Pixelated - Wait, Do I Want a Galaxy XR?

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Welcome to episode 76 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. It's another round of Galaxy XR talk — this time, with a full week's worth of use under Abner's belt (or face, rather). From tablet comparisons to finding the true use case for this sort of headset, all three of your trusted hosts have found themselves pleasantly surprised and intrigued by the device Samsung and Google has managed to build, even if it's tough to see this as anything more than an expensive stepping stone towards the lighter, more comfortable gadgets of your sci-fi dreams. Subscribe YouTube Podcasts Pocket Casts Spotify Apple Podcasts Overcast Hosts Abner Li Damien Wilde Will Sattelberg Read more Samsung Galaxy XR review: For those who have been waiting Gemini app hits 650+ million monthly users as Google/YouTube reports 300M subscribers Listen to more 9to5 Podcasts The Sideload 9to5Mac Happy Hour Electrek Space Explored Feedback? Drop us a line at [e-mail], leave a comment on the post, or reach out to our producer.

Welcome to Pixelated Episode 76. I'm your host, Will Saddleberg. This week, it's round two of Galaxy XR talk. Abner's had his headset for over a week now as he's prepped his review, and Damien and I have plenty of questions about the first ever product running Android XR. It's a conversation that goes into some unexpected places, including whether or not this sort of device actually exists as a tablet killer first and foremost. And while there's still plenty of unanswered questions surrounding the future of wearable computing,

One thing's for sure. Samsung and Google have kicked off their respective XR efforts with a surprisingly compelling piece of tech. So Abner, you are the main man when it comes to Galaxy XR, Android XR. I'm, as you probably have anyone out there listening is aware in the last couple of episodes. I'm a little bit of a VR skeptic, but I want to hear about your time with this device. It's been what? Just over a week at this point?

Like, what are you thinking? determine what you're thinking I am so the context is I've been living with vision pro since early last year ish and it's it's night and day difference between a between Vision Pro and Galaxy XR Galaxy XR on paper it is a headset but at this but it doesn't feel like it it it feels so much lighter physically

there's both on the weight front and how Samsung designed it it's it feels ironically not immersive and has this open design where it keeps you in the environment I've always equated Vision Pro to like putting on just putting entering a different world or like you're when you put it on you're operating machinery that's that's how Vision Pro has always felt to me In comparison, Galaxy X-R, it feels like it's so easy to take on and off. It's so light in comparison. And you can see the real world by just looking to the side or walking down.

And I think that's the big thing that doesn't get conveyed when you think of it as a headset. So in terms of the, you mentioned about the, you've been using Vision Pro, you've been using Galaxy X-R as well. have you used them concurrently over the last week and tried to do something that you would ordinarily do on Vision Pro that you wanted to do on Galaxy XR or vice versa? Is there anything that you're like, hey, there is some fundamental aspect of this missing? So the fundamental aspect would,

Vision Pro has the Mac virtual display, which gives you 4K or a lap around screen. So there's no way that could be replicated on Android, Galaxy X-R for obvious reasons. So that's the biggest thing I've been missing. But otherwise, no, it's the software. You get a, there's actually a YouTube app. There's a Netflix app, which I find.

I never bothered on Vision Pro to sign into the Netflix website. And using YouTube has been a pain on it. my video consumption is on the app and up with GalaxyXR. Does that look like it's going to be one of those things that, and I don't want to say USP, because that diminishes it quite drastically in terms of a platform. Like, I know we talked a little bit about it before, in the previous episode, Will,

where we were like looking at it and thinking, is this going to be a content consumption device? Because from my perspective, that's all it feels like. I don't know, like, I don't know if you think the same way, but, you know, yeah. Yeah, the lack of, I feel like the lack of controllers in the box really makes it so that it does push you towards looking at it as a way to watch movies or TV shows or YouTube videos first and foremost. And then probably into productivity, you know, because it's much cheaper to add. Well, you can use built-in virtual keyboards and, you know, mice or whatever, right?

