A Better Steam Deck Experience - XREAL Air 2 

XREAL Air 2 are a great companion to the Steam Deck. Here's why. 1.) Order links for the XREAL Air 2: - US: amzn.to/48hg7Qo - UK: amzn.to/3Nq8ZJx 2.) Order links for the XREAL Air 2 Pro: - US: amzn.to/48eDES2 - UK: amzn.to/41nMfiP

Excellent job with the disclosures. Much appreciated.

The only reason i haven't got them already is the price. This is an accessory that costs more than the 256GB LCD steam deck. If it was 40% less, I'd probably pick them up.

I sincerely appreciate the transparency and the honest informational video. I wish more creators made videos like these and that they were also candid and open with the relationship between the product and their content. As I’m currently looking into purchasing the Xreal Pros, I was able to take good information away from the video and use that to make an informed decision, without having to worry about surreptitious bias and underhanded sales tactics. One of the reasons this is one of my favorite Deck-based channels on the platform.

We have an 85" TV in the living room that we sit around 4m or 13 feet away from. When I looked through the X-Real Air 2 at the TV with the screens on, but in low brightness mode, the apparent screen size dwarfed the TV taking up a much larger area of the wall than the real TV. Not exactly sure if it would be 130", but I could well believe that it is.

As a user of the Air 1, I will point out that there are a few Y-splitters out there that'll let you pass through power to the SD and video to the glasses. No reason they wouldn't work with the upgrade, and while it's an extra bit on the setup, if you're gonna be sitting long enough for full discharge to be an issue you've probably got enough time at some point to add in the cable to hooking up a battery/power supply.

I was almost certain I'd pick up a pair of these eventually, but the steam deck OLED display has been so satisfactory that I don't see it happening anymore. Valve did too good of a job.

I thought of doing this just now and had to see if somebody else already did. Appreciate you🙏🙏🙏

Copped some for Xmas and they are hands down the best thing I've ever used my Steamdeck with

There is an adapter that lets you charge the steam deck and use the xtreal air glasses at the same time. I have it. It looks like a USB-C splitter. 1 USB-C plug, into a very small box and 2 USB-C ports on the other side. It works great. The only problem is the Nreal Beam while very slowly charges it will still only last its battery life. The other problem I have with my Nreal Air is when the Steam Deck gets to 30% battery the Air glasses goes blank. So if your using a battery hungry game you only have until the Steam Deck reached 30% then its black from there on. So this power adapter is a game changer. I have a battery pack that charges the Steam Deck even while playing so I plug that into the power side of the adapter then I can play for hours. Well, until my eyes get sore and when the glasses start to heat up. Its not really hot but its enough heat in your eye area to make you stop playing and take a long break. And the Xreal Air do have 3D in some very limited situations. I can get a 3D game on the Steam Deck to play but its a really buggy situation to be in. You cant see 3D in normal comfortable mode, you have to move the glasses into a different position and the 3D screen is really small. If the normal screen is 130' then the 3D screen is about 60' but its smaller and at the same position so its really hard to see. Yea its 3D but just not worth it. And Xreal have been updating the glasses and now its even harder to get into 3D mode. Before you could hold a button but they removed that option. That button press now only works on the Steam Deck, it wont work on Switch or my Samsung Note 9 phone (which is not actually supported. The supported phones are about 5) I can write my own review which I pretty much have here. But this is only a little bit of my opinion of the Xreal Air. I know you are reviewing the Xreal Air 2 but I dont have them, I only have the Air 1. If I had the Air 2 I could do a full comparison review. Anything I missed? My review I think will also work for the Air 2. The adapter should work, the Beam does work, the SD 30% battery blackout is a Air thing or is that a SD thing? I use a dock and my SD can be below 30% and the dock will output video so I'm guessing its a Xreal Air thing.

As someone who isn’t paid by Xreal this is accurate. Xreal would probably rather have diarrhea all week then pay me for anything. Lol. The only thing I would add that could be a deal breaker is that the beam is locked to 60hz. Also the glasses without the Beam support 3D.

The USB-C dock from the Virture XR is the way to go, it also has 2 USBC ports to connect 2 pairs of glasses

While I've watched over 15 reviews of these glasses, you are the only one that stayed respectful while mentioning your spouse. I appreciate that 👏

You're definitely blazing the trail and setting the standard for transparency practices all RU-vidrs should follow! Awesome video, and I i feel respected as a viewer when you disclose your biases and business relationships up front. That said, I'm definitely intrigued enough to wait about a year or so when I can afford a second-hand on OfferUp 😂

Just thought I would update my comments below Thanks XReal for updating the XReal Beam it now works flawlessly with the Steam Deck Oled no need for any other adapters and just in time for me going on holiday so I am super happy

This video is helpful. I have been debating on the quest 3 or these. This made me lean more to the quest due to the snap windows feature missing for windows pc

Would it be able to charge if you connect the deck and glasses through a dock?

