilities became the perfect tool for the next hour of my day.

The power of the Play Store

I hadn't downloaded Roblox on my Galaxy XR yet, so I quickly fired up the YouTube app, dragged it to the side, and got State of Play started so I wouldn't miss anything important. Meanwhile, I opened the Play Store and downloaded Roblox. As the first section of the Kena sequel trailer finished airing, I quickly logged into Roblox using the headset's built-in iris biometric identification and Google's excellent password manager. No fumbling with some silly spreadsheet or password manager. It just worked.

As the next trailer started, I turned on my GameSir Bluetooth controller and quickly paired it with the headset, then joined the Roblox game my son was already in. "Whoa, wait, Dad? You're in the game??" Yep, it just worked, and now I was spending quality time gaming with my son while also not missing a beat during State of Play (or letting him see some mature-rated game that'll give him nightmares).

Not only that, but the video and the game were on giant, resizable, fully movable screens. I wasn't straining my neck looking down at my phone to play, and I didn't have to watch the stream in some tiny picture-in-picture on it, either. The only other headset capable of this experience is the Apple Vision Pro, which is twice the price of the Galaxy XR.

I tried to use all of my Meta Quest headsets this way — including the Meta Quest Pro back in 2022 — but Meta was never able to nail this experience the way Google and Samsung have. It's impossible to downplay the significance of not just having all of my favorite apps at my disposal when I need them; it's also deep integration with Google services like the password manager and even Quick Share that have transformed this into a truly useful computing product.

Now, don't get me wrong, I wish there were more bespoke VR games on this headset, but that's what I have my Meta Quest for. Failing that, I've also got my PC to wirelessly stream PCVR games from, all of which are now better than ever thanks to two of the Steam Frame's best features, which are now possible on Galaxy XR.

Get into the infinite canvas

Moving and resizing windows in Android XR works surprisingly similarly to a desktop UI like Mac OS or Windows. You'll want to remember four things when multitasking with multiple apps at a time:

1. Performing the home gesture always opens the app drawer. You can launch any app this way.

2. Recent apps can be opened by holding the home gesture and moving your hand or controller to the right (the three vertical lines icon).

3. Move any window by gazing or pointing to the edge of the window, then holding and dragging the semi-transparent outline that appears.

4. Resize any window by gazing or pointing to any of the window's four corners, then holding and dragging the edge indicator that appears.

Windows can be placed anywhere in physical space and will stay there even if you get up and move around. This makes it easy to take normal breaks or to sit and stand without having to reconfigure your setup each time.

Any 2D app can be run side-by-side with other 2D apps, but immersive apps will take over your viewing space and hide 2D windows. When an immersive app is open, you can reopen a 2D window by opening the recent apps menu and selecting the app you want to see.

Being able to open any app from the Google Play Store is such an incredible convenience that makes this headset all the better for it, and I love the foundations Google and Samsung have built for making this the ultimate productivity device.

My first impressions of Samsung's Galaxy XR hardware were very good. The headset is gorgeous, light, made of quality materials, and seems to borrow the best design ideas from all the best VR headsets available. But something didn't quite feel right the first few times I wore it.

While the headset certainly shares design similarities with the Meta Quest Pro, I quickly realized that it can't be worn the exact same way. General discomfort, a narrow field of view, and even warning messages from the Android XR operating system about eye-tracking issues tipped me off to this. This couldn't possibly be the way it was meant to work, right?

While you can swap out the forehead pack with varying thickness levels, there's no way to angle the side arms for the head strap or to adjust the lens distance from your face with a wheel, the way the Meta Quest Pro worked. So I went back to step one to figure out what was wrong, and it turns out all I had to do was adjust how I put it on my head.

Getting the right angle

The left side of the above picture shows how I initially put the headset on. I started by aligning the forehead pad to the top of my forehead, then tightened the wheel on the back to ensure the headset didn't slip off. While this resulted in what I thought was geometrically correct, it turns out that the side arms shouldn't be perfectly straight horizontally.

When it's worn this way, the back padding not only doesn't correctly align with the shape of my skull, but also doesn't line the displays up with my eyes. Android XR kept telling me to move the headset down further, which was impossible since the forehead pad was already as low as it could go on my forehead.

