Xreal’s budget AR glasses feature anti-shake tech and swappable frames

Jess Weatherbed is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.Augmented reality wearables provider Xreal has launched a new “X By Xreal” (XBX) subbrand, with its first customizable, lightweight smart glasses coming to the US in July. The new a01 AR glasses will be available starting at $299, featuring a “highly stable anti-shake mode” and interchangeable front frames.While the a01 lacks the degrees-of-freedom (DoF) support we typically see on more premium AR glasses to track the wearer’s movements and head rotations, it does include what Xreal is calling the “industry-first spatial anti-shake algorithm.” This preserves image clarity by reducing shake during turbulent motions, like when you’re riding the subway or on a flight, helping to prevent visual content looking blurred or washed out.The interchangeable front frames come in three designs — Sport, Stealth, and Classic — and can be switched out to match the device to specific outfits. Xreal hasn’t mentioned if these can be purchased separately, or how much they will cost. We’ve seen swappable frames before on glasses like the Solos AirGo Vision, though the options provided by XBX seem more expansive by comparison.Xreal also says the a01 weighs around 62 grams (about 2.1 ounces) and features a 1,600-nit HDR10 display. We should note that the a01, like other Xreal AR glasses, doesn’t come with a built-in battery, so you’ll need to be happy with watching content while the glasses are plugged into your phone or laptop via a wired connection.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jess Weatherbed