But nobody wants to do that. But adding a Bluetooth keyboard is much cheaper than adding the, you know, $250. their controllers that you would need for like real gaming, real VR gaming. So I do think just like the out-of-the-box experience immediately sort of pushes you towards, especially once you factor in apps like Netflix and YouTube being here that aren't here on something like the Vision Pro. Yeah, it's so briefly in the productivity front. I am in complete agreement that Samsung should have included a keyboard.

I'm sure it would have been like 30 bucks or whatever. Well, actually a keyboard and a track pad. Ideally, one that's combined. I know Logitech makes one that's like 15 years old from the original Google TV days. I'm looking at getting that. But mice just don't work. Mice are weird in VR. Is that because you can't get into the third dimension, as it were?

There are 2D kind of productivity tools. That makes sense. That and it's just so much movement that feels unnecessary. But yeah, so the productivity stuff I've been doing is checking feeds. And I did write most of my review in Google Keep of in Android XR's Google Keep. That was a nice bit of dog fooding, so to speak. But yeah, it's, I typing is fine. I just because I again goes back to the weight the lightness of this device means that I'm doing more I'm more inclined to put it on and it's just a big difference.

Does that mean it's going to be one of those things that you potentially have in your everyday carry as it were? Like you would carry this every single day with you in a backpack. I know you're a backpack guy like I am but do you think it's something that you can potentially bring with you everywhere? and have it as that secondary. It's not a secondary screen, is it? Because it is the screen. You create those secondary and tertiary screens within the device, which to me just is mind-blowing.

Growing up with, I think I mentioned it before on the pod, about growing up with VR potentially being a thing, that just blows my mind. Yeah, actually on that note, it's, I think most people haven't used VR. Maybe they've had a demo of it once in a long time. But I think what has advanced, So to the point of no controllers,

hand tracking in these headsets is a solved problem to me anyways. It's accurate. You don't need control. Even compared to two years ago where I think meta, yeah, they still include controllers in their box because obviously gaming. But you don't need controllers for day-to-day navigation anymore. It is a solved problem. And Samsung and Android X-R got it right.

But in terms to your question about dairy, carry, I very much see this as a tablet competitor in terms of, in terms of like your relaxation device on the content consumption front. Yes, it's if I want to watch new TV shows or whatever. I watched some of the World Series on it. I watched an hour of Netflix. It works.

Again, the weight allows that and makes it more flexible. But so far, what I set up right now is that it's on my desk, on my work desk, it's attached to power all the time. And I, putting it on is just as simple as putting it on

to check something in it or to browse websites and feeds on it. Avner, I'm glad you brought that up because you mentioned that in your review, you know, comparing it to tablets. And it was a comparison. I hadn't really thought of before. But in 2025, I actually think that's like a pretty good argument because because most people have smartphones that are, you know, even even a smaller

smartphone is still 6.something inches, right? Like the smaller pixel 10 is 6.3 inches, right? And so a lot of times, even though I have tablets that are are larger 11 inches or 13 inches, whatever, right? Like, I still don't often spring for them, except for in some very specific circumstances these days, just because I feel like the device I have in my pocket is usually good enough or big enough or whatever. It's nice to have the bigger screen for YouTube or something, but right. You know, in some ways, and we can get to pricing later, but putting that out of consideration here, I do think that maybe this is kind of a better third device and our most.

modern era of smartphones compared to, or, you know, split in between smartphones and laptops as opposed to tablets, because I feel like it is a much more unique category, a unique experience compared to those two, while still kind of giving you what you would want from a tablet, which is content consumption, some productivity, sometimes, the ability to do productivity on it, and, you know, gaming. And like, that's kind of the three pillars of both, you know, modern-day VRXR headsets and tablets. And I hadn't thought of it that way, but that makes me wonder if, like, I should not buy another tablet ever again and I should just buy one of these, these headsets.

Yeah, but it's going to say, my, I want to, that's why I want to ask about the everyday carry situation, because with a tablet, it's slim, the profile, you know, we're used to the profile, it just slips into your bag. Like, this is a slightly bigger object. Like, I guess technically the, you could wear it while you're walking around, but that's, hey, we've all seen those people out in the world and they're free. And that will never be me. And I should say in my head, I'm like, my tablet mostly stays at home, to be honest with you.