To fix this, I changed things up by placing the front of the headset on my cheeks first, then pulling the back down onto my skull. This resulted in the front of the headset angling down ever so slightly. You can see the side-by-side in the picture below.

That was the first time I felt like the Galaxy XR fit perfectly. Suddenly, my view of the gorgeous micro-OLED displays behind the lenses felt complete. They took up a significant portion of my vision rather than the almost telescope-like feeling they had when I wore the headset the wrong way.

Not only that, but the pressure on my forehead was suddenly lifted, now evenly distributed across the back of my head. I also immediately stopped getting notifications from the OS about eye-tracking problems, and that fantastic eye-tracking navigation suddenly worked properly.

It was surprising that such a small change fixed so many problems at once, but I was glad I found it and can now properly use the Galaxy XR!

The Galaxy XR has become my go-to device for multitasking. While the headset seems to be marketed more toward entertainment like watching immersive MLB or NBA games, the Olympics, and more, I've found that I keep coming back to it to run my favorite Android apps and experiences in a larger, more comfortable way than my phone or tablets can provide.

But what if you want to go bigger than this? Streaming a desktop PC to the Galaxy XR can be done in a number of ways, but the two "official" ways of doing it are quite restrictive. Samsung's official app requires a GalaxyBook laptop — I don't know anyone who owns one of those — and the official Android XR PC Connect app is a surprisingly slow, laggy experience.

That means the only good option is the famed third-party streaming app, Virtual Desktop. This one's been around since 2016 and has evolved as wireless headsets became more commonplace. It can be used for simple "2D streaming" of your desktop and standard games or apps, but it really shines when you boot up a PC VR game through SteamVR, especially with an impressive new feature that's perfect for the Galaxy XR's hardware.

How is Steam Frame streaming different?

Valve's Steam Frame is basically a Steam Deck that you can wear. And while that's certainly a cool enough proposition by itself, Valve is still uniquely prioritizing PC VR games. Instead of piggybacking off your home's wireless network, Valve includes a USB stick that creates a specialized wireless network just for the headset. That not only helps avoid traffic jams that cause streaming quality degradation, but it also enables foveated streaming.

If you're like most people, you've likely never heard of that last term, but it's one you'll quickly want to become familiar with because of what it can do. Foveated streaming works in tandem with the eye-tracking capabilities of the Steam Frame and keeps the highest-quality streaming right in the center of your vision, while everything else remains lower quality (since your peripheral vision can't see it clearly, anyway) to save bandwidth.

While we thought Valve might be the first company to launch a headset with this capability, it turns out that Guy Godin, the legendary developer behind Virtual Desktop, just launched a huge update for his app that upgrades your existing headset with Steam Frame-like streaming.

Turning the Galaxy XR into a Steam Frame

If you own a Samsung Galaxy XR, Meta Quest Pro, or another headset with eye tracking capabilities, Virtual Desktop is about to become the best utility you can buy for your headset. I got to try a beta release of the new feature on my Galaxy XR this week and was blown away by the clarity it offers. The update is now available to all Virtual Desktop users as of version 1.34.16.

Surprisingly, it's not just the quality of the visuals that gets improved with foveated streaming. Even though the center of vision is streaming in higher quality than you've likely ever seen from your headset, the entire stream is using less overall bandwidth than the standard streaming quality. That means your PC VR games being streamed from Steam or another platform will run more smoothly, look sharper, and will even be less taxing for your home network.

To activate it, start a Virtual Desktop session with your PC, then click the menu button on the left controller, or perform a pinch gesture with your left hand to open the Virtual Desktop menu. Click the Streaming menu on the left, then select the checkbox next to Foveated Streaming.

Everything from here on is handled automatically, though you can tweak the bitrate and graphical quality in the app if you want to control settings more granularly. This will work on any headset with eye tracking across all platforms Virtual Desktop is available on, which is excellent news for everyone's VR headset of choice.

Now for better wireless streaming

If you live in a community building, like an apartment complex or a condo, or if you just have a million devices hogging bandwidth on your home network, you might find that wireless streaming quality leaves a lot to be desired. This is where a specialized wireless router can come in handy to create a low-latency network between your PC and VR headset.

You could buy a Steam Frame when it eventually comes out and use the wireless adapter, but I've got a better solution that you can get right now, and it's less than 1/10th the assumed price of the Steam Frame: the PrismXR Puppis S1.

