AR company Nreal rebrands to XREAL and announces new product, XREAL Beam, for increased 3DoF compatibility for gaming and video streaming
Nreal, the creators of consumer-oriented AR glasses Nreal Light and Nreal Air, have announced that they are rebranding to XREAL today. Peng Jin, the company's co-founder, noted that the 'X' in XREAL reflects their commitment to "the vision of expanding reality, and creating cross-reality experiences". This rebrand also follows the legal battle between Nreal and Epic which was suing the former for its name's similarity to Epic's own Unreal Engine, and this rebrand could have been a response to that case.
XREAL also announced that they are launching an accessory to accompany their headsets: the XREAL Beam. This iPod-shaped device can connect to smartphones, gaming consoles and PCs via a wired or wireless connection to mirror the source's content in 3DoF to the AR glasses connected to it. As I noted in my review, the 3DoF effect delivers a compelling AR experience akin to a holographic screen but was limited to the Nreal Nebula companion app and felt restrictive. The Beam could finally provide access to 3DoF AR (as opposed to static screen mirroring) for apps and UI that we are used to on a floating screen of up to 201-inches in size.
Features of the XREAL Beam include DTS: X Ultra technology for high-quality spatial audio, a built-in 4870 mAh battery for up to three hours of play, and two USB-C ports for simultaneous charging and playing.
The XREAL Beam will be available for pre-order from June 1, with global availability in the second half of July.
SOURCE: GBAtemp Inbox