OK, I’ll be the first to admit there’s a catch with this one. You also, of course, need a pair of AR glasses like the also discounted XREAL Air 2 Pro. But the Beam is the secret sauce that gives you your own private cinema anywhere you go without the need for a laptop, a gaming handheld, or your smartphone. With a Prime Day price reduction taking the XREAL Beam down to $99, it’s well worth the investment.
Here’s what you can do with the XREAL Beam and why I think it’s a must-have accessory to your AR glasses at this price.
More Prime Day deals and anti-Prime Day deals
We at Windows Central are scouring the internet for the best Prime Day deals and anti-Prime Day deals, but there are plenty more discounts going on now. Here’s where to find more savings:
Your own personal cinema without sacrificing battery on your other devices
As clever and awesome as the XREAL range of AR glasses are, they all rely on an external device right now to deliver the content into your eyeballs. You can absolutely get by just by hooking them up to your phone, your PC, or a handheld like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally.
But what if you just want to kick back and enjoy a little Netflix on the sofa? Or in bed? That’s where the Beam comes in, and it’s the reason I use it as often as I do. I could use my phone, but then I need to leave the phone’s display on, and what’s the point in that? It’s just going to drain my battery, and any time I want to check a message or doomscroll social media, it’s that I’ll be seeing in the glasses.
The Beam replaces your other devices for the purpose of consuming media. It comes preloaded with Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and VLC, which covers the two biggest streaming platforms and personal video files. As it’s Android at its core, you can load your own files onto the Beam, and also download content from Netflix and Prime to watch when you don’t have a data connection. You’re also, if you’re comfortable, able to sideload other apps. I’ve got a full guide on sideloading Android apps onto the XREAL Beam to help you out.
It’s limited in scope, sure, but that’s also part of why I like using the Beam so much. It has a very specific purpose, and while I have messed about sideloading a couple of apps on there, I mostly watch Netflix and Prime anyway, so it’s fine as is. The battery is big enough to last many hours, and on a recent foreign trip the Beam was an absolute lifeline in a place I had terrible Wi-Fi and no English language TV. Download a ton of content before leaving home, and relax in bed rewatching Fallout.
The Beam can also be used as a go-between for other devices by hooking them up to the input. When used this way, you have more control over the size of the display inside the glasses, and you can change its behavior. I should probably pause Netflix when I go into the kitchen, but with the Beam, I just shrink the display and move it off to a corner and go about my business while still being entertained. And with no distracting notifications coming in to boot. It does a limited job pretty damn well, and for that, I love it.
