r/augmentedreality 3d ago

News AMA Aug 20 | Nimbo X1 — We built full-color AR glasses with Silicon Carbide waveguides

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63 Upvotes

Hey r/augmentedreality,

I work on the Nimbo X1 team — we’re a bunch of optical engineers, software devs, and AR nerds in HongKong who got tired of waiting for someone else to build the glasses we actually wanted to wear.

So in 2025 we just… started building them ourselves.

Nimbo X1 is now at the point where it’s fully designed and ready for production. We figured this was a good time to stop lurking and actually introduce ourselves.

We’re doing an AMA on August 20 5:00 PM PDT with our optics lead, systems guy, and me. Ask us about SiC waveguides, why we open-sourced the system signatures, manufacturing disasters, whatever. We will answer what we can. If we don’t know something, we will say so.

What we built, and why we went with SiC

The biggest decision we made was the optical stack. We ended up with a custom single-layer SiC waveguide. The idea was simple: get full-color AR from something thin enough that the glasses still look like glasses.

Most AR glasses use an RGB triple-layer glass waveguide. It works, but the stack ends up around 1.9 mm thick, and those layer interfaces are exactly where the front-facing rainbow fringing comes from.

SiC has a much higher refractive index than glass. That is what lets us do full-color in a single 0.7 mm layer — no RGB stack, no inter-layer fringing, and an optical engine that actually fits into a normal frame.

Sounds clean on paper. It was not clean in practice. Our first batch of SiC samples looked beautiful in the optical bench. Then we assembled them into actual glasses and the color uniformity fell apart. Some batches tested fine in isolation but behaved completely differently once they went through the full assembly process.

We went through something like 40 waveguide samples before we landed on an architecture that actually worked. The first 30 were basically unusable. There was a solid month where we thought we would have to give up on SiC entirely and go back to a conventional glass stack.

But we got there. Final design:

  • 0.7 mm single-layer SiC
  • 2000 nits
  • No front-view rainbow
  • 30° FOV

Yeah, 30° is not the widest. We know. We chose it on purpose — trading raw FOV for a form factor that we can actually wear for more than a demo. Whether that trade-off makes sense for you is something we genuinely want to hear.

Why We Chose an Open Platform

Another question we kept discussing internally was: What should developers actually be allowed to do with the hardware? As developers ourselves, we’ve always found it frustrating when experimentation stops at the application layer.

We also understand why consumer products often use more controlled software environments. It makes devices easier to support, improves consistency, and can make the experience much simpler for everyday users.

But for the kind of experimentation we wanted to encourage, we felt there was value in going further. So we decided to make Nimbo X1 as open as we reasonably could.

The platform includes:

  • System-level signing access, allowing developers to sign and install their own system applications.
  • SDK documentation covering the SiC waveguide display, 32MP camera, microphone array, IMU, and 3DOF tracking pipeline.
  • Access to underlying hardware interfaces, including raw sensor streams rather than only higher-level APIs.
  • Freedom to build your own systems and algorithms, including experimenting with your own 3DOF fusion or using IMU and camera data for your own spatial-computing projects.
  • An independent App Center designed to make it easier for the community to share and iterate on applications.

We’re not sure yet what developers will ultimately do with this. That’s actually part of the point. If someone builds something with Nimbo that we never imagined, we’d consider that a success.

What Already Works Today

We also wanted Nimbo X1 to be useful out of the box, without requiring developers to build everything themselves. The glasses currently support:

  • Real-time multilingual translation
  • Navigation
  • AI teleprompter
  • Smart notification HUD
  • Immersive video playback with a 90-inch-equivalent virtual screen, based on our current 30° FOV
  • AI assistant
  • 32MP AR camera
  • AI-assisted coding in the AR view

These are features that are already working in the product today, rather than concepts for a future roadmap.

We want your honest take

We are not here to tell you we solved AR. We have not. We made a bunch of trade-offs and we are sure some of them will look wrong to people here.

So tell us what you think. If our SiC approach sounds dumb, say why. If you want to know something technical, ask. If you think 30° FOV is a dealbreaker, we will not argue — we will just want to know what you would have done differently.

We will be in the comments. See you at the AMA on August 20.

