Before now, the only Aussie flavour included was the ability to track the Socceroos’ World Cup campaign and international sports that Australians compete in, like F1 or tennis. In a quiet update, Apple Sports now includes several more soccer leagues, including the A-League. Sadly, there’s no listing in the app for the A-League Women competition yet, so it’s only the men’s league at this stage.
Screenshot: Chris Button.
At the time of writing, I could follow both the A-League Men and individual teams. But it looks like the full data hasn’t yet populated; no fixtures appeared in the app, leaving little time before the first match on 16 October. So, I can’t yet look ahead to speculate on how Adelaide United will disappoint me again this year.
Once the season is up and running, you’ll be able to view various sports results and standings in one place. Plus, Apple Sports supports Live Activities, letting you get quick and up-to-date info on an iPhone or Apple Watch. There still isn’t a way to track individual athletes in non-team-based competitions, which is high on my wishlist.
Screenshot: Chris Button.
As the AFL and NRL grand finals approach, more local sports would be nice, but there’s no sign of them appearing in Apple’s sports-tracking app anytime soon. At the moment, it looks like Apple’s approach is to focus on the sporting leagues with the most international appeal. Based on that logic, it’ll be a while until I can track the Adelaide Crows through the app.
Qualcomm is everywhere in modern technology. The company’s Snapdragon range of processors is found in most Android phones, as well as other gadgets such as cars, PCs, smart glasses, headphones, and more. In my mind, having the latest processor is nice, but does it really matter?
Indeed, I am writing this on a two-year-old Chromebook. The demands on a processor were very different, even just a few years ago. A lot has changed in the last 12 months alone, primarily on the AI front.
While my attitude coming into this event was that the latest tech was only for heavy users, my mindset has changed. Like the shift from ‘dumb’ phones to smartphones, and petrol cars to electric vehicles, a similar technology shift is happening in the world of mobile processors.
The role of processors in the AI era
Chip manufacturers tailor processor designs to the latest needs of consumers. Now, the aim is to bring AI that people trust to more devices.
Many may resist change and resist AI; it is coming at us at a speed never before seen, and being left behind will happen faster than ever. Who knows where this will take us and how quickly we will need to adapt, but you will need the right gadgets to support this journey. In the minds of the folks at Qualcomm, this involves using the right processor. However, they are also promoting their future as open source, allowing others to join them on this journey.
Image: Angus Jones.
What does this mean for users? To start, companies such as Motorola and Xiaomi recently announced new smartphones that take advantage of the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 processors.
These phones benefit from reduced power usage and faster processing with record benchmarks driven by a 5GHz processor. They also have better camera support (200MP), the ability to create video in higher resolution up to 8K at 60 frames per second, and then edit that video all on the phone using professional tools including Adobe. Needing a PC to do all this is history.
Any intensive load, like gaming, traditionally creates heat and tends to slow compute power. Qualcomm has addressed this with better heat management, which also helps with battery life. As you would expect, the latest tech is built in to support satellite, Mobile phone, Wi-Fi 8, and Bluetooth, all of which come with industry improvements.
On-device AI improvements
The biggest change, however, is the architecture designed to support AI. A smartphone with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 technology has more support for on-device AI. Yes, it can happen in the cloud, but privacy and keeping your data local is much more trustworthy. The cloud also comes at a cost, while anything you do on your phone doesn’t require you to buy compute time.
Qualcomm claims its new mobile chips power even more local AI technology. Image: Qualcomm.
AI agents essentially provide you with an assistant that gets to know you extremely well. The vision is that these agents can learn what your interests are, what you do and don’t like, and how you approach certain situations by watching your every move. This gives your phone context to help you without asking questions or suggestions it already knows the answer to.
With the new Snapdragon chips, a sensing hub is always on and, without needing to power the main processor, can identify individual voices and store context for AI, all within the privacy of the phone. Voice recognition continues to improve, ensuring others can hear you clearly whether that is on a phone call or recording a video clip without separate microphones.
Some of Qualcomm’s performance claims. Image: Qualcomm.
Again, this data and its processing can be housed on your phone, not in shared cloud solutions. This gives you data sovereignty for you only and other connected devices, such as your car, smart glasses, or perhaps a PC.
Snapdragon’s PC evolution
Qualcomm’s processor innovation doesn’t stop with the smartphone, with the latest Snapdragon X Elite chips powering more Windows and Google PCs. According to Qualcomm, the latest Microsoft Surface running a Snapdragon X2 Elite gets 40% more battery life, providing up to 22 hours of battery life, a 95% increase in AI speed, and 60% improved graphics performance. What was once only possible on a high-spec workstation can now be done in the seat of an aircraft from Sydney to London without recharging.
