XREAL partners with ROG for ROG XREAL R1 glasses

There's no doubt that the ROG Ally is a powerful handheld, and one that we liked quite a bit (our review). While the 7-inch 1080p 120Hz screen is gorgeous...what if you could make it bigger? Well, that's exactly what Asus is doing with a team-up with XREAL! Today they announced the ROG XREAL R1 – a new set of heads up display glasses that leans hard into the capabilities of ROG's newest handheld.

The specs are just as advanced as the ROG Ally itself, equipped with Micro OLEDs with a 240Hz refresh rate, a 0.01ms response time, and the capability of delivering a 171" virtual screen that sits in your field of view roughly 13 feet in the distance. It does so with a 57 degree viewing angle and delivers it all with a single cable. This is not that dissimilar to previous glasses from XREAL, just with a bit of a boost to stats, but what is different is the next trick.

Seamless Control & Dual-Screen Synergy

The R1 unlocks a new dimension of handheld gaming through synchronized dual display functionality with ROG Ally. While the glasses project a 171-inch virtual battlefield, the Ally's built-in display remains active to allows real-time adjustments to brightness, screen size, aspect ratio, visual effects, and more — all without interrupting gameplay. Features including tint level, frame-rate boost, spatial locker and 3D mode can be managed directly via the Ally's Armoury Crate SE (ACSE) app, maintaining uninterrupted focus on the action.

To go along with the ROG XREAL R1, the team is also launching another product that will allow seamless connections between your PC, consoles, and the glasses with a single button press – the ROG Control Dock. This ensures you can connect and game on whatever device you run through the dock without the need to fiddle with cables or connections beyond the initial setup.

To bring the audio to life, the team once again partnered with Bose. More than just a name partnership, these deliver a solid and rich sound - we heard that in our review for the XREAL One. Here's a nibble from that review:

The last stop on these glasses is the sound, and wow is that another big surprise. The XREAL folks teamed up with Bose to use their open-air audio solution. These are nestled into the temple area of the glasses, directly above the ears, and for their size, they deliver an amazingly clear sound. Paired with four microphones, these do a bit of noise cancellation as well, and the results are a remarkably whole audio. Even at higher volume, they are free from distortion, delivering a remarkable amount of bass as well. Open-air speakers are usually pretty lousy with audio leakage, but these keep a bit of discretion at low to medium. Turn them all the way up and the people next to you are going to enjoy MST3K as well, but at medium, you can enjoy a phone call without folks listening in.

Obviously this is meant to blend into the entire ROG ecosystem, but you can jump in with some or all of it as you see fit. The glasses alone will give you all of the experience of a massive screen on the go – frankly, I don't fly without mine. They're also great for waiting for doctor's appointments for family members, waiting for a car inspection, waiting at the DMV, and more – I speak from experience on that.