Hearing your partner yell, “Shut that damn game off!” while you’re completing challenging missions in bed will be a thing of the past, thanks to the Viture One smart glasses.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying that these spectacles will save your relationship, but at the very least, they will bring peace to the bedroom. The bright glare from your Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, or gaming laptop will no longer blind your partner while they’re trying to get some shut eye. Why? Well, the Viture One smart glasses, when plugged into a gaming device of your choice, privately splashes a 120-inch display in front of your eyes so that only you can see it.
“But what about the sound?” you ask. “Surely my partner will still be bothered by the glasses’ loud sound, right?” Nope! The Viture One, packed with Harman-tuned audio, sports directional speakers that seem to pour immersive spatial audio sound right into your ears — without disturbing nearby loved ones with your game’s cacophony.
As a cherry on top, these swanky XR glasses, paired with a funky lightweight accessory, let you play triple-A PS5 and Xbox titles with their cloud-gaming capabilities. Curious about how it all works? Stick around to find out.
Viture One XR glasses price
The Viture One XR glasses, sporting a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels per eye,
start at $479. They come with three nose pads (small, medium and large), a USB-C to magnetic connector cable, and a glasses case.
If you’re an avid Nintendo Switch player, you’ll need the Viture One Dock Pack ($568), which comes with a mobile dock that lets you connect the XR glasses to the popular hybrid console.
Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. The XR glasses can also be paired with the Viture One Neckband, a computing-power scarf, if you will, that hangs around your neck (as its name suggests).
And get this — it’s packed with an Android-powered OS that comes preloaded with all your favorite cloud-gaming services (e.g., PS5 Remote Play and Xbox Cloud Gaming). This means, as long as you’re connected to Wi-Fi, you can access your PS5, allowing you to hop back into Elden Ring — even if the console is still at home and you’re out and about. This set, called Cloud Pack, costs $588. (Watch the demo below to see how it works.)
The priciest set you can get is the Ultimate Pack, which costs $677. It comes with the smart glasses, mobile dock and Neckband for the ultimate XR experience.
The Viture One XR glasses are compatible with most devices with a supported USB-C port, including the Steam Deck, MacBooks, the iPad Air/Mini/Pro, and countless Android phones and laptops.
Viture One XR glasses availability
As it stands now, the Viture team is currently rolling out orders to its 5,000 Kickstarter backers first before catering to the general public.
However, you can pre-order now and you should receive your swanky spectacles by May 2023.
Viture One XR glasses design
After gushing about my personal experience with the Viture One smart glasses, a co-worker asked, “How’s the design? Is it heavy?” I said, “Not at all!”
The spectacles are super lightweight — I don’t even notice they’re on my face — at just 78 grams. Hell, I could even see myself wearing them stylishly for fashion’s sake. If I wore them out and about, there’s no doubt in my mind that others would assume that I’m wearing futuristic designer glasses — not some bulky XR tech device.
The Viture One XR glasses are the first of their kind to sport lenses that feature electrochromic film that adjusts to your environment. There are two modes: Ambient and Immersive. The former lets you reduce the screen to the bottom corner, letting you see the real world around you; the latter ensures that the 120-inch virtual monitor occupies your field of vision to the max.
On the stems, you’ll find the aforementioned embedded directional speakers powered by Harman’s AudioEFX post-processing sound suite. Virtue boasts that it uses advanced algorithms to deliver high-quality sound optimization and low power consumption.
Considering how slick and sleek these XR glasses are, I was concerned about heat, but according to Viture, they’re equipped with “smart heat-release” thermal engineering, ensuring that the spectacles’ temperature stays below 86 degrees at all times. While testing them out myself, the spectacles stayed relatively cool, but to be fair, I only used them for less than 10 minutes. As such, I’m curious to see how they hold up during a two-hour gaming session.
The Viture One XR glasses come in four colors: Jet Black, Marshmallow, Glossy Indigo and Matte Indigo.
Viture One and its many cool use cases
If you have a Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, a gaming laptop — or any other device that’s capable of delivering video and power output via USB-C — you can plug in the Viture One XR glasses to enjoy a private gaming session right before your very eyes.
I got a chance to experiment with the Viture One three times. With it, I played Mario Kart on Nintendo Switch, Elden Ring on the Steam Deck, and Hogwarts Legacy on an MSI G566 Stealth gaming laptop. No matter what I played, I was blown away by what I saw — it seemed as if a 120-inch monitor was hovering in front of me no matter where I turned my head. I looked up — there it was. I looked down — boom, still there. Left and right? You guessed it — it still never left.
The display that you see inside the glasses runs at a refresh rate of 70Hz at 1080p. Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy were particularly striking on the Viture One, delivering sharp, vivid, crisp imagery that looks like pure eye candy.
