By Victoria Song
Publication Date: 2025-12-08 18:00:00
Teased at Google I/O, Project Aura is a collaboration between Xreal and Google. It’s the second Android XR device (the first being Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset) and is expected to launch in 2026. Putting it on, I get why the term “smart glasses” doesn’t exactly fit.
Is it a headset? Smart glasses? Both? Those were the questions running through my head as I held Project Aura in my hands in a recent demo. It looked like a pair of chunky sunglasses, except for the cord dangling off the left side, leading down to a battery pack that also served as a trackpad. When I asked, Google’s reps told me they consider it a headset masquerading as glasses. They have a term for it, too: wired XR glasses.
I can connect wirelessly to a laptop and create a giant virtual desktop in my space. I have up to a 70-degree field of view. My first task is to launch Lightroom on the virtual desktop while opening YouTube in another window. I play a 3D tabletop game where I can pinch and pull the board…
