
RayNeo Air 2s review: An affordable pair of AR glasses to use with your iPhone

There’s been a lot of talk about augmented reality technology lately, especially with the unveiling of Snapchat glasses And Meta Orion. These are very expensive and unavailable to consumers – but there is a growing market for affordable glasses that offer some of the benefits of AR glasses at a much cheaper price. The RayNeo Air 2s‘ are one of them and I will offer some of my thoughts.
How they feel
First things first: These are a pair of glasses for $399 (although they currently are). on sale for $319) – so they definitely feel cheap. The front is a single sheet of plastic and, other than the general shape, doesn’t really look like glasses. The frames are definitely very flexible and can be easily bent the other way.
On the one hand, this means that it is a one-size-fits-all product, which is cool because you don’t have to worry about size when purchasing. On the other hand, if it doesn’t suit you well, it means you won’t have a great time. It was difficult to keep them perfectly on my face without requiring consistent adjustment. Replacing the nose bridge (there are several included) helped a little – but overall I’d say it didn’t really fit me well. Your mileage will of course vary there.
While the glasses may feel cheap, unboxing them certainly didn’t. RayNeo (a sub-brand of TCL) definitely hit the nail on the head when it came to packaging. The glasses also come with a high-quality carrying case so you can easily slip them into a backpack.


Experience
At this price, there’s no option to pack an integrated battery or a computer – meaning you’ll always have to use them wired with a USB-C port. That’s fine, but it means you’ll mostly be using it stationary. It’s hard to see through the displays, so I wouldn’t recommend using these while driving, although you certainly can.
The actual scoreboards are pretty good. They offer brightness of up to 5000 nits, a refresh rate of 120 Hz and good colors thanks to Sony’s microOLED panels. The displays have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 per eye, which isn’t anything incredible, but they’re definitely good enough for reading smaller texts. RayNeo says these offer a display size of 201 inches from a distance of 6 meters, which is similar to a theater experience.
I’ve found that I mostly use them when I’m lying in bed watching a YouTube video or show. But it’s quite nice and definitely offers a nicer visual experience than watching directly on the phone. However, if you have a good TV, these are obviously not comparable.
However, they are missing one thing and that is a cover for the displays. Other AR glasses I’ve used in the past, such as the Xreal Airs, have offered this. A cover is immensely helpful if you want something more immersive and want to prevent light from passing through. It’s just a small piece of plastic that slips over the front of the glasses. It would be easy to include it. The actual glasses are quite dark, so you won’t be blinded by the light behind you. It might just be better if there was a cover.
Why these make sense
I think wired augmented reality glasses make a lot of sense. You can save a lot of costs by not having to install any computing power or an on-board battery. Additionally, you can use this as a display output with anything that supports USB-C video output, such as a Nintendo Switch, making it extremely flexible.
The biggest disadvantage here is that you don’t have a proper operating system. RayNeo sells an accessory called Pocket TV that allows you to run the Google TV operating system while it’s connected. The accessory also serves as a remote control.

Apple reportedly is too explore a product Similar to this: Essentially a Vision headset is sold that is powered by your iPhone – although the headset actually only contains the displays. For cost reasons, this approach makes perfect sense.
My verdict
Overall, they’re a nice pair of glasses that will improve your media experience on your iPhone, especially if you primarily watch content this way. The displays are very bright and nice to look at. The speakers are also quite nice.
At $319, they’re certainly not the best in every way, but if you like something like this product, it’s an easy buy – as long as it fits you well. Plus, unlike a standalone headset, you don’t have to worry about it breaking when you finally want to use it.
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