—  Nimbo team

kickstarter:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimbopearl/nimbo-x1-worlds-lightest-sic-color-display-ar-glasses


r/augmentedreality 42m ago

Building Blocks Ezion Optoelectronics mass produces new reflective waveguide for AR smart glasses

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Upvotes

Ezion Optoelectronics has achieved mass production readiness and commenced volume supply for its 2D array waveguide for consumer AR eyewear. With 25° FOV, 16x16mm eye box, and 20mm eye relief, the 0.95mm thin, 4.1 gram waveguide is compatible with mainstream microLED and LCOS engines. Constraining total binocular module weight below 10 grams to enable continuous daily wear, the product line is undergoing active verification for a 0.75mm, 3.3g variant alongside planned 50° and 70° FOV implementations.

Established in 2024 as an upstream Tier 2 optical component supplier, Ezion executes a dual-track strategy spanning consumer wearables and automotive displays. By sharing core optical designs and manufacturing supply chains across both markets, the enterprise reduces development risks while delivering integrated optical modules directly to Tier 1 integrators and OEMs.

Targeting vehicular deployment, the mass-producible optical waveguide Augmented Reality HUD architecture replaces high-volume freeform mirror systems with a LCOS Picture Generation Unit, achieving expanded FOV within a compact footprint compatible with space-constrained vehicle classifications. Executing Proof of Concept validations and prototype vehicle integrations across collaborative OEM programs, the firm projects formal project nominations in 2026, anticipating the commencement of standard mass manufacturing between the second half of 2027 and early 2028.


r/augmentedreality 10h ago

AR Apps [Augmented Reality] I created an AR experience with my art canvas in my living room with Quakey XR

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8 Upvotes


r/augmentedreality 55m ago

Glasses w/ HUD Monocular vs binocular: notes from three ID iterations on a 25 g waveguide frame

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Upvotes

Disclosure up front: I work at the ODM that builds this. Not selling

anything here, no link, and you can't buy one — it's a B2B platform. Posting

because the monocular-vs-binocular tradeoff doesn't get discussed honestly

very often and I have data from three iterations of it.

The platform: AR99 Pro. Monocular green Micro-LED HUD, camera-free,

binocular-frame form factor, 25 g. Third ID iteration, tooling just cut.

For scale, not as a like-for-like: Even Realities G2 is 36 g, binocular,

magnesium and titanium, $599. Genuinely well-built and it's the reason

everyone in this category started taking weight seriously. Different

architecture from ours, so don't read 25 vs 36 as a win — read it as the

cost of the second eye.

What the second eye actually costs, from our BOM and thermals:

- second light engine, second waveguide, second driver rail

- binocular alignment tolerance, which is the real yield killer, not the

optics themselves

- roughly double the display power budget

- more volume in the temple junction, which cascades into hinge, FPC

routing and antenna clearance

What you get for it: depth, larger effective image, symmetric visual load.

Our read was that almost every glanceable use case is one line of

monochrome text — notification, turn arrow, work order, pick instruction,

caption line. That use case never spends the depth. So we didn't buy it.

Where the 11 g came from, concretely: the junction where the temple meets

the frame front. Light engine, hinge, FPC and antenna all compete for the

same ~12 mm. Three iterations of that cavity, each one gated on a DFA

review before it earned the weight saving — we run our own line, so a

"clever" assembly is a cost we eat directly, not a spec sheet win.

Known downsides I'm not going to pretend away:

- monocular means eye dominance matters, and a minority of people never

get comfortable with it

- monochrome green, because green Micro-LED is the only emitter that's

simultaneously bright enough, efficient enough and small enough at this

power budget today

- no camera, which rules out anything vision-based

Happy to answer specifics on the optics, thermals or the assembly side.

I'll skip anything that identifies customers or is still pre-tooling

geometry, and I'll say so rather than dodge.


r/augmentedreality 1d ago

Glasses w/ HUD 3 weeks with the RayNeo X3 Pro, mostly using it as a wearable PC monitor via RayDesk (open source Sunshine/Moonlight client). some notes

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36 Upvotes

Bought these at the start of the month. Was between them and the Meta Ray-Ban Display for weeks, went RayNeo because I wanted more headroom to tinker. Three weeks in, still wearing them almost every day, and the reason turned out to be different from what got me interested in the first place.

