Google and Samsung have stormed the world with their surprise announcement Android XR Lunes-which was complete with an impressive prototype demonstration during an TED 2025 event-but you don’t need to wait until 2026 (that is, the glasses are launched) to try excellent XR smart glasses for yourself.
In fact, we have just updated our best smart glasses guide with two new fantastic options that you can buy now. This includes a new entry into our number one niche for the best AR specifications that you can buy (XREAL ONE glasses) and a new choice in our best lifting intelligent glasses called the Rayneo Air 3S glasses.
Admittedly, these specifications are not quite what Google and Samsung boast of Android XR glasses, but the XREAL and Rayneo glasses are more for entertainment – you connect them to a phone, laptop or a console compatible to enjoy what they are doing.
In addition, they are much cheaper than the Android XR glasses are likely to be (depending on the pricing rumors for similar Ray-Ban meta-lunes), so if you are looking to dip your toes in the world of the RA before taking off, then these two glasses will be used for you.
The best of the best
So, let’s start with Xreal One glasses: our new number one choice, which are easily the best of the AR smart glasses.
As I mentioned earlier, these smart specifications are perfect for entertainment – both on the go and at home (for example in a cramped apartment or when you want to relax in bed). You simply connect them to a compatible device via their USB-C cable and you watch your favorite show, film or game on a giant virtual screen that works like your own private cinema.
This feature appears on other AR intelligent glasses, but the Xreal One Experience is on another level thanks to the OLED Full HD 120Hz screens, which boasts up to 600 nights of brightness. This allows glasses to produce vibrant images that have a superb contrast to watch dark scenes.
The image quality is still improved by electrochromically written lenses – lenses that can be darkened or lit via the electric input that you can switch to a switch on the glasses.
To their clearest, the objectives allow you to easily see what is going on around you, while in their darkest, the lenses serve as a perfect backdrop to everything you look at – blocking the most wandering external light that would ruin their almost perfect image.
Beyond their photo, these glasses are also impressive thanks to their speakers which are the best I have heard from smart glasses.
With a sound set by Bose (the creators of some of the best headphones in the world), Xreal One glasses can deliver a full-bodied audio through the tops, mid-tunks and bass.
You will find that the use of a separate pair of headphones can always raise your audio experience (especially because they disclose less from its than these glasses), however, these are the first smart glasses that I tested where a pair of cans looks like an optional complementary module rather than an essential accessory.
Combine all of this with a superb design which is both functional and quite fashionable, and you have a pair of stellar arguments. Things are still improving if you hang a pair with an Xreal Beam Pro (an Android space computer that transforms your glasses into a complete package, rather than a phone accessory).
In addition, it only seems to improve with the next complement to Xreal Eye which will allow glasses to take photos and videos in the first person, and which can help unlock new space computer powers, if we are lucky.
The best on a budget (but always great)
At $ 499 / £ 449, XREAL One glasses are a bit expensive. If you have a budget, you will rather try to try the Rayneo Air 3S glasses.
These smart glasses only cost $ 269 (around £ 205 / $ 435 in). To do this, you will have access to their micro-écéée configuration at HD 650-Nit which produces superb images and audio which do not require a pair of headphones.
They are a lot like XREAL One glasses, but boast of some statements as you can expect.
Audio performance is not as impressive. It is good without headphones but is not as rich as the alternative of Xreal, and it is more who flees (so if you use them while traveling, your passenger colleagues can hear what is happening too).
In addition, while on paper, their image quality should be better than XREAL glasses, the overall result is not as dynamic because the reflective lenses that glasses use as a backdrop are not as effective as the electrochromic gradation used by the XREAL.
This allows more light to sneak on the backdrop, which leads to problems of clarity of the image (like the image that appears washed) if you try to use the glasses in a brighter environment.
They also lack a kind of additional camera option if it is a functionality that is close to your heart.
But these glasses are always very impressive, just like the specifications, and I think most people should buy them because their value proposal is simply so fantastic.
Whether you choose Xreal One glasses from Rayneo Air 3s smart glasses, you will be for a treat – and if you like the AR taste, you will have a better idea of knowing if the Android XR and other AR glasses will be worth your time.
