Skip the bulky headset; just give me those Android XR glasses now!

When I heard about Google’s Android XR plans in conjunction with Samsung, I skimmed through the announcement, looking for any hint of an upcoming pair of XR glasses. Alas, those glasses will have to wait, as Samsung and Google are focused on getting the headset out first.

Turns out I’m not the only one disappointed by that strategy. In our small team, four of my colleagues have already independently shared the same thought in different internal Slack channels: We want the glasses, not the headset — cosigned, The Android Authority team.

The smaller, the better

VR, AR, and XR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 ($499.99 at Best Buy), Apple Vision Pro, PlayStation VR2, or HTC Vive XR Elite, are all bulky. They never appealed to me because they’re large, heavy units that I need to dedicate time and space to — and neck muscle, too. I couldn’t easily carry them around, wear them on the street, or even walk with them around my house. I might get away with wearing one on a flight, but that’s the extent of its potential usability outside of the confines of my own home.

Knowing myself, though, and that I rarely take my mirrorless cam, tablet, or even over-ear headphones on a flight, privileging the portability of my phone and earbuds, it’s a tall ask to think that I’d ever carry a bulky XR headset like Google’s and Samsung’s teased “Project Moohan.”

Smart glasses, on the other hand, are more portable by design. I’ve been eyeing the Ray-Ban Meta ($329 at Amazon) and Vuzix Z100 for months now, thinking I could wear these as easily as any other pair of glasses; I just have to remember to charge them every now and then. They have a smaller or no display, smaller battery, and more limited processing power, but the upside is that they’re as easy to wear and use around the house as they are outside of it. Street, planes, nature, restaurants, shopping malls, and so on — they could be an everyday accessory akin to my smartwatch, earbuds, or smart ring.

And I really want that kind of portability. I want a no-fuss experience with Android XR that integrates into the very fabric of my everyday life, not a “let me dedicate three hours of my day to do this activity” approach. I do not have three hours to dedicate to Android XR; I don’t even have one. That’s why I’m not a gamer either.

I want the R in XR; don’t isolate me from my reality

Integration in my life isn’t just a matter of form factor, though; it’s a matter of usability. With bulky headsets that aim to immerse you in their content (or make you pretend you’re present in the moment with your family while a display creepily shows your face shot by a camera inside your headset), the goal is to dissociate you from reality. Apple might tell us a million times that it’s cool to suspend apps in the air on top of our kitchen islands and office tables, but we all know we’re still looking at the suspended app 99% of the time, not the kitchen island or the office tables. Just like when I’m working at my desk, I see the computer screen, not everything around it. It’s pointless to suspend something in front of my wall if I’m only looking at it and not at it in the context of being on a wall.

Headset content is made for immersion, no matter how many floating windows you put it on/in/around, and I don’t want immersion. I already own a TV to watch movies, sports, and TV series. I have a capable phone, too. And a tablet. And a million other screens. I actually want the very opposite of immersion. I want to look less at any screen, to be fully present in the moment but to have that augmented by useful bits of info.

That’s why the idea of Android XR glasses fascinates me. Give me Google Maps directions so I can walk on the street with my head straight and without looking down at my phone. Let me use Lens or Translate on my glasses so I can read menus without pulling out my phone and getting distracted by a new Instagram DM. Allow me to talk to Gemini Live while it sees and hears what I’m seeing and hearing so I can troubleshoot my boiler, visit a museum, ask for recipe advice, check for potential allergy-inducing items in a supermarket aisle, or compare prices while shopping. Put smart home controls around me so I can look at my light and tell Google to turn it on without having to manually select it in an app. Let me enjoy the view and focus on the path while hiking or riding a bike without having to check my phone every five minutes to take a photo or make sure I’m not deviating from the track.

Maybe it’s the siren of my nearing forties blaring in the distance, but I don’t want to dissociate from reality. I appreciate being alive, and I prefer the Reality part of Extended Reality, so I want my next-gen tech to help me embrace every moment.

Real or not, I see some wasted potential

All of that is why it’s disheartening to learn that Google and Samsung are starting with an XR headset, while the promised Android XR glasses are still a vague project, probably not destined for release anytime in 2025. That, too, is just when Google has Gemini Live and, with it, a virtual assistant that can actually assist.

I’m sad to see Google and Samsung spending years on a collaboration only to build a product that already exists in many forms. Apple has done a headset; Meta has done it; HTC has done it — the only thing Google and Samsung could bring to the XR headset game is Android compatibility, but the devs and companies that wanted to be present on XR headsets are already present on XR headsets. No big player has been sitting twiddling their thumbs, waiting for Android XR to launch to start developing for VR headsets.

Google had a big opportunity here to capitalize on AI and real life, to touch and augment millions of lives through everyday bits here and there. Maps directions, Lens translations, quick photos and videos, shopping prices, travel recommendations, cooking advice — these are the things that matter to most people everywhere. Android- and Gemini-powered glasses that natively integrate with our phones and the apps we already use could’ve been huge game-changers. Instead, we get a headset like every other headset out there and we have to wait a year — maybe more — to see glasses materialize.