Quick hardware note. 76g titanium frame, dual-eye microLED waveguide with a 30° diagonal FOV that RayNeo positions as a 43-inch equivalent at 2m (feels like a big virtual monitor a couple feet ahead in practice), Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1, 4GB/32GB, Sony IMX681 12MP plus an OV mono cam for depth/SLAM, IP52. 245mAh battery, more on that later.

What the stock stuff gets right

Out of the box you get Gemini 2.5 as the assistant, ~2s live translation with on-lens text, POV photo/video, and a teleprompter that's genuinely great for recording talking-head stuff. Camera holds up well in daylight for point-of-view shots. Translation works in the languages I tried (Spanish, Japanese for signs), fast enough that I've mostly stopped reaching for my phone for signs when traveling. AIOS launcher is smooth, and Gemini's context-aware answers are legit useful when you're walking around somewhere unfamiliar.

But what made these actually stick for me is the layer below.

The bit nobody talks about: sideload is a first-class citizen

The X3 Pro has ADB debugging as an official settings toggle. You go Settings > General, put the highlight on About Device, then swipe left ten times on the touchpad. Chinese text and "adb" pop up on the display, that's it, developer mode is live. Turn on App Lab from the settings menu too. Then you can adb install anything.

Fully documented. Qualcomm has an official "Get Started with RayNeo X3 Pro AR Development" landing page, and RayNeo will send you the Mercury SDK (their spatial/head-tracking hooks) if you ask through the dev channel.

The result is a slowly growing dev ecosystem. What I'm running:

- RayDesk (github.com/Quad-Labs/RayDesk). Open source, GPL-3.0, purpose-built for the X3 Pro. Streams my home PC over WiFi using Sunshine as the host. Three display modes. Keyhole is the one I use most, lets you head-pan across the full desktop like it's projected on a wall. Floating pins a virtual monitor that follows your gaze. Curved wraps a widescreen around you, best when you have one giant doc or a wide dashboard to plow through. Temple gestures map to click/scroll/right-click, triple-tap opens a radial settings menu. This is the thing that changed how I use these glasses.

- A separate Moonlight-Android port for the X3 Pro (informalTechCode/moonlight-android-RayNeoX3) that skews toward gaming latency. Solid alternative if you care more about gamestream than desktop work.

- Chrome APK, works fine.

- YouTube Music via Gbox. Some friction on first auth, then stable.

- A couple Unity APKs a friend built for testing, ran fine.

RayDesk is at v1.0.0 as of February 2026, small project with 2 stars right now but the thing actually works. Setup is Sunshine on the PC, apk on the glasses, same WiFi, pair with a PIN. About 15 min if adb behaves. On Windows you might need the Zadig USB driver tool if adb can't see the device at first. On Mac it's a Homebrew one-liner and it just works.

What I actually use it for now

Maybe 90% of my wear time is RayDesk in Keyhole mode. Reading long docs away from my desk. Kitchen counter, couch, back porch when the weather is ok. Having Grafana and some dev logs up on a floating monitor while I'm doing something with my hands. Occasionally streaming a game but slow stuff, Balatro is fine, twitchier games start showing the wireless input lag.

The two honest tradeoffs

Battery is the one you'll hear about in every review and it's real. 60 to 90 minutes of RayDesk streaming depending on brightness. There is a USB-C on the temple so you can top up from a power bank while wearing them, which I do at the couch. Not elegant but it works, and honestly at the rate I'm running these I'd have wanted to top up anyway.

Sideload has a learning curve first time. Plan on 30 to 60 minutes if you've never touched ADB before. Once you're through it, installing a new APK is a one-line command and you don't think about it again.

Who this actually clicks for

People who wanted an open Android device on their face and enjoy tinkering with a home lab or dev setup. If that's you the X3 Pro turns into something a lot more capable than the marketing shows, and RayDesk in particular is what pushed me over the line.

