Google and Samsung took the world by storm with their surprise Android XR Glasses message -which was complete with an impressive prototype -demonstration at a TED 2025 event -but you don’t have to wait until 2026 (which is when the glasses are joked to be launched) to try some excellent XR -Marte glasses for yourself.
In fact, we have just updated our best smart glasses with two amazing new opportunities that you can pick up right now. This includes a new entry in our number one castle for the best AR specifications you can buy (Xreal One Glasses) and a new choice in our best affordable smart glasses called Rayneo Air 3S glasses.
Rikly enough, these specifications are not quite what Google and Samsung boast of the Android XR glasses will be, but the Xreal and Rayneo glasses are more for entertainment – you connect them to a compatible phone, laptop or console to enjoy your movie, TV or game content on a huge virtual screen wherever you are – and they are – what they are damn good to what they do.
In addition, they are much less expensive than the Android XR glasses probably (based on price rumors for the similar Ray-Ban Meta AR glasses), so if you want to dip your toes in the AR world before it starts, these two glasses will serve you well.
The best of the best
So let’s start with Xreal One Glasses: Our new number one choice that is easily the best of the best scars -smart glasses around.
As I mentioned before these smart specifications are perfect for entertainment boats on the go and at home (say in an cramped apartment or when you want to relax in bed). You just connect them to a compatible device via their USB-C cable and you watch your favorite show, movie or game games on a giant virtual screen that acts as your own private cinema.
This feature appears on other AR-Smarte glasses, but the Xreal One experience is at another level thanks to the full HD 120Hz OLED screens that boast up to 600-nit brightness. This allows the glasses to produce lively images that have excellent contrast to seeing dark scenes.
The image quality is further improved with electrocromic dimmable lens lenses that can be darkened or lighted via electric input, which you can switch with a switch on the glasses.
On their clearest, the lenses allow you to easily see what’s going on around you, while the lenses of their darkest serve as the perfect background for what you see-block the most delusional external light that would ruin their almost perfect image.
In addition to their image, these glasses are also impressive thanks to their speakers, which are the best I’ve heard from smart glasses.
With audio set by Bose (creators of some of the best headphones around), Xreal One Glasses can deliver filled audio across heights, midtons and bass.
You will find that using a separate pair of headphones can still raise your audio experience (especially because they are delicious less sound than these glasses will), but these are the first smart glasses I’ve tested where a pair of cans feels like an optional addition rather than an important accessory.
Couple all that with an excellent design that is both functional and rather fashionable and you have a fantastic pair of scars glasses. Things get even better if you hang a pair with an Xreal Beam Pro (an Android -Roomy computer that transforms your glasses into a complete package rather than a phone accessory).
Plus, it only seems to be getting better with the upcoming Xreal Eye add-on, which allows the glasses to take first-person photos and videos and can help lock some new spatial computer forces if we are lucky.
The best on a budget (but still amazing)
For $ 499 / £ 449 the Xreal One glasses are slightly expensive. If you are on a budget, you will try the Rayneo Air 3s glasses instead.
These smart glasses cost only $ 269 (about £ 205 / AU $ 435). For that, you get access to their 650-nit full-HD Micro-Oled Setup, which produces amazing images and sounds that do not require a pair of headphones.
They are very similar to Xreal One glasses, but boast of a pair of downgrades that you could expect.
The sound performance is not as impressive. It’s fine without headphones, but is not as rich as Xreal’s alternative and it is more leaky (so if you use these while traveling your fellow passengers, it can also hear what’s going on).
What’s more, while their image quality on paper should be better than the Xreal glasses, the overall result is not as vivid because the reflective lenses used by the glasses as background are not as effective as the electromromic damping used by Xreal.
This allows more light to sneak through the background, leading to image clearance problems (such as the image that appears is washed out) if you try to use the glasses in a lighter environment.
They also lack any kind of camera access setting if it is a feature you are interested in.
But these glasses are still very impressive, like the specifications, and I think most people have to buy them because their value proposition is simply so amazing.
Whether you choose Xreal One Glass of Rayneo Air 3s Smart Glasses, you will be in for a treat – and if you love the taste of scars, they give a better idea of whether Android XR and other AR glasses will be worth your time.