Image: Qualcomm.
Google also recently launched its new Googlebooks, the company’s attempt at reinventing PCs and bridging the gap between smartphones. Instead of using a 20-year-old PC architecture designed long before smartphones and AI, Google created a PC based on Android that provides a seamless experience between an Android phone and a Googlebook.
You can start a task on one device and complete it on another Qualcomm-powered device. All Android apps will work on Googlebook, and many have already adapted to the desktop experience. Googlebook already shows faster processing, with real-world battery life of 19 hours in lightweight packages.
Modern chips in everyday smart gadgets
Our connected world is growing, and the smart glasses world is also on our doorstep. Meta’s new glasses also use Qualcomm processors. But these glasses are not an extension of our phones; they are a completely independent system because of their built-in processors. Smart glasses can process audiovisual information, providing real-time AI assistance while you wear them.
This same thought process is also added to headphones, earbuds and, in some cases, also with cameras. This technology is already ready to enable the AI world to assist in your day. And it all starts with a tiny chip that completely upends the traditional computing experience.
Angus Jones attended Snapdragon Summit 2026 in Hawaii as a guest of Qualcomm.
Cricut is having a big September, with a whole slew of announcements. Its latest (and arguably most exciting) launch is the Cricut StickerPix range. With a more singular focus, it can print photos, stickers, and more, just from the pictures on your phone’s camera roll.
Earlier in the month, the Cricut announced the Cricut Maker 5, a small upgrade that made cutting a bit faster and added the ability to cut 3mm-thick materials, while downgrading the design to match the Explore 5. Cricut also announced a bunch of new, shiny materials and tools.
But I’m most excited by the Cricut StickerPix machines, an entirely new range for the brand. I’ve had the StickerPix Print + Cut for the last month, and I am really enjoying how easy it is to make your own stickers. The other device in the range, the StickerPix Print, is the same basic idea, but it doesn’t cut (as the name suggests). Instead, it just prints onto pre-cut sheets.
Cricut StickerPix versus the Cricut Maker 5
Cricut’s new range is clearly designed for people who like the idea of the brand’s creative devices, but are daunted by how many things you can do on one of the regular cutting machines. As someone who makes a lot of stickers on my Cricut Maker 5, I also see the StickerPix Print + Cut as a great machine for people who never want to have to stick down the lamination sheet manually ever again.
The way it works is:
You find the images you want to make into a sticker (or the photo you want to print).
Pop them in Cricut Design Space onto the template.
Press print.
The machine does the work from there, printing in surprisingly high quality, automatically laminating the sticker sheet to protect the ink, and then cutting the stickers with great precision. All you have to do is pick it up at the end and then decide where to stick the stickers (or give them to a toddler and watch on in Millennial horror as they’re just placed willy-nilly).
Cricut’s new StickerPix range comes in two models: the Print (left), and the Print + Cut (right). Image: Cricut.
This is much, much easier than on the Maker 5, where the process is:
Place the stickers on an A4 template in Design Space.
Print on my printer.
Manually stick on the lamination sheet.
Mess up the lamination sheet the first time because there are too many air bubbles.
Try to fix the placement, somehow making it worse.
Print it out again.
Laminate again, this time slightly better but still not great, but I decide to ignore that because I’ve already spent too much time and materials.
Place on the cutting mat.
Put it in the Maker 5 and hope that I’ve correctly calibrated it this time.
Carefully remove the cut sheet of stickers from the mat, hoping that the kiss cut pressure was okay so the stickers are cut out in a way that makes them easy to remove.
Have fun with the stickers.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Maker 5. It’s a constant companion that I use all the time, and it’s still very easy to operate once you adjust to it; it’s just striking how much easier the StickerPix Print + Cut is for people who just want to make stickers. Having the lamination roller included with the ink cartridge is an absolute game-changer for those of us who are just bad at applying lamination sheets.
The machine’s design is really clever, too. It’s relatively small and easy to store, with the refillable paper tray able to be recessed in the machine for storage and easily pulled out for use.
What to keep in mind
There are only two things I really don’t like. The first is the focus on using generative AI to make the stickers. You can, of course, still use your own photos and designs for the stickers, but Design Space really pushes you to use generative AI to turn your photos and artwork into something else, or to just straight up generate slop.
