A Massive Screen Shrunk Into a Pair of Glasses
The Asus ROG Xreal R1 gaming glasses aim to replace your big gaming monitor with a virtual giant screen beamed straight into your eyes. On paper, it sounds ideal for PC and console gamers who want a cinema sized display without needing a huge physical panel on the wall.
Inside the glasses is a Micro OLED display that projects what Asus claims is the equivalent of a 177 inch screen. The image covers around 95 percent of your vision with a 57 degree field of view. The panel runs at up to 240 Hz and uses a 1080p resolution, which is fairly modest by today’s standards but still good enough to look crisp at this size and distance.
The pitch is simple. Instead of buying and mounting a giant gaming monitor or TV, you put on a lightweight wearable and get that big screen feeling anywhere. In theory, that is a dream setup for gamers who travel, have limited space, or just want an immersive single player experience.
In practice, the experience is more complicated.
Comfort, Design and the Reality of Wearing Them
One of the first issues that shows up with the ROG Xreal R1 is ergonomics. These are not just normal glasses with a little extra tech hidden away. There is a substantial cable attached to the back of the left arm that connects the glasses to your device. That cable makes putting the glasses on surprisingly awkward. As you bring them up to your face, the weight and pull of the cable can cause the frame to fold in and shift around just when you are trying to line them up with your eyes.
Then there is the look. Asus has styled them somewhat like chunky Ray Ban Wayfarers with a futuristic twist, but in person they come off more like retro thick framed glasses pushed into a cyberpunk cosplay. On top of that, there is RGB lighting on each side. For a gaming headset or a desktop rig that might be fun, but on your face it pushes the whole aesthetic into full gamer mode in a way many people probably will not want in public.
The frames themselves feel restrictive. They are chunky and sit close, which adds to a sense of being boxed in. With a regular VR headset you expect that tunnel like feel, but with something that looks more like glasses, it can be jarring. Instead of forgetting you are wearing them, you stay constantly aware of the hardware hanging off your nose.
All of this matters for long sessions. Even if the display looks good, if you are constantly adjusting the cable, feeling the frame pinch or worrying how you look, the novelty wears off quickly.
Image Quality, Field of View and Gaming Experience
Once you get past the awkward fit, the actual image quality from the Micro OLED display is fairly impressive. Colors and contrast look good and the 240 Hz refresh rate is well suited for fast paced games. Despite being limited to 1080p, the picture does not feel muddy. For racing or action games, the clarity is decent enough that you can follow what is going on without eye strain in the short term.
The problem is not strictly resolution. It is the field of view and how the virtual screen is presented. The ROG Xreal R1 is supposed to feel like having a massive display floating in front of you, but the reviewer described it more like peeking at a huge TV through a small gap in a window. The 57 degree field of view means the virtual image fills a large portion of your vision, but the bulky frame and the way the optics are set up can make it feel like you are staring at a big screen through a small opening.
Another quirk comes from how the image is anchored. During the demo the glasses were running in what Asus calls Anchor Mode. In this mode the virtual screen stays fixed in one spot in space. When you move your head, the screen does not follow. That might make sense for some augmented reality use cases, but for gaming it can be weird and disorienting.
Look away slightly or move your head and the giant screen is suddenly off center or even out of your view. You then have to tilt or crane your head back to find the sweet spot again. The reviewer compared it to an older person trying to read a bus timetable in bad weather. It is not a smooth or natural experience and definitely not what you want during an intense race or firefight.
In a short demo session with a racing game, the novelty of having a huge virtual display did not make up for these issues. The combination of the cable, the awkward fit, the boxed in feeling and the disorienting Anchor Mode made the ROG Xreal R1 feel like more of a tech experiment than a must have gaming upgrade.
To their credit, Asus did attract a lot of attention at their CES booth. The idea of a portable giant gaming screen is exciting, and Micro OLED technology is clearly moving in a promising direction for future headsets and glasses. But based on this early hands on look, these particular glasses feel like a first step rather than a finished product most PC gamers will actually want to buy and use every day.
If you are a PC hardware enthusiast, the ROG Xreal R1 is worth keeping an eye on as a sign of where display tech for gamers might be heading. Just do not expect this generation to replace your trusty gaming monitor quite yet.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/the-asus-micro-oled-ar-gaming-glasses-might-be-the-weirdest-thing-ive-ever-tested-at-ces-and-thats-saying-something/
