I Spent A Week With The Galaxy XR The Good… And Not So Good

Tom's Guide

Mark spent a week testing Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset and found that it’s lighter, smarter and way cheaper than Apple’s Vision Pro. But it’s also a little rough around the edges. From comfort and design to the displays, controls and Gemini Live AI, in this video Mark breaks down what works, what’s buggy and whether it’s worth spending $1,799. He also dives into apps, battery life and even using it as a PC display.  If you’re curious about mixed reality, early adoption or just want to see how the Galaxy XR stacks up against the Vision Pro, this Buy or Skip review is for you!

Transcript

00:00Tilt planet up. Ah! I feel like I was just dropped out of a plane.

00:05Today we're talking about Samsung's brand new Galaxy XR headset. Yeah, it looks a lot like the

00:10Apple Vision Pro, but it also does a few things better. It's lighter, cheaper, and smarter,

00:15at least on paper. But do I think you should go out and spend $17.99 on Galaxy XR?

00:21After testing it for the past week, I'd say the answer isn't so simple.

00:25I want to start off with the good. First off, the Galaxy XR is way more comfortable

00:29than the Vision Pro. It weighs just 545 grams, and that's about 200 grams lighter than Apple's

00:35headset. And I'm telling you, it makes a big difference with how long this thing is on my

00:39head. There's also no strap digging in across the top of my head, so I was able to wear the

00:42headset for hours without wanting to rip it off. Some parts feel cheaper. We've got plastic arms

00:47and a plastic battery, and the buttons aren't anything special either. But no question for

00:51the price, I'll take those trade-offs any day. Looking a little bit closer, the Galaxy XR packs

00:57dual 4K micro-OLED displays. They're crisp and colorful, and watching Netflix flipping through

01:02Google Photos or exploring 3D spaces, it all looks fantastic. The pass-through video isn't quite as

01:07bright or clean as the Vision Pro's, especially in low light. But overall, the visual experience on

01:12Galaxy XR is solid. Now let's talk about controls, because that's where the Galaxy XR

01:17starts really showing its rougher edges. The hand and eye tracking work mostly fine,

01:21but it's not nearly as seamless as the Vision Pro. Sometimes I'd look at the bottom of an app

01:26to move it, and nothing. Or I'd overshoot what I was trying to click. I found that I had to be

01:31pretty deliberate, especially with my eyes, in order to navigate to whatever app or menu I wanted.

01:37But just like Vision Pro, you can pair a controller. I'd say that's a good idea,

01:41especially if you plan to use this for playing games. Yeah, so the eye tracking is definitely

01:48annoying me. So I'm trying to aim with my eyes at a specific item, and I keep having to look down,

01:55and I feel like after calibrating, I shouldn't have to do that. The good news is that you can

02:00recalibrate at any time. The bad news is that I feel like I need to. If eye tracking isn't working the

02:06way it should, you do have the option of hand control, which is basically turns your hand into a mouse,

02:11and there's a line that goes from your hand to the screen to select that what you want. But I feel

02:15like you shouldn't have to do that, and it's not something that you ever have to do on the Vision Pro.

02:20One big selling point of Galaxy XR and the Android XR operating system is Gemini Live,

02:25the built-in AI companion. This is where the Galaxy XR starts to feel genuinely smart.

02:30Can you pull up information on this flower and open up a separate window in Chrome?

02:34I've opened a Chrome window with information about light purple hibiscus flowers.

02:38Gemini can answer questions or carry out actions based on pretty much anything I have open on my

02:43screens. Things like identifying flowers in Google Photos or giving in-game advice in Diablo Immortal.

02:49It's not perfect, though. DRM-protected stuff like YouTube TV? Gemini can't see it,

02:54so it's basically blind there. But either way, it still leaps and bounds ahead of Siri and Apple

02:59Intelligence and Vision Pro.

03:00There are a few things you could try. You could check your quest log or map for clues,

03:05or look for any quest markers or highlighted areas in your current location. You could also

03:10try talking to the villager you just freed. They might have some information for you.

03:13I feel like Gemini on something like this is not as attractive or compelling as it will be once it

03:19comes to smart glasses, but this gives you a taste of that future. I mentioned YouTube TV. That's a good

03:25segue to the Galaxy XR's app selection. It's okay, I guess. You do notably get YouTube with 180 and 360

03:32videos, which are really compelling, and a native Netflix app, which the Vision Pro still doesn't have.

03:38Movies, okay, so House of Dynamite, right? So if I click on that, and then I go into Gemini.

03:44Can you pull up movie reviews of this in a separate window?