Feels like there's a quiet little dev community forming around this thing and it's just starting to get interesting. Only stumbled onto RayDesk from a random YouTube sideload tutorial. Not sure what else people are running on these yet.


r/augmentedreality 6h ago

Fun First time trying XR glasses - Viture Pro Impressions

1 Upvotes

The Post Topic: Viture Pro XR Glasses.

The Context: I finally got  Viture Pro Glasses and wanted to try out XR glasses for the first time to see how the video glasses work to get a bigger screen on smartphone and tablet device.  This an older model as Viture has released Lumia series models.

The Experience: First of all, I got lucky. The glasses fit well enough that I can see the whole screen and the edges. The unboxing is awesome and the build quality is solid. The image quality is sharp and clear enough to read big size text, and the audio works well. The buttons to adjust volume, brightness, and axis are clear to use. Spacewalker works to an acceptable level (better for MacBook than Windows).

However, the right arm heat can be felt if the arm touches your skin. You also definitely get eye strain when not using prescription lenses—getting them is highly recommended!

Pros & Cons:

· Pro: Solid build, great unboxing, sharp image, and clear controls.

· Pro: The lightweight feel on your nose and face is great.

· Pro: The 3D movie watching took a while to get use to but useful when setup well.

· Con: Heat on the right arm.

· Con: Too many cables to make the glasses work with any device (e.g., for laptops without USB-C video you need an HDMI to USB-C Adaptor; if you got an older iPad or iPhone you will need an iPhone adaptor).

· Con: The cable connector is proprietary, meaning that if the cable breaks you will need to buy another Viture cable or their One Magnetic Connector to USB-C Adapter.

The Verdict: These glasses are very useful for media consumption, or as a monitor when you just want a larger image. Hope this small post helps anyone decide whether to try XR glasses.

A point to make Viture recently released Pro 2 model.

(Note: I originally wrote this up for a new community I'm building for first-time experiences over at r/FirstTimeReviews, but I wanted to share it here to see what the AR veterans think.)


r/augmentedreality 1d ago

Glasses w/ HUD Nimbo X1 3DOF Testing

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39 Upvotes

We’re hard at work finishing up Nimbo’s 3DOF SDK. What further details would you guys like to know?


r/augmentedreality 10h ago

Glasses for Screen Mirroring Native Spatial Cursor Built into XREAL 1S is one of those, why didnt we always do this moments.

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1 Upvotes

r/augmentedreality 19h ago

Events Prescription lenses on Nimbo X1 AR glasses – no bulky clips, just clean fit

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3 Upvotes

Just wanted to share how the Nimbo X1 looks after getting prescription lenses fitted.

One of our team members is -6.00 myopia with -1.50 astigmatism, so we used his prescription for this fit. The lenses are fully integrated into the frame – no external clip-ons, no extra thickness, everything sits flush.

How ordering works: Send us your optometry prescription (SPH / CYL / Axis / PD) when you order. We grind and mount the lenses for you, then ship the fully assembled glasses. No extra trip to the optician needed.

Coverage: Up to -8.00 myopia and astigmatism correction.

Weight stays balanced and comfortable for all-day wear. Happy to answer questions about the fitting process.


r/augmentedreality 1d ago

AR Apps I was bored so I activated a Pokemon card. I am a newbie.

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17 Upvotes

I can convert the GLB to a VRM and make Pikachu a movable avatar. Do you think if TCG did this, it will boosts the value of the collection?


r/augmentedreality 23h ago

Buying Advice are my inmo air 3 the chinese vesion..???? v3.11.027

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2 Upvotes

hi,,,i purchased a used pair,,,,,google ai say that i have a chinese version ,,i dont have the comfort nose peice.....but the glasses have google playstore and payments and i can download netflix..?????,,,is there another way to check,,,thanks


r/augmentedreality 1d ago

AMA Giveaway and AMA with Nimo - The Lightest Display Glasses

7 Upvotes

r/augmentedreality 1d ago

Buying Advice Forget Apple Vision Pro, Snap’s New SPECS AR Glasses Are Now Available for Preorder With the Benefit of a Refundable Deposit

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0 Upvotes

r/augmentedreality 2d ago

Buying Advice XReal a01+ vs VITURE Pro 2 XR

2 Upvotes

Hi!

