Database provider ClickHouse has crossed $250 million in annualized revenue run rate, tripling its business from last year, Yury Izrailevsky, co-founder and president of product and technology, told TechCrunch. Israilevsky expects the revenue figure to reach the high nine figures by the end of the year.
ClickHouse was valued at $15 billion in January following a $400 million Series D funding round led by Dragoneer Investment Group. The latest valuation implies a steep multiple of over 60 times annualized revenue.
The fast revenue growth and premium valuation position the less-than-five-year-old company for an IPO within the next few years, according to Izrailevsky (pictured left). ClickHouse joins a small, but growing list of tech startups signaling plans to go public as the IPO window is expected to be flung wide open by SpaceX’s historic June debut, followed by highly anticipated listings from OpenAI and Anthropic later this year.
Last fall, the startup hired Jimmy Sexton, who previously ran investor relations at Snowflake, one of ClickHouse’s main competitors, as chief financial officer. Bringing on a CFO is often viewed as a signal that a company is preparing for public markets.
The company has already acquired six startups, including Langfuse, which helps developers track and evaluate AI agent performance. Izrailevsky indicated that ClickHouse plans to remain acquisitive, looking to scoop up “relatively young, but showing very promising technology” startups, typically open-source, that complement its core product suite.
The technology behind ClickHouse was originally developed inside Russian search giant Yandex 17 years ago, but spun out as an independent startup in 2021.
ClickHouse has over 4,000 customers, including Anthropic, Meta, Capital One, and Decagon.
The startup’s open-source database is designed to process the massive datasets required by AI agents. ClickHouse generates revenue by selling managed cloud services. Izrailevsky claimed that this commercial offering ultimately costs clients less than self-managing the open-source version. It “is something that’s a little counterintuitive, but it also has been a big tailwind for us,” he said.
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The new Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 is an excellent phone with one big problem: its price. With its retail tag of $1,499.99, the clamshell device is simply out of reach for many folks, which has led some to consider the last-gen Razr Ultra as a viable alternative.
Last year’s Ultra is just as good as the 2026 phone in many ways, after all, and thanks to a new deal from Amazon, you can get the unlocked Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) for as little as $699.99 today. That’s a full $800 cheaper than the 2026 Razr Ultra, which makes going last-gen seem like a no-brainer for as long as this deal is active. How do the two phones compare, and what are you sacrificing by going with the 2025 Razr Ultra? Let’s break it down.
Skip the 2026 Motorola Razr Ultra — last year’s model is $800 cheaper at Amazon today
✅Recommended if: you want a powerful clamshell smartphone and you don’t mind going last-gen; you prefer the simplicity of buying phones unlocked.
❌Skip this deal if: you want the latest in flip phone technology, and you don’t mind paying for it; you want to wait and see if the Motorola Razr Ultra (2026) gets discounted this summer.
Before I start comparing the two phones, it’s worth judging the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) on its own merits. As far as overall bang for the buck is concerned, you can’t really do much better than last year’s Ultra. The clamshell device still impresses with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 16GB of RAM, plus you get a titanium reinforced hinge, all-day battery life, and 512GB of battery life straight out of the box.
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
The 2026 version of the Razr Ultra upgrades the battery life and camera tech, but that’s pretty much it. There’s no new chip, the displays are largely identical, and you don’t get any added software support. They’re both great phones, to be sure, but unless you’re an avid Motorola enthusiast or money isn’t an object, there’s really no reason to go with the 2026 model over last year’s version.
That said, there is one more thing to consider. The fact that Motorola increased the price of the Ultra by $200 likely isn’t sitting well with consumers, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the company decided to discount the phone (and the rest of the 2026 Razr lineup, for that matter) during the upcoming summer sale season. Prime Day 2026 is just around the corner, after all, and you never know what Amazon discounts lay ahead.
AI’s biggest champions have argued for some time that the technology will usher in an era of unprecedented productivity gains, richly rewarding workers who harness it while displacing those who don’t.
Zeb Evans, CEO of the collaboration software startup ClickUp, claims that this shift is imminent. Last Thursday, Evans announced on X that the company, which was last valued in 2021 at $4 billion, had laid off 22% of its workforce yet characterized that reduction as not a cost-cutting measure, but rather a radical embrace of AI that will propel the company to the next level.
“Most savings from this change will flow directly back into the people who stay. We’ll be introducing million-dollar salary bands. If you create outsized impact using AI, you’ll be paid outside of traditional bands,” Evans wrote.
