A first (and second) look at the Android XR glasses launching this year

I first put on a pair of prototype Android XR glasses nearly a year and a half ago. We still have months to go before any Android-powered smart glasses are available, but Google is finally ready to show off the progress it’s made. That starts with Project Aura , a dark pair of sunglasses that sits somewhere between a full headset and a lighter pair of mixed-reality glasses. There have been a handful of hardware updates since I last tried out Project Aura in October. The glasses, made in collaboration with Xreal, now feature a carrying case and a new design for their compute puck. Google was mum on the chip inside, aside from the fact that it’s more powerful than the previous puck. The puck also has a fingerprint scanner, so you can unlock the device more easily. And in addition to a waist clip, there’s now a lanyard so you can wear the puck around your neck, in case you’d like to channel peak Gadget Dad vibes. You won’t look cool in these glasses, but the target audience for Project Aura isn’t the average Joe in the same way that Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses are. They’re a starting point for XR diehards who want a more portable and discreet version of a headset. Case in point: navigating Aura’s interface is nearly identical to the Galaxy XR’s. Project Aura now has a carrying case and a new compute puck. …