Great video

For the problem with consoles, is it possible to stream the PS5 to the Deck via Chiaki and then use the glasses?

I'm surprised you didn't touch on the Xreal Decky plugin.

This is a huge step in the right direction, just not quite there yet. The next few years is very exciting for wearable displays.

My problem with the NReal Air was the lie that it was a "200 inch screen 4 ft away" when its actually a 2 inch screen 4 inches away. NOT WORTH IT. Plus it was hard to even see and was blurry and just a shit experience compared to something like the Quest 2 over virtual desktop and Bigscreen.

Does it support hdr, I think it might not due to reduced brightness. After recent steam os update, I noticed her toggle in quick settings when connecting external displays, but wanted to know if xreal had this toggle greyed out.

You can charge the Deck with the XReal glasses. Use the right adapter; Viture adapter works, but there are others too.

Would it work if you use it with a small portable dock? This way one could charge and use the glasses at the same time?

Did you try NewQ or Hagibis steam deck dock it will work while charging? I have goovis g3 max headset it work maybe it will work with your AR glasses too. You just need HDMI converter with your type c cable.

Glasses usually fit me pretty poorly. Are these available in any stores to be tested?

Do they have adjustable frequency like the SD screen?

You should have mentioned Repairbility because the Steam Deck is repairable fairly is it the same case for the Glasses?

I bought the og’s on sale for $270. After installing the new FW to get the 120hz on the og’s it is an amazing to play rage 2, metro exodus, f1 21, hi fi rush, DE, ghostrunner 1/2 and even remote play from my ps5 then AirPods Pro’s. Oooooh it is amazing

Yeah i have some games were i struggle with the smal screen on my steam deck. For example the good old Burn Out Paradise with runs today perfect on the deck, but the small screen and this huge city makes it sometimes hard not to crash. God of War....nice game also with the deck but an hard job for my eyes sometimes. To run the unit on the dock with my 27" Display is an option, but i was looking for this kind of AR Glasses ( maybe also the Legion Go Glasses ). I think after christmas i will have a closer look at the market for an special offer and buy one of these.

I don't know about inches, but you can clearly see screen size, when you are in open space with some reference points! For me (I have Air 1) this is about 3m diagonal at about 3m from you.

Yet again being the jealous Scandinavian that can't get these for a reasonable price. I still have to say they look as cool as ever. I loved the effect you used in the video to simulate a holographic screen, that was a cool way to get the point across!

A use case that just came to mind, I wonder how will these would work with the RTX 20 series. Specifically plugging it in to the usb c port they have, that has me curious

Does the multi display only work with mac? Id be surprised it wouldnt work with windows

Is there no dongle that operates similarly to a dock that both delivers power _and_ outputs the video to the glasses?

So I bought mine then found this video. Do you have a good accessory that can let the deck charge while having the beam be connected at the same time also while being able to have USB plug open ....like a dock that would do it. I have seen the 2 way splitter from virtue. But a lot of the docks don't do video through c. Only HDMI which would fail to charge the beam. I'd like to have a full feature dock that can keep both devices charged.

I have some questions I wear glasses, can I adjust these to my eyes? How far away is the virtual screen projected? Do you sometimes feel like it's inside a wall? How does it feel when something happens near the edge of the projected image? Do you tend to turn your head to better focus?

Wow very nice 👌

I've been looking between the Xreal and the Viture glasses. I have the 64gb model and have upgraded to a 1 tb drive and dual boot windows on an external drive. Is there a workaround to use this and charge the deck at the same time? If not that might be a deal breaker.

I could see myself using something like this, not just for handheld but to play my PC while lying down on my hammock

Do these work with a USB dongle on the Deck??

The number comes from how you sit with it, If you sit right infront of a wall the screen appears smaller, but if you sit in a large room the screen will be Giant sized, Bigger the room bigger the screen

you cannot use usbc hub to charge and use the glasses?

I've been thinking of upgrading from an LCD Steam Deck to an OLED, but I just can't make sense out of it. The OLED is nice, if I didn't already have one, it'd be a no brainer. However, I'm now considering getting a set of these glasses and keeping my current deck. Seems like it would be nice to have for the SD, and elimnate some neck craning.