ClickUp recently introduced roughly 3,000 internal AI agents to handle a wide range of complex tasks on behalf of its employees, according to a Fortune article published several days ago. Instead of performing the work themselves, staff members are now expected to direct these agents and ultimately review the output to ensure it meets the company’s standards.
Evans’s goal, according to his X post, is for AI to turbocharge ClickUp into a “100x org.”
ClickUp is not alone in its hope that AI agents will provide massive productivity gains.
In fact, according to a recent Gartner survey, about 80% of companies using autonomous tech have cut jobs. However, the study found that workforce reductions aren’t necessarily translating into meaningful financial returns.
While Gartner’s findings suggest some companies use unproven AI as an excuse to downsize, ClickUp maintains it is not one of them.
Evans told TechCrunch via email that the startup is indeed seeing productivity gains from AI agents. Not only is ClickUp measuring those efficiencies internally, but it’s also apparently gearing up to include them in a forthcoming product for its customers.
“Instead of gamifying token cost, we gamify value created and time saved,” Evans wrote.
In recent months, a growing number of companies have started monitoring employee token consumption, using it as a metric to see who is actually adopting AI tools. But critics argue that “tokenmaxxing”—as this concept is known—is the wrong metric because it simply racks up AI expenses.
“The people that automate their jobs with AI will always have a job,” Evans claimed in his post. But if AI keeps taking over more tasks, ClickUp will eventually need fewer and fewer people, eliminating those who fail to automate their functions well.
Tech circles have long theorized about this scenario.
One extreme example of a high-profile startup using AI automation to the max already exists. Polsia, a one-year-old startup that claims to handle all software operations for solopreneurs, is run by just one person: its founder and CEO, Ben Broca. That efficiency is apparently paying off: Polsia just raised $30 million at a $250 million valuation.
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I like what Huawei is doing with its wearable strategy; the brand’s Watch Ultimate 2 is the best high-end smartwatch, and I prefer it to the Galaxy Watch Ultra because of its weeks-long battery life. The Watch GT 6 Pro is a great all-round smartwatch, and Huawei’s latest Watch Fit 5 Pro is aimed towards fitness.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro is aimed at a younger audience, and that’s immediately evident when you look at the choice of colors and the styling of the bands. The smartwatch costs £249 ($335) on Amazon U.K., and it’s available in most countries where Huawei has a presence. I’ve been using it as my daily driver for just over a month now, and here’s why I think it is a better choice than the Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch 8.
Huawei has an orange color of the Watch Fit 5 Pro that stands out considerably — as I found out while using it in Thailand ahead of the launch event. This is a smartwatch that’s designed to grab attention, but it isn’t ostentatious.
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You can also get it in white and black, but the orange one is the most distinctive by far. The nylon band feels good to wear and is extremely light, and the case itself has a gold hue, with the orange accents contrasting it quite well.
The case has subtle curves around the edges that gives it added elegance, and makes the Watch Fit 5 Pro less utilitarian — it looks just as good as other mainstream models.
The build quality is great; the smartwatch is made out of aluminum, and the bezel has a titanium alloy to give it better durability. I also like that it has a physical button on the right to launch workouts, and a rotating bezel to navigate the interface.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro easily has one of the best displays you’ll get today. The 1.92-inch OLED panel is bigger than last year, and it goes up to 3,000 nits now. What’s also good to see is that it has 60Hz refresh, and just like the best phones, the smartwatch uses LTPO tech to good effect, switching down to 1Hz to increase efficiency.
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Another positive is that the bezels are uniform on all sides, and they’re noticeably thinner than what you get on most smartwatches. That’s one of the reasons how Huawei was able to fit a bigger panel into a similar-sized chassis.
With 3,000 nits brightness, viewing outdoors isn’t an issue at all. I tested it in Bangkok’s intense summer, and on a particularly hot day in Hyderabad, India, where it was well over 105 degrees (41 degrees Celsius), and I didn’t have any problems using the Watch Fit 5 Pro. Colors are vibrant, and the interface is easy to navigate.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro lets you monitor everything with ease
One of the best things in the Watch Fit 5 Pro is mini-workouts. The idea is that instead of sitting at your desk all day, you take short breaks of five to ten minutes to do short workouts wherever you are. These guided low-intensity workouts are easy to do, and they have adorable animations featuring a panda.
But the real reason you’ll want the Watch Fit 5 Pro is how good it is at regular workouts. I used it at the gym and while cycling, and it’s one of the better choices in this category. It delivered metrics consistent with my Apple Watch, and it comes with the ability to sync data with other fitness platforms, including FIIT and Strava.