I'll take it on some trips. I've never bought my tablet out. Yeah. Oh, well, am I the only guy who brings tablets everywhere now? Am I the only guy who does it? So, okay, so. Sounds like it. So from my position, I'm thinking that in a backpack, this is the kind of thing.

You just throw in there and you, I don't know, you're, I mean, I'm going to use the aircraft, the flight situation, because everybody seems to think that this is the perfect position. for that. I kind of feel like as someone a little bit like me, Abna, where you're on a flight, you just, you want the bare essentials, you just take in the bare essentials on that aircraft. Do you think this is the Android equivalent of you seen, I haven't seen it personally, but online, people were in vision prone on aircraft and being productive? Or is this going to be just, I may take it with me if I can be bothered, or is this going to be essential for you every single day? So, I don't think I would bring it on the plane just yet.

logistics wise they had no thin cases everybody's cases are so thick so until it's something even on Vision Pro and any headset frankly it's just the

logistics of carrying something of a slim case or almost a parakein I don't know it's not there yet but in terms of utility so the one thing that's again like entertainment

The tabbit is honestly the best way to think about it because it's it's not as a tabits are non-essential. This is not essential. Taking it out of the house is still feels like I don't know. It's interesting just because you have the battery pack and that why it's the side of your head that makes it feel so much more large. It makes it feel so much more like you're packing, you're unpacking, you're unpacking, packing. Yeah. It's, it's, that battery pack is a bit of a limiting, number of a number of factor. And I'd probably say to make it truly portable, ideally the batteries and the headset,

but that obviously adds weight, and the heat. And yeah, I kind of think that getting with the battery pack is like the next obvious step. Yeah, yeah. For sure. For sure.

So this feels, the way you're talking about it, this feels like Samsung has made a lot of really good decisions with this lighter hardware, making it plastic potentially. Does that include the flexibility of it? Because I was kind of thinking that it would make it either flimsy or... No, not flimsy whatsoever. You know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you mean, though.

Yeah. And so let's talk about the displays, because I'm really interested in the displays things. Like we had a theory that working theory anyway. We talked about this previously is that Samsung has up. the resolution of this device to take advantage of certain things and obviously that potentially

has a knock on on the price. How crystal clear is this? Do you start to see certain images breaking down at certain distances and all that things? I know both of you guys my glasses, I don't, I probably should, but is this something that you're kind of thinking that, yeah, the image does break down

at certain distances, variations, angles, whatever it happens to be? So the thing to consider is that it's far away from you. It's not light up to your eye. You're holding it. The display, the window being virtually virtualized is much further than what you're holding your phone at or tap it at or even seeing from your laptop. But that being said, 4K is the absolute minimum for this. I don't think meta is 2560 by something, 1800 maybe.

It's not 4K basically. And I think 4K is the minimum for a premium headset, especially at this price. And anything approaching productivity or where you're interacting with a lot of text, including a web browser, I think the minimum is 4K. So yeah, from the Vision Pro to this, the display quality has been fine. It's been great. It's the absolute bare minimum. and why I don't think I could go down to anything lower than 4Ks in this place. That said, pass-through is not good from anybody.

It is the fidelity, it is just the colors are bleak and honestly depressing a bit. The motion isn't that good. It's past-through is the biggest limitation at this point, and that would be another thing that a Gen 2 needs to address. They honestly need to put smartphone level cameras. I think the highest one right now is like 6.5 megapixels on the galaxy X-R. So that's the next thing. But the benefit of this open design is that you can just look with your eyes.

