The first live demo of Android XR was unexpected but seriously impressive. It happened during a TED Conference in Vancouver when Shahram Izadi, Android XR head, wore pair of Google’s prototype glasses on stage. A few days after the event we now have the video. And it was a demo that not only worked .. it put smart glasses back in the game. Watch it below.
XR stands for Extended Reality and that takes into account all types of reality like, VR and AR. What we are looking at here is AR (Augmented Reality). It’s a digital world layered on top of the real world via a pair of smart glasses.
The Glasses look like normal eyewear with a touch interface on the side, camera, microphone, speakers and tiny display that is projected onto a lens. Clearly they are using the power of a phone to do all the hard work, otherwise these glasses would be massive. Using voice commands and Gemini AI, Android XR is able to remember things it ‘sees’. This demo involved a book on a shelf where product manager Nishtha Bhatia, was able to ask Gemini if it ‘remembered’ the title. It did.
The remembering feature is fantastic and to see it in action in a live demo is exciting. Think about it. All those times when you misplace your car keys, remote control, headphones or wallet will be easy to solve.
Translating signs in real time, reading documents and recognising album covers were all part of the demonstration. Google Maps was also impressive during the session.
There was also a demo of Samsung’s Project Moohan headset. This looks similar to Apple’s Vision Pro and it involved a lot of hand gestures.
Overall this was an impressive live performance from Android XR. Where will it go from here? We might see something a Google I/O later in the year.
Let’s hope so.
