Even though this isn’t a tablet or phone… I think it’s potentially a great “companion” accessory for mobile computing.
These are the NReal Air glasses. They are marketed as Augmented Reality devices, to which I would hesitate to claim. However, I do think they are highly effective as a portable monitor/display device.
The Airs are probably the only current Head Mounted Display (HMD) that I would actually feel comfortable wearing out in the public. They look scarcely different than a pair of large Ray Ban sunglasses. And you wouldn’t really look out of place wearing them indoors, aside from the fact that you’re wearing sunglasses indoors.
In fact, on my first time I brought them with me for plane travel, there was another person at my gate, wearing them. And they look pretty unobtrusive. You can tell a hint of lights flashing through his dark lenses, but I knew what I was looking for.
The entire kit consists of glasses, a nice cylindrical zippered case to protect the glasses, that also has a storage area for a USB-C cable.
About that cable… the glasses are powered externally, requiring the single USB-C cable that, design-wise, attach nicely to the left frame end.
When I plug the cable into my Fold3… that’s where the magic happens. The Samsung automatically detects this as a monitor and kicks into Dex mode.
The picture here, doesn’t do the display any justice, as the camera can’t focus the image properly. But I assure you, the display is crystal clear. It amounts to having a 200" monitor in front of your face.
The graphics are sharp enough with the fonts, that I have no problem reading websites or editing word processor documents. With Dex, I can do something like put a MS Teams call on one side, and a document or web browser on the other.
The images are bright, and brightness levels are adjustable. They are viewable in sunlight, but slightly washed out. At night, or indoor areas, they shine and it’s a joy to watch content like videos or sports broadcasts. If you turn the Dex background to completely black, the pixels are completely off, and you can actually see the real world like having sunglasses. So you can get a sort of augmented reality effect with windows and icons floating in front of you.
While in Dex, I have the phone display turned into a touchpad, with a keyboard when needed. The Field of View (FOV) of the Air doesn’t fully cover your vision in the vertical direction. That actually works to one’s advantage, as you can actually see the real world if you cast your eyes stright down, where you can see yourself thumb typing on the Fold virtual keyboard.
I’m on week three of having the NReal Airs, and already, it’s in my travel kit. I no longer feel the need to bring an external monitor or Nexdock style device to run Dex on the road. I would still bring a folding keyboard and mouse for max efficiency. But the bulkiness of my travel kit has gotten significantly lighter and more compact with these display glasses.