You can just look down or to the side. It took me like five minutes to get used to it. But you just, it's as easy as not looking at the display. right in front of you and just looking down to see your phone in full. And that's honestly better than any past to experience to date. You know, Abner, it's interesting, you know, between that and somewhere in your review, I can't find it at the moment as we're, as we're recording, but you bring up, oh, here it is. It's Circle to Search. So you bring up that Circle to Search on the device can be used to copy text on virtual screens, but not in the real world. And which,

which by the way, when I, you know, side load plug, but well, I'm going to have Nick Citrich of Android Central on next week. And we talked about this example of like playing Half-Life Alex and someone translated text using Circle the Search on the Galaxy XR in-game, like translated Russian text. Very cool. But this sounds like a better VR headset than an XR headset. Like this sounds like all of the ways in which it excels are just like pretty standard what we've come to expect from VR. It is just like interesting that this is, the launch of Android XR, which makes sense, but also calling it Galaxy XR, and then it sounds kind of like the mixed reality aspects of it are maybe not as developed, not as far along

as the VR aspects of it. So with that copying text example, which is something hilarious, because this is Android, because this is fundamental Android, you can download the Google Rens app from the Play Store and launch the Google Rens you're familiar with on your phone, on XR, and that lets you copy text in the real world, which is pretty hilarious. So that's probably coming then, right? Like that more negative? Yeah, it's just on it. It's just not here yet. Yeah. But it's just a miss on day one not happening that copying text is my biggest thing with Google Vens. I don't need to take the full picture. I wonder if this is because Samsung and Google have kind of realized that this is potentially, going to be a device that is not, it's going to be used in your home and an office. Yeah, it's not,

not out and about yet. So that one I can kind of, I mean, without giving them a full pass, I can kind of forgive that because you would, you'd be in your living room, right? And you're going to, you're not going to be copying text off the, of the paintings on the wall that you've seen for 15 years. Like, I feel like maybe it's, it would, it's an oversight, right? It is an oversight. And I would like, I think that that kind of would round out the platform, I guess. You kind of need that basic implementation. But as you say, you can run. So talk, Talk to me a little bit about how you've been using the Play Store to bolster the capabilities of this. Because I think this probably is one of those of a few killer features of Android XR versus all of the other platforms,

is that you can tap into potentially millions of applications like day one, boom, we're done. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So Vision Pros, for whatever reason, Apple, it was opt in. developers have to opt in to writing their talent apps appear on the Vision Pro. I believe the Play Store is an opt-out standpoint, and additionally, you can access phone apps. I've honestly been using most of the apps in XR as I've been resizing it to the phone version to be a smaller window, like YouTube music. I don't need a widescreen YouTube music. I've been placing phone size windows allow you to see more.

But to what you were saying, the app, it's just like having your phone in XR. The experience is remarkably similar. It feels like Android apps in a way that, obviously, it is running Android under the hood. So it's native. But compared to, say, ChromeOS,

how they emulate, that they've got inside better. It feels so much more natural. It just feels like an extension of your tabit, your phone, etc., etc. So on the apps front, very few apps are optimized for XR, like in terms of like an actual XR.

So most apps open in Tabit UI. It's just the tabit UI you're familiar with on large screen Android devices. That's how they open in XR. I think the one Google app that's optimized is Google TV. It has this home screen that makes use of large floating panels. Apps like Google Photos and YouTube, you get XR optimized UIs once you're viewing content.

They're like in YouTube, they're floating controls for the play and the description and your up next queue. That's all fine. I am perfectly fine with Tabbit apps on the street in X-R and even happier when I can resize them down to phones. Phone sizes to be more compact, I guess. It's frustrating, right? Because I feel like this really does feel like very early. It feels like buying an early smartwatch in some ways, right?

Where there's a lot of promise and there's a lot of really cool things you can do with this device. but at the same time you know in two, three, five years, like, it's going to be, like, probably very, like a very different, almost entirely different experience, or at the very least, far more robust, right? Like, the software support should come the, the, you know, some of the, the, the shortcomings, the circle the search example, you know, should be filled in a little bit more in a way that I think, like, you know, makes the price of this difficult to swallow.

But to your point, Abner, it's to, to accomplish, you know, to bring that price down, you'd have to start scrapping stuff like those 4K displays that you're saying are bare minimum for this sort of experience. It feels very, like, rock and hard place. And, like, this is, in some ways, for enthusiasts and early adopters more than anybody else. But it's a pure genuine device. Absolutely. Honestly, it internally, it's probably, there's probably been big upgrades internally before we got the launch.

