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When I placed the Samsung Galaxy Familiar because I was I tried a previous version From this headset a year ago, and because it is very similar Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest Headphones. Strange because for the first time, Gemini AI was along for the ride, looking through my eyes, and seeing what I was seeing.
Google, Qualcomm, and Samsung are working together to integrate AI into AR/VR Via Android XRRecently Building a line of smart glasses. This whole project starts with the Galaxy XR headset, available now for $1,799. It aims to expand Android and Gemini into new forms and is more like a starting point than an actual product.
“I think there will be a shift in how people interact with devices,” Lee Won-jun Choi, Samsung’s chief operating officer of mobile experiences, said in a conversation in New York. “Agent AI combined with multimodal AI will truly change the industry. We’re not saying glasses will replace the smartphone, but they will complement and provide experiences that people wouldn’t get with smartphones.”
In the few hands-on minutes I spent with the Galaxy XR at Samsung’s demo in downtown New York, the headset felt like an open door to ideas for upcoming products. The Galaxy XR is surprisingly lightweight and easy to use, with some exclusive apps that Meta and Apple might beat. YouTube’s extensive video support looks great, for example. Google Maps, 3D globe modes, and walkthroughs of 3D scanned locations are better. But the most impressive part, and the part I have the most questions about, is the AI.
Watch this: I tried the Samsung Galaxy XR: the headset that could compete with Apple’s Vision Pro
Gemini is the killer app for the Galaxy XR
The integrated Gemini headset, based on my demos, can recognize more objects in both 2D apps and the world around me than any other AI mixed reality headset I’ve tried before. It’s a kind of all-seeing magic, but I do wonder about its limits. How smart will it look when I’m out in the real world outside of the demos? I’ll know when I can review it, sometime soon.
At the moment, it is difficult to know who is going to charge the Galaxy XR at its price. However, the possibilities of what could develop with Gemini on a device like this are fantastic. The Galaxy XR is a live test of live AI that can sit on your shoulder and see what you see. Other headphones don’t have anything like it yet. Google, Qualcomm and Samsung I know this is an advantage now.
The hardware is very similar to the Vision Pro. It runs multiple applications simultaneously in Windows, can play movies on vibrant 4K displays and can handle immersive gaming. But the Gemini class immediately struck me as the wild new function here.
The headband tightens at the back, as the Meta Quest Pro did. It doesn’t have detachable straps like the Vision Pro.
While the demos focused heavily on trying out specific apps like YouTube, Google Maps, and Photos, I was able to say what I wanted. Jiminy explained and commented on parts of the map locations while I watched Justin Fields’ sad New York Jets highlights. I asked him how bad his performance has been historically. I didn’t get a clear answer there, but I did get some statistics.
Gemini is summoned by pressing a button on the headset, and is summoned by default Gemini Live – Google’s first product, Sameer Samat, head of the Android ecosystem at Google, explained to me in a conversation after the demo. Gemini’s focus can also be suppressed: you can allow certain apps to be visible by the camera-enabled AI, and hide others.
“Our goal is to move beyond the world of on-demand AI assistance and more to a world where it is proactive and requires context,” Samat told me, referring to the headset’s ability to see the world and apps open simultaneously.
However, Gemini’s accuracy is still imperfect. In one experimental moment, I requested the location of New York in Google Maps, but Chrome search launched instead. When I asked Gemini why a football team was kicking the ball into the end zone during the Jets’ highlight reel, Gemini tried to explain that it was to make a field goal (which was a mistake).
We couldn’t take photos with headphones, but this demo projected onto a TV showed what floating grids from apps look like while you’re wearing them.
Maps, YouTube, and photos are the highlights
While I didn’t get a clear idea of how many XR-optimized apps will be available for the Galaxy XR at launch, Google does have some great YouTube, Google Maps and Photos apps of its own. Meanwhile, Samsung doesn’t have anything of its own yet, relying on Google’s Android XR operating system on the device instead.
Google’s Samat promises that a fair number of XR apps are making the move, which seems likely given that Android
But maps might be my favorite at the moment. Immersive 3D renderings and 3D scanned interiors of some locations, done via Gaussian sputtering, make the maps feel like a place to explore.
