I liked flying with a Nintendo Switch 2 earlier this yr and plugging within the Xreal 1S show glasses through a battery-pack dock called the Xreal Neo. However that was only a foretaste of one other piece of tech that will not come to fruition.
Sadly, Xreal’s Neo dock is not being launched, with the corporate citing reliability, battery longevity and different operational issues.
Anybody who preordered one of many $100 battery pack mini-docks is getting a refund, in response to Xreal, together with a $30 credit score to spend on different Xreal merchandise. After I spoke with Xreal’s product reps to raised perceive the scenario, I used to be advised the issues are fully performance-related, not safety-related.
Xreal’s CEO, Chi Xu, explained the situation on a Reddit put up earlier at this time. “Throughout remaining evaluate, we recognized areas that didn’t meet our rigorous inside reliability and requirements,” Xu wrote. “Out of an abundance of care, we made the tough determination to not ship Neo, fairly than launch a product that doesn’t absolutely meet our requirements.”
After I tried the Neo, it labored moderately nicely for outputting Swap 2 to Xreal’s glasses, however Metroid Prime 4 had notable frame-rate efficiency points that made it unplayable. Nonetheless, I favored the system’s small measurement in comparison with a lot bigger transportable Swap dock-slash-batteries like Viture’s Pro Mobile Dock. It made me want Nintendo Switches labored higher with video-out equipment within the first place.
What’s clear is that the Nintendo Swap continues to be a thorn within the in any other case intriguing world of show glasses as transportable gaming or work screens. Xreal has one other higher-end set of Asus gaming glasses coming later this yr, designed for PC and console gaming, and Home windows handhelds and Steam Decks can work with show glasses like these from Xreal, Viture and TCL simply advantageous with out adapters. Telephones and laptops and tablets can, too.
I requested Nintendo Japan executives whether or not correct display-glass assist would ever come to the Nintendo Swap 2 throughout the launch occasion in New York final April, and received a transparent reply: It is not on Nintendo’s radar for now. You may at all times attempt one other mini-dock choice that is nonetheless on sale, however I liked the Neo’s measurement probably the most. Perhaps it will resurface once more sooner or later, however for now it is gone for good.