Exactly. But this is a Gen 1 device. Exactly. But the groundwork sounds solid, though, is what you're telling me. I was about to say, it feels from what you're telling us and from what you can go and read on site right now in Abner's Review is, there are a really good first step of this. And I'm, and like I say, I said right up top, I am skeptical about this. I think that, as you say, it is a very niche product. It is for the hardest of hardcore Android people.

And my biggest concern would be where is the real value in this apart from content consumption? But it sounds to me that the way that you're using it, and I know you are a harder than tech user like Will and myself, is that you're getting a really good blend of smartphone, tablet, and then potentially this XR slash AR option as well. Like the ability to use mobile UI is within a 3D space, probably, it's like it works, right?

We're so used to seeing mobile UIs for those things like pocket casts, I imagine, which is probably my most used application, and I can make a podcast on that. You have YouTube music, which you, like you said, you don't need a huge major jukebox-style interface. You can just, yeah, skip, play, whatever, it doesn't need to be that. And I think that could be a real strength that I hadn't anticipated. So just tell me a little bit, again,

I want to know some of the smartphone applications that you've found work in this form factor, that you didn't expect. Like, because that, to me, seems probably one of the most fascinating aspects.

Yeah, so YouTube music. Google Keep. It's, I, so it's funny, it's back to an earlier point. Most people haven't used VR

and the basics of VR have gotten so good in the past, let's say five years. Something like window resizing is secret, cool. So my example is this.

I was using Google, as I said, I was using Google Keep to write my review, but it was a bit, the screen was a bit wide, and I had to go left to light, especially, foveated rendering and all that. So I just pinched and shrunk the window.

That felt like I was manipulating, like a physical, it felt like an impossible thing that you can't do in the real world. I don't know. It just, that felt mind-blowing me futuristic, but at the same time, you do it once or twice,

and then it becomes a norm, which is the case with all technology, and for better or worse. So, yeah, I've loved having a floating Google Keep window to add my thoughts to expand my review as I've been using it during the review process. YouTube music, YouTube TV

Like I said, I watched the World Series The Netflix app is a secret win I'm sure Samsung is paying them a lot of money to do this and I doubt it will be on other Android XR headsets in the future because the fact that it's in the Galaxy Store it's updated with a Galaxy store I'm sure this is an arrangement Let's see what else have a Chrome

Obviously that's a big thing no Chrome is not powerful enough it's a habit version and I don't know I just wish they bring over the desktop version hopefully every the process I can support it or whatever but I don't know I've been sticking to mostly Google apps

I did download the MLB app for the World Series stuff that was fine it was a full screen one of the few full screen apps game-like. I haven't really dived into games, but there's like job simulator

or whatever it's called. But yeah, it's, I haven't used it in the game in context. I do have the controllers, though. Oh, nice. I was going to ask. And they work fine. It's kind of nice. They're VR controllers. They look like all VR controllers.

They have VR controllers. They have VR controllers, but at the same time, just like using one to like move around has been nice that's cool I want to ask when you're using all of these applications running them

are you running them I know you mentioned about using mobile applications you're not seeing any slowdowns because I was a little bit concerned that this chip is I mean it's technically a two year old chip that's been upgraded for

I think it was a refresh earlier this year I'm not sure the exact time frame but so the X Qualcomm's XR2 exactly like they're wireless stuff they don't the time it's not as a

cutting edge or advanced as the phones, which get major yearly updates, where process shrinks, no trinks are the norm. So XR headsets aren't there yet. It's fine, but let's say compared to Vision Pro, which is running a 3-year-old M2 chip, I do hear the fans a bit more. I'm not sure if that's a chip,

or if that's just Android in general, being more process-intensive. but you do hear the fan. When you're not playing audio, it's fine. It's a hum that just, it is close to your face, so keep that in mind. But it just, you can ignore it. But when it's, when audio is playing, it's kind of annoying. How does that compare, because I haven't used either of these,

