A phone-like device for powering Xreal glasses

The Xreal Beam Pro is essentially a custom Android phone designed specifically to support Xreal glasses, including 6DoF AR on the Xreal Air 2 Ultra.

The Xreal Air glasses have no built-in computing module or battery, they simply act as an external monitor for any device (like a phone) you connect via USB-C, displaying the image on a virtual screen with your head covered. However, when used with a few specific Android phones, a PC, or almost any device via an existing Xreal Beam adapter, the glasses support 3DoF rotational tracking. And when paired with specific Samsung Galaxy phones, the Xreal Air 2 Ultra glasses can even take advantage of true AR with 6DoF position tracking.

The Xreal glasses are 0DoF with most input devices (left), 3DoF with Beam Pro on most Air models (center), and 6DoF with Beam Pro on the Air 2 Ultra.

Enter Xreal Beam Pro. It’s designed to allow you to use true AR 6DoF on the Air 2 Ultra, or use the 3DoF screen on other Air models, regardless of your phone and without draining its battery.

Xreal Beam Pro Jump is not to replace your existing phone, it is intended to act as a dedicated computing module for your smart glasses – one that supports all multimedia and gaming applications already available in the Google Play Store.

Xreal’s Nebula application launch and positioning system.

Xreal says this includes Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Steam Link and cloud gaming services. For gaming, you can pair a Bluetooth gamepad, and in all cases, you can pair Bluetooth headphones.

Once you connect the Xreal Air glasses to the Xreal Beam Pro, you’ll see the company’s Nebula app launcher, which you can use to position these Android apps in the space. On the Xreal Air 2 Ultra, apps will stay locked in place thanks to 6DoF tracking, while on all other glasses models they will only work in 3DoF (rotational) mode.

Unlike typical phones, Beam Pro has two USB-C ports on the bottom. One for powering and driving the glasses, and the other for charging at the same time. The battery should last around 3 hours and supports 27W charging to fully charge in just over an hour.

The Beam Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, the low-end but relatively new 4nm chipset used in budget Android phones, and features a 6.5-inch 90Hz LCD panel with 1080p resolution.

Xreal Beam Pro

The two rear cameras are designed for taking stereoscopic photos and 3D videos and have a spacing of 50 mm. That’s much wider than the iPhone 15 Pro’s cameras. Xreal Beam Pro supports 3D video recording at 1080p and 60fps, compared to 30fps in Apple’s camera app.

The base $200 model has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, while the 8GB RAM and 256GB model is available for $250.

These two models only have Wi-Fi, but a higher-end model with a SIM card tray and a 5G modem is coming later this year, in case you actually Down you want this device to replace your current phone.

All models have a microSD slot that supports cards with a capacity of up to 1 TB.

Although Xreal devices look somewhat like traditional glasses, they have a thicker profile and are more forward.

Pre-orders for Xreal Beam Pro are now available in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Japan and China. In South Korea, pre-orders will open on July 1. Xreal says it “anticipates” shipping in August.

Owners of the original Xreal Beam, which was poorly received due to issues with image output quality and cooling fan, can order the Beam Pro for $150 until July 10, which is a $50 discount.