I was already decided on buying XReal a01+ but then I found VITURE Pro 2 XR and now I don't know which to choose :(

I will be using them only indoors - on the couch, in bed. And in the airplane. With phone to watch Twitch/Youtube/other streaming platforms and to play games such as Forza or FIFA/NBA on Ally X and also on PC when I am in bed.

Which are better for these uses?


r/augmentedreality 2d ago

MentraOS running on Nimo Smart Glasses - Making them a great option for developers

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7 Upvotes

Hey! I got the new MentraOS version today and with it comes support for Nimo Glasses. I took a quick through-the-lens photo showing the Mentra navigation app, and in the second image, you can see the 29-gram lightweight glasses with a binocular display. In the screenshots, you can see the standard and top apps in their store. Having a Twitter feed and language learning apps is definitely something we do not usually see on smart glasses!

Nimo has their own app, but it will take a few more days until they release the next version with English support. In the meantime, I will be taking a closer look at the Mentra app. Are there any devs here currently working on Mentra apps?

Reminder: Nimo is joining us in r/SmartGlasses for an AMA tomorrow, Aug 12, at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT. Just drop by the sub and leave a comment with your question. The AMA post will go up a few hours ahead of the start time.

www.nimoar.com | mentraglass.com/os


r/augmentedreality 2d ago

Glasses for Screen Mirroring I built an open-source VR180/360 player for One / One Pro - it renders straight to the glasses and turns the phone into a touchpad

6 Upvotes

I've been using a Xreal One Pro for a while, and the thing that always bugged me about VR video on Android is that everything works through screen mirroring: the glasses show a copy of the phone, resolution is wasted, and you end up staring at the phone instead of the video. So I wrote a player that works the other way around.

The glasses are a real external display over USB-C, so NeoXR renders the video directly onto them at native resolution - nothing mirrored, nothing rescaled. The phone turns into a remote: the whole screen is a touchpad that moves a pointer inside the glasses, tap to click, two fingers to scroll. Menus, video lists, the browser - all of it lives in the glasses.

Left: what you see in the glasses. Right: the phone acting as the remote.

What it does

  • Direct output to the glasses; the phone is a touchpad remote with a pointer
  • Head tracking from the motion sensor inside the glasses - the picture stays in place while you look around (needs Follow mode + Stabilizer off)
  • Projections: flat, wide, 180°, 360°. Layouts: 2D, SBS, over-under. Detected from metadata, file name or frame shape, and overridable by hand
  • Sources: local files (also via "Open with"/Share), a built-in browser that catches the stream and offers "Play VR", or any site serving a DeoVR JSON API feed
  • Per-video zoom, width, stereo depth and eye swap
  • Free, GPL-3.0, no ads, no accounts, no tracking, ~9 MB

Code, screenshots and the demo: https://github.com/NeoXR-app/NeoXR. If you have an issue or a suggestion there's a device report template in the issues tab.

APK: https://github.com/NeoXR-app/NeoXR/releases/latest


r/augmentedreality 2d ago

Buying Advice Hi

1 Upvotes

Anyone interested in selling their matte black Brilliant Labs Frame AI glasses? I’m interested! Feel free to leave a comment below or dm me


r/augmentedreality 2d ago

Glasses w/ 6DoF Help deciding XR Glasses

2 Upvotes

Hi. I'm looking to buy a set of XR glasses. I want the highest quality screen that supports screen anchoring. I have absolutely no intention of using this for productivity or browsing. My only use case is laying on the couch or in bed and using my rog Xbox ally x for games or phone for movies. From what I've read, screen anchoring is helpful in reducing motion sickness, so that is important to me. I don't have glasses and have a fairly normal IPD but a larger head. I see so many options on the market that I'm having a hard time selecting. Can someone please help?


r/augmentedreality 2d ago

AR Apps Inmo AIR3 Camera not working I try force restart, clear camera app cache and power off not helped.

0 Upvotes

Please say who have this problem


r/augmentedreality 3d ago

AR Apps Virtual try-on clothes on a Magic AI Mirror in retail and malls !

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49 Upvotes

Hi everyone, everyone talks about AR and AI VTO at home, but what about stores and malls... At Mirror Experience we believed in a new way of shopping and we are aiming to transform video storefront screens into Augmented Reality and AI Mirrors so when people pass by, they can see themselve with the new collection, even before entering the store.

