Air 2 Pro + Beam use cases

General
1

I got xReal Air 2 Pro + Beam a few weeks ago and while I think I saw somewhere here a list of things to do and apps to use, after searching for how to do some specific things with it, I noticed a lot of interesting (arguably even best) stuff missing from the lists. So since you guys helped me get a nice kick-start when I knew nothing, I’ve decided to contribute with some additional use cases which I found useful, now, that I know something. Apologies if any of those are hidden somewhere deep in some old posts, but if they’re there, maybe they should be moved closer to the top. That being said, here we go.

Beam Apps:
My main complaint was that since I don’t use Netflix or Amazon, nor do I often watch downloaded media (I usually stream, but from other sources), practically the only thing I could use it for was positioning and resizing the (single) screen. This changed after I found Beam-Apps at https://beam-apps.com/. Download the .APK file, copy it to the Beam internal storage, locate it from file manager and install the package. This should give you something similar to google play store where you can search for and install additional apps. There are apps like weather, some launchers (ATV, ADW, MS, Nova,…), browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Brave, …), social (Imgur, Reddit, …), media players, messengers, etc. You can also browse apps with the browser and download .APK files to install manually.

Air2 Pro & 3D/VR:
Little did I know until I specifically searched for a use case which requires it, these glasses have two supported modes of operation toggleable by long-pressing the + key. First mode duplicates or extends your main screen so that you can see the same image in left and right eye. The other mode gives you a single screen stretched over both eyes so that you can see the left half of the desktop with your left eye and the right half of the desktop with your right eye. This should enable the following use cases:

3D video:
Go on youtube, search for 3840x1080 SBS (side by side) videos and play them full screen on the A2P.

3D Games (any DirectX 9-12, Vulkan, OpenGL or OpenXR based):
First download ReShade from https://reshade.me/. I am not going into details on HOW to use it, find it somewhere there; I will just let you know WHAT you can do with it. Learn how to use Depth3D shader with your game. This will allow you to split your screen in half and render two images, one for left and one for right eye, enabling the 3D view. Now just make sure the game runs on the appropriate screen (you can also unplug your main monitor or close the lid of your laptop so that the glasses are the only connected screen).

Using Air 2 Pro for head tracking:
While up to here you can play games in 3D, you still need to use the mouse to look around. Would it not be nice if you could just turn your head? Well, A2P has the hardware required, you just need the right software. Luckily, community again comes to the rescue with the Phoenix Head Tracker at GitHub - iVideoGameBoss/PhoenixHeadTracker: The Phoenix Head Tracker is a program that interfaces with Xreal Air glasses to capture and analyze sensor data. By detecting changes in the user's head yaw and pitch, this program can send this gyro data to Opentrack UDP or can control the computer mouse to look around in video games. Read on there about how to use it to translate your head movement into the mouse movement. You may wish to adjust the mouse sensitivity in the game to adjust how much your virtual head turns in relation to your real head.
You can use it with OpenTrack at GitHub - opentrack/opentrack: Head tracking software for MS Windows, Linux, and Apple OSX to forward your head movement to joystick and more.

That being said, if you have any additional use cases or tips, add them below, I will be glad to know.

Enjoy!

2 Likes
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Thank you for providing your use cases, they are greatly appreciated and very helpful! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Thanks for posting! Since I’ve installed a few android apps, I’ve now lost the ability to use depth to size screen.

I also see colored dots on the main screen when I pan my head around. Are there any uses for that? Wasn’t sure if I needed to use the Nebula app for explanation of that. I know that app does not work for my windows PC at all

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To use Beam, you need to enable the depth control in the settings. Also, ensure that the installed apps are enabled for Spatial mode by checking them in the App Management section.
The colored dots on the main screen of Beam indicate that there is an image in the glass and allow users to recenter the main menu. We designed this feature because some users initially see a black screen instead of the main screen when they turn on Beam (the main screen is in 3Dof).

5

Hi, thank you for replying. I did have the depth control on but I can’t launch any applications with it on. I get the message, “Please turn off Depth Control. After turning it off, you won’t be able to adjust the screen distance. Do you want to turn it off?” Options to select: “Cancel” or “Go to Settings”. This feature worked when I first bought this setup (Air 2 Pro on Saturday and Beam on Sunday). I was able to use depth control with Netflix on Sunday, however, now depth control doesn’t work at all for anything.

My second option for using a depth like feature was with Nebula on Android. It doesn’t work with my Samsung Fold 3 which I believe uses Snapdragon. I finally got it to work on my Samsung Note 8, but I couldn’t find a way to stream any services in the browser. Perhaps bc of DRM restrictions. The Air Cast feature allowed me to stream but not let me Body anchor or resize screen. Any assistance would be greatly helpful. i’m trying to give this all a chance, I just returned the Viture bc I thought the neckband was to big to be discrete. the Beam is smaller to work with

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Using the Depth Control feature in third-party apps is not permitted. However, you can enable and use Depth Control in casting mode, either wirelessly or with a wired connection. If you want to stream videos(DRM contents) and use the Depth Control function, connect the Beam to your Android phone with a wire, and then you can watch videos and adjust the virtual screen size and distance.

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Perhaps I did have my phone plugged into the beam. Will that be a possibility for future updates to allow depth control with only the beam? Seems like an inconvenience to have to charge the beam and my phone for that feature whether wired or wireless connection.

Update: I tried your suggestion of using air casting with direct connection from glasses to Android phone using the nebula app. It only mirrors my screen and does not give me an option to body anchor or resize