XREAL continues to pioneer the smartglasses form factor, and with the power of Asus display hardware, the ROG R1 is born. XREAL ROG R1 Glasses a firm a companion for mobile gaming and to some extent an option at home.
The “smart glasses” product category is so new that it’s hard to differentiate between mobile companions and purpose-built facial displays. Android XR live in both categories, and options like the Meta Ray-Ban display glasses exploded while Google was still trying to get its first mobile smart glasses out the door.
XREAL resides at the other end of this spectrum. It has produced some impressive AR glasses, although they mostly cater to those who need a specialized tool rather than a go-to glasses.
The ROG XREAL R1 AR glasses falls firmly into this subcategory. They’re meant for gaming, or really any use case that could benefit from a screen for your face that’s limited by a power cord.
But thanks to that ROG label and the power from Asus’ co-development with XREAL, the ROG R1 packs incredible display power into a surprisingly minimal form factor.
Apparatus
Developing smart glasses is already difficult, otherwise we would be swamped with options to choose from. Add in a 240Hz micro-OLED display built for gaming to accommodate different face shapes and eyes, equip it with AR spatial tracking, and you’ve got a real hill to climb.
The XREAL R1 glasses accomplish those technical challenges in a form that not only looks, at first glance, like slightly oversized sunglasses. Behind this two-color shade are two optical elements that focus the 1920 x 1080 display onto the frame.
XREAL says that the ROG R1 glasses offer a 171-inch virtual screen at a distance of 4 meters, although it is difficult to confirm that this is actually the case. There are several combinations you can play with, from a virtual display 1 meter in front of you on a slightly full screen to an image about 10 meters away.
The real reason for adjusting the distances is to be more comfortable with other displays and your environment. Imagine using a desktop display and trying to focus on a giant screen 30 feet away and work with both displays. Your eyes often focus between near and far, which is tiring. By setting the R1’s display to a virtual distance similar to your environment, it takes very little effort to shift focus.
Electrochromic lenses facilitate this transition. When you touch a button or look the other way in “Anchor Mode,” the sunglass lenses change from tinted to nearly clear. They’re still shaded in the lowest three settings, but it’s enough to see another screen in front of you or around you.
These days, it wouldn’t be smart glasses without speakers on their arms. The drivers are powered by Bose, and for what they are, they certainly deliver a surprising amount of boom. In fact, I’ve always been impressed by the quality of sound coming from arm speakers and the sound they can produce. That’s not to say they’ll replace your gaming IEMs or dedicated speakers, but they’re a solid in-house option. A pair of wireless headphones won’t do you much good in most cases.
Convenience
Glasses have two main points of contact – the ears and the bridge of the nose. XREAL provides three optional packs of nose pads in the box to accommodate the distance between your eyes and the displays. You’re looking for a pretty close fit, and I had no problem getting that with the pre-installed nose pads.
Your ears also play a big role in how they look ROG R1 glasses play in your face. The two points of articulation on the arms address this. Not only is each arm spring-loaded for outward extension, but a stepped hinge allows you to angle the arms up and down, effectively moving the angle at which you see the screen. In my case, this meant pushing the arms down so that the screen was visible lower down.
A problem with this type of lens in the field of view. They’re essentially little prisms that display content in a small part of your vision, and having it perfectly aligned is a big part of the overall comfort. On paper, the 57-degree field of view gives your eyes plenty of room to roam, but it can still feel cramped.
Positioning the nose pad and getting the correct position between the right angled pair of lenses is much easier than I’ve experienced with previous iterations of screen glasses.
When you get it right, the glasses disappear from your face. At least, it feels that way.
Their weight is not much, 91 grams, which allows long-term use. They also rest along the brow line because the glasses have a little extra material to distribute how little weight there is.
XREAL also offers the option of adding prescription lenses, which is a non-negotiable for glasses wearers like myself. When they are precisely designed, they give users who need them easy and flawless attachments for the best accuracy. There are also IPD settings within the glasses OS, but you need to get the correct frame size when ordering them.
Performance
There are two ways to power the glasses, and neither of them means you can actually plug in a battery for standalone use.