Huawei outfitted the Watch Fit 5 Pro with a new TruSense sensor system, and it provides more accurate measurements across the board, including heart rate, blood oxygen monitoring, sleep info, and activity data.
You get dual-band GPS, cycling insights that include power and other metrics. Running is also covered, along with city and trail running. The smartwatch has IP68 and IP69 water resistance, and it covers over 100 workout activities.
While the custom interface that Huawei uses isn’t as extensible as watchOS or Wear OS, Huawei provides all the basics, and I didn’t feel like the Watch Fit 5 Pro was missing out on the software side of things. I didn’t have problems taking calls on my wrist or viewing notifications, and the built-in vibration motor is decent enough.
Huawei doesn’t use Google Pay, but the brand is turning to Curve Pay to enable NFC payments globally. I wasn’t able to use the feature in India, but it is available in the U.K. and other countries where Curve Pay has a presence.
I don’t like charging smartwatches daily, and that’s one of the main reasons why I like the Watch Fit 5 Pro. Thanks to a bigger 471mAh battery, the smartwatch lasts seven days between charges. It’s this battery longevity that gives it a distinct edge over Wear OS and other Android smartwatches.
Honestly, the tweaks to the design and improved battery life make the Watch Fit 5 Pro a great alternative if you want a smartwatch that isn’t made by Apple or Samsung. The design is much more elegant this year, the new TruSense system is better at fitness and health monitoring, and while there isn’t much in the way of third-party integration, the essentials are covered. I didn’t think I’d like the Watch Fit 5 Pro as much as I do, and it’s a good option to consider if you’re in a country where Huawei sells it.
SolarSquare, an Indian rooftop solar startup that helps households and housing societies adopt solar power, is in advanced talks to raise fresh capital after securing India’s largest solar venture investment in December 2024, TechCrunch has learned.
B Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners are set to co-lead the Series C round, which could value SolarSquare at between $450 million and $500 million and bring in $55 million to $60 million in new investment, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. That would represent more than a doubling of SolarSquare’s valuation in roughly 18 months — a sign of how rapidly investor conviction is building around India’s residential solar market.
Lightspeed Venture Partners previously led SolarSquare’s $40 million Series B round at around a $200 million post-money valuation in December 2024. This time, according to a source, it’s investing through its growth fund, which has backed names such as Razorpay — India’s leading digital payments platform — and Zepto, the fast-delivery startup.
Existing investor Elevation Capital is also expected to participate in the deal, which is currently in advanced stages and is expected to close next month. The terms could still change as the financing has not yet been finalized. SolarSquare has raised $61.1 million in equity financing to date, per the startup data platform Tracxn.
India has set a target of achieving 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030, with solar expected to contribute more than half of that total. The country became the world’s third-largest solar power producer in 2025, trailing only China and the U.S. Its cumulative installed solar capacity has surged from about 3 GW in 2014 to more than 150 GW in 2026, aided partly by government incentives and subsidy schemes aimed at accelerating rooftop solar adoption.
Mumbai-headquartered SolarSquare, founded in 2015, is positioning itself as a full-stack residential solar platform in a market that remains highly fragmented, dominated by small local installers and dealer networks tied to component manufacturers such as Tata Power, Waaree Energies, Luminous Power Technologies, and Exide Industries. The startup designs, installs, and maintains rooftop solar systems for homes, housing societies (the apartment complexes and gated communities common across urban India), and enterprises, and has installed more than 150 megawatts of solar capacity with a presence across 29 cities in nine states, per its website.
SolarSquare has powered nearly 50,000 homes and around 400 housing societies, according to a source. The startup has also deployed rooftop solar systems for large enterprises including Swiggy, Zepto, and iD Fresh Food.
Residential customers and housing societies now account for a majority of SolarSquare’s business, according to people familiar with the startup’s operations, as the startup has increasingly scaled back lower-margin industrial rooftop solar projects in recent years.
The startup has crossed an annualized revenue run rate of more than ₹10 billion (around $104 million) across homes and housing societies combined, according to a source familiar with the matter. It also aims to reach 200 megawatts in its residential solar portfolio this year, the source added.
SolarSquare declined to comment. B Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Elevation Capital did not respond to requests for comment.
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Despite being a 2024 release, this Moto G Stylus features a really pretty display, a powerful suite of cameras, and impressive performance, especially given the price point.