A more relaxing gaming experience
One use case for the Viture One is boosting comfort while gaming. If you want to lie on your back and look up at the ceiling, be my guest! It’s now possible with the Viture One smart glasses. Even if you want to game while lying on your side, you can make it happen. Hell, you could probably game while doing sit ups with this thing — something you could never accomplish sans the Viture One.
Play triple-A gaming on the go
With the Viture One Neckband, you can access game-streaming apps such as Nvidia GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming and PS5 Remote Play. All you need to do is link a wireless game controller to the Neckband via Bluetooth, connect your XR glasses, and a Wi-Fi connection, and voila, you can continue playing your favorite triple-A titles on the go.
The Neckband has its down D-pad, so you can navigate the UI you see in your glasses with it. There’s also head-tilt tracking for hands-free navigation. On a single charge, Viture says the Neckband delivers two hours of gaming time.
Privatizing your portable gaming experience
If you’re bringing your Steam Deck on a train or a plane, for example, you can just feel nosey onlookers darting their meddlesome eyes at your display. Keep busybodies at bay by plugging your Viture One into your Steam Deck. The screen will go black and you’ll see the game appear for your eyes only during your travels. As an added bonus, you no longer need to hunch over and crane your neck for hours on end. By projecting the display right in front of your eyes, the Viture One XR glasses allow you to sit comfortably during long flights and journeys.
Keeping peace in the bedroom
As mentioned at the outset, you may want to game in bed, but you can’t at the risk of irking your partner. This is where the Viture One swoops in to save the day again. Plug that bad boy into your Switch, Steam Deck or gaming PC, and voila, the blinding glare of your gaming system dazzling in the night will no longer be an issue.
On-the-go, co-op gaming on the Switch
Armed with two Viture One glasses, my colleague and I played Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch with our own virtual 120-inch monitors projected before our eyes. We had a blast playing against each other as I, as Princess Peach, got my butt kicked by Donkey Kong. That being said, while you’re out and about, you can engage in multiplayer/co-op Switch games without a hitch using the two JoyCons.
Viture One XR glasses potential cons
I asked a Viture PR rep whether the smart glasses still work outside in bright, sunny conditions, and I was told that the spectacles can be paired with a $9 lens shade (sold separately) that blocks the external outpouring of light. As such, even if it’s a cloudless, undarkened day, the smart glasses should still work, allowing you to see the display projected in front of you. However, I haven’t tested this yet — I’ll have to investigate their versatility with different environments once I receive a review unit.
It’s also worth noting that the smart glasses are not outfitted with a battery, so they harvest their power from the device they’re connected to in order to power the virtual screen inside. On one hand, the absence of a battery helps to keep the smart glasses lightweight, but I wonder if this power draw will affect the Steam Deck’s runtime, for example, which already doesn’t last more than four hours (on a good day). On the plus side, if you get the mobile dock, which is packed with a humongous 13,000 mAh power bank, you can get more than 6 hours of additional playtime on a charge, according to Viture.
“Simply mount the mobile dock to the back of your Steam Deck with our custom molded mount and you’re ready for a full day of gaming,” the company said. But again, we’ll have to test this out ourselves to confirm Viture’s claims. The mobile dock costs $89 and the Steam Deck mount will set you back $19.
One aspect of the Viture One XR glasses I didn’t like much is the short cable it ships with. While connected to a gaming laptop sitting on a table beside me, I tried to lay down with the smart glasses on a sofa, but unfortunately, I almost dragged the gaming laptop off the surface. No, it’s not appallingly short, but it’s certainly not long enough for you to comfortably lay down (especially if the device isn’t resting on you).
The cable, which links to the smart glasses via magnetic pogo pins and connects to devices via USB-C, should be longer if you want to keep your gaming device stationed nearby. However, if you rest your laptop, Steam Deck, or Switch on your lap, laying down isn’t an issue.
Virtue is considering delivering longer cables in the future, but this isn’t a sure thing.
Bottom line
Bottom line
The Viture One XR glasses aren’t just for gamers. Paired with the Neckband, you can stream your favorite TV shows and movies while you’re out and about. You can enjoy Apple TV, Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max, Starz and Prime Video on the go.
What I love about these smart glasses is that they solve several problems. One, it rectifies the privacy issue for on-the-go gamers. Two, it lets partnered gamers play in bed without irking their lovers. Three, you can enjoy a more comfortable gaming experience (the 120-inch virtual screen follows you whenever you move your head).
So far, save for the short cable, my experience with Viture One XR glasses has been seamless, but I can’t wait to get the review unit in my hands to truly put them to the test.