This seems like a really misguided move for a platform that is supposed to support artists, given how much generative AI steals from and attempts to devalue actual artists. I understand I am fighting a losing battle on this, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a hill worth dying on.
Image: Cricut.
The other thing that is suboptimal is the price. The StickerPix Print + Cut machine itself is $469 (the StickerPix Print is just $289), which is more expensive than a Cricut Explore 5 cutting machine ($449), which is capable of doing a lot more. You would have to be really dedicated to stickers and stickers alone to justify that kind of expense.
The ongoing costs are also quite high, though more reasonable, with a pack of 72 sticker sheets and two ink refills retailing for $84.95, which is $1.18 per sheet. Given the price of printer ink and regular Cricut sticker sheets, I’m not as mad at that. With the photo refill (which includes 72 sheets and two ink refills) being $69.95, or 97c per photo, that is certainly more expensive than going to a Kmart photo printer, but much cheaper than maintaining a home photo printer where the paper can be even more expensive.
Having fun with stickers
All that said, the stickers come out looking professional, almost as though I went out and bought sheets of stickers themed specifically to my daughter’s favourite things (I find I’m pulling it out for her most days to make planet and fish stickers).
I think the Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut would be great to have at a wedding so people could print out photos of themselves at the event and add them to a memory wall or book. It would also be a fun activity at a children’s party. Artists at market stalls could print stickers for customers on demand, right in front of them.
If you can get past the price, and really want to print stickers and photos, without any of the other creations Cricut machines can make, it’s a fantastic machine that will be in Australian stores from 15 October.
I live in an apartment with 21 floor-to-ceiling windows, which sounds great until it’s sunny or you have to clean them. That’s why I’ve been following developments in window-washing robot technology very closely. This Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni has been one of my most anticipated gadgets of the year because it offers so many advancements for not just cleaning windows, but keeping the window cleaner clean as well.
However, this approach leads to trade-offs — the unit is absolutely massive, there’s no longer a particularly neat place to store the robot part, and it’s $1,299. So, with all that in mind and after more than a month of testing – is it worth it?
First impressions
This robot is heavy and massive. Just an absolute unit of a unit, especially with the portable, purpose-built washing machine. On the W2 Omni, you stored the robot in the body of the anchor, making for a cleaner packing away experience. Here you just put the robot on a hook behind the included washing machine. It’s not bad, but it’s just not particularly elegant, and it takes up a lot of room.
There’s a lot going on here, and so much of it feels luxurious. Yeah, you could have a bare-essentials window washer (like the $249 Winbot Neo Mini), or you could have something with all the nice-to-have bells and whistles. From the time I opened the box, the bells and whistles and premium finish were apparent.
Winbot Neo Mini (left) and Winbot W3 Omni (right) racing to get the best clean. Image: Alice Clarke.
Setting it up and updating it in the app was easy, and moistening the washing pad in the miniature washing machine was a delightful novelty
Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni specifications and price
Robot size
76 x 270 x 270mm
Robot weight
2.1kg
Base station size
430 x 226 x 344mm
Base station weight
10kg
Detergent reservoir size on robot
80mL
Minimum glass thickness
3mm
Base station battery
9000mAh (130min run time)
Price (RRP)
$1,299
Warranty
One year in addition to your Australian consumer law rights.
The biggest thing to call out here is the battery in the base station. That means you can take it around your property to clean all your windows, even if you don’t have power in that area. While the weight of the base station limits its portability, it also acts as a good anchor in case something goes catastrophically wrong while cleaning a high window, so that’s nice.
Indoor windows
In the same way that robot vacuum cleaners and mops are just for maintenance cleaning, rather than addressing big spills or actual messes, window-washing robots are for dust and smudges. It’s not going to get wet pasta sauce (as families with young children have to contend with) off the window cleanly, or scrub the bird poo off. It’s just there to get rid of toddler handprints, condensation, and accumulated dust.
Image: Alice Clarke.
One day, I imagine these robots will get spinning pads, some kind of dirty water tank, and added suction to give windows an actual deep clean. Until then, this is an autonomous damp cloth that can spray a bit of window-cleaning solution as it moves. It’s not doing the same job a human would do. To be fair, you’re looking at buying a robot window cleaner, so I’m guessing you (like me) are also not doing the kind of window-cleaning job a human would do if they could be bothered.
With that in mind, the Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni does a good job of getting the dust, grime and fingerprints off my many windows. The candle wax and pasta sauce were a lost cause, and the little bits of mould in the corner from condensation required a couple of passes. Overall, though, my realistic expectations were met. Every now and then, it would exceed them.