The ROG R1 can work on the included hub or via a direct USB-C connection. The hub provides better performance because it draws power via a USB-C connection and an AV signal via HDMI or DisplayPort. If you use the ROG XREAL R1 glasses with a computer or on your desktop, this is the way to go.
Of course, the direct USB-C option works for portable gaming, and that’s where the glasses shine. The collaboration with XREAL and Asus means that the glasses are marketed as a seamless option for the ROG Ally handheld, but they can actually be used with other options such as the Steam Deck or a laptop. Anything that can output a video signal via USB-C will work.
All the controls you get with the hub on ROG Ally are accessible via the handheld. If you’re using USB-C to USB-C for any other device, you’ll need to use a hub to access options like Anchor Mode or the buttons on the glasses.
The performance of the glasses really depends on the device used to power them. You can’t expect a fantastic experience in something like Steam Deck simply because of the hardware limitations of a handheld device. This is only complicated by the low resolution of the native screen, which means that the hardware has to work harder to produce a 1080p image.
Playing heavy games like Horizon: Zero Dawn gave me around 45-60fps with quality focused graphics. Sure, the textures aren’t incredibly sharp and there are some weird artifacts that show optimized titles, but I got a better experience than I expected. In less demanding titles like Risk of Rain Returns, I found myself sinking hours into a game that I couldn’t do without glasses.
Dockless setup couldn’t be easier – just plug the glasses into the USB-C port and start gaming. It depends on the handheld, but it really is plug-and-play. The Steam deck was a good experience, but something like the Switch 2 just won’t play. In theory, you could plug the glasses into their dock, then connect the HDMI from the Nintendo Switch dock. Then it is not comfort.
My computer is running ROG R1 glasses flawless. I get a consistent 120 frames per second with standard 16:9 resolution at full resolution, which is to be expected.
XREAL and Asus say the ROG R1s are capable of 240Hz, and they technically are. The way to get this high refresh rate is to increase the image size. This is essentially creating a framework on board. The screen response is doubled, but the image is slightly more blurry.
The problem with this approach and advertising the glasses as having 240Hz is that you can expect a 1080p image, full dot. Turning on Frame Rate Boost breaks up this 1080p image. It’s still playable, but the text isn’t as clear and it doesn’t feel like a true high-quality experience.
Immersive viewing
Several different viewing options make the experience a little more seamless. First, Anchor Mode puts some of that AR technology to work. Adds head tracking so you can anchor the screen in virtual space. It works so well that it feels strangely natural to use it as a kind of virtual monitor in addition to other screens.
When I look at where it is in space, the glasses color and appear. It never moves and is always where I leave it. When looking down, the lenses lose color and my primary monitor is clearly visible through the lenses.
Frankly, this method is a bit overkill for my use case. But it makes sense if I want to add an extra gaming monitor to my laptop or minimize everything.
When anchor mode is turned off, the display follows you wherever you go. It works well for travel, but I find that Anchor Mode allows me to position the virtual screen in one place, make it as large as possible, and look around more comfortably with my head and eyes.
I find the ROG R1 pushing its limits. At full size, with an image that fits your entire field of view, the glasses give you something like a 27-inch monitor a few feet in front of you. However, it’s still not as seamless as 1440p; anything bigger gets overlooked and you have to move your head to see everything, or the edges start to vignetting and the content becomes out of focus.
Final thoughts
I could see the ROG XREAL R1 glasses being used in a variety of use cases, however niche
First of all, I think hand form factors really benefit from something like this. As long as you consider the hardware limitations, the glasses become such a great second screen. Even in terms of comfort, there is no need to raise your neck while traveling and you can lie down without holding the screen to your face.
Even for PC users, I could see the ROG R1s being a nice addition. Granted, if you have a 1440p monitor larger than 24 inches, it might not make much sense. But you can put these glasses into a hidden installation that allows you to use computer hardware and glasses without a screen. Or, you can use a gaming PC as a power source and get comfortable.
I think XREAL has achieved this to some extent. If it had a slightly wider field of view, I think I could have been perfectly happy. Overall, they look good and sound good, and with the right power source, they’re another way to see what you’re playing.
The ROG R1 glasses Available from the Asus ROG website, XREAL and other retailers 849 dollars.
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