Google unveils Project Aura glasses with Android at its core
The glasses offer a 70-degree field of view, a virtual desktop that floats in space, and familiar Android apps
The recent unveiling of Project Aura, Google's new mixed reality goggles running on the Android operating system, has tech enthusiasts hyped.
The real surprise of Project Aura arrives before it even switches on. You pick it up, expecting a familiar hefty headset, but it sits in your hand like a pair of bold sunglasses.
It feels like a door to what the next era of consumer XR might look like: a hybrid that avoids the extremes of both goggles and eyewear. According to The Verge's Victoria Song, who tested the device herself, that hybrid identity is exactly what Google and Xreal are aiming to perfect.
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Teased earlier at Google I/O in May, Project Aura is Google's first major step into Android XR with Xreal as its hardware partner. It offers a 70-degree field of view, a virtual desktop that floats in space, and familiar Android apps that run without special rebuilding.
You can run Lightroom on one side, YouTube on the other. You can also play a tabletop game that responds when you pinch and pull. A quick look to the wall can bring Circle to Search to life.
The technical strategy behind Aura may be more important than any single feature. A Google representative told Song that everything she tried had first been developed for Samsung's Galaxy XR — nothing had to be refitted for Aura's slimmer frame.
Android XR changes that calculus for Project Aura — apps built for Galaxy XR can flow to it. Regular Android apps can also run on upcoming glasses from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster.