The company sells two versions. An entry-level model, the Puppis S1 Lite, provides an AX1500 Wi-Fi 6 connection for $50, and an upgraded model that provides an AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 connection for $80. The cheaper model requires a wired Ethernet connection to your PC, while the more expensive model offers a USB connection and additional wireless capability.

I used the original model a few years back and generally wasn't impressed with the package, which I thought required too much tinkering for my liking, but the company's upgraded software and newer hardware models are a completely different experience.

The Puppis S1 and S1 Lite both work with any VR headset you might own, so it's just as great for Meta Quest 3 owners as it is for folks owning a Galaxy XR.

The S1 Lite is the simplest experience and the one I'll focus on today. You plug the included power adapter into it, connect one ethernet cable from it to your router, then plug the other ethernet cable into your PC. Any configuration you need to run is done via the PrismXR PC app, and it lets you set a wireless network name, password, tweak several other options, and scan for the best wireless signal available.

That last part is paramount to ensuring the unit performs at its best, especially if you live in a community building with a ton of different Wi-Fi networks. A one-tap scan utility will take about 60 seconds to check dozens of different performance parameters and make suggestions to improve any problems you may have. My initial scan found about a half dozen issues, all of which were one-click fixes. It's extraordinarily low effort to set up, something I'm not accustomed to with PC VR gaming.

From here, you'll connect your headset to the hotspot the Puppis S1 makes, then launch Virtual Desktop (or your other favorite streaming app) to connect to your PC. I noticed an immediate improvement in wireless latency and performance compared to my home router, and this is the exact same experience I expect to see from the Steam Frame's included wireless dongle.

Undoubtedly, Valve's Steam Frame will be the easiest way to get all this done for someone who may not have a VR headset with eye tracking, but the rest of us who are already loving our headsets can get a quick upgrade without having to wait for the RAM crisis to end so Valve can finally release the Frame.

I've been a VR gamer for over a decade now, using everything from early headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift CV1 to modern headsets like the Meta Quest 3S. While these headsets offer different levels of functionality, comfort, and even controller and OS designs, most of them follow similar navigation concepts, just as Android and iOS share similar gestures and basic functions.

But when I opened up my Samsung Galaxy XR and started playing around with Android XR, I was a little confused. It admittedly took me some time before I was able to get the hang of some of the basic gestures and controls, but once I figured it out, it was smooth sailing from then on.

How to center yourself

On a Meta Quest headset or in SteamVR, holding the home button always recenters your play space, making it easy to realign the windows you have open or just reorient yourself in your environment. In Android XR, holding the home button via the finger pinch gesture does...nothing.

Given that this gesture has been a staple of VR headsets for a solid decade, I was immediately confused. I searched through the headset's menus but didn't find any obvious way to do what I wanted. Surely, the brilliant folks at Google designing Android XR didn't forget such a simple, yet vitally important gesture, right?

Of course they didn't! After figuring out how to do it, I actually prefer Samsung and Google's method of recentering the view over all the other headsets I've used, and it all happens with a simple tap of the touchpad on the right side of the headset.

On the right temple, you'll see a horizontally-centered line that shows you where the touchpad is. A long-press of that touchpad will instantly center your view and all your windows. A double-tap will switch between mixed reality and virtual reality, giving you a quick way to see the room around you in case you're immersed in a game or a movie.

Screenshot and screen recording

Recentering things wasn't the only thing I couldn't figure out for a while. Some other basic tasks, like taking a screenshot and recording a video, were also different from what I was used to. Once I figured them out, though, they made a ton of sense, especially as an Android user.

You can take a screenshot or record a video by opening up the quick settings panel, but that's not the quickest way to get the job done. Instead, you'll want to reach up to the top of the headset and press the volume down and top button at the same time.

A single click of these buttons simultaneously will instantly take a screenshot. This isn't just great for quickly performing this task; it's also the best way to ensure you capture the moment without any annoying menus getting in the way. For some bizarre reason, there's no quick action to record a video; you'll just have to tap the button in the quick settings panel to start or stop it. Here's hoping Google adds that feature in a future Android XR update!