When is the windows update coming for nebula?

have you tried using a USB-C to HDMI adapter to connect the steam deck to the Glasses? that could solve the charging problem when using the Glasses so you can dock it next to you while still charging

I'd love to give these a try but the price is too high right now, ill keep an eye out for a discount but I can't manage the price with purchasing a home right now lol

I probably would’ve bought this by now but I just upgraded to OLED steam deck and the display is soooo good! Maybe if I get bored of the new OLED I’ll cop these 🤔

What I am curious about is how performance is affected on the steam deck. I would imagine since you are running a higher resolution if the game you were playing before can barely run at native resolution and 30fps you would most likely have to drop your graphics settings to run at 1080p 30fps.

You absolutely can charge while using the glasses. Use a usb-c adapter with 65w or more power passthrough and display port support. I did this on a 14 hour flight back from asia.

Can’t you use a dock to place your steam deck on then use the other usb-c ports on the dock to plug your steam deck into a wall outlet then use a controller to connect to the dock as well that way you can play the steam deck, use these glasses and a controller while everything is plugged into wall power and you don’t have to worry about battery life?

I’m definitely interested in these but there’s two concerns for me. 1. Price and 2. What’s long term effects on having a screen that close to our eyes. Of course I’m writing this before I finish the video.

Fricken dope af

Is there any chance these can be used to watch 3D movies... I have an Acer 120hz active monitor NVidia 3D which is not supported on newer graphics cards... I spent a lot of time ripping my Blueray movies ( which is a huge collection ) to watch on my oculus I’d love to put them onto a micro SD and be able to watch them again on my new Steam Deck any chance a community dev could sort this,, I would get a pair tomorrow if this was possible

Have you looked at the Viture glasses at all? They are basically the same thing as the Air 2, but you can get an adapter to charge the deck while using them. I have the Viture and the adapter and they work fantastically. The only issue I have is the nose piece gets uncomfortable fairly quickly without constant adjustment. Interested to know of that is the tradeoff with the Air 2.

Can you use these if you require prescription glasses? Every reviewer I've seen hasn't mentioned this and they don't wear glasses all day everyday.

I wonder how the experience would be on a plane. I love my steam deck for long flights, but it's not comfortable to aim the screen towards my eyes for more than a couple hours, especially with the arm rests in the way. This seems like it could resolve that issue.

I have the Xreal air original. I didn't see much of a difference in the version 2 to upgrade. I use mine with Samsung Dex on my S21 ultra all the time.

I think it should be mentioned that the glasses work great with the Oled Steam Deck but the Xreal Beam does not work on a lot of Oled Steam Deck's so basically you can't use body anchor with the Oled Steam Deck which is a big problem that hopefully Xreal will sort shortly as the glasses are awesome

Huge thumbs UP for not taking money from Raid Shadow Legends.

Is the screen locked to the direction you're looking at, or is it anchored to a location in 3d space. If it's the former i imagine it might be disorienting if you have to turn your head quick for something in your environment.

What is the difference with Lenovo glasses ?

do they have the ability to turn the display off per eye?

My set is pretty bad. This video reminded me to return. I have a pretty average face and no vision issues. The blur and difficulty maintaining the ‘sweet spot’ for clear visibility make this pretty bad and not worth the price. Good step in the right direction though.

It's all very expensive. The ROG ALLY for me, Accessories for that, The Xreal air 2's, The beam, More accessories for that. and once you have all that it's hard to recommend using any of this without everything. For example, using the Xreal air 2's without the beam is not much fun, and pretty much mandatory I'd say. I cant imagine using my rog ally all the time as it is without the glasses. It's amazing. but puts it well out the reach of most people. I went into buying the RoG ally because it was £530 and I thought that's a good price for what it is. not knowing I'll be spending that AGAIN and then some a few weeks later 🤑😁 You cant go back, the Glasses take some of the shine away from the ROG Allys screen/size. I always want to put the glasses on.

Only thing holding me back is the price. Looks cool.

Can't you just get a USB C dongle that has a splitter on it so that you can charge your steam deck while using these glasses?

Viture FTW!

I have the 1st gen air. I hate there's no way to adjust the display without a app or external device like the beam. I also hate the glossy lens that reflect light back into the glasses even if you have the black out cover on. The that said the are convenient for gaming in the bed next to wife or watching a movie on. Do i have regrets buying them yes i could of put that money towards a oled deck😂.