how does that compare to something like the Vision Pro? Vision Pro is basically silent. I've never heard the fan even when watching like a movie or whatever. That's fair. Yeah, that's a bit. I know the thing that Apple did was they split the main processor, the M2, now the M5, with something called the R1,

which is optimized for the XR stuff, the cameras, the pass through that kind of stuff. Splitting it might have been a good idea because, like, right now, this Qualcomm XR2, it's not the fastest CPU by far. It's not using Orion calls or anything like. that so that's a bit unfortunate especially when you're paying this much and we'll get to the price in the second you've want the cutting edge and the chip doesn't feel like it real real quick

since you brought it up I wanted to I didn't know this until genuinely right before we hit record did you guys know that the the M5 Vision Pro is like significantly heavier than the M2? Is it? Yeah no it's it's it's the same way the the actual headset is the same weight but the strap, they change the strap. They changed the strap. But did it add 150 grams of weight? Because that's the difference between the two.

It's an intentional weight because it's a counterbalance. Okay. So it's like a fulcrum. Okay. That makes more sense. But I'm told you don't fear it. That's fair. That's good because, I mean, you know,

you look at these weights and it's, you know, Apple now says 750 to 800 grams and the Galaxy XR is 545. Like those are crazy numbers. I would need to test them next to each other. I believe, I remember the strap design. I forgot, I did forget they changed that. It wasn't just the processor.

But man, I have to try that. The actual head is identical. Yeah. Yeah, right, right. So the overall weight, I should say. The overall weight has changed that you're putting on your head with the strap. But that's a lot of weight. No, it's...

For something it's already having. Yeah, it's... In comparison, Galaxy X-R, in comparison to Vision Pro, Vision Pro is so over-designed. The screen in front where where people can see if you're looking at them to pass through, that's absolutely unnecessary.

The fact that it's metal is absolutely unnecessary. It's... There's no structural integrity issues here. So does it feel worth the money? Does it feel like it's worth the price of admission for what, $1,800, maybe $1, $1,000? $1,000. Yeah. So, yeah, on to the value point. Yeah. Again, this is an enthusiast device. This is a Gen 1 device for all intents and purposes. Going in, honestly, using the, I bought the Vision Pro because like this is last year, because this is something I've been waiting for in technology. I wanted the high, the highest than device possible. to see how far AR has come. And in the past year, it hasn't taken my role by storm.

I use it to watch TV shows, like when Severance was streaming for 10 weeks. That's the device I always used it to watch, and there's a few other shows like that. But it was just too heavy. It was just too... Putting it on was like an experience, and it really shouldn't. it be. So I was kind of down, going into the Galaxy XR, I was kind of down because of my Vision Pro experience, because of my living with it. But now it's, I am so much more enthusiastic about this form factor, about the specific form factor. This again, light design, open,

not immersive design. It's a full 180 for me. There's a way to make headsets. There's a way to make headsets that are great frankly. And so the other thing is I did not expect this augmented reality like experiences. Even as simple as like looking away from the screen or the circle to search stuff or Google lens, that kind of stuff. I did not expect that to be fully realized on a headset ever. And now that we have it, it's. again, it's absolutely not a mass market device.

For $1,800, you can, no, do not get this for $1,800. But the average person, but if you've been waiting for, if you want to know what the state of the art is, if you've been waiting for AR for all of this time, I think I'm surprised that you can preview it on the Galaxy XR. And $1,800 is still expensive. It's price of affordable.

