Yesterday, at AWE 2023, Xreal – formally known as Nreal – introduced Spacetop, a “worlds-first” AR laptop, marking the firm expansion from entertainment to now include productivity tools.
Xreal is promoting the Spacetop alongside the device’s core developers, Sightful, to create a mobile AR-ready computing device. Sightful is working with Xreal to leverage its Light smartglasses to deliver HD AR visualisations to laptop users and mobile workforces.
The partners are launching the AR laptop together. During his AWE 2023 keynote, Nreal CEO Chi Xu noted that “productivity is everything,” clearly marking a new interest from the firm in creating potentially enterprise-grade productivity tools.
Startup Sightful is the development team behind Spacetop. The firm promises to bring spatial computing within a mobile laptop device, allowing hybrid workers to expand their workflows across various immersive screens – similar to external monitors, but with far less equipment.
According to Sightful’s CEO Tamir Berliner, the firm is also optimising the solution’s hardware, software, and usability to allow users to get the most out of an AR computing space.
Sightful is making its Spacetop AR laptop available to prospective buyers for roughly $2000 via an early access program.
What else did Xreal have to Show?
During its AWE showcase, Chi Xu also unveiled further announcements from Xreal.
Notably, the firm is releasing a version of its Nebula SDK for Steam Deck users. Initially, the Nebula SDK was exclusive to Xreal smart glasses. However, the arrival of the SteamDeck Nebula SDK allows for optimised platform performance for the gaming device, which is already popular among Xreal operators.
Moreover, Xreal introduced the recently rumoured Beam attachment, which assists users in navigating and operating the firm’s smart glasses UI without requiring mobile phone tethering.
The device can connect wirelessly to a pair of Xreal smartglasses, or users can connect the products with a wire for improved latency. The Beam attachment allows for 3 DoF, smooth following, side view, and adjustable virtual screen sizes. Additionally, the Beam contains a 3.5 hours battery life, seven days of standby time, and dts x spatial audio systems. Xreal will soon make the Beam product available on Amazon for $109.
During the AWE showcase, Xu explained how the Xreal product portfolio could supply wearers with HD AR visualisations that project greater image qualities than the company’s competitors. Xu also noted that Xreal’s portable spatial displays would be the “first 100M AR killer use case”, meaning that Xreal’s solution could be the first of its kind to gain a 100 million user base.
The CEO also predicted that AR would overtake VR, adding:
I think AR will surpass VR in 5 years. Don’t get me wrong, I think VR is good; we are going to see a high rate of growth there. But, if we get this right, make it very comfortable, easy to carry, portable, and most importantly, a stunning experience. We will see dramatic momentum for AR.