Much like the 2025 model, the 2024 Moto G Stylus 5G has a beautiful vegan leather back panel and a long-lasting battery life. Upgrades to the newer model include a slightly brighter display, improved fast charging speeds, and a higher-resolution selfie camera that users like. If those aren’t a big deal to you, however, it’s definitely worth catching sales like this on the 2024 model, as it still has many of the Motorola lineup’s best features.
✅Recommended if: you’re looking for a phone with a beautiful display panel and an included stylus; you like Motorola’s vegan leather anti-slip backing and the overall design of the Moto G Stylus 2024; you like having a phone with powerful rear-facing cameras and a long-lasting battery.
❌Skip this deal if: you prefer a newer-generation phone and you’d rather upgrade to one of the best Motorola stylus phones on the market; you don’t need a phone with a stylus and you’d prefer to look at some other models around this discount price; having a guarantee of multiple OS upgrades is a major priority to you when buying phones.
The 2024 Moto G Stylus 5G is a cheaper phone with a stylus than many of the premium-level and current-gen Samsung devices. It comes with a 6.7-inch, 120Hz OLED display that’s a delight to use, a speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and decent cameras despite being a generation old. It also sports wireless charging capabilities, up to 30 hours of battery life, and up to 30W fast charging.
Again, it’s a pretty good pick for just $190, especially for casual users who just want a good user experience and a stylus.
The Indus app is powered by Sarvam’s locally trained 105-billion-parameter model — a measure of the AI’s scale and sophistication — andlaunched at the AI summit. The app supports 22 Indic languages and mid-sentence code-switching (the ability to fluidly mix languages mid-conversation, like switching between Hindi and English), which helps the assistant better understand the context of a query. Currently, the application doesn’t support offline usage, and it doesn’t have any integrated feature with the device to invoke the AI assistant through a shortcut.
The partnership is a potential testing ground for both companies to gauge the appetite for an India-focused chatbot.
“With this partnership, the first thing we want to do is get the Indus app to consumers,” said Ravi Kunwar, HMD’s CEO and Vice President for India and APAC, in an interview with TechCrunch. “Once they start using it, we will move to phase two to focus on driving more traction and stickiness. Right now, by pre-loading the app, we want to be more accessible to users,” he said.
The Vibe 2 5G is a mid-range Android phone with a 6,000mAh battery and a price tag of ₹10,999($114). Kunwar added the devices in the Vibe series of smartphones will also get the chatbot, and the company is also expected to launch a feature phone with Sarvam AI integration in the coming months.
That feature phone integration may ultimately prove more significant for both companies. HMD held a 4% share of India’s feature phone market in 2025, but its smartphone share was negligible — the company doesn’t even appear in the top 15, according to analyst firm IDC.
While it’s early days for Indus, the download numbers reflect that. Nearly three months after its launch, the app has been downloaded just over 293,000 times in India across platforms, according to Appfigures. By comparison, ChatGPT was downloaded 43.9 million times in the country.
It’s a big gap, but the strategy behind the HMD deal may matter more than the early numbers. Bundling a regional AI assistant with affordable hardware — particularly feature phones — is one of the more direct distribution plays available in a market as large and linguistically diverse as India, where English-language AI tools have limited reach. For investors and operators watching how AI adoption gets seeded in emerging markets, this partnership is worth tracking.
Sarvam has been one of India’s marquee AI startups. Beyond the Indus app launch, the company has focused on enterprise partnerships, especially for voice-based solutions. It is on track to become one of the most funded AI startups in the country, with reportssuggesting a funding round of $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation is in the works.
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Google announced that it’s opening Gemini for Home’s doors to service providers, hardware makers, and more.
A major highlight is its new Gemini built-in program, which targets partners who are creating hardware for consumers, so they can leverage Gemini’s capabilities for their speakers and cameras.
Google is also integrating its Home Premium subscription with carriers, ISPs, and security companies.
I/O has given us a lot to go over this week; however, Google’s smart home sector isn’t quite done, as it announces a major step for Gemini.
Google states in a press release that it has opened up Gemini for Home into a “full-stack AI offering.” This sounds technical, but all it means is that Google is “empowering service providers and hardware manufacturers to create monetizable, proactive services for customers and their homes.” A developers post shared more, announcing the start of the “Google Home Gemini built-in” program.
Android Central’s Take
The Gemini built-in program is a huge part of Google’s announcement today. This is basically opening its Gemini doors to other companies—think third-party device makers. Now, Gemini isn’t so restricted. These other companies can partner with Google and begin bringing that same, high-quality AI assistance to even more people through their products. This doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.
This is targeting Google’s partners who create smart home hardware for consumers. Google states hardware makers won’t have to stress about the research; they need only “focus on delivering an exceptional service experience.” Through the “Gemini built in” program, companies can create and launch Gemini-capable smart cameras, thanks to Google’s Camera Reference Design. Moreover, makers can now leverage the full force of Gemini’s voice capabilities for smart speakers in 2026.
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(Image credit: Google)
Similarly, we have what Google is doing with service providers, like AT&T. The company says it is integrating its Google Home Premium subscription plan with carriers, ISPs, and security companies. This brings in daily household features, such as Home Brief: a daily roundup of what’s gone on around your home. “Advanced deterrence” methods are also included, letting users make it appear as though they’re home for extra home protection.
Companies will also benefit from better protection for smart cameras. This technology makes cameras smarter, so they only alert you to the important things: deliveries, someone at the door, etc. Google says AT&T is spearheading this movement, using Home’s APIs and Gemini in its Connect Life app and security services.
Gemini arrives for more people & devices
(Image credit: Google)
This announcement for a better, smarter home for consumers that companies can leverage includes Gemini for Home’s availability for developers. These are a set of tools that developers can utilize to begin creating for their ecosystems and consumers. Many of these features we’re already privy to. Google highlights Home Brief and Ask Home as “core capabilities.”
Smart cameras have been upgraded for Google Home. These keen eyes around the home can “see” what’s happening. This lets them “describe” what’s going on, so the homeowner is well-informed, instead of delivering generic responses like before.
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Google’s update for smarter cameras arrived earlier this month. A major part of that update was what the company highlighted today: AI. Combined with its software, cameras could “see” and describe to the homeowner what was going on for the full story. Google also rolled out skip buttons to jump through clips and a new option to help swipe between views. Users should also know that the Event feeds got a visual boost, too.
Clearer, zoomed previews help you focus on the action for a particular clip (event). Additionally, users can filter out these events based on “person seen” or “glass break.”
SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk 24 years ago, has finally made its IPO filing public.
The hefty filing, posted after markets closed Wednesday, shows a company that has developed far beyond its initial pursuit of reusable rockets — although its long-term mission to create a multi-planetary species remains intact. SpaceX is now a technology conglomerate working on satellites and AI, and has become one of the world’s most valuable private companies.
When it goes public later this year on the Nasdaq exchange, it will become one of the most valuable publicly-traded companies. (Nvidia currently holds the crown with a market cap of $5.4 trillion.) SpaceX has chosen the ticker “SPCX” for the listing.
The regulatory filing, known as an S-1, offers the most vivid and financially illuminating public dissection of SpaceX’s business to date. And it comes just weeks ahead of what’s expected to be the largest IPO ever, both in terms of potential money raised (expected to be around $75 billion) and overall valuation (reportedly $1.75 trillion).
Many of the headline details have been reported in the weeks since SpaceX first submitted a confidential version of its S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 1. The company lost about $4.9 billion in 2025on revenue of more than $18 billion, as Reuters reported last month.
The filing details a business that is currently dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet offering, which generated more than half of the company’s revenue last year. It also shows how much SpaceX has burned to get to this point: more than $37 billion lost since inception, according to the S-1.
XAI, the artificial intelligence company Elon Musk created and recently merged into SpaceX, is not helping on that front. The filing shows SpaceX directed around 60% of its capital spending in 2025 to its AI division, or around $20 billion. And yet that division — which houses the chatbot Grok — lost billions last year, and only grew revenue by about 22%. That’s far below the reported revenue growth rates at frontier AI labs.
Despite SpaceX’s complex business, much of its future is pegged to the success of Starship, the fully-reusable heavy lift rocket that has had a series of explosions and technical revamps over the past several years. The company is expected to conduct the 12th launch of Starship as early as this week.
S-1 filings are hundreds of pages long, and this one in particular is likely to be stuffed with interesting numbers, risk factors to SpaceX’s business, and other previously private information. TechCrunch will be pulling out the most interesting details all day, so stay tuned.
This story is developing…
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Google I/O is currently underway, and after sitting through a monotonous an exciting keynote address, I got the chance to demo some upcoming Android XR glasses and prototypes. Samsung and Xreal are seemingly two of the most dedicated players in the space, and I got to try both Xreal’s glasses and the latest Google prototype, which the Samsung glasses are no doubt based on, giving us a look at how Android XR will span different types of eyewear.