Gemini and 3D image capture

While you're up there, two other functions will come in handy as you continue to enjoy using the Galaxy XR. Like rubbing a lamp and summoning a genie, a long-press of that top button will summon Gemini or Bixby to do your bidding. One of the main pillars of Android XR is that Gemini has immense control over anything you're doing on the headset when you want it to, and that can be a powerful tool when you're stuck or don't know how to find something. Even if Gemini can't get the job done for you, it'll tell you exactly how to do it manually.

Likewise, you can actually use Galaxy XR as a fancy 3D camera by double-pressing that top button to launch the camera app. It's not quite as elegant as using a pair of smart glasses to record video or take pictures, but it has a massive advantage: it'll capture spatial photos and video instead of boring old 2D ones.

Those are best viewed with a headset like the Galaxy XR — or an upcoming pair of Android XR smart glasses like Project Aura — because the binocular lenses provide proper spatial playback, making your photos and videos come to life like never before. Even if you haven't used the Galaxy XR to capture these memories, the Google Photos app can use the power of AI to automatically add a 3D quality to anything you have stored on the service, and that's a pretty magical feeling.

The video game crash of 1983 is legendary. Even if you weren't alive at the time (which I wasn't), you likely know that a perfect storm of overinvestment and poor quality games forced the entire video game industry into a deep depression. This phenomenon has long been studied and predicted to recur, and it's entirely possible that we just witnessed history repeating itself last month.

I'm specifically speaking about the ongoing challenges in the VR market over the past two years, as free-to-play games have turned Meta Quest's app store into a wannabe Google Play Store. A mixture of mismanagement and poor market conditions led Meta to close most of its studios in January. That led many to wonder if Meta was still interested in VR gaming, or if the Quest would be dropped in a toy box like Woody from the first Toy Story movie after Buzz — in this case, AI glasses — showed up.

While the market's dynamics in 1983 were wildly different from the video game market we all know and love today, the parallels between Atari's failures and Meta's handling of the Quest over the past few years are strikingly similar. Still, a small contingent of developers is seeing success, even if the swath of Gorilla Tag clones and Horizon Worlds slop continues to bury quality titles from would-be customers.

Simulating jobs

One of VR's earliest success stories is the game Job Simulator, which is widely revered not only for its on-point humor but also for its uniquely interactive qualities and mechanics that have held up over a decade of changing VR ideals. It's since been installed over 6 million times, and its multiplayer successor, Dimensional Double Shift (DDS), just crossed over the 1-million installs mark only a year after it launched in beta.

But DDS is achieving success in a very different market than the one Job Simulator launched in. Back in 2016, the game debuted on Steam and PlayStation VR, two traditional gaming platforms that appeal to a very different set of gamers than the current Meta Quest crowd, which often defaults to mobile-style free-to-play games over larger, more ambitious offerings.

Owlchemy Labs CEO, Andrew Eiche, had quite a bit to say about the evolving market and where things are headed in an interview I conducted with him this past week. Despite some major setbacks with Meta's studio closures and strategy changes lately, Eiche had a surprisingly rosy outlook on the industry and where VR gaming is headed next.

Speaking on the success of free-to-play games like his own Dimensional Double Shift, he told me the attraction wasn't just that it was free to jump in and play, but also its style. "If you look at the broader gaming landscape, there's a push towards play as play," Eiche told me. "We had a large push for many, many years towards competitive multiplayer games, and I think you're starting to see a little bit of a backlash."

While some people certainly enjoy the high-skill nature of competitive games, lots of people simply don't have the time to get good enough to compete. In many of these games, Eiche notes that players need to "play your role, or we're going to accuse you of throwing the game, and we're going to get very mad."

The communities for cooperative and "slop" genre games, such as R.E.P.O, Lethal Company, Dimensional Double Shift, and Among Us, are often distinct. Rather than push players to win at all costs, the goal is "I guess you could play the game if you want and we'll gently push you towards our goals," which is exactly what Dimensional Double Shift does. The point is to have fun with other people and enjoy the limited time you might have to play video games. Imagine that!

The perils of free-to-play

Meta's handling of the Quest's app store has been called into question many times over by gamers and developers alike. The switch to allowing pure shovelware to release alongside big-name titles like Batman: Arkham Shadow or Skydance's Behemoth has been critiqued to kingdom come, and rightly so, as it has caused a substantial drop in sales on the platform compared to two years ago when the store was highly curated.

