I know what you're thinking. Didn't XREAL just release a set of glasses? Isn't the 1S still pretty new? For that matter, isn't the One Pro? I get the fatigue, but mid-cycle refreshes are the new normal in tech. Apple, Samsung, Google and Sony all do it with phones, and AR glasses are now iterating at that same smartphone speed. Honestly, you're the beneficiary. So the real question is whether the XREAL One Pro+ earns that plus sign. After unboxing it and wearing it for roughly 11 hours in the air, I can tell you it does.
There's never been a lot to unbox with XREAL's glasses, and frankly there shouldn't be. Two pull-strips and you're in. Inside is the slim, lightweight hard case, the glasses (wrapped in more protective film than I've ever managed to peel off in one piece), and a braided USB-C cable with a slight bend at the end so it tucks behind your ear instead of sticking straight out. Cable length is fine for most uses, though I'd have loved a few more inches when the source device is stowed away on a plane. Rounding things out is a velvety soft pouch, an XREAL microfiber cloth, a spare nose bridge, light-blocking nose flaps, and the usual paperwork you will never read.
The Pro line's biggest draw is still its 57-degree field of view, a huge step up from the Air 2 Pro's roughly 46 degrees, and the One Pro+ keeps it. It also uses a flat optic set that replaces the old birdbath design, where the image was projected down onto an angled lens and bounced into your eyes. Now the image sits right where you look through the lens, and the difference is night and day. Chromatic aberration (that little rainbow fringe around white text on a black background) is gone. The haloing and edge distortion are gone. ALL of it is gone, leaving the only thing you do want – crisp and bright images.
The biggest addition to the One Pro+ is a bump in brightness. The One Pro+ jumps from 700 nits to up to 1,200 nits, which means punchier contrast, richer color saturation and far better outdoor performance. XREAL pairs that with AI HDR, which tunes highlights, shadows, skin tones and even subtitles on the fly. Reds look red, blues look blue, and skin looks like skin. This is the best image we've seen from XREAL, and it's a huge step up.
XREAL's partnership with Qualcomm for the Snapdragon X1 chip returns, and it's what powers native 3DoF (three degrees of freedom). Anchor mode pins your virtual screen in space, which is fantastic for adding a third "monitor" above your desk. Pair that with the electrochromic dimming and you can glance away to see what the dog is up to, then look back as the screen pops right back to life. Follow mode keeps the screen in your field of view as you move, perfect for keeping directions in the corner of your eye without looking like a tourist glued to their phone. None of this is new, but it remains a standout feature that allows these to remain useful in the real world.
Planes rides are a bit trickier, but getting better with each XREAL iteration. When the aircraft banks, Anchor mode thinks the whole world moved, so Follow mode is your friend at 35,000 feet. It's gotten much better since the 1S, and a quick reorient fixes the rare drift. Because all of this runs on the glasses themselves, latency is effectively nothing. If motion sickness is a concern for you (and it is for me), that matters a LOT.
2D-to-3D conversion has never been my favorite feature. The flicker and odd color play messed with my head. The One Pro+ doubles conversion from 30 fps to 60fps, and it's significantly smoother. (I know I said Hz in my video above, but I meant fps – my bad) It's still not perfect. Slower scenes look great, but fast motion (think roller coasters) still gets a little wavy at the edges. XREAL has been steadily improving this through firmware, and updates are still incredibly easy: plug the glasses into a PC and follow the prompts.
There are now three picture modes. Reading mode sharpens text and dials back harsh contrast, which made dialogue-heavy games like Disco Elysium, Zero Parades and Baldur's Gate 3 much easier on my eyes. Movie mode pushes color while keeping fast action free of streaking and blur. Standard is the familiar middle ground. If you still see a "Vivid" option, update your firmware.
The only way to really put these through their paces is to do what I actually do: play games, take them to appointments, and fly. So I did. Over roughly 11 hours there and back, the One Pro+ was on my face almost the entire time. I preloaded a pile of RiffTrax onto my Steam Deck, ran power through a splitter (highly recommended, as these will drain a battery), and controlled my own entertainment where only I could see it. It made flying a breeze, as it always has, but with the added brightness I didn't feel like I was losing anything when my single-serving neighbor didn't lower their window shade.
My one lingering gripe is Android. Plug the glasses into my phone and start a movie, and it keeps playing on the phone's screen too, burning battery to drive both displays. An option to shut off the phone screen would be very welcome.
The biggest surprise was comfort. I fully expected tired eyes after that flight marathon. Instead, between the clearer optics and the redesigned nose pad, which no longer digs into the bridge of my nose, I stepped off the plane without that end-of-day fatigue. On paper this is a marginal refresh. On my face, it's a huge step up.
The XREAL One Pro+ is $599, or $648 bundled with the XREAL Eye camera that adds 6DoF and gesture tracking. It's available now direct from XREAL, with Amazon availability expected later in October. If you've been waiting for AR glasses that are bright enough, sharp enough and comfortable enough to wear for an entire flight, this is the one. Now I'm counting down to Project Aura.
Do you use AR glasses? What are you watching or playing on them? Let me know in the comments.
