TCL RayNeo Air 2 AR glasses are a peek at the Vision Pro future, going cheap for Black Friday

News
By Gerald Lynch
published

Want a screen you can wear on your face? Grab one and save some cash in the process.

TCL RayNeo Air 2 Black Friday deal
(Image credit: Future)

Tempted by the future offered by the Apple Vision Pro, but not sure you want to drop $3,499 on a headset without testing the waters first? Then this Black Friday AR glasses deal may be the one for you.

I had the privilege a few weeks back to give the TCL RayNeo Air 2 smart glasses a spin, and it gave me a renewed sense of enthusiasm for an AR-driven future where we've all got screens attached to our faces.

If you'd like to test-drive the future of computing too, you can get the smart glasses at an 8% discount from Amazon right now in its Black Friday sale, bringing the price down from $379 to $349 — a solid $30 saving for a product that's only been on the market a few short weeks.

Great VR and AR Black Friday deals

Powered by any device that's packing DisplayPort over USB-C (which includes MacBooks, iPads and the latest iPhones), the TCL RayNeo Air 2 AR glasses give the impression that you've got a 200-inch screen floating in front of your eyes.

Mirroring your device of choice, it's a surprisingly effective way of super-sizing content, without the need for a giant home cinema system.

TCL RayNeo Air 2 AR glasses | $379$349 at Amazon

TCL RayNeo Air 2 AR glasses | $379 $349 at Amazon

Offering a 200-inch virtual screen in glasses that could at a glance pass for regular sunglasses, the TCL RayNeo Air 2 let's you hang a cinema in your shirt pocket, ready to view anywhere you may be. With an 8% saving, this Amazon deal knocks $30 off the list price — a surprising saving given this product is only a few weeks old.

Price check: $379 at RayNeo

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As I said in my review, it's not a perfect experience — the screen can blur at its edges, and finding the sweet spot between comfort and the sharpest positioning of the glasses's screens on your nose takes some getting used to. But even if you wear prescription glasses like I do, you'll be surprised to be able to fit your regular frames underneath the TCL ones here, as the nature of the product sees the glasses sit just a little further off your face than usual.

When you do find that sweet spot, you're greeted with a sharp and vibrant display at full HD (1080p) resolution, speakers that are clear and enjoyable to use (crucially without disturbing those around you) and a set-up process that's as simple as plugging a cable from the glasses to your mirroring device of choice. For its flaws, I keep coming back to the glasses, and have found it particularly fun for super-sizing retro gaming sessions from an Android handheld I have, even weeks after I finished the review process.

Apple's alternative is certainly magnitudes more advanced than what TCL is offering here, with the 'AR' part of their naming a bit misleading — the augmented reality features here are slim, limited to Android, and play second fiddle to the screen mirroring functionality. But you can't help but feel you're glimpsing into the future when you fire them up. 

A novelty? Perhaps. But with a solid saving via this Amazon deal, it's one worth trying out.

Black Friday
Save money with Black Friday sales

Grab bargains on Apple devices this Black Friday

If you're looking for the best Black Friday Apple deals as the annual sales season kicks off, we've got you covered. From now right through to Cyber Monday on November 27, we'll be serving up the best offers on iPhone, MacBook, Apple Watch, iPad, HomeKit smart home devices and more. Save a small fortune by checking back on our daily deals coverage.

Gerald Lynch
Gerald Lynch
Editor in Chief

Gerald Lynch is the Editor-in-Chief of iMore, keeping careful watch over the site's editorial output and commercial campaigns, ensuring iMore delivers the in-depth, accurate and timely Apple content its readership deservedly expects. You'll never see him without his iPad Pro, and he loves gaming sessions with his buddies via Apple Arcade on his iPhone 15 Pro, but don't expect him to play with you at home unless your Apple TV is hooked up to a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. 

Living in London in the UK, Gerald was previously Editor of Gizmodo UK, and Executive Editor of TechRadar, and has covered international trade shows including Apple's WWDC, MWC, CES and IFA. If it has an acronym and an app, he's probably been there, on the front lines reporting on the latest tech innovations. Gerald is also a contributing tech pundit for BBC Radio and has written for various other publications, including T3 magazine, GamesRadar, Space.com, Real Homes, MacFormat, music bible DIY, Tech Digest, TopTenReviews, Mirror.co.uk, Brandish, Kotaku, Shiny Shiny and Lifehacker. Gerald is also the author of 'Get Technology: Upgrade Your Future', published by Aurum Press, and also holds a Guinness world record on Tetris. For real.