It is, you can buy so many other devices compared to just one Galaxy XR. But it's $800. It's cheaper than $3,500. And if you've been waiting to try this, this is an unexpectedly good way to do so. Let's talk a little bit about Gemini, though, because this is another thing that I think is going to be a key component of this. I know that there are some potentially going to be some limitations because as you say the pass-through isn't might not be as good as it could be. Like how do you think, because this feels like Android XR when that bleeds away, this feels

like the major vehicle for Gemini. This is the way that we are all going to use Gemini in the next, I mean, dare I say it, 15 years. Like, do you think that this is a good testing ground for it or a good breeding ground for where Gemini needs to be and where it's going to be at? So the short answer is no, I am disappointed in Gemini Live, not having enough computer use capabilities to control the device. You can launch apps, some apps like Chrome where you say go to 9 to5 google.com or in maps you can go to such and such a place. But that it's these use, computer use capabilities aren't broad enough to that you navigate. device, which on this device, you have so many options to you, the hand gestures, the gaze tracking, like mouse and keyboard, trackpad and keyboard. It isn't, you don't need Gemini Live. It's not a necessity

compared to how Gemini will be when you use a glasses with minimal controls. But right now, it's, I'm, Gemini Live is not where it should be in my opinion. There are, again, there are some computer use capabilities, but they're just not broad enough. It's very similar to the Gemini Live experience

you get on your phone right now. It can't do actions. It can't play music, which is bloody ridiculous. But again, to go back to the fact that this is Android, you can download the Gemini app. the same one on your phone. You get the tab at UI, etc. If you go open, if you tap the microphone there,

you get the regular Gemini experience that lets you launch music, that lets you, it's wild. In many ways, defaulting to Gemini live was probably not the wisest idea. If they defaulted to regular Gemini where it's just simple commands, I honestly would like that option. Odd. Yeah, that seems like a strange, strange, I guess, doubling up of Gemini capabilities. Like another thing I'm kind of interested in with the way Gemini's working, then you can't, there's no onboarding process for that. There's no way for you to kind of like, when you first set this up, does it kind of give you an intro

into what Gemini is going to do and what it can't do? There's some constant prompts. They're like kind of in the way the Google Assistant used to be. there are prompts in the Gemini Live UI about what you can do. But otherwise, it's basically what you can and cannot do on your phone is the same limitations. And it's disappointing. But it's on this device, its lack of capabilities is not killer since you have so many other control methods. It's a bit of a shame, actually.

I'm a bit disappointed to hear that. But yeah, I guess it's one of those things that we'll see develop over time. and I mean, this is going to account for a small pool of people. I mean, I don't think it's under any illusions of... In some ways, like, it's... They are, Gemini's absolutely working on computer use capabilities on desktop, on mobile.

We saw it at I.O. It does not, it probably did not make sense for them to pivot their resources on giving, on debuting all this stuff on the Android XR because of how many units are going to sell. it's going to move. They are lightly focusing on the phone first with Astra. Yeah, and I mean, we just had the news that Google's surpassed, what, 650 million monthly users?

Month reactive, yeah, month reactive uses. Yeah, which is insane, right? Which from what's that up from currently? Because this will be a drop in the ocean, but in terms of the wider Gemini ecosystem, there is what, potentially a 2x growth in less than a year? Yeah. Yeah. At the start of the year, they set out the goal to do 500 million a month reactive users,

but now that we're at 650, it's working, the strategy is working. Plus, they have that and the stuff in Google Search AI mode. They've gotten where they needed to, and they're just going to keep adding more capabilities, especially with it whenever the Android transition, migration is coming from Google Assistant. Yeah, I was going to say the Assistant, you know, I mean, it's obviously not finished, but I feel like even right now,

Assistant is effectively, you know, buried if not dead. That's odd to say. That's not usually how it goes. But it's so tricky. You know, if you just set up a new phone right now, it's not going to tell you anything about Assistant. It's going to tell you about Gemini.

And I certainly think that has helped those numbers, not in a way that makes them, you know, fake or unimpressive or anything, just in a way that shows Google's leverage in this realm compared to something like, you know, Open AI where you have to, you know, physically move yourself to go to the App Store, the Play Store, and download chat GPT. It's a big advantage Google has. Yeah. I mean, I'm very disappointed to hear that this isn't in the vehicle for Gemini that I kind of hoped it would be at this stage, but I know that over time it will be and we will get gen 2s and stuff. So in terms of your overriding thoughts at this point in time, is this that perfect interim

