Xreal has unveiled its newest gadget on the Augmented World Expo (AWE) 2024 XR business showcase, however it’s not a pair of AR good glasses – it’s a smartphone-like machine known as the Xreal Beam Professional.
The Beam Professional is a successor to the unique Beam adapter, and it solves most of the points I’ve had with this technology of AR specs – and it’s surprisingly inexpensive.
The upgraded Beam Professional is an entire new Xreal glasses attachment that’s appropriate with Xreal Air and Xreal Air 2 fashions – together with the Professional and Extremely. Merely join it to your specs with a USB-C to USB-C cable they usually’ll flip into bonafide spatial computer systems that run on Android 14 and NebulaOS (Xreal’s home-grown working system).
You may management what you see on the Xreal glasses utilizing the Beam Professional’s 6.5-inch LCD 2K touchscreen. You can even use the display identical to you’d on a smartphone to handle Play Retailer apps and tweak your settings, and because of the twin 50MP cameras on its rear you’ll be able to seize spatial photographs and 3D video at 1080p and 60fps.
Better of all it is available in at simply $199 / £189 for the 6GB of RAM / 128GB storage mannequin, whereas the 8GB of RAM / 256GB storage mannequin will set you again $249 / £239. Preorders are dwell proper now at XREAL.com for the USA, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Netherlands; availability and pricing for Australia are TBC.
In case you’re selecting up the Beam Professional and a pair of Xreal glasses it can save you on bundles, and people of you with a 1st-gen Beam can save $50 / £40 on a Beam Professional when you preorder one by July 10, 2024.
The AR accent we’ve wanted
I’ve not but had the prospect to check out the Xreal Beam Professional, however it sounds just like the AR add-on we’ve been needing for some time by fixing a bunch of points I’ve had with the tech when testing it out.
Firstly, discovering appropriate devices will be complicated. There are all types of compatibility points because of {hardware} and software program nuances which are complicated when you aren’t techy. Whereas the unique Beam was billed as a possible answer, it nonetheless suffered with compatibility points as a result of it couldn’t be used with out a smartphone, whereas when you decide up the Professional and a pair of Xreal Airs you realize you’ll have every thing you want.
Second, it solves the battery annoyances I’ve had because of its two USB-C ports. The Xreal glasses (and different wired AR specs) can burn by means of your telephone’s cost, and there’s no option to cost your telephone and use the glasses on the identical time. That’s not a problem with the Beam Professional, as you need to use it and join it to energy on the identical time.
Lastly, it looks as if good worth for cash. With none bundle reductions an AR glasses and Beam Professional setup prices between $498 and $648 / £528 and £638, which is a bit more costly than a Meta Quest 3.
Whereas AR is not prohibitively costly, it might really feel such as you’re getting comparatively little bang to your buck in comparison with XR units similar to VR headsets due to the aforementioned compatibility and complexity points.
The Beam Professional offers you a easy plug-and-play possibility that’s a pocket TV and 3D digital camera and which doesn’t require different tech – just a few subscriptions to the perfect streaming providers.
I’ll clearly must strive the Beam Professional out to confirm Xreal’s daring guarantees, however when you’ve been ready for AR tech to begin feeling worthwhile, that is your discover to begin taking note of the house – and perhaps even lastly dive in.
