You can watch movies, play immersive games, and get some work done with multiple virtual screens. None of these experiences were compelling enough to make me want to wear a headset on my face for more than an hour. Still, I gave it the old college try, and my conclusion is that Google and Samsung still have more work to do to improve the Android XR experience; I’ve also gained a strange and new appreciation for the quality of Apple’s mixed reality headsets.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
finding comfort
I purchased the Galaxy XR from Samsung’s website, and the company provides a handy link to iBuyDirect, where you can purchase a prescription Kodak magnetic insert for $100 so you can use the headset without glasses. The process was seamless, although the long shipping time meant that my entries arrived several weeks earlier than the XR.
Although I appreciate how much lighter the Galaxy XR is than the Vision Pro, I consistently struggled to find a comfortable fit. You put the headset on and turn a knob on the back to tighten the band around your head, but there’s often a lot of pressure on your forehead, which also gets hot when the audible fan kicks in; it is almost impossible not to After a match in XR, sweat appeared on the forehead. The two magnetic light shields in the box do a good job of preventing ambient light from filtering into your virtual reality, but they’re not perfect, as I still encountered some minor light bleeding.
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