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(This review was originally posted on the Pixel Deck Gaming Facebook page. NOTE: All hardware was purchased out of pocket and not provided by VITURE. This is not a sponsored review.)
I have been a gamer for roughly 38 years. I have played virtually every console ever made and I have suffered great defeats as well as celebrated remarkable victories. I have explored vast worlds (and linear ones) trailblazing and carving my own stories and experiences out of each and I have to say, I am so thankful for these experiences and I am extremely grateful to those that have poured their blood, sweat, and tears into creating these experiences for myself and gamers alike. I preface my history with gaming only to express that I have practically seen it all. Sadly, there are not many experiences that surprise me or leave me with a sense of awe or wonder anymore. Games for the most part have become bland and predictable (when they are actually finished with proper quality control and transparency) and more often than not, I find myself disappointed and let down more than anything else.
In November of 2022, with great anticipation, I purchased a pair of Nreal Air AR glasses as well as the official adapter in order to use the glasses with my phone and other compatible devices. Upon the arrival of the Nreal Air AR Glasses, I excitedly ripped open the packaging only to find out that I needed to update both the glasses and the adaptor by plugging them into my MacBook Pro and jumping through several frustrating hoops to download, install, and update each before first use. Additionally, to get the most out of the glasses I needed to have an android phone to have access to the Nebula app. This proprietary app is needed to experience the AR realm of the product. All of my hopes for this new experience were being crushed at every turn it had seemed.
After the updating process was complete, I realized that to use the Nreal Air glasses with my phone (even to just watch my favorite streaming apps), I now needed to purchase a lighting to HDMI adapter to slide into the official adaptor I had to buy with the original purchase of the Nreal Air AR glasses. If I would have had a newer iPhone with a USB-C port I could’ve skipped purchasing the lightning to HDMI adaptor but I would have still needed to purchase the official, Nreal adaptor to utilize any other device requiring HDMI to function. This adaptor needs to be charged and only lasts for 2-3 hours before dying completely. Now, with nearly $700 invested into this “new” experience I could finally watch Netflix and plug and play on my Steam Deck. I was overcome with great buyer’s remorse, although I tried to enjoy the Nreal Air AR glasses as much as possible while I finished watching the Witcher series on Netflix and tackling short gaming sessions on the Steam Deck. The screen quality was good, although the four corners of the screen were slightly blurred out and not entirely visible. I was able to overcome this slightly with minor adjustments to the provided nose pieces included in the packaging. My buyer’s remorse eventually got to be too much to overcome with the limited versatility of the Nreal Air AR Glasses and I sent them back before my return date expired.
I am sure we are all actively looking for that “new” and “amazing” experience to breathe new life into the hobbies or interests that we love so much. Today, I am happy to acknowledge that that sense of awe, wonder, and has once again been solidified in my life; something that has enhanced the way I game and view media while I road trip, commute, wait for blankets at the laundromat, sit in queue at the DMV, camp under the stars, wait out power outages, and more. That something was delivered to my doorstep two weeks ago; that something is the VITURE One XR Glasses, from VITURE.
With an original Kickstarter goal of $20,000 the VITURE One XR Glasses surpassed that number with (as of writing this review) help from 5069 backers, raising $3,098,187. The VITURE One AR/XR Glasses surpassed the Oculus Rift’s behemoth original fundraising effort on Kickstarter which was 2.43 million. VITURE promised that “The Future Is On View.” They promised that fashion would meet functionality in a beautiful way, while allowing you the complete freedom to enjoy your favorite shows, games, and media “anywhere.” (I am paraphrasing here) They were not lying. I realize now that they were dead serious. VITURE has delivered on every promise and we have experienced the fruition of these kept promises while reviewing the VITURE One XR Glasses here at Pixel Deck Gaming.
When I opened the packaging for the VITURE One XR Glasses (the most beautiful and high-quality packaging I think I have ever seen) I was expecting to have to update the firmware as I did the Nreal Air AR Glasses. I was correct in this assumption, although it was not needed for first time use and the update was only for fixing a compatibility issue with Disney+ functionality with iPads. The updating process was nearly effortless, requiring me only to navigate to the VITURE website, connect my glasses and press a button. The process, from start to finish lasted only a couple of minutes. The VITURE One XR Glasses were a near-perfect plug and play experience, although I want to touch more about what that means and what you as the consumer should expect.
When I purchased the VITURE One XR Glasses from the VITURE website, I also purchased the VITURE Mobile Dock, the VITURE Neck Band (shipping begins for this in April, 2023), the VITURE Mobile Dock Mount for the Steam Deck, and the VITURE Mobile Dock Mount for the Nintendo Switch. I was now into this “new and exciting” experience $715.00 with “pre-order” pricing.