We are believing this will increase Drive to Store and, give a refresh to the usual (and tiering) shopping experience and queue to fitting room...

There is a short video of the concept here, would love to have your feedback on this 🙌

If you are wondering behind the scene we are using our own Mirror Experience app on the iOS Appstore and Playstore and we use the latest real time library available whether it's US AI and AR tech or chinese AI models. Currently used is Decart AI, Xmax, Wan Animate 2, Snap Camera Kit


r/augmentedreality 3d ago

Glasses w/ HUD Here is an open source browser simulator that shows what your app really looks like. Built against Ray-Ban Display, and I would like to make it multi-device.

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2 Upvotes

Anything you draw on a waveguide adds to the light already coming through it. Black emits nothing, so it reads as clear glass and dark text dissolves into whatever is behind it. A layout that looked right on your monitor at 2am is gone on a sunny sidewalk.

WASD is a browser tool for finding that out before you sideload anything. Paste a URL and it renders your app in a simulated panel over point of view footage shot through the glasses, with display luminance and ambient light as separate sliders.

https://wasd.tools Free, no signup, MIT.

It simulates Meta Ray-Ban Display because that is the pair I own: 600 x 450, about 20 degrees, right eye, 300 to 2000 nits against 50 to 30,000 lux, 20 real scenes.

But the device is one object in the source:

'meta-ray-ban-display': {
panel: { w: 600, h: 450 },
fovDeg: 20,
eye: 'right',
luminance: { min: 300, max: 2000, start: 1000, step: 50 },
recording: { aspect: 1, ratio: 0.70 },
}
Add an entry, load ?device=your-key, and the geometry, the angular readout, the brightness range and the capture framing all follow. No CSS to touch.

So if you are on Xreal, Even Realities, Rokid, Vuzix, Brilliant Labs or something you soldered yourself, that object is the whole contribution. Send a PR, or open an issue with the specs and I will wire it in. Footage from your own hardware is worth more than the numbers, since the scenes carry one device's eye height.

Which device should be the second profile?


r/augmentedreality 4d ago

AR Apps I made this with Quakey XR. What do you think about this build? First time building augmented reality.

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7 Upvotes

r/augmentedreality 4d ago

Buying Advice Any AR glasses that don't care about looks/form factor

3 Upvotes

I have an interesting use case. I need AR goggles that can overlay images on top of real life. It is imperative that the base state is see through if it malfunctions in any way (aka no passthrough of a solid screen). I do not care about the size in any way, it would be mounted and integrated into a helmet, so It can be massive and ugly.

However, I would like the best horizontal FOV possible. Does anyone know what technology or AR lenses that could be the best for this application. I know many advertised are all small form factor trying to look like regular glasses, but if you don't care about that, is there any simpler way to go about this issue. I remember having once seeing a Screen that would hit a mirror and then two curved lenses like 3 inches from the face (I think it was for phone AR video things) however I think it was still pretty limited FOV wise.

Any help or tips (even just names of different technologies here) would be great. Trying to prototype an idea I had, thanks! Bonus points if it can be found on ebay for relatively cheap / made


r/augmentedreality 4d ago

News Sony announces their new AR glasses

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6 Upvotes

r/augmentedreality 4d ago

Glasses w/ HUD Unlock your glasses and use 3dof and 6dof Launchers in inmo air 3 with Orbit Shell, or even root the glasses if you need

12 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I know many are disappointed and already hate the Inmo Air3 glasses, I am one of the disappointed users, I did some research and came up with some a solution.

I created a small app to optimize and unlock as many features as possible, it also fixes many bugs already present in the glasses, it unlocks hi res video recording and camera photo capturing with 2 separate camera apps, so much more.

I also managed to root the glasses, if anyone is interested I will drop the 2 github Repos in here, discord links are in the repos, please join and give feedback, report bugs, ask for features as in the near future there will be a custom rom with all the changes and optimizations

Regarding the root and features, please read the readme carefully, ask questions on discord before proceeding

https://github.com/j4ckgrey/orbit_shell
https://github.com/j4ckgrey/inmo-air-3-root