Smart glasses are in a period of rapid accelerating change, and quick updates seem tobe the norm. My favorite display glasses last year, the Xreal One, won me over because they have great displays with tons of adjustment options, including the ability to pin a display in place. The new Xreal 1S does those glasses one better with more gaming-focused display updates and better resolution. But the best part is that I’m now connecting them with a Nintendo Switch 2, thanks to Xreal’s new $100 Neo mini-dock.
The $450 Xreal 1S is, in fact, better overall than the more expensive Xreal One Pro, which is still on sale. The Pro has a different and flatter lens system that keeps glare down when it’s worn. All these glasses still use “birdbath” displays that project vivid micro OLED images above your eyes down to you via half-mirrored prisms, but the Xreal 1S’s displays have a slightly larger 52-degree field of view (up from 50), 700 nits of brightness (100 more than before) and a 16:10 ratio 1,200-pixel resolution. That’s better than the Pro’s 1080p resolution, and it’s in a ratio that fits gaming display modes better.
I’ve been trying a pair with prescription insert lenses (the 1S works with the same inserts as the Xreal One), and they look great. Xreal also updated its onboard processing tricks, adding automatic 3D media conversion via the glasses’ own chipset. The mode, which is in beta, feels pretty rough though. Steam Deck and Switch games (or movies, or your own phone screen) can look 3D, but the autoconversion is imprecise and significantly lowers frame rate on everything.
The 1S would be my top pick now over the Xreal One Pro, if it weren’t for the fact that I like the One Pro’s lenses better. But it’s likely than Xreal will update the Pro with the 1S’ new displays sometime soon. You might want to wait.
What I love even more than the glasses update is the Neo battery pack. It’s a new $100 mini-dock that acts as a passthrough converter to work with the Nintendo Switch. It works with existing Xreal glasses as well as the new 1S, and I’m already loving how portable it is. Unlike the Steam Deck, Windows handhelds and phones and laptops, the Switch doesn’t work natively with display glasses. But Xreal found a workaround somehow that functions fine, even with Nintendo’s lockdown firmware.
The 10,000-mAh battery pack can be used to charge anything, and pass video through via USB-C. There’s a magnet on the back that snaps onto phones, and a kickstand too — but the Neo doesn’t have contactless charging. You have to connect using a built-in USB-C cable.
This isn’t my first time playing Switch games using display glasses and a dock: Last year I tried Viture’s similar 10,000-mAh dock, which is compatible with the Switch and Switch 2. Neither company’s dock works with the other’s glasses for Switch gaming, though, which is a bummer. Viture’s battery dock allows two glasses to connect at once, but it’s almost twice the size. I like that the Neo is about as small as any other battery pack I’m usually taking with me.
If only these docks weren’t awkward to connect, though. Xreal does its best, but the Switch 2 only supports video-out through its bottom USB-C port, not the top one. The Neo comes with a magnetic sticker you can put on the back of the Switch, allowing you to snap it onto the Neo in kickstand mode. This makes it hover in the air a bit, so you can plug in the cable underneath. But the Switch in docked mode only works with Joy-Con controllers detached, so you’ll have to rest the whole Switch setup next to you.
I love the experience once it’s all set up, but using the dock is likely a step too far for most people — even if they like the idea of gaming with glasses on a Switch 2. But I’ll tell you it feels like playing in a little home theater, and games I’ve tried look great in micro OLED. Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza and Kirby Air Riders play fantastically. The only one that had performance issues so far is Metroid Prime 4, which slows down and becomes unplayable using the Neo dock. Also odd: The Switch 2 kept asking me if I wanted to update the dock’s firmware, which wouldn’t work anyway. (I said no.) Clearly the Switch 2 doesn’t exactly form a perfect handshake here.
But I seriously hope Nintendo works in glasses support on the next Switch 2, because Xreal and Viture have already shown me that it can be fun… if you feel motivated to buy display glasses and a dock that cost more than the Switch 2 itself.
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