At their Galaxy Unpacked ‘World’s Wide Open’ event yesterday, Samsung and Google unveiled the first Android XR headset, the Galaxy XR.
Announced last year Google’s Android XR operating system was further refined during Google I/O in May, and offers a blend of Android apps, and AI in a virtual space letting you interact with apps, as well as the world around you. Samsung assures us that all apps built on the Android platform work out of the box, allowing you to instantly jump right in and start enjoying the platform.
Android XR is designed for ‘next-generation headsets and glasses’ with the intent there to expand the hardware eco-system to more form-factors – enabling a wider range of experiences in ‘Xtended Reality’ (XR).
The inclusion of Google’s AI Assistant Gemini on-board offers options for using AI features like Circle to Search – including objects you can both see on the screen, and in the real world through the on-board cameras. You can even ask Gemini about videos you’re watching to find out more.
Google is also looking ahead to when more glasses-style headsets launch and you wear them out in the wild, with Gemini able to recognise landmarks and give you a history.
The Galaxy XR headset though, as the first Android XR device is more a headset than glasses, and offers a range of experiences showcasing the headset as a device to help you work, play and create.
The headset starts with a 4K Micro-OLED display inside which supports refresh rates from 60-90Hz with 109° vertical and 100° horizontal field of view.
The Galaxy XR is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Platform with the Hexagon NPU offering on-device AI processing, with 16GB of on-board RAM and 256GB of storage.
There are cameras on-board. A lot of them as there are no hand controllers for the Galaxy XR. Instead, the headset has two high-resolution pass-through cameras, with six additional world-facing cameras for tracking your hands, as well as your position.
Control of the Android XR environment is also based on eye-movement, with four eye-tracking cameras insside so you can look at items to select, with Samsung additionally adding in iris recognition as an authentication method.
There are also five inertial measurement units inside – basically accelerometers, as well as a depth sensor and a flicker sensor which can be used to measure ambient lighting to improve tracking accuracy.
There’s a two-way speaker on-board including a woofer and tweeter, with six microphones used to pick up your voice, while cancelling noise around you.
Samsung says the headset will last up to two hours of general use, or up to two and a half hours of use just viewing 2D videos from YouTube.
It keeps the battery on-board unlike other headsets, with the Galaxy XR weighing in at 545grams, slightly less than the Meta Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro, though more than Meta’s more modestly priced Quest 3.
With all this hardware, the Galaxy XR headset also comes with a hefty
At this stage, Samsung has only announced availability in two markets with the headset becoming available October 21st in the USA and October 22nd in Korea.
Daniel has been talking about, learning about and using tech since he was able to toggle switches and push buttons. If it flashes, turns on or off or connects he wants to use it, talk about it and learn more about it. Like this article? Buy me a coffee!
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