Samsung’s Galaxy XR hands-on: A Google-flavored Vision Pro

The Verge

The Verge’s Senior reviewer, Victoria Song, received a hands-on with the final iteration of Samsung’s Galaxy XR, formally known as Project Moohan. There have been a few updates from last December’s prototype; comfier wearability, new software bundles, and, most notably, a stark price difference from Apple’s Vision Pro.

Transcript

00:00So this is Samsung's Galaxy XR, formerly known as Project MUHAN, and it's their first XR headset.

00:12What does it remind you of? If you said Vision Pro but Android, you'd be correct. That's kind

00:17of what this is. So you can see the hardware in the front. There's a bunch of cameras up here,

00:21and then there's a cushioned pad for your head that is removable to help with fit. A little

00:28cushioning back here and a knob to dial it in. So the first thing that I'm going to say

00:34is that it's much lighter than the Vision Pro, like much, much lighter than the Vision Pro.

00:42And because of the way that it's designed, it's a lot less front heavy. That was a problem

00:47that I had with the Vision Pro. And, you know, if we're going to stick it on, it's just kind

00:55of easier to get a nice little fit there. Also, another difference is that it's not fully

01:01closed off. That's optional, but I can see out of my periphery. So you're more engaged

01:07with your surroundings. I don't know. Do I look cool? I think it's slightly impossible

01:12to look cool in these things, but there you go. It's pretty comfortable. I don't really

01:17feel a lot of tension on my head as I did with the Vision Pro. And it's a lot easier. It reminds

01:24me of the old Oculus headsets. You can get an additional optional light seal, which will

01:30help you feel a little bit more immersive for certain types of content, but it's not

01:34by default. There is some peripheral vision that's happening at your side. Now, this is

01:39not a powered on set. If you were to have it powered on, there would be a power cord and

01:44a little dingle dangle battery cord. Because again, like the Vision Pro, that is a power source

01:50that you need to have. One of the main differences that Samsung and Google and Qualcomm are touting

01:56about this device is that AI is at the center of it. A lot of the demos that we saw here today

02:03center around using Gemini in Google apps, because content is something that really sets apart

02:10Galaxy XR from the Vision Pro at the outset. You know, you're launching with Netflix. Netflix is an app

02:19that will be available in this much lighter device. You can use YouTube, you can use a bunch of Google

02:26apps. Gemini is integrated within them. As for interacting with the device like the Vision Pro,

02:32you can just pinchy pinch. They do track your hands and your eyes. But there's also handheld

02:38controllers that you can use if that feels more natural to you. So there's a bit more variety in how you

02:43interact with the interface. And let's talk about price and availability, because that's a huge

02:48differentiator too. This is going to be available starting October 21 for $17.99. That is about one

02:57half the price of the Vision Pro. But for a limited time, they are also launching what they call the

03:03Explorer Pack. And that is a bunch of subscriptions bundled into the purchase for free. So that stuff like

03:11Google AI Pro, you're going to get a year's worth of that. YouTube Premium, YouTube Music,

03:16either at free or discounted price. You're also going to get apps like Calm, NBA League Pass. Did I get

03:26that right for the sportball fans? The point is you'll be able to watch live NBA games for a season

03:30for free included in the price. That's a lot of content that's coming up with this. One might say

03:37that there is no real viable reason to buy a Vision Pro because the screen resolution is very similar.

03:47The field of view is very similar. There's a lot of parity in terms of what these devices are

03:53able to do. But you're getting more for less with this in a much more lightweight, comfortable form factor.

04:00So I just got done with my demo and fair warning, they didn't let us film what it was that I was

04:12seeing on the display output. So I'm just going to have to describe it to you as best as I can. And

04:17hopefully we can put our little imagination caps on and go through this together. I was in the photos app,

04:23and I could see this 2D photo that had been spatialized. It very much looked like kind of the

04:29moving Harry Potter pictures. If you've ever seen those movies, you could open the YouTube app and

04:36a lot of existing 2D videos, they're spatialized now. I clicked a Verge video and David Pierce's face

04:46just went in mine. Good job moisturizing David. It looked great. Also Netflix is in there. So did

04:53I watch the first three minutes of Kpop Demon Hunters again? Yeah. Did I do it with multiple windows

04:59open around me? Also, yeah. It's me. What did you think I was going to do? But the differentiating factor

05:07here is that Gemini is baked into everything. You can go Gemini live. You can ask Gemini about the videos

05:13you're watching. So like in the Google Maps experience, it's kind of interesting because you can pinch and

05:18zoom the area that you're in while you're immersive. So I can like drag myself through Italy if I want

05:26while also looking at various landmarks. There's some, let's say ruffles to kind of smooth over,

05:33but this is a demo space. It was loud. There were a lot of demos going on around me. Gemini was a little

05:39bit confused. So the ideal place for a product like this would probably be in a quiet space in your home.

05:44So we'll have to see with the review unit how that performs. The hand motion tracking was pretty good.

05:51You bring up the menu by pinching this way and then you do a lot of pinching that way.

05:55It felt like a mix of the Vision Pro and the Oculus headsets and that there is a cursor so you can kind

06:00of see exactly what you're pointing at. There is a virtual keyboard where you kind of

06:07type like that and that is not efficient. I would highly recommend a Bluetooth keyboard

06:11or using voice commands in that respect. The touch controls were easy. There's a

06:17button up here that powers it on. It also is the button that you bring up Gemini with. There's a

06:21volume rocker on their side. There's touch controls there. If I had to say anything from my demo,

06:26I would say that it kind of takes the things that I like about the Vision Pro and things that I kind of

06:31like about Meta's Oculus headsets and mooshes it together, puts a little bit of Gemini in the mix.

06:38And the result is you get something that isn't perfect, but I would say has thoughts and ideas

06:45of how AI should interact with XR devices. And as we can see, Meta has its own AI glasses. It's been

06:54working on the metaverse for a while now. This is just kind of where a sector of mobile computing is

07:04amping up at this point in time. So does wearing XR headset make your life better? I don't know.

07:12Whenever it is we get our hands on a review unit, I'm sure I will have an existential crisis and write

07:17about it in Optimizer, my subscriber-only newsletter that you should totally subscribe to. I have fun.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended