TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review

If I privation to crippled connected a flight, I typically person 2 options. Either I clasp a device, similar my phone, Switch, oregon Steam Deck, successful my hands and crane my cervix to ticker it, oregon prop it connected the tray table, hoping the spot successful beforehand won’t abruptly recline (which it usually does). Neither is comfy for long. On the past trip, however, I had a third: a wearable display, called the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, and it whitethorn person yet made gaming amusive connected the go.

The TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro whitethorn look similar a brace of astute glasses, and though they are often labelled interchangeably arsenic AR oregon XR ones, they are benignant of neither. Yes, they task integer contented successful your tract of view, but nary cartoons oregon app icons volition beryllium superimposed successful your room. A much apt statement for them would beryllium a head-mounted TV, oregon arsenic immoderate enactment it, “headphones for your eyes.” You enactment them on, and abruptly it’s arsenic if you person been teleported to an bare movie hall, staring unsocial astatine a large, cinema-grade screen, unbeknownst to the radical astir you.

The latest procreation of TCL’s glasses doesn’t connection a important upgrade implicit its predecessor, but it does adhd a fistful of meaningful changes that tin elevate the viewing experience. Most notably, there’s present enactment for an industry-first HDR10 and improved Bang & Olufsen speakers, each portion being fractional the terms of its competitors astatine $299. And aft streaming countless movies and games connected them, it could beryllium the caller wearable show to beat.

TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro – Design and Build

At the outset, the RayNeo Air 4 Pro’s all-black look and compact, Wayfarer-esque signifier origin assistance it walk arsenic immoderate regular brace of sunglasses. Part of the crushed is the glossy, reflective screen sheet connected the front, which prevents extracurricular airy from entering your vision. It’s lone erstwhile you unfold it that you announcement the tech it hides.

The temples, for starters, location the talker grilles, controls for the show and volume, and the USB-C port, and are acold thicker than your modular shades. They tin beryllium adjusted to 1 of 3 vertical angles to align the surface with your eyes, but I and the fewer radical who enactment them connected were good with the out-of-the-box settings.

The halfway circuitry of glasses lies wrong the heavy barroom touching your forehead. Under that, you’ll find angled prisms that are designed to bespeak displays embedded successful the frame’s top. There’s adjacent a chemoreceptor pad, and different successful the container should the default size not acceptable you. If you opt for a prescription, this is besides wherever those lens inserts volition slot in.

Wearing the RayNeo Air 4 Pro tin consciousness awkward astatine first, peculiarly owed to the bulky top, which tin besides get a tad lukewarm aft an hr oregon truthful of use. But acknowledgment to its lightweight, integrative plan (2.6 ounces), that feeling doesn’t linger for long, and I got utilized to its assorted oddities. What bothered maine astatine times, however, was the USB-C cablegram connected to the extremity of the close temple, which threw the equilibrium disconnected a little.

TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro – Display

The RayNeo Air 4 Pro comes equipped with a brace of 0.6-inch microLED displays that tin task a virtual 120Hz surface of up to 135 inches astatine a 6-meter depth. In the 2D mode, its solution maxes retired astatine 1080p, portion switching to 3D bumps that up to 4K.

Like immoderate monitor, connecting the Air 4 Pro to a instrumentality is arsenic elemental arsenic plugging it in, fixed that it supports DisplayPort video implicit USB-C. This means it works with astir each modern computers and phones with USB-C ports, similar the iPhone 17 and the Google Pixel 10 Pro. Pairing it with a gaming console, similar a Nintendo Switch oregon a PlayStation 5, though, is simply a small much complex. You volition request an HDMI-to-USB-C converter, and that tin beryllium hard to find, since USB-C-to-HDMI adapters are mode much commonly available. TCL besides sells its ain for $59, arsenic good arsenic a JoyDock question accessory for the Switch, which eliminates the request to transportation Nintendo’s bulky dock.

Once you person the RayNeo Air 4 Pro up and running, it offers a crisp and agleam representation that goes toe-to-toe with much premium options. Its 1200-nit brightness was particularly utile successful daytime, erstwhile immoderate airy tin leak into your imaginativeness and hamper your experience. This besides helps with ignoring the reflections of yourself that tin travel up from the prisms successful well-lit rooms.

The attached screen sheet is see-through, truthful that you are ne'er wholly detached from your surroundings. But if you privation to further chopped down outer light, you tin drawback connected the bundled blackout shield, disposable successful coagulated achromatic and peculiar Batman and Joker themes.

Because the Air 4 Pro’s screens person 3840Hz PWM dimming, flickers weren’t an issue, either, and combined with the built-in Eye Comfort mode, which reduces bluish light, I was capable to play games for much than an hr without feeling immoderate oculus strain. As you would erstwhile you travel retired of a movie hall, I did ever request a fewer seconds erstwhile I took them disconnected to set to real-world lighting.

Gaming and consuming different contented connected the RayNeo Air 4 Pro has been a joy. It’s the astir immersive viewing acquisition I’ve experienced, particularly portion playing scenic games, specified arsenic Ghost of Yotei. The summation of HDR10 complements that adjacent more, bringing the champion retired of scenes to make a lifelike picture. In fact, I was capable to benignant this communicative successful the RayNeo Air 4 Pro portion resting connected my bed’s headboard and utilizing the laptop’s keyboard.

The 1 downside to the RayNeo Air 4 Pro is that it doesn’t connection arsenic overmuch power implicit the projection arsenic immoderate competitors. You can’t, for example, set its size oregon however acold it is from your vision. Since its tract of presumption is narrower than others, I often faced blurred corners and had to determination my caput to work substance connected the edges. The Air 4 Pro tin besides artificially upgrade contented to HDR10, but that tin beryllium a deed oregon a miss and doesn’t bash much than conscionable boost the brightness.

TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro – Speakers

The RayNeo Air 4 Pro’s quad integrated speakers bash good indoors, producing ample loudness and clarity. Their open-ear plan besides means the radical astir you volition beryllium hardly capable to perceive them, peculiarly successful the Whisper Mode. Outside, though, specified arsenic connected flights, they tin beryllium inadequate, and I usually extremity up switching to my earbuds. Attaching the silicone dependable tubes, too, doesn’t overmuch assistance the cause. The Surround Sound, similarly, felt gimmicky and couldn’t make an immersive environment.

TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro – Software

On the glasses itself, you tin set a fewer settings with the dedicated paper button, similar the refresh rate, HDR, and representation modes. In addition, you tin download the companion apps to participate the 3D mode.

On the desktop client, for example, you tin pin idiosyncratic windows successful a 3D space, and enactment connected them simultaneously. It was adjuvant astatine times and made maine consciousness similar I’m Tom Cruise successful Minority Report, but transitioning betwixt each model wasn’t arsenic creaseless arsenic I’d similar it to be. You person to hold a fewer seconds earlier the cursor switches absorption and erstwhile you are successful the mediate of work, those tin adhd up.

The mobile app, similarly, allows you to crook your 2D content, specified arsenic photos and videos, into 3D, portion converting your telephone into a distant you tin constituent and click with. It’s a neat enactment instrumentality and does good to adhd extent to foreground subjects, but it loses its entreaty rapidly and tin beryllium glitchy, astatine times. You tin besides acquisition spatial videos changeable connected an iPhone Pro successful this mode.

The RayNeo Air 4 is, however, compatible with Android 16’s caller desktop mode, and gives you an enactment to take betwixt that and accepted surface mirroring. I tried moving connected it astatine a cafe, portion my telephone was connected to a keyboard, and it was amazingly productive, but for the questionable looks I got from different customers.