that we're expecting before, I mean, it isn't perfect, but is this that first step to this interim product before we get that true AR glasses experience? Do you feel confident? Do you feel where do you currently sit now than Abna having used this for a week or so? So on the Android X-soft, it is solid the play store is an advantage to it it is it's it's a gen one it's the first version of any operating system it sees google adds so many ideas and then once people actually use it you can prioritize can optimize um so that's the OS and and gem i'm sure jemni rival improve over time on the hardware front i'm i'm sure samsung knows that this is not a mass market device but i wonder if they're also presently surprised by how this, as a more market, and you would think,

it is, it's an early adopter, this is more of an early adopter device. It's a more, it'll be a more successful early adopted device in the Vision Pro, I feel like, because you can do more and of course has the benefit of releasing over a year later. But this is, so the first AR grasses that's probably coming from Google and Samsung, they won't have displays. They'll just be audio only and they'll just have a camera. The ones that come after that will have a display, but it's not going to, it's just going to be a heads-up display that you can see,

notifications and directions or whatever. The full potential of like having this headset experience on grasses, is still a long time away. But again, at the same time, you can preview it now. And that, to me, is, was so unexpected. Yeah, it really just comes down, you know, and this is such a boring point to make, maybe,

but it really just comes down to the price where it's, I, your review, like, won me over in a way, Abner. Like, I, when I finished reading it, I was like, do I want to buy one of these? And it's like, it's so, it's so frustrating where I'm like, I wish Samsung had either, either found a way, and this might not be possible in the current economic, you know, conditions, but like had found a way to, you know, essentially subsidize the device as a launch device to bring it down to like, just 1,200. I mean, I prefer a thousand, but let's, you know, if they had essentially done what like many console makers, you know, like Microsoft's always taken a loss on Xbox is up until basically now, but like something like that where they were like, we're betting on this, Google's a partner, like, we're, just we're going to take a loss on it, but like we really see this is the vision of the future.

I don't think that would have happened, but it would have, it would have been nice. And frankly, I think I would, I would be buying one. Or if they had done, you know, a $2,000 package instead of $1,800, but it came with the controllers, the case, you know, like, like it felt a little bit more like a keyboard, to your point, a keyboard and a track pad. Yeah. It felt a little bit more like, look, it's a lot of money, but you open the box and you have everything you need to have.

this like the the best experience you can possibly have in this world in 2025 in this in this mixed reality. I feel like again, I would have been a little bit more tempted even though that's a lot of money. Like it would have felt a little bit more like a value and where they landed in this weird $1,800, but really $2,050, but really if you want the case, you know, for up to $2,300 or whatever and the tax, it's like, man, I just can't. It's just too, it's too much. for what it is at the moment. I really wish there had been just like a little bit more shaved off the top and I'd be there.

But that makes me really excited for either, you know, hopefully this isn't like foldables and we really do see these prices come down a little bit or maybe a thousand dollar device from another manufacturer that like cuts just enough corners to still get you a really good experience, but one that's a little bit more affordable. Yeah, I'm just pleased that this is a this product. product is not kind of flopped on arrival. They've not overcooked it. Exactly.

It feels like it's where it probably should be for a first-gen product, I think we have a little bit more forgivableness to it. And yeah, definitely go check out Abnesful review over on 925Gylogel.com. As always, that's where we're always sharing our main reviews. It's been a pleasure listening and hearing. I'm a number idle skeptic. I don't know if I'll ever pick up an XR headset, but maybe this is the catalyst. I mean, I can't get it anyway because it's not in the UK, but yeah, it's been fascinating and really interesting.

So thank you for sharing that with us today, Abner. Really appreciate it. And thank you guys for sharing time with me again. I know it's always a long hour, but it is an hour that we enjoy. Shortest hour in my week, Damien. Well, it's not quite an hour, but yeah, we're getting there. Shortest 45 minutes of my week, Amy. Thank you, everyone for listening.

We really appreciate all of your listens, likes and shares. So yeah, thanks guys, and we'll speak to you soon. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated, a 9 to 5 Google podcast. If you enjoyed the show, we ask that you rate and review it on the podcast platform of your choice and help spread the word by sharing the show with friends or on social media.