Forget Meta Ray-Bans. These Dorky-Looking Virtual Display Glasses Are Way More Useful

I am sitting in a chair, wearing a pair of Xreal smart glasses. These glasses are connected to my laptop via a USB-C cord, and they project a massive virtual display onto the space in front of my nose. It feels like a 170-inch TV right in front of me. With this technology, I can watch a series of business and cybersecurity training modules that I had been putting off.

The virtual screen is blurry, but I manage to complete all five modules within the glasses. After several hours, the glasses become overheated, and my forehead is sweaty. Despite this, I am unsure if I can recognize a phishing email. These glasses are part of the mixed-reality smart glasses category, which is less popular than camera-equipped, AI-powered frames like Meta's Ray-Ban glasses.

Companies like Xreal, Viture, and Rokid make these glasses, which project a screen directly onto your face. They function like portable monitors, mirroring the content from your laptop, phone, tablet, or handheld gaming console. The Xreal glasses have several advantages over other mixed-reality devices. Unlike Meta's "pervert glasses," which have raised privacy concerns due to their camera-equipped design, Xreal's glasses do not have cameras or recording capabilities.

This means that if you need to watch sensitive documents or videos, no one else can see them. The glasses also have speakers that leak sound, so be cautious with your audio content consumption. These glasses offer a lightweight alternative to bulky, heavy, and unwieldy wearable mixed-reality devices like Apple's Vision Pro headset.

Xreal's glasses are more comfortable and user-friendly, allowing users to work and watch content in a virtual workspace without the discomfort often associated with other devices.