We just got a hands-on with Samsung’s Project Moohan and Android XR prototype smart glasses at Google I/O. Android XR is a mixed reality OS designed for headsets and smart glasses, and it seems like Google is directly taking a page out of Meta’s smart glasses playbook. Here’s our hands-on with The Verge’s Victoria Song.
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00:00We're here at Google I.O. and we just got a hands-on with Samsung's Project MUHAN and
00:05some prototype Android XR smart glasses. First off, Project MUHAN. What is it? It's an immersive
00:12XR headset. It's basically an Android-flavored Vision Pro, except it's much lighter, easier to
00:18wear, and has a little screw thing in the back that feels a little bit like the old Oculus headsets.
00:23Otherwise, the experiences are pretty similar to what you get in a Vision Pro. We saw a demo of an
00:28immersive YouTube video. One thing that they pointed out was 3D video based on videos that
00:34were not filmed in 3D. So the pitches, you can take whatever video you filmed and it just
00:40spatializes. Is that a word? Spatializes? Anyway, that's what it does. You'll be able to view stuff.
00:46Cool. The other demo we got was something with Gemini where you can ask it to take you to any
00:51place in the world in Google Maps and kind of get a big immersive look. I went to my old stomping
00:56grounds in Musashikoyama, Tokyo, where I used to live, and it sure was a thing. Now, I know you
01:03can't tell from the capture behind me because that's in 2D, but trust me, when you put the thing
01:08on, it does look, you do see some depth there. It's just, man, it's really hard to convey what
01:13you're seeing in an XR space. Probably more exciting is this is a first public look that we've got at
01:22AndroidXR. I got a much more in-depth demo back when they launched in December, but here's what
01:27they're willing to show you publicly. So one of the demos I got, you put the glasses on, you tap the
01:33side, it brings up Gemini, and you can ask it about the things in front of you. I asked it to compare
01:38some paintings in front of me and to recommend which of the books would be good for planning a trip to
01:44Japan if I'm not the outdoorsy type, and a recommended one. Cool. Another thing that it did
01:51was you could take photos because there's a camera, but since there is a display in front of you, you
01:57can actually get a sense of the framing. Now, that's something you can't do with the Meta Ray-Ban
02:02smart glasses. Take a photo of, oh, I can see a preview of the photo. That's something that we can't do
02:08with the Meta Ray-Ban to see the preview. Oh, I just took one of Viren. Speaking of which, it's very
02:15clear that Google is taking a page from Meta's playbook in the sense that, you know, they're
02:21really positioning these headsets and these glasses as a vehicle for Gemini and AI. That's something
02:27that Meta is doing with its AI and its glasses as well. The other thing that they're doing is that
02:32they're leaning into style. These are hardware prototypes made by Samsung, but they're not going to be what you
02:38see when they hit shelves. Instead, Google announced today that they're partnering with
02:42Gentle Monster, Warby Parker. You know, really stylish and fashionable brands. If you haven't
02:47heard of Gentle Monster yet, trust me, all the celebrities, including Beyonce and Kendrick,
02:52are wearing their sunglasses. So that also is kind of a nod to the success that Meta's had. They've sold
02:58two million of the Meta Ray-Bans and it's because as a wearables reviewer, how many times have I told you
03:03if you're not going to wear it? There's no point. So they want people to be wearing it. And, you know,
03:08I've had conversations with the team at Android XR. The idea is to have both a headset and glasses and
03:14eventually they'll converge down the line. But right now it's about meeting people where they're at and
03:20they think this is two different ways to do that. The problem with smart glasses and headsets is that
03:26you really have to see it to believe it. And that's very, very, very hard to convey. Like, dude, it's
03:35really hard to tell you about what I see and have you be convinced that this is the future. And until
03:42we get more of these glasses on people's faces, that's just going to be the reality of it. We're at
03:47Google, we're at Google I.O. So many things happening. AI, AI hardware with headsets and glasses.
03:53Come to TheVerge.com to read out more. Read out more. Come to TheVerge.com to find out more. AI, AI, AI.