Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update: I dug around a little more in the box and there's a black out cover that I didn't see (I guess I didn't open the box enough, they were really tucked in) which covers the front of the glasses to give you a nice dark background. I've edited the review accordingly. However, there still hasn't been a firmware update that addresses the FPS issue on Steam Deck, still waiting. Disclaimer: This review is from the perspective of someone using these AR glasses almost exclusively for the Steam Deck, I don't see myself using these on my phone since I don't really do much outside of work on the phone, this is all about gaming. After seeing a video a couple months about about the Nreal Airs I was excited, they seemed to solve some the biggest issues I had with the Deck: a larger, more vivid screen, I don't have to look down at my lap or hold the Deck up to see the screen if I wanted to keep my neck straight. The Airs deliver on both of those fronts in a very tiny package that only requires a single USB-C to USB-C cable making it as portable as the Deck. These are the ultimate accessory for the Deck, however, there are downsides and a large problem that I'll address later. The unboxing experience isn't too fancy, you get some nice packaging you'll never need again a quick start guide, the device, a case and a lens adapter if you'd like to get prescription lenses made that will snap on for those who require them. The device itself feels solid and high quality, the cable is braided, the materials and movement of the arms and adjustments are satisfying and the whole package feels good in the hand. I'm honestly surprised they're only $400 from a build perspective. Overall, it feels more premium than the Deck itself. You get some controls on the right temple to adjust brightness and turn the unit off though I don't know why you would because it has a build in proximity sensor, but sure, it's there. Let me get into the meat and potatoes of the device, the video and audio. For the audio I'll be brief, it sounds surprisingly good for how small they are and for not even physically in your ears. On the temples are downward firing speakers that sound just as good, if not better, than the Steam Deck's speakers. Of course you could use headphones/ear buds instead for higher quality audio with some isolation and noise cancelling (as I probably will) but it's great that the audio solution they provide isn't an afterthought. Now to the video and boy, the image quality is incredible and just so much better in every regard compared to the Deck screen. You get an insane contrast level, stunningly vivid colors and an absolutely huge screen, I don't know the exact size but in order for the Deck screen to occupy the same amount of your vision you'd have to hold the Deck up to your face about 4 or 5 inches away but now in full 1080p and much better image quality. There are downsides to the image though, for one, the 3DOF AR features don't work so the "screen" is locked in place like a HUD, so moving your head a bit get be disorienting because your brain expects things in your vision to move with your head movement. Also, being an AR screen, the lenses that are being projected onto are transparent so you can see the world around you, you get surprising clarity and it looks like you're just wearing lightly tinted sunglasses but that also means that playing in bright areas won't isolate your vision and you'll notice things around you. Also, if there's a light source, like a monitor that's on behind the projected image of the glasses you'll be noticing the light a lot. I think with time I might be able to tune that stuff out, but it's there. This also means that really dark games aren't going to be that great in a bright area but something bright and vivid is completely fine. UPDATE: I've found the black out cover and this completely fixes all issues about playing in bright areas, it's fantastic, I'll leave my previous description of the experience without them in. Next, his is a projected image into your eyes, and the edges of the screen are blurry without anyway to adjust the lenses themselves like a VR headset would. I play a lot of action and FPS titles and in those you never look at the edges of the screen really, but in a game with a lot of UI, or in Desktop Mode where you have a Taskbar or Tabs open in a window, it'll be noticably blurry, it doesn't bother me too much, but I have to point it out. Lastly, the image doesn't look like a back lit monitor, it looks like a projected IMAX screen so bright text on dark backgrounds have haloing around them. This is just a drawback of the technology and it's really noticeable, it's the worst part of the imaging but that's fine by me. So this is sounds like a pretty solid device and it is, but for Steam Deck users it isn't perfect. Currently, there is a bug within Steam's gaming mode that caps the displays of the Airs to 30hz so you only get 30fps ingame and I've noticed hitching as well. I was playing Alien: Isolation and the Deck has no issue getting a solid 60fps but when I plugged the Airs in it halved the frame rate. This goes across all titles while in gaming mode, in Desktop Mode it outputs 60hz easily. I searched online and this has been addressed by Nreal themselves and they're working on a fix and have even been in contact with Valve (apparently) about the issue. Nreal seems like a solid company who are actively working with their community to better the product and have addressed this on both Reddit and the Nreal forums. As it stands, there's only a hacky work around that Nreal proposed but they've mentioned they have an internal firmware update they're testing that should fix it for good but that hasn't seen the light of day yet. For me, this is almost a deal breaker, if Nreal wasn't so vocal about working on a fix (a dev even said they have their own Steam Deck and are testing it themselves) and the product wasn't so good I might of had to return these. However, I have faith that Nreal and Valve will fix this issue via software. The way I use the Deck is to always aim for 60fps, I will take all of the hits to visual quality just for the smooth motion as lower frame rates will give me headaches after a long session. Also to touch upon another reviewer's experience, I had NO issues just plugging these in after opening them straight to the Deck. I didn't have to activate anything on my phone prior to using them, though I eventually did just to see if there were any firmware updates, this was a straight up plug and play experience. To wrap things up, I would definitely recommend these if you're looking for a more enjoyable gaming experience on Deck with better visuals and comfort, at $400 you're paying the same as a base model Deck which is a hard pill to swallow but it was definitely worth it. I have yet to test audio/video delays or impacts on the battery life. I don't feel like I could give those a fair shake until they fix the frame rate issue, but when that's fixed I'll test it and update this review accordingly.