Google also demonstrated automatic conversion of photos and videos to 3D headsets with Gemini. Turning old photos into simulated AI videos is weird enough, but seeing them in 3D feels like a moment from the beginning of memory.
The headset is comfortable, although the visor-type design does not flip up.
A bit like Meta Quest, a bit like Vision Pro
While Google and Samsung have plans for smart glasses in the near future, including ones made by Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, the Galaxy XR is a VR headset with mixed reality functionality.
It’s not as small as a pair of smart glasses, but it feels remarkably light for a VR headset, especially compared to Apple’s Vision Pro. Like the Meta Quest, the visor-style design rests on the forehead, rather than tied around the eyes. It fits easier and allows you to see the world through your peripheral vision (you can also attach easy-to-install shades on the sides that block light). The Galaxy XR headset is designed for use with custom prescription lenses, not to work over your glasses.
Just like the Vision Pro, there’s a separate battery pack tethered, with USB-C pass-through for charging while you’re using it. Battery life is up to two hours, similar to the Vision Pro.
The separately sold spatial controllers in the Samsung Galaxy XR look familiar.
Both the Apple and Samsung headsets lack the built-in controllers found on the Meta Quest. The Galaxy XR is supposed to be controlled through hand and eye tracking, though you can purchase optional controllers. In my hand-tracking demos, I moved my fingers to cast a cursor-like extension for clicking and moving, rather than pressing my fingers where my gaze landed. Tapping my fingers brought up a grid of apps, much like they do on other VR headsets.
Audio and video quality look very good, especially the 4K displays. The Galaxy I watched YouTube and some demos of an immersive film called Asteroid, one of the few Google and Samsung exclusives that will be released.
The Galaxy XR doesn’t use a powerful processor like the new M5 Vision Pro. Instead, it has a Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which is better than the Meta Quest 3 and allows for 4K video.
The Samsung Galaxy XR’s field of view and display resolution were better than the Apple Vision Pro. It’s lighter too.
The specifications of micro OLED displays are impressive, reaching a resolution of 3,552 x 3,840 pixels per eye (29 million pixels). That’s up from the Vision Pro’s 23 million pixels and 3660 x 3220 pixels per eye, although it runs at a maximum of 90Hz at the moment versus 120Hz in the M5 iPad Pro. The field of view is 109 degrees horizontally and 100 degrees vertically and certainly seems wider than the Vision Pro.
The headset comes with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (similar to the Vision Pro’s base storage configuration). There are buttons on the top edge to control volume, power, and turning on Gemini Live, and a touchpad on the sidebar.
Cameras are everywhere: two HD cameras for pass-through video, which seems as good or better than the Vision Pro, plus six external tracking cameras and four internal eye-tracking cameras with iris scanning for securely logging into apps and making payments. There is facial tracking to animate avatars in Google Hangouts, although Samsung and Google have started using cartoon-type avatars that are less realistic than Apple’s. I’ve seen a glimpse of Samsung and Google’s own real-life avatars, which Samsung says are coming later this year.
Samsung Galaxy XR phone with battery pack attached.
High price, with lots of incentives for early adopters
The Galaxy XR is half the price of the Vision Pro but is still very expensive. To attract more customers, Google and Samsung are offering a slew of perks to early adopters in the initial launch window, including a year of Google AI Pro, a year of YouTube Premium, a season of NBA League Pass, a year of Google Play Pass, and some free apps.
According to Samat, part of this incentive is to encourage people to try out Google’s subscription offerings and dig deeper with Google’s AI tools. The Pro subscription unlocks some additional capabilities on the Galaxy To me, the Galaxy XR looks like an AI portal disguised as a VR headset.
The Samsung Galaxy XR won’t be the only device running Android XR, not by the long term. But it’s the first.
A platform for a whole wave of devices is still to come
What’s particularly interesting about the Galaxy Virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and smart glasses From Meta’s VR and glasses approach and Apple’s current headsets-only strategy. Samsung and Google are not hiding their intentions here at all. The devices are heavily focused on AI, aiming to integrate phones, computers and even watches and rings into the everyday ecosystem where, Samat says, AI starts to be more proactive.
The Galaxy XR is a device for your face that lets Google and Samsung see what you see, and it won’t be the only device. Next year, both companies will have smart glasses coming via Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. The Galaxy
I look forward to a full review of the Galaxy XR in the coming weeks.