Meta's shift to promoting Horizon Worlds content over paid experiences has pushed lifetime gamers away from the platform, and Gen Alpha's adoption of Quest as a more fun way to play has drastically shifted the audience to one that often chooses free-to-play content first.

While this is great for games like DDS, it's very bad for many others. Meta's CTO, Andrew Bosworth, has admitted that mistakes were made and that the company is working to turn things around, but it's too little, too late for many people.

Eiche has been around the VR scene for even longer than me, so, of course, I had to ask him what he thought about what's happened this year. "My theory is that, at the worst, this is 1983, and we're in our Atari moment where a company has potentially put out too many tendrils in too many places and moved a little too fast and now has to back up. Whether Meta ends up as the Atari of VR is TBD."

Unsurprisingly, Bosworth has a more positive take on the changes at Meta. "We're still investing more in content than anyone else. We're even investing in more content than I think we were even a year ago," he told viewers in an Instagram AMA on February 3, 2026.

There's certainly plenty of truth to Meta having invested more in VR than anyone else, but the degree to which the company is actually investing is anyone's best guess. We do know that Reality Labs spending isn't changing in 2026, despite Meta's studio closures, but the company is anything but transparent about how it spends its cash.

While there's plenty of debate about what the future of VR gaming looks like, many parties remain very positive about the future of VR hardware and experiences. Eiche says he's "very excited for the Steam Frame and Project Aura," two huge 2026 releases expected to alter the XR landscape for years to come.

Meta is also working on a substantially smaller, lighter headset that's reportedly going to be released next Spring. Rumors say they look like a pair of glasses rather than a VR headset and are called Project Phoenix, as pictured above. Boz briefly teased it on the February 3rd AMA, saying "not just the next one device, but the next two devices that we're [building] are very exciting."

The real question is whether Meta can fix the Quest store in time for an exciting new hardware release. "The way the store is structured has an enormous impact on what the games look like," Eiche told me, and he's very right. The current store design is just like a mobile app store and "drives prices to free and consolidates around a few large players with smaller teams finding success in bursts." Whether this or the Steam model is the real success in the end will be anyone's best guess.

Fans of "The Twilight Zone" will remember the feeling that came with the start of every new episode. I'm not old enough to have seen the black & white TV show fresh when it aired, but I have wonderful memories watching it with my father during my middle school summers when he would come home from work during lunch time, trying to riddle out what was actually happening in each episode's strange realities while simultaneously feeling horrified at the answer.

More modern classics like "Severance" use similar tactics, setting up an environment that looks and feels normal at first, only to turn something on its head in a sinister way you didn't expect. I recently played Hotel Infinity on Meta Quest, and it evokes the same feelings I get from watching "Severance" or "The Twilight Zone," but this time, the twist is that I'm the one walking the liminal spaces of a warped, twisted universe.

Hotel Infinity is the newest game by Manifold Garden developer Studio Chyr.

The hall to nowhere and everywhere at the same time

In Hotel Infinity, you'll walk from room to room, solving puzzles that open impossible doorways, move entire floors, and even rotate gravity itself as you move from one liminal space to the next. The trick here is that you're physically moving the entire time, not just pushing on a joystick to move your character.

Hotel Infinity is one of maybe half a dozen VR games I've played that want players to traverse virtual space by physically walking (or wheeling) in real space. It's one of the most brilliant uses of what's called "roomscale VR," meaning you use an entire physical room's space to move your body and translate those movements into the virtual world.

Like Eye of the Temple, Hotel Infinity's levels are designed in such a way that you can physically walk infinitely around your room and make progress in the game. That's because the hotel's rooms are a bit of a quantum puzzle. They simultaneously both exist and don't exist, depending on how you look at them. Peer around one corner and you'll find a hallway. Peer around it the other way and you'll see a hotel room.

It's this use of impossible spaces that makes the game's movement possible, and it'll have you getting closer to hitting your 10,000-step goal in your living room every time you play it. The game also has an option for smaller spaces that swaps out physical walking for pushing a virtual thumbstick, but I would advise against this unless you absolutely have to settle. The game is still interesting without the physical movement, but it tends to ruin the immersion a bit.

