Do XREAL's a01 smart glasses make sense for watching movies?
A TechCrunch reviewer tested XREAL's a01 smart glasses as a movie-watching device, finding the image quality impressive but the overall experience redundant and impractical compared to a large screen.
XREAL, a smart glasses maker, recently released the a01, a relatively simple device without a battery or internal processor. It connects via a USB-C cable to a laptop, phone, or handheld gaming device such as a Steam Deck, drawing power from whatever it's plugged into. Priced at around $300, the a01 is mainly designed for gaming but is also marketed by XREAL as a way to watch movies and shows.
A reviewer tested the glasses by streaming a film and found the picture quality strong: dual mini OLED panels deliver 1080p resolution and up to 1,600 nits of brightness, producing vivid colors that feel closer to a theater experience in a dark room. Still, the experience raised an obvious question — why wear a headset to watch the same content that's already playing on the nearby device it's plugged into.
XREAL also markets the a01 as a "second monitor," but this is impractical since the glasses largely block out everything except their own projection. Connecting the glasses to a phone theoretically allows movie-watching while traveling, but the phone's screen must stay active during use, reintroducing the redundancy problem. A separate accessory, the Beam Pro, priced at about $200, lets users download content and stream it independently rather than mirroring another screen.
A notable drawback is heat: the glasses warm up during use, causing an uncomfortable tingling sensation near the nose and eyes — a common issue across XR headsets. On the positive side, the a01 is lightweight and more comfortable to wear than some competitors, such as Snap's Specs.
XREAL is continuing to refine its lineup, with an upcoming device called Project Aura — built on Google and Samsung's Android XR platform — promising hand tracking and access to the Google Play Store for a more immersive experience. Despite the a01's strengths, the reviewer concluded that watching movies on a large home TV remains more satisfying than viewing them on a small screen inches from the eyes.