I was aware that in order to truly get the best experience to suit my individual needs, I would need to purchase these additional items; items that were not offered and not an option with the Nreal Air AR Glasses. It wasn’t something I even needed to ponder as these items comprise a complete ecosystem that work together in tandem to create what I like to call a “revolution in media consumption”. Do you need all of these items to enjoy the glasses by themselves? No. The VITURE One XR Glasses are an absolutely amazing, game-changing piece of kit by themselves. What additional items should you buy? That is up to you as the consumer and your individual needs. Keep in mind that if you have an iPhone with a lightning port, you will still need an adapter to utilize the VITURE One XR Glasses if you hope to utilize its functionality.
The VITURE One XR Glasses are extremely stylish. They are available in multiple colors (Pearl Black, Marshmallow White, Glossy Indigo, and Matte Indigo) with the “Glossy Indigo” soon to be discontinued. They look and feel like natural sunglasses and without really focusing in on them might seem as such. The Nreal Air AR Glasses could possibly pass for a pair of black Ray Bans. At the moment, the Nreal Air AR Glasses only come in Matte Black. If there was one thing I would change to the design of the Nreal Air AR Glasses, it would be the location of the USB-C plug location into the glasses. On the Nreal Air AR Glasses the USB-C plug is located at the end of one of the arms. This makes lying down flat on your back or against a pillow extremely uncomfortable and made it almost necessary for me to sit up at all times. The VITURE One XR Glasses are not plagued with this issue as they use a proprietary, magnetic plug that connects to the side of one of the arms. I can now game or watch movies and TV shows lying flat on my back with zero issues or any discomfort whatsoever.
Like the Nreal Air AR Glasses, the VITURE One XR Glasses include several nose pad variations to accommodate humanity’s differences in facial extremities. Both the Nreal Air AR Glasses and the VITURE One XR Glasses are shipped with 4 different sizes to choose from. While I adjusted the nose pads for both the Nreal Air AR Glasses and the VITURE One XR Glasses, I was only able to get the entire screen completely visible using the VITURE One XR Glasses. This was an absolute breath of fresh air and made the viewing experience so much more enjoyable. Our video review of the VITURE One XR Glasses will demonstrate how we accomplished this nearly effortless task.
While both the Nreal Air AR Glasses and the VITURE One XR Glasses are equipped with Micro OLED screens, the VITURE One XR Glasses provide a crisper, more vivid, and color accurate picture quality. I could not believe the difference between the two. One of my biggest gripes with the Nreal Air AR Glasses is the reflection of light that appears in the upper portion of the lenses, as well as the outer edges, appearing almost as a halo. This was extremely annoying and was a constant object of dissatisfaction. With the VITURE One XR Glasses I experienced nothing of the sort; The VITURE One XR Glasses provide a perfect visual experience with no distractions whatsoever. It felt like I was truly enjoying a “theatre” experience.
Something interesting to note is that I was able to use the Nreal Air AR Glasses with or without my contact lenses in with no real difference in clarity. With the VITURE One AR/XR Glasses (to get a completely clear image throughout) I need to wear my contacts, as there is some slight blurriness in my right eye without them as the diopter adjustment does not accommodate my personal, visual setback. This is not any fault of the VITURE One XR Glasses but merely the reality of having visual imparities. Keep in mind that I am comfortable wearing the glasses without contacts, and I still do often, but the clarity of my right eye is far better when I have my contacts in. The fact that the VITURE One XR Glasses are equipped with myopia diopters at all is a testament to the thoughtfulness, care, and foresight of the VITURE team. The design and build quality of the VITURE One XR Glasses is exemplary.
The VITURE One XR Glasses’ Mini OLED screens display a virtual 120” screen at 1080p and 60fps. The glasses have a PPD of 55 (roughly the equivalent of 300-400 PPI on a physical screen (Retina Display). The Nreal Air AR Glasses have a lesser PPD of 49. Like a retina display, the human eye is incapable of detecting individual pixels at this range. To put this into perspective for gamers, most VR headsets PPD is around 20 compared to the VITURE One XR Glasses’ 55. Rightfully so, the VITURE One XR Glasses are in a league all their own. The result is magnificent and I am still shocked at how good the image quality is every time I put them on. It is nearly the equivalent of looking at my 60” LG OLED from 3-4 feet away. You have to see it and experience it first-hand to believe it.