Image: Alice Clarke.
The robot jiggles around a little bit in ways that the lower-tier robots cannot. As a result, it gets off more grime than previous generations. But it’s still not yet capable of doing more intense cleans.
At 7.6cm tall, the W3 Omni only just fits in one of my awkwardly shaped windows, and managed to get off most of a patch of dirt that’s been bothering me for almost eight years. That alone is worth the price of admission.
Outdoor windows
Living in a high-rise apartment building, this test is always nerve-wracking. But I felt safer than usual with the Winbot W3 Omni, because it has the big, heavy anchor of the base station. This station can also suction itself to the floor for even more hold just in case.
Image: Alice Clarke.
That said, I have only had two alerts from this robot, and both of them were on an outdoor window. One said the robot got stuck, despite only the bottom of the window touching one corner. I had to boot up the app and switch it to manual control so I could drive the robot to safety.
The other alert said that it was slipping because its tether got caught on the edge of the base station. Nothing makes you run faster than hearing “Winbot is slipping” when it’s a dozen floors off the ground over a busy street. Once again I had to manually navigate it back to safety, only this time more stressed.
Nothing gets the heart racing quite like an alert from a robot stuck on an apartment’s outdoor window. Images: Alice Clarke.
When it did work, though, I used the screen on the base station to select thorough clean, and after one go round, the window was noticeably cleaner. I marvelled at how nice the window is. It looked almost professionally cleaned. I wish I could reach the outside of all my windows so I could do all of them with the W3 Omni.
Cleaning the cleaner
The most exciting part of the W3 Omni is the big washing machine body. That’s the selling point. Sure, you can just rinse the little mopping pad between windows, but that doesn’t clean as well if you have particularly gross windows.
Image: Alice Clarke.
I found the clean from the built-in washing machine to be excellent, but I’m frustrated that the machine can’t clean a cloth while the robot cleans a window. It’s a one-or-the-other situation, which is less convenient than I’d hoped. I like that it’s doing it all for me; I just wish it could do it all for me at the same time.
Image: Alice Clarke.
Also, it doesn’t dry the mopping pad, so you can’t just leave it in there when done, and you have to find somewhere for it to dry. It’s not a dealbreaker; it just is a bit less convenient on a luxury machine designed for convenience.
Who is the Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni for?
Ecovacs has two excellent window-washing robots available at the moment: the Winbot Neo Mini and the Winbot W3 Omni. The Neo Mini is for people who have only a few small windows that don’t get too dirty. The Winbot W3 Omni is for people who have a lot of large windows and not a lot of patience. Anyone else living in a similar glasshouse situation to mine would be well-served by the Winbot W3 Omni.
The W3 Omni is also great for people who need to wash other glass, like pool fences, away from power points. It’s a much more versatile device, even if you are paying for that convenience.
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Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni
The Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni is smart window-washing robot for people who have a lot of large windows and not a lot of patience.
Features
9
Value for money
7
Performance
8
Ease of use
9
Design
7
Positives
It can wash its own mop pads
Cleans larger windows faster and more effectively than smaller robots
Has a large anchor and cannot lie
Negatives
Can’t wash a window and its mop pad at the same time
I’ve just spent half an hour inside Meta VR Glasses at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park. They’re lighter, smaller and thinner than Apple’s Vision Pro, and a lot cheaper. So who are they for, and what are they like?
Meta announced them at its Connect event, and they go on sale in spring 2027. As well as the demo, I sat down with Angela Chang, a vice president in Meta’s VR division, to find out how they were built.
All smiles during the demo, it was impressive…Credit Valens Quinn
Meta VR Glasses specifications and price
Price
US$1,299.99 (Australian pricing to be confirmed)
Availability
Spring 2027, including Australia
Weight
Glasses about 100g, compute puck 300g
Display
5K micro-OLED, 2412 x 2288 pixels per eye
Pixel density
37 pixels per degree
Refresh rate
Up to 120Hz
Field of view
70 degrees horizontal x 66 degrees vertical
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite (XR2 Gen 3)
Memory and storage
12GB RAM, 128GB storage, microSD slot up to 1TB
Cameras and sensors
13 in total, including passthrough cameras at 26 pixels per degree, four eye tracking cameras and a depth sensor
Battery
Up to 3 hours of media playback, 45W charger included, can run while plugged in
Lens spacing (IPD)
56 to 70mm
Controls
Eye tracking, hand gestures, Meta AI voice, optional Touch Plus controllers
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, USB-C with DisplayPort input
Video and audio
Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, IMAX Enhanced
What are Meta VR Glasses?
