Xreal Air 2 and Beam review

There's always going to be something special about tech that makes me feel like I'm in the future. Sure, lightweight mice and ultra-thin monitors can be pretty mind blowing, but they don't splatter my brains quite as far as some of the wilder gizmos out there. Like Xreal's wearable Air 2 glasses and Beam device, which  gives you a private screen right in front of your face. Yet the long term inconsistencies in the product can turn this from exciting explosions to frustrating ones pretty quickly.

It's important to note one thing very quickly, and that is these don't really look like glasses on your face. Xreal's marketing has chosen some pretty choice angles for their promo photos which hides the reality of these specs. They sit fairly far off your face, and look bulky in a way that immediately makes it very obvious you aren't just wearing normal glasses. Plus, there's the cable going from the left glasses leg to your Beam or device. If you're looking for an incognito experience, these are far from it. 

They are however, still a fairly big step up from VR headsets. You can see around them easily, and you can wear them without the lens caps to get a somewhat transparent screen. I was far more comfortable wearing these in public environments like on planes and public transport because I didn't feel closed off from the outside world and could still have excellent awareness of my surroundings. And, given theses aren't super common, while no one in their right mind thought I was just wearing normal glasses they still didn't know exactly what I was doing, which was kinda fun in itself.

In more pleasant surprises, the image in these things is great. You can get a nice clear picture once you're comfortable, and the eye fatigue is fairly limited. I had a few friends try, all with differing degrees of vision, and most found them surprisingly comfortable and effective. You get less latency and higher frame rates just going through the glasses if your device is suitable, but the