It's like the canceled Google glasses but it's official

Right... my experience now that I have it: The screen size... it's kind of overrated. When I sit at my desk, with my 27" screen at about a good arms length away, the XReal screen takes up about the same size. When looking through the glasses at my desk, it's just as big as a 27" gaming monitor right in front of you. Second, it now has 120hz, yes. And with a Steamdeck this allows 40fps frame paced. That's nice. BUT: The display is fixed right in front of you. What happens is that _EVERY LITTLE MICRO SHAKE_ makes the whole screen wobble, and this happens a lot. It's actually quite fatiguing. This can be fixed! by using the XReal Beam in between, but that's another device with another battery to die down, and another purchase. But also, this limits the output to 60hz. They say 72hz, but I'm unable to set it to that. But it does allow the 'smooth follow' mode, that keeps the screen fixed but follows it smoothly, which takes out all the judders. Or the anchor mode, which is kind of like VR glasses where it stays fixed in virtual screen, and you can actually look away from it. And kind of customization for screen size / position also requires the Beam. On the good side: The beam now has (some kind of) app support. So you get free access to a file manager, and plugging it into your computer makes it show up as a drive to copy .APK files to, which you can then install from the file manager. Without tricks or rooting. Used it to install Moonlight and connect to my desktop for streaming games from. Didn't try with a controller yet though. And as always, the corners of the glasses look smudgy and glow, so it isn't really usable as a 'work screen'. Since it's OLED, the pixels response is awesome, and running testufo.com at 120hz the motion clarity is awesome (better than the 120hz screen on my Asus laptop). Audio isn't world breaking records awesome of course, but out of the box it's also quite better than I imagined built-in speakers would be.

Can you stream with it ?

How do these work for glasses users? I am legally blind without glasses and am interested in buying this

I would only ever want to use something like this docked... So yeah the beam bit kinda ruins these.

I heard they made the lenses smaller? Welp...

As a question I've always thought for these. If I wear eyeglasses, will using these have any issues distance wise (I'm near sighted) but in theory it should be just fine, but would love to know from a real world perspective.

I will pick them up next year or something. I just got the OLED so that is my tech budget for the year gone

The resolution needs to be bumped up for PC software.

I can’t wait to see games at 30fps in 800p up close.

A like for the disclaimer alone

My biggest intereset in xreal air 2 or alike is as a monitor replacement for work. It would take me roughly 10 years to replace my monitor pure energy usage wise, using 190 hours a month as the amount of time I am looking at it. Or about 4 years to replace my tv. Assuming 400 euro for the set, and 0.3 euro per kWh in price, and the power used by the xreal air is negligeble compared to the monitor or tv.

The only reason I can’t buy them is because the ultra are not selling in Spain. (They ship to France, why not Spain?)

I need one

for our big boys out there, this product isnt designed for us. I tried it a while back and my head is just too wide so the lenses didnt sit where they should in relation to my eyes

When in bed using the steam deck next to my wife she always complains of how bright it is (even when it’s really low) Really thinking of getting this but the price is not something I can pay right now

I love this tech. But I hold out untill it gets 6dof tracking and better field of view. That is when it will be able to replace multi-monitor setup, and when I can justify to myself a price that trades blows with multi-monitors The tech is awesome. But both hardware and software have big UX leaps on the horizon

These glasses only provide 60 Hz if you connect it to a Steam Deck, there is no 120 Hz available, even with a Rog Ally and using Windows 11.

im a little worried with all the peeps watching movies and tv from the drivers seat of there car while driving.... This could be a big problem

Why did you not mention that the xreal air 2 gets so hot that it feels like there is a microwave in your left side of the head directly in your temple? A radioactive beam heat wave? That thing can give you a head tumor for sure. I own one and thats the only reason i stopped using them i wish i could use them but it causes me huge migraine after due to my left temple getting all that radiation heat

Still way too expensive. Cool concept, and I am very interested.. but not at that price at all Still doesnt beat the dock for $80 and a $30 controller + tv (which can be used by more than 1person)

It's all good and all until Valve announces Steam Eyes.

Thats a bummer you cant use them while charging the steam deck

These X reals are so dang expensive.

Ouf at over 1,000$ Canadian, this is way too expensive for my wallet. Maybe in the future the prices will come down to something more reasonable.

Cost a lot mate 😢

Sponsored video. Basically an ad. 'Conveniently' he doesn't mention the negative sides.

Nope. Fine using my quest 3

The first ones are not anywhere near as good as all the influencers claimed.