The sound quality of the VITURE One XR Glasses’ on-board audio system blows the sound system of the Nreal Air AR Glasses out of the water. The VITURE One XR Glasses house an embedded directional speaker (Harman Spatial Sound) located near the temple allowing for spatial sound without the need for additional devices. Something special to note is that I can be watching a movie or playing a game with the sound cranked up, in all of its glory, and my wife cannot hear anything while sitting just mere feet from me. This is absolutely mind-blowing and allows for one to enjoy media in any environment without concern for disturbing others.
The VITURE One XR Glasses also come equipped with self-dimming, electrochromic film within the lenses. With the press of a button, both lenses will instantly darken or lighten giving you instant privacy or better clarity; this is extremely useful in brighter, more-lit environments. This feature not only works, but it works extremely well, while giving you a heightened sense and feel of the super-premium build quality of the glasses. If you need more privacy than this or your surroundings are just too bright, VITURE includes an attachable lens shade that will completely cover the lenses, blocking out all frontal light sources. The Nreal Air AR Glasses come with a similar, attachable lens shade that you will need to put on much more often as the Nreal Air AR Glasses do not come equipped with the electrochromic film found in the VITURE One XR Glasses. This may not sound like a big deal, but after experiencing the electrochromic film’s implementation, you will think differently; it is a very big deal.
SBS 3D support is now available for the Nreal Air AR Glasses by way of a recent firmware update. This functionality was not available for testing when we had possession of the Nreal Air AR Glasses, so we cannot share our experience utilizing this feature with them, although the feedback from owners of the Nreal Air AR Glasses has been positive.
The VITURE One AR/XR Glasses come equipped with native 3D Video (3840 x 1080) at the push of a button and it works amazingly and as it should. We were unable to test the 3D functionality via the VITURE Neck Band as of this review, although we were able to test the SBS 3D capabilities of the VITURE One glasses via a MacBook Pro using QuickTime Player. The results were everything we had hoped for. We are looking forward with great anticipation to utilize the VITURE Neck Band and not have to fiddle with hardware compatibility solutions.
The comfort of wearing the VITURE One XR Glasses is also something to talk about, as the average person will be wearing them for an hour or more at a time. I can honestly say that after a couple hours of gaming with the VITURE One XR Glasses, I found little to no discomfort whatsoever. However, with the Nreal Air AR Glasses, after watching one episode of The Witcher series on Netflix, I was ready to take a break, as the Nreal Air AR Glasses squeeze uncomfortably against the side of my head where the arms of the glasses rest. I am not sure why this is, but even after using them for nearly a month the issue still persisted.
When purchasing the VITURE One XR Glasses, my main objective was to use them for gaming and watching my favorite shows on the go. This is where the idea of the VITURE “ecosystem” comes into full fruition of its application. If you have a Steam Deck and your main objective is to just use the glasses to play on the go with a 120” virtual OLED screen, then you can get by with just buying the glasses by themselves. It is an absolute plug and play experience and it is phenomenal. Both the Nreal Air AR Glasses and the VITURE One XR Glasses plug and play with the Steam Deck; it is a seamless experience. If you want to use the either the VITURE One XR Glasses or the Nreal Air AR glasses with the Nintendo Switch, you will need an adaptor to do so. The difference with VITURE One XR Glasses is this ecosystem I keep talking about. VITURE offers a “Mobile Dock” allowing not only compatibility with the Nintendo Switch, and other devices that utilize an HDMI output, but also doubles as an external 13,000mAh power bank, and comes equipped with two USB-C ports for multiplayer game play with two sets of glasses. This feature can not only be utilized with the Steam Deck, but can also be utilized with two sets of glasses to watch TV shows or movies etc. with a friend, spouse, or stranger. You can even attach a streaming stick to the Mobile Dock and stream from anywhere with a WIFI connection.
The Mobile Dock will extend your Steam Deck playtime an additional 2-3 hours respectively. Our testing was done with “Pathfinder: Way of The Righteous” and “Stray.” VITURE offers an inexpensive Steam Deck Mobile Dock Mount to easily attach the Mobile Dock to the rear of the handheld. It does cover the vent intake, but in its design, VITURE has little risers lining the inside of the mount allowing for air to be pulled in. We did notice a small rise in system temp (roughly 6 degrees Celsius) but nothing to worry about unless you are playing in an extremely hot environment and need every bit of cooling you can get. For normal everyday use, there should be no issues with temps.
