Sitting on a couch in my living room, wearing a cutting-edge mixed-reality headset, I raise my hand to control what I’m seeing. In my vision is Junji Ito’s new book, Moan. I pinch and hold it with my fingers, then circle the book in the air. A Google search result pops up about the book, ready to show me more.
Circle to Search is a thing on Android phones, and now it’s a thing in everyday reality while I wear Samsung Galaxy XR. Maybe eventually the feature will come to smart glasses, but in the present, I have to wear a $1,799 headset to make it happen.
Galaxy XR is sort of like a half-price version of Apple’s Vision Pro, or a more expensive Android and Google-enabled Meta Quest. It’s both, really, but it’s also a foot in the door to a wave of AI smart glasses and headsets coming soon, powered by the Android XR platform and designed to compete against Apple, Meta and other tech heavyweights.
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I’ve been wearing and using Samsung’s headset around the house for a week or so. Is it any good? Sometimes. Is it something I’d suggest you buy today? Absolutely not. It’s way too expensive, and its software and apps aren’t fully baked yet. On the other hand, this foot in the door has already given me some eye-opening moments.
First surprise: It works with my glasses (sort of)
I wear prescription glasses normally, and when testing Quest and Vision Pro, I use prescription inserts. However, Samsung didn’t set up prescription lenses for the headset it loaned me to test. The one lens provider doesn’t seem to have my prescription, which is disappointing.
I was surprised to discover that the Galaxy XR will let me wedge my normal glasses inside, behind the headset’s lenses. They fit, just barely, but enough to use it. But doing so blocks the eye-tracking cameras, so I have to just use hand gestures.
Still, I like the flexibility and open periphery of the headset. I can look at my phone and then look up into the headset, almost like reality bifocals.
It’s light, but not always comfortable
I’m not wild about the Galaxy XR fit now that I’m living with it. First of all, I’m often wedging my glasses inside it, which isn’t recommended (see above). That cramps things already.
But even without wearing glasses (I also tested it wearing contact lenses), the whole headset feels smaller and more cramped over time than the now-discontinued Meta Quest Pro. That headset had a similar design idea but a much more ergonomic fit, and it worked fine with glasses.
Samsung’s magnetically attached front head cushion has two size settings. I wish there were more. I feel pressure on my forehead, and it sometimes feels like I could have used a top strap, similar to the one included on the much heavier new M5 Vision Pro.
Gemini Live sees what I see, and Circle to Search is magic
This headset can use Gemini Live to recognize anything in pass-through video or on app screens. It’s conceptually wild. There’s so much this could do, or enable.
It feels too open-ended and also unhelpful in many instances right now, though. Gemini can pull up related searches, describe things, and even try to give advice but I didn’t always find the advice helpful or smart enough. And it had a hard time doing basic headset control functions; it wouldn’t close apps, for instance.
But Circle to Search is incredible. I can pinch and hold and summon the mode, and then draw a circle around anything in my field of view. I’ll get a search answer, from a book to a show I’m watching, to something in an app or game.
Google Maps is this headset’s other killer app
I wish Apple had made an immersive Maps app for the Vision Pro, but Google beat Apple to it, and it’s fantastic. Some of the Maps app is just standard 2D, but the «Immersive Mode» opens up a 3D map that can be zoomed out to globe mode like Google Earth, which already had a VR app for PC VR years ago.
There are also Gaussian splat 3D scans of some indoor businesses in larger cities. Diving into those feels like the closest thing to teleporting into a real location. It’s like a 3D walkthrough Street View.
I do wish the immersive mode and 2D mode blended more smoothly, and had more mixed reality-type viewing modes. This isn’t a perfect app at all, but it’s a great showcase.
What else am I supposed to do on it?
I’m full of concerns about what the Samsung Galaxy XR is really meant for. The display looks great, but I wish there were more cinema modes to show it off. Right now, YouTube and Netflix just have floating 2D screens and no movie theater-type setups. Android XR immersive apps are few and far between, and games often need the separately sold controllers to work. And some phone-connected modes seem to require a Samsung phone to maximize the flow.
I don’t think you should get a Samsung Galaxy XR now, and it certainly hasn’t proven itself over the well-established and far cheaper Meta Quest 3S and 3, which remain the best VR headsets for most people. Meanwhile, Apple Vision Pro is both far more expensive and far more refined. Gemini Live is the big difference-maker for Google and Samsung, along with the more open Android ecosystem. I’ll have more thoughts as I use it over time — and hopefully get some prescription lenses to try with it.