03:48So that's actually useful because I didn't need to tell it what movie this is, right? And then so I

03:59could just scroll through and I could see all the reviews here, and I could have said Rotten Tomatoes,

04:04but in this case I could see the ratings on this side, and then I can decide if I want to watch it

04:07or not. There's also Google Maps with immersive mode, which lets you fly through cities. It's genuinely

04:13awesome once you get the hang of it. You can game with XR titles like Demio or play regular

04:25Android games from Google Play, but I wish there were more native apps. There's about 70 to start

04:30and more to come. One of my favorite apps on the Galaxy XR is Asteroid, which thrusts you in the

04:34middle of a 3D movie where you're mining an asteroid for riches, and you can talk with the AI version of

04:40the main character. Powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chip, the Galaxy XR runs most of these

04:49apps and tasks smoothly, but I did run into some bugs. I had apps freeze, menus lag, and that fan,

04:55yeah, you'll hear it kick in when things heat up. Is some of this probably fixable via software updates?

05:00Sure, but if the goal was to get the best Evision Pro from the jump, these hiccups don't really help

05:05the Galaxy XR's case. Battery life hits at around 2 hours, which again is fine, but it's not better

05:11than the Vision Pro. I was getting closer to 3 hours on the new Vision Pro M5. Speaking of which,

05:16let me know if you'd want to see a video dedicated to my experience testing Apple's refreshed headset.

05:22If you did see some of my older videos here on the channel about Vision Pro, you might remember that

05:26using it as my MacBook display is pretty much my favorite feature or use case. So of course, I was

05:32really curious about how that'd work for the Galaxy XR. If you want to bring your PC desktop

05:38into the Galaxy XR, you can, but it takes some effort. You have to install Samsung's second screen

05:43app on a Galaxy Book, sign into your Samsung account, and then find the PC link option in quick settings.

05:49Once you're connected, performance is fine. I know, I feel like I keep saying that in this review,

05:54but it really is true. Again, it works, but not just quite as well as I wish it did. For Apple setup,

05:59you just look at your Mac and click connect. It's that simple, and that alone is just a classic

06:05case of all of Apple stuff working better together. Before I get to my verdict, I just have to say,

06:14mixed reality is still a developing product category. Even with companies like Samsung,

06:18Google, Meta, and Apple all in the game, these headsets still have a long way to go before they

06:24feel truly ready for the masses. With the Galaxy XR, it's the little thing that break the illusion.

06:30The occasional bugs and performance hiccups, hand and eye tracking that isn't always precise,

06:35and the app library that's still pretty limited, at least for now. If Samsung and Google really

06:40want people to buy into this vision of mixed reality and spend $1,800 to do it, all that

06:44friction needs to be addressed. This product needs to be smoother, more intuitive, and more connected

06:50to the rest of your devices. Don't get me wrong, it's been exciting to see this launch and have it

06:54undercut the Vision Pro price-wise by pretty much half, but there's no question this category is

06:59still finding its footing. That also makes you wonder, will we ever really be ready for full

07:03mixed reality headsets? Most people don't want to strap something big on their face. Instead,

07:07they want glasses that are lightweight, stylish. In a few years, the real winners might not be these

07:12bulky headsets at all. It could very well be smart glasses that do a lot of what XR does,

07:17but without taking over your whole head. And Samsung and Google have promised their take

07:21on smart glasses is on the way.

07:26For now, if you're curious about mixed reality and want to save money over the Vision Pro,

07:30buy. But only if you're okay being an early adopter. If you want something polished and

07:35stable right now, skip it. Or at least wait for Samsung and Google to iron out the bugs.

07:40That's my take on the Galaxy XR, but I want to know what you think. Would you trade the Vision Pro's

07:44polish for a headset that costs half as much, or are you waiting for the glasses version instead?

07:49Let me know in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe to the channel for more buy or skip

07:53reviews. For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhour.

08:05I would say the pass-through on the Galaxy XR is pretty good, and I can definitely walk around,

08:10but it's a little bit blurry, and there's a little bit of motion blur as you walk around,

08:13so you just have to be careful of your surroundings. But I can do simple,

08:18everyday tasks. Not that I would do this in real life, but you can.

08:29There you go. Wait, am I getting it wet?

08:34No, that's not gonna work.

08:35F***ing.

08:39At least there's so much pain that must be left.

08:53There's so much pain in the Р.

08:53Yeah.

08:54Here we go.

08:55Yeah.

08:56I had nothing scrubbed.

08:57Sorry.

08:57Okay, okay now.

08:58No Monday prairie?

08:59No Monday for theãn or half?

08:59N Minecraft.

09:00No longer.

09:01No활osirlts.

09:01I never been föing that were more faith.

09:01I'm not prophecy for a mom.

09:01I never meantany.

09:02Or like who I could say that, all in my Мих..

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