Rokid Station (Portable Android TV for Rokid Max AR Glasses) Impressions
After launching the Rokid Max AR glasses, AR company Rokid has followed up with an accessory for the device: the Rokid Station. The latter is advertised as offering a portable Android TV experience; allowing the Rokid Max to be used as a standalone device, without requiring a companion phone. We’ll take a look at the experience it offers in this article.
Currently taking pre-orders, with shipping expected to start at the end of August, the Rokid Station alone retails for $139 or as a combo package with the Max glasses for $529 (the glasses alone sell for $439) on the official Rokid store page. The package comes with the following items:
As for the specs, you can find them below:
Although the unit tested is an early model, the build quality feels polished. It has a similar matte metallic blue finish as the AR glasses and fits nicely in the palm, with all buttons easily within reach. At 148g, it is also quite light to hold, use and store on-the-go.
Using it is a plug-and-play affair, and requires connecting the Rokid Max glasses to the Station’s HDMI port with the included cable. Thankfully the latter is included in the package as it might not be one you already own. Oddly enough, for the first-time setup, you’ll need an Android TV remote control (provided) and after that, the Rokid Station can be used on its own to control the interface. It is odd as the Station itself is a controller of sorts and it would be less confusing to require a separate controller, even if it’s only for the initial setup.
Once the setup has been completed, the Android TV interface will be visible through the Rokid Max glasses. If you’ve used an Android TV before, you’ll be familiar with the UI/UX and with the Max+Station combo, you’ll control the interface with the Station’s physical buttons.
You’ll have access to Google Play store where you can install apps of your choice for streaming, productivity or even cloud gaming purposes. The 32GB storage space on the Station should prove plentiful for such needs and the Wi-Fi 5 connectivity ensures a stable connection for online streaming.
As highlighted in my impressions of the Rokid Max, the displayed images are crisp and supplemented by quality audio that makes the Max+Station combo akin to a massive, yet portable and personal display. The built-in 5000 mAh battery will provide up to a decent 5 hours of usage and can even double as a power bank through its USB-C charging port.
While Rokid touts the Station as the first Google-certified portable Android TV device for AR glasses, the experience wears off over time. This is mainly because the AR display is static and not available in the more convincing 3DoF mode. This means that there is no means to adjust the screen position, so it just follows you wherever you move your head and can even get inconvenient in certain situations. Rokid should have enabled 3DoF mode on this device as they do on their Rokid AR phone app which delivers a more compelling experience.
In fact, as the Station runs on Android TV 12 OS, the latter app isn’t available on the device’s Play store. Sideloading apps on Android TV OS isn’t as straightforward and it might have been better for the Rokid Station to simply run on Android with a dedicated skin as this would have at least allowed it to run Rokid’s own AR app which already hosts a number of AR apps.
I hope that Rokid brings more features to the Rokid Station in order to make it more enticing. It’s already rather unique as being a Google-certified portable Android TV and has the benefit of enabling the Rokid Max glasses to be used without a phone. If you’re looking for an AR device that can work independently of a phone and allows access to streaming services, then it might be worth looking into.
But the static screen and lack of dedicated AR apps (especially in 3DoF) hinders the Rokid Station from really making the most of its AR tech. A better option might have been to include a regular Android OS where you can more easily install apps of your own and run the companion Rokid AR app.