Samsung was set to launch Android XR hardware last year with the Galaxy XR, but it’s a large, bulky device you wouldn’t want to wear around. This time around, the focus is on more compact glasses for everyday wear. These are the ones I got to play with, and while I can’t wait for audio-only glasses to come around, I’m more excited about what Samsung and Xreal have in store when it comes to display glasses.
Xreal is unreal
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
The first demo I got to try was arguably the more interesting one. Xreal teased its Project Aura glasses last year, and I was able to give them a spin ahead of the launch later this year. These are display glasses sporting two OLED displays behind the lenses, one for each eye.
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If you’re familiar with Xreal products, the design here shouldn’t surprise you. They’re thick glasses that sit a little further from your face than usual, in order to give you room for the displays. It’s a design I’m not a fan of from the outside looking in, but when they’re on your face, you don’t notice the difference.
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
The Project Aura glasses have two cameras on either side of the lenses for perception and tracking, while the middle is for taking photos and videos. One stem holds all the buttons: volume rocker, Home/Gemini, and a dimming button to control the electrochromic dimming of the lenses.
There’s also a separate puck that connects to the glasses, which houses the battery and compute (it’s powered by Snapdragon). I wasn’t able to get solid figures on battery life, but you can probably get through a full movie while wearing them.
The puck also has a touch panel to control the glasses, which I thought was pretty clever. And in true Xreal form, you can plug in other devices like laptops and phones to display your windows and apps.
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(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
So, what was it like to use the glasses? Pretty cool actually! The visuals are better than I expected; text is legible, colors feel plenty vibrant, and everything is super responsive. Aside from the puck, you can use gestures to control the glasses, similar to Galaxy XR. You pinch and drag to select, move, and resize objects.
Interacting with the Android XR UI feels intuitive and reminds me of the Quest 3, so I was able to pick it up quickly, swiping through and resizing apps.
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(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
I first opened a trailer for the Spider-Man 2 video game, and at first, the video looked a bit washed out, which worried me. Then, I adjusted the electrochromic dimming, which supports five levels. Eventually, the video looked super crisp and vibrant, as if I was watching it on my laptop’s OLED display. I was thoroughly surprised at how good it was, and it even stayed in place against a wall as I moved around.
Second, I was able to play with an app created for the glasses using Antigravity. I basically used my hands to paint shapes in a 3D space by pinching my fingers together. I could change the colors of the “paint” and even alter the thickness by twisting my wrist. And again, it stayed in place as I moved around the space. I admit, this left me very impressed.
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
According to Xreal, Project Aura is a sort of in-between device, aiming to give us the power and utility of the Galaxy XR (hence, the external power puck), but in a more compact form factor like the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses. I never got to use Galaxy XR, but I was left more excited about display glasses than I ever was before.
Making a case for monocular display glasses
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
I also got to try Google’s prototype monocular display glasses, which are used as a reference model for Samsung’s upcoming glasses. This isn’t my first time using them, but there were some new tricks I was able to try this time around. For instance, there are new widgets you can access and scroll through by swiping on the touch panel.
One widget is the Translate widget, which I opened with a tap and used to translate what someone was saying to me in Korean. And even as the person paused before continuing to speak, the glasses kept translating, which felt like a small but really useful component.
Additionally, I was able to take advantage of Nano Banana on the glasses—which feels a little crazy to do on glasses—but given their visual nature, I guess it makes sense. I was able to take a photo of myself with the glasses, then tell Gemini to put me in space with Neptune in the background. It took some time to generate (everyone was on the Wi-Fi), but a preview appeared on the glasses and on the paired Pixel.
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(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
But even previously announced features like Google Maps integration is still impressive on monocular displays like this. It’s cool to see a simple directions in your line of sight as you’re walking, but tilt your head downwards, and the glasses will display a section of map so you can actually visualize where you’re going as you go. I can see this being much more useful than glasses just barking directions at you.
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(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
It may take some time to get used to the single display, which sits on the right lens, but your eyes adjust fairly quickly. And unlike dual-display glasses like Project Aura, information is displayed in a much simpler way so as not to overwhelm you.
The singular display option feels like a nice medium between audio glasses and full-on XR glasses, and I’m really excited to see how Samsung and others incorporate them into various designs. I still feel like audio glasses are more my speed, but my experience at Google I/O left me much more open to display glasses.
Both Xreal and Samsung are expected to launch their glasses later this year. Let’s just hope they’re not priced out of reach.
