When I was a little boy one day I got a chance to view a kaleidoscope, I was so excited to see
a totally different colorful world through that small lens. And owning one kaleidoscope was my
dream at that time, but that never happened because my family was struggling at that time
to make a living. And now as a tech reviewer I always get asked to review this and that product,
and many of them are VR or AR glasses and I am always open to that. But to my disappointment,
normally most AR/VR manufacturers always promise too much and deliver
very little and at the end of the day, most of those just sit somewhere collecting dust.
So when Dream Glass reached out to me to see if I was interested in their newest 4k 200’ screen
wireless all-in-one AR glass – the Dream Glass Lead, I was rather excited and said why not.
And I’ve been with it for several days. Has my childhood dream finally come true because
of the Dream Glass Lead? Has it presented us another really wonderful world? Let’s find out.
So first things first, about the availability of the Dream Glass Lead, it has two models the
standard and Pro. Currently they are on a crowdfunding campaign, the link for which you
can find in the description. The main differences between the two are the Pro has a 13MP RGB camera
on the front and a more powerful chipset. The unit I got to test is the Pro version and it’s
a prototype, with that being said, there is still a lot of the full experience that we are not being
able to test or talk about at this time but we can talk about things like the image quality,
the optics, the ergonomics, the general usability, what it feels like to wear this for long periods
of time as well as the basic demos that come pre-loaded with this version. Surely,
I will do follow-up videos as they are finalizing the equipment so make sure to subscribe!
Regarding the design, the Dream Glass Lead Pro looks very much like its predecessor the Dream Glass 4k/4k Plus.
On the front, we have two AR optical lenses, a 13MP camera. On the right side, we see Back, OK,
and Calibration buttons. Moving to the top, there is a type-c port for charging, the front cushion,
and the back cushion module, which houses a 5,300mAh battery and a roller dial which allows
you to adjust the size based on your head. I have a quite big head, that’s fine.
There is also a headphone jack, dual speakers, and a power button on the front lens module. I really like the
design, the Aluminum alloy body looks minimalistic and high-end. Though not finalized, you can still
tell this is a refined and premium product once you see it. But I think the most significant
change compared to its predecessor or even most other AR devices is it’s wireless so you can enjoy
more without any restrictions! What’s more, with this lightweight well-balanced design,
it’s comfortable to wear, even for a whole day.
Now let’s talk about general usability.
But before that let’s check out the remote controller that comes in the box, just think
it as a mouse for your computer. You get a trigger on the front, volume key on the side,
a touch panel and another two physical buttons, the Back key and OK key. Adjust the Glass strap
to an appropriate size that fits your head and put on, Hold down the power key to turn it on.
As the screen lights up you will see a dot on the screen, it moves along when your head moves. When
it moves to an item you can confirm by pressing the middle key on the Glass and go to next step,
that’s it, you can enjoy whatever in your Glass. But I would suggest you use the remote controller
since it’s more intuitive, just like how you would use a mouse on your computer. You can see
there is a line on the screen and you can point it to the item you want to and press the trigger
button to confirm. Let’s take watching video for example. You point the line to the video,
click the trigger button once to lock the screen. At this time the screen will be locked right in
front of your eyes wherever your head moves to. Press the trigger button once to cancel
lock mode. When your screen is not locked, you can click the “More” icon to choose
the Size and Distance of the projected image. I found the touch panel is interesting as you can
swipe up or down to zoom in or out of the screen, swipe left or right to fast forward or backward.
Overall, I would say even if you are using it for the first time you will get familiar with it
within a couple of minutes. The keys are responsive and intuitive.
Compared to gesture control, what we really should focus maybe is the video quality, how is it exactly?
As for image quality. I would say this is the best I’ve ever seen among all the AR
headset I’ve tested. They were pretty great! That small OLED screen has high pixel density at 4k
meaning that the images are vivid, crisp, sharp and the contrast is great. I could see
fine details. The edge is clear without blur unlike many other AR or VR devices that would
struggle. The brightness is quite good even with lights on. The image is crystal clear.
I think you would use this AR device mostly indoors, but I also tried it outdoors. The
image washed out a bit because the outdoor environment is very bright,
but a good thing is it comes with a blackout shade which you can put on for an even better
viewing experience and for privacy. You can literally enjoy your movie anytime, anywhere.
And since this Dream Glass Lead has a less flashy design unlike those dramatic VR headsets. If you
wear it on a metro or on a bus, it’s OK, people won’t stare at you like you are from Mars.
Also tried gaming, as Dream Glass told me the Pro version is compatible with
Steam. After you connect your computer with the 6DOF Tracking Set you then can enjoy
playing games with the Glass. Since they are still currently optimizing that and it is not available
So I instead tried other games with my phone. I felt no obvious lag while I could still enjoy the immersive experience.
Apart from that, there are a bunch of useful Apps here,
you can try the work out app here. One good thing is the image is locked in front of your eyes,
so no matter what kind of movements you do it will be always in front of you
and you can follow your instructor properly.
You can also project your phone content on the screen.
And even you can record a video or take photos, here is the footage if you are interested to know.
Now my conclusion. I would say this is the best I’ve tried for years and I truly
recommend it, mainly for three reasons: First of course is the overall viewing
experience. Like I said it offers a vivid, sharp, and detailed image quality. It’s truly immersive,
especially when you watch 3D movies, you can feel the bullet comes to your face directly.
It supports different video formats. And compared to those real 4k projectors or TVs,
it's portable and allows you to enjoy the content anywhere, anytime you want.
Second, I guess is its general usability. It’s intuitive you can use it without a
learning curve. You can use it on a wide range of scenarios. You can use it to work out. You
can use it for educational purposes. And also it changes how you interact on social media Apps,
like viewing TikTok, chatting on Facebook, watching videos on YouTube, and even gaming. You
can use this thing in real life, it’s no longer a gimmick product that has no practical use.
Third I would say is the wearing comfort. The Lead Pro weighs only 330 grams and it’s totally
wireless. To my surprise, such a compact design with an embedded battery offers you 3.5 hours of
video viewing and it has a really good thermal control as well. Most importantly is it causes
no headaches or discomfort even looking at the images for a long period of time
and they do fit over your glasses if you have any.
During my weeks of using the device, I didn’t see any obvious drawbacks of the Glass.
If I had to name a few then I would hope the speaker would be
a little bit better and if you are interested to know how does it sound, here it is.
But if you don’t like that, you can use a headphone or Bluetooth earphone,
so that wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for me.
And with the cost-friendly price, I would say the Dream Glass Lead
is an all-round AR device that offers a good overall user experience for everyone.
I would be very happy to use it whenever I felt like. If you are interested in this product you can check out
the link in the description and back the project.
I’m Sami and I will see you in the next one.