I saw Google’s plan to put Android on your face

It’s an ordinary Tuesday. I wear what appear to be regular glasses in a room surrounded by representatives from Google and Samsung. One of them stands in front of me and starts speaking in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish. Floating in the air, I see her words being translated into English subtitles. As I read them, I see that he is describing what I see in real time.

I mutter a curse. Everyone laughs.

This is my first experience with Android XR, a fresh mixed reality operating system designed for headsets and astute glasses like the prototypes I’m wearing. This is a substantial push for Google to power a fresh generation of augmented reality devices that will make all our wildest dreams of what astute glasses can be a reality.

Google is no stranger to augmented reality. Google Glass crashed and burned over 10 years ago, after which it was repurposed for enterprise users and eventually discontinued. But now it’s different. Apple has Vision Pro. Meta has Ray-Ban astute glasses and their AI features have received positive response. That’s why Google is back in the fight against Android XR.

Google wants everyone to know that the time is finally right for XR i points to Gemini as its north star. Adding Gemini enables multimodal AI and natural language – elements we’re talking about that will make interactions with your environment richer. In the demo, Google asked me to Gemini for the title of the yellow book on the shelf behind me. I glanced at it earlier but didn’t take a photo. The twins took a second and then offered an answer. I turned to check and it was fine.

What’s more, the platform will work with any mobile and tablet app from the Play Store right out of the box. Today’s launch is aimed at developers to start building experiences. The average person won’t be able to buy anything that runs on Android XR right now, but in 2025, Samsung will launch its long-rumored XR headset. Dubbed Project Moohan (Korean for infinity), the headset will be the first consumer product to ship with Android XR. Technically, it runs the same software as the glasses I tried, but Project Moohan will also support virtual reality and immersive content – things that wouldn’t fit on a pair of astute glasses. It’s basically a showcase for everything could to give. That’s why Google is choosing XR – an umbrella term that means “augmented reality” and includes augmented reality, VR and mixed reality.

Samsung’s headset looks like a combination of Meta Quest 3 and Vision Pro. Unlike both, the lightweight seal is optional, so you can let the world bleed you out. It is lightweight and does not press too much on the face. My ponytail goes over the top with ease and I’m grateful I don’t have to fix my hair afterwards. At first, the resolution isn’t as keen as in Vision Pro – until the headset automatically calibrates to your pupillary distance.

At this point I’m starting to feel deja vu. I went through the pinching process to select items and how to tap on the side to bring up the app launcher. There is an eye calibration process that is very similar to the Vision Pro process. If I want, I can go into immersive mode to watch YouTube and Google TV on a distant mountain. I can open apps, resize them, and place them at different points in the room. I’ve done all this before. It happens to have a Google flavor to it.

I want to ask: How are you going to stand out?

I don’t have a chance before they tell me: Gemini.

It’s simple for a skeptic to laugh at such an idea Twinsfirst of all, this will solve the mystery of augmented reality. Generative AI is having its moment right now, but not always in a positive way. Outside of conferences filled with technology evangelists, artificial intelligence is often viewed with derision and suspicion. But in a Project Moohan headset or in prototype astute glasses? I can see why Google and Samsung think Gemini is the killer app for XR.

For me it’s the fact that I don’t have to be specific when I ask for something. I usually get nervous when talking to AI assistants because I have to remember the trigger word, clearly articulate my request, and sometimes even specify my preferred app.

“One thing I’m really sure about, and it’s not only different from the previous ones, is that Gemini really is This great,” says Kihwan Kim, vice president of Samsung Electronics, who nods furiously in agreement when I mention it. For Kim, the ability to speak fluently with Gemini and the fact that she understands a person’s individual context opens up dozens of different options for each person to interact with XR. “So I can clearly see that this headset will provide greater insight into what [XR] should To be.”

With the Moohan headset, I can say, “Take me to JYP Entertainment in Seoul,” and the headset will automatically open Google Maps and show me that building. If my windows are messy, I can ask them to tidy them up. I don’t have to lift a finger. Wearing prototype glasses, I watch and listen as Gemini summarizes a long, rambling text message to the main topic: Can you buy lemon, ginger, and olive oil at the store? I was able to naturally transition from speaking English to asking questions in Japanese about what the weather was like in New York – and getting answers in spoken and written Japanese.

It’s not just the interactions with the Twins that I remember. It’s also a way to build experiences on them. I asked Gemini how to get somewhere and saw detailed text directions. When I looked down, the text turned into an enlargeable map of my surroundings. It’s very easy to imagine myself using something like this in real life.

But while all of this is cool, headsets can be a hard sell to the average person. Personally, I like the glasses demo better, but it doesn’t have a specific schedule. (Google has created prototypes but is focused on working with other partners to bring the hardware to market.) There are still some cultural considerations that need to be established for both housings. Beyond Gemini, there needs to be a robust ecosystem of apps and experiences for the average person, not just early adopters.

“It won’t be a single product. It’s Android,” says Shahram Izadi, Google’s vice president of AR and XR, noting that Google has a three-pronged strategy for Android XR: one piece is to lay the groundwork with developers; Another is the conversational experience of Gemini; and the third is the idea that no single device is the future of XR. For example, headsets may simply be “episodic” devices that you employ for entertainment. Glasses can complement phones and smartwatches for tactful notifications and information retrieval.

“In my opinion, these devices do not replace each other. You’ll be using these devices all day long, and if these cases have consistency with Gemini and generative AI, people will feel more comfortable wearing computers on their faces. This is a direct path to more immersive devices,” says Izadi.

Listening to Kim and Izadi’s conversations, I want to believe. But I am also acutely aware that all of my experiences were strictly controlled. I wasn’t given the freedom to try to break things. I couldn’t take photos of the headset or glasses. Every step of the way, I was carefully guided through pre-approved demos that Google and Samsung were reasonably confident would work. I – and every other consumer – can’t fully believe until we can play with these things without handrails.

But even knowing this, I can’t deny that for an hour I felt like Tony Stark with Gemini as my Jarvis. For better or worse, this example has shaped many of our expectations of how XR and AI assistants should work. I’ve tried dozens of headsets and astute glasses that promised to make what I saw in movies come to life – and they completely failed. It was the first time I had experienced something relatively close.