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Samsung is finally launching its long-anticipated Android XR headset, officially dubbed Galaxy XR. The headset clearly aims to deliver a Vision Pro experience (plus some of its own unique abilities) all at a much more affordable price.

Vision Pro is an incredible headset in many ways, but as I’ve opined previously, it’s too bulky and too expensive for the average person to justify its $3,500 price point.

Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset might not move the needle on size, but it’s offering a similar experience to Vision Pro at a huge discount. The launch price of $1,800 isn’t cheap by any means, but considering the similarities between Vision Pro’s specs & features, it’s far more affordable. For a full breakdown of the specs, check out our Galaxy XR announcement article here, and read on for my thoughts after trying the final version of the headset myself.

Mirror, Mirror

There’s little doubt that Galaxy XR is pulling a lot of inspiration from Vision Pro. The headsets are both in the same ergonomic class with Galaxy XR weighing in at 545g vs. Vision Pro (M2)’s 600g. Both headsets offload additional weight with a tethered battery.

From a display standpoint, both headsets are using micro-OLED displays, with Galaxy XR at 13.6MP (3,552 × 3,840) vs. Vision Pro at 11.7MP (3,660 × 3,200).

At its core, Android XR offers up many of the same capabilities as VisionOS.

For instance, the OS is built around a multi-windowed interface where apps float in windows around you and can be freely repositioned using Vision Pro’s ‘look & pinch’ modality (with laser-pointer input as an additional option).

And, like iPad apps on Vision Pro, Android XR can run practically any flat app from the Android store, even if the app hasn’t been customized to take advantage of Android XR.

If you launch Google Photos, you’ll see a version of the app that’s largely flat but has been customized to take advantage of the larger canvas of XR. And, wouldn’t you know it, you can easily make photos in your library 3D with the push of a button. But, unlike Photos on VisionOS, Google Photos can bring your photos to life by turning them into short videos.

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Android XR is even getting its own version of photorealistic avatars to compete with Apple’s ‘Personas’. My understanding is that these are being called ‘Lifelike’ avatars, but it’s unclear at this point if they will be included on the headset on day one, or released with a future update.

Google says Galaxy XR will also be able to stream the desktop from your computer to work on a big virtual desktop screen. And, like Vision Pro, Galaxy XR supports optional controllers for more precise input while playing immersive games.

Unfortunately my brief hands-on with Galaxy XR didn’t include a look at virtual desktop streaming or the headset’s controllers.

Ecosystem Leverage

Feature for feature, Galaxy XR covers most of the basics that are available on Vision Pro. And while Apple has significant ecosystem leverage that makes Vision Pro effortless to use with other Apple devices and services, Google has its own ecosystem leverage that’s being applied to Galaxy XR.

Google has built out custom versions of some of its core apps for Android XR—apps which aren’t even available in their basic iPad form on Vision OS. Perhaps the most consequential of those is YouTube.

Google says the YouTube app supports the large existing library of 180, 360, and 3D content. Additionally, the company is currently working with select channels to automatically convert 2D videos into 3D for a more immersive viewing experience when watched in Galaxy XR. Eventually, the company could open this conversion feature up to any YouTube channel that wants to make their content available in 3D.

Then there’s Google Maps which offers an experience that’s quite similar to Google Earth VR. So instead of focusing on navigation, users can easily browse an immersive view of the globe to revisit favorite places or explore new ones.

Google is also touting revamped versions of the aforementioned Google Photos, along with Chrome, Search, Meet, and Google TV.

A Contextual Foundation

So we talked about how Galaxy XR has a strong overlap of features and capabilities. And we talked about how Google has its own kind of ecosystem leverage that’s being applied to Android XR. Beyond that, Android XR leverages Google’s Gemini AI assistant in a way that’s clearly superior to what Siri is capable of on Vision Pro.

It’s not just that Gemini is smarter and capable of answering a wider range of questions. In Android XR, Gemini has the ability to ‘see’ both the real-world and the virtual one, just as you see it. This added context amplifies much of what the headset already does.

Take YouTube, for instance. Let’s say you stumble upon a cool game trailer. You could easily ask “Gemini, is this game out yet?” And after an answer you could add a contextual follow-up question like “how much does it cost?”.

Or let’s say you’re swiping through shorts on TikTok and a video with a unique location catches your eye. “Gemini, where is this?” will get you the answer (within reason). And a quick follow-up with “take me there in Google Maps” will launch the app and show you the area so you can keep exploring.

You can also ask about what you see in the real-world, and use ‘circle to search’ by circling anything you see to get search results. Though frankly I’m struggling to come up with anything but niche examples where this would be useful. This capability is probably more useful on future devices that you might actually want to take outside of your own home, but Galaxy XR isn’t there yet.

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All-in, Galaxy XR and Android XR look like they’re shaping up to be pretty mature and fully featured. Part of that comes from copying what others have done, but there’s no doubt that there’s some unique aspects to the headset that you won’t find anywhere else, including a surprisingly deep integration with Gemini. Offering this hardware and software at a price that’s half of Vision Pro is a big step forward for the industry at large.

Even so, will Galaxy XR at ‘only’ $1,800 be worth it? I’ll have to wait for my full review to find out.