With the Steam Deck’s ability to stream Game Pass or utilize console streaming from either the PS5 through Chiaki or the Xbox Series S/X through other means, this opens up an entirely different experience with even longer battery life extending beyond the 2–3-hour mark depending on screen brightness etc. When streaming from the more powerful consoles running with higher visual output, the visuals on the VITURE One XR Glasses are phenomenal. It is one of the most amazing and enjoyable gaming experiences I have had in a very, very long time.
NOTE: At this time the refresh rate of the VITURE One XR Glasses are set to 60Hz. Therefore, if you are playing any games at 30fps / 60Hz or 40FPS / 40Hz, you will be bound to the 60Hz refresh rate and unable to "lock" in those performance parameters.
However, because of our feedback and recommendations to include and implement this feature, the team at VITURE has agreed to include and support the FPS / Hz lock in a future firmware update!! That's AMAZING.
With the Nintendo Switch, playtime will be extended an additional 5-7 hours respectively. VITURE offers an inexpensive Nintendo Switch Mobile Dock Mount for the Switch also and it works flawlessly as the Switch has no ventilation on the rear of the device. The VITURE Mobile Dock is an absolute game changer. I was able to get over 5 hours of playtime with “Kirby and The Forgotten Land” with the VITURE One XR Glasses via the Mobile Dock’s battery power alone. Once the Mobile Dock’s battery is depleted however, the VITURE One XR Glasses will not function anymore because the Switch requires the facilitation of the VITURE Mobile Dock for functionality. So yes, once the VITURE Mobile Dock is depleted, you can unplug and still play on the go for an additional 3.5-6 hours depending upon the game(s) but you will have to do so without the benefit of using the VITURE One XR Glasses.
We would find it highly unlikely that this would ever be an issue as outside of testing, most people will not be playing 5-7 hours continuously while wearing the VITURE One VR/XR Glasses. There will be plenty of time to charge the Mobile Dock in between gaming sessions.
If anyone has a Steam Deck or a Switch and the glasses themselves just aren’t your cup of tea, I would still highly recommend buying the Mobile Dock and its respectable mount-counterpart. You will thank us later.
The VITURE “Neckband” is the Mona Lisa of the VITURE ecosystem. One of my biggest complaints with the Nreal Air AR Glasses was the need to have the glasses plugged into an adaptor that was plugged into my phone on the go. This setup made it so uncomfortable and cumbersome to enjoy my media while using the glasses while on the go. With the VITURE Neckband, you can effortlessly navigate any outing or just hanging out at home without the need of unnecessary cords or adapters getting in your way. Not only does the Neckband allow for total mobility with its comfortable, ergonomic design, but it comes preloaded with all of your favorite streaming apps and is powered by the Cloud. You can play your PS5 or Xbox Series S/X from anywhere; all you need is a Bluetooth controller connected wirelessly to the VITURE Neckband. The idea that I can essentially hike up a mountain and camp for the night and have the option of watching a movie, catch up on my favorite shows, or jump into my gaming library, all-the-while in a virtual IMAX theatre, while sitting under the stars, is a revelation. At the time of this review, we are waiting for our Neckband to arrive in the mail. Shipping begins in early April, 2023.
In this day and age, one of the most forgotten commodities lost to the companies it represents is customer service. This precious commodity is not lost at VITURE. Throughout this entire process, from changing my initial order, shipping, navigating the VITURE One XR Glasses features and hardware compatibility, the VITURE team has been there. I don’t just mean they answered my emails in a professional manner… I mean they were there. They showed concern, care, genuine kindness, and a passion to “getting it right.” I am absolutely blown away; not just by the products themselves, but by the people responsible for creating them. If all the other AR glasses on the market were the same, the customer service I experienced at VITURE would be the deciding factor in my investment.
The VITURE One XR Glasses have broken a barrier that has needed to be broken for there to exist a true sense of freedom and versatility that no other product has offered so far. I am absolutely in awe of what has been made possible by the VITURE One XR Glasses. Every bit of media I consume has been taken to the next level. Whether I am gaming or watching my favorite streaming apps by myself or with another, the experience is infinitely more enjoyable and rewarding thanks to the VITURE One XR Glasses and the wonderful ecosystem that VITURE has created. The future is most definitely “on view” at VITURE. 10/10
(Review is based without testing the VITURE Neckband and its functionality.)
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Jerry Dillion is the founder of Pixel Deck Gaming. Pixel Deck is dedicated to providing the Steam Deck community with curated and optimized graphical settings for Steam Deck. Their goal is to make your Steam Deck experience as beautiful as possible while maintaining 30fps and above.
VITURE One is still available at preorder-exclusive pricing as we work through Kickstarter pledges and preorder fulfillment.
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