The game's puzzles aren't ever particularly difficult, although most of them will have you looking at familiar objects in unfamiliar ways by the time you're done. If there's anything to expect from the game's clever, dynamic worlds, it's to expect the unexpected.

If you're a person who enjoys solving puzzles or venturing into the unknown, few games feel as perfectly crafted as this one. There are no "monsters" and no combat. This isn't a game full of gore or foul language. It's one that understands that less is more, and the power of the imagination is far more powerful than any particular thing a person can see.

What you need to know

• Meta Quest v85 is now available to public test channel (PTC) users, including a new malware scanning feature, privacy indicator, voice control for 2D windows, passkey support, and the removal of the Horizon Feed.
• An updated Navigator UI is slowly rolling out to all V85 users over the next few weeks, replacing the old navigation UI entirely.
• Meta Quest 3 users (not Quest 3S) can now test out the Surface Keyboard and Touchpad, which adds a virtual keyboard and touchpad to any flat surface.
• Meta Quest 3S users can now customize the action button with short or long-press functions.

Meta updates the Quest's system software nearly every month, and the next update is packed with new features to get excited about. That new update, v85, is now available to anyone enrolled in the public test channel (PTC).

Among the swath of changes and updates comes the removal of Horizon Feed, a 2D panel that featured Horizon Worlds content, Instagram reels, videos, and more. Meta says it's removing the panel because it "has not driven strong entitlement conversion," meaning that more users typically close the window rather than click its contents.

Instead, all home screens will slowly convert to the Navigator UI, a simplified UI (seen below) that makes it quicker to launch into apps with a single click after turning on your headset. Navigator has seen plenty of changes since Meta started testing it early last year, morphing with user feedback to usher in a more simplified experience.

Meta Quest 3 users can test out a new Surface Keyboard and Touchpad feature by navigating to the experimental section of system settings. With this new feature, the Quest 3 headset places the keyboard and a new laptop-inspired touchpad onto any flat surface, and can be seen in action in the video below.

Meta didn't specify why this feature was Quest 3-exclusive, but it's likely because that headset features a depth projector, which projects an IR grid that's invisible to human eyes but can be used by the Quest 3 cameras to measure depth.

But Quest 3S users aren't totally left out, as that headset features an Action Button on the underside that's now customizable in update v85. Meta says you can customize the long and short press actions, potentially making it more useful than its current function as a mixed reality toggle button.

All Meta Quest users will see updates to privacy and security, including a new automated malware scanning tool that runs after apps are installed, as well as new privacy indicators that follow guidelines Google delivered in Android 12. Passkeys can also now be used in the Meta Quest Browser, eliminating the need to remember passwords. The Meta Quest browser is now also pinned to the virtual wall within Meta Quest Home, giving you instant access to web browsing upon boot.

2D windows can now be controlled via voice commands and head movements, which Meta says has been added as an accessibility feature for users with limited hand mobility. You can also now hide your virtual hands when they're not in view under movement tracking in system settings. These features may also be key to further de-prioritizing controllers for the rumored upcoming headset that's said to ship without controllers in the box.

Meta is also rolling out an overhauled Ongoing Activities panel, which the company says delivers an improved design for "easier access to controls for various functions, such as taking videos, making calls, or enjoying media." Meta teases that this establishes "a foundation for future improvements and the integration of new features in upcoming releases," so it's not the last we'll be seeing of additions to this panel.

Android Central's Take

Meta has been working on many different UI updates over the years, but Navigator is by far the most elegant approach yet. However, it's not without its problems, as previous versions have included a confusing "dual-layer" window structure that separates the app drawer from the rest of the floating windows, requiring a single or double press of the Home button to toggle between different layers.

Lots of people who used my headset over the past year found this dual-layer system confusing, and I'm hoping Meta has taken that feedback and made changes to its structure. All of the other changes and features in this update are seriously wonderful, including the removal of Horizon Feed, as it signifies Meta's understanding that VR users, en masse, don't like Horizon Worlds and want Meta to stop pushing it in their faces.

As for testing out PTC v85 yourself, my recommendation is that you don't. I was on PTC for a year and a half, and regretted it every month a new update came out. The experience wasn't just buggy; it was often completely broken, making it impossible to even use my headset far too often. Just wait for the final v85 update, which is only a few weeks away.