They’re Meta’s latest VR glasses. They do mixed reality, meaning they show you the outside world using special cameras, and they’re an evolution of Meta’s Quest headset. The Quest is the bigger one you strap to your head and is more focused on gaming. These are aimed at everyday use.
The new Meta VR Glasses don’t need a head strap or band, just the nose and ear arms support its weight. Credit: Meta
They weigh about 100 grams, or about the same as a deck of cards. As soon as I put them on they felt much slimmer, lighter and more comfortable than the Vision Pro, which is probably the leader in this category and weigh around 600-650 grams.
There are two parts: the glasses themselves and a puck. The puck isn’t just a battery. It’s also where the processor sits, and it connects to the glasses with a special optical cable. You can’t disconnect the cable and swap in another puck, because it’s such a high bandwidth connection.
The inside view showing pancake lenses as well as adjustable nose clips. Credit: Valens Quinn
They run the same operating system as Meta Quest, extended to support eye and hand tracking. Inside is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite processor, the XR2 Gen 3, with 12GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and a microSD slot for up to a terabyte. Meta AI is built into the operating system. The plan is to run Muse, Meta’s more conversational AI that can go out and do tasks for you, but in my demo it was the Meta AI chatbot.
Setup and fit
The setup was really interesting. I wear prescription glasses, so when I walked in they put them into a little scanner that worked out my prescription. I didn’t have to tell them anything. About 15 minutes later I had custom lens inserts, which snap into the glasses with magnets. If you wear glasses you’ll need to get inserts made, but it was quick and simple.
Once they’re on, the lenses slide in and out and the glasses guide you on screen to get them to the right width. The lenses adjust from 56 to 70mm apart and can handle faces that aren’t symmetrical. There’s also an adjustable nose piece.
They do sit a little forward on the face, so they can look a bit funny. I think you could get a better fit than I did with some adjustment. With the Vision Pro I use Zeiss inserts, which also attach with magnets. The key difference is that these don’t fully enclose your eyes. There’s no hood resting against your forehead to block out all the light. Interestingly, I didn’t really notice that during the demo.
Design and comfort
They’re made from nice materials. A button on top recentres everything, and there are volume controls on the arm. It’s not complicated and it’s easy to get your head around.
The frame is magnesium alloy, which keeps it strong and light and helps get rid of heat. I didn’t notice any heat build-up in the 30 minutes I used them.
Lightness is the real key. I didn’t notice the weight on my head at all during the demo. There’s no head strap or back band. They just rest on your ears, which is a big step forward for this type of device, and it may open them up to more people who don’t want to mess up their hair. That’s something the Vision Pro couldn’t do, because it’s quite heavy.
The puck is where the battery sits. Meta says it’s good for about three hours of use, depending on what you’re doing. When you want to move around it goes in your pocket, and it has a fan to keep it cool. Angela Chang said heat was one of the challenges: what happens when it’s in your pocket and the fan is blowing? The optical cable also had to stay flexible enough to hang neatly behind your back.
You can’t swap in a spare battery on this first model, but you can plug it into mains power while you use it, so you can keep going if you run out of charge. A 45W charger comes in the box. Three hours should get you through at least one movie on a plane.
The Meta VR Glasses are much smaller and lighter – a true revelation in the VR glasses category. Credit: Meta
Angela called making them smaller a multivariable physics question. The micro-OLED displays can only get so small before the resolution drops, and Meta also wanted to keep the weight and price down. Overall I think they’ve come up with a good balance.
Display and image quality
The micro-OLED display has 2412 x 2288 pixels per eye, which works out to 37 pixels per degree. Meta says that’s the highest pixel density of any of its VR devices. It looked sharp, not coarse or grainy at all, and in my experience the focus was better than on the Vision Pro. Colours were vibrant and fairly realistic.
The passthrough view of the room around me also looked realistic, and I didn’t notice any problems. I couldn’t test bright lights to judge dynamic range, as we were in a well-lit room with a table in front of me.
The Micro OLED displays (with pancake lenses) are probably the smallest on the market while keeping fidelity and detail. Credit: Meta
The field of view is 70 degrees horizontal by 66 degrees vertical. Angela says it’s the widest of any glasses-style device. I didn’t get tunnel vision or feel cramped. With the Vision Pro, after a while I did start to notice where the edges were, but I didn’t have that here.
The colour passthrough cameras run at 26 pixels per degree, compared with 18 on the Quest 3, and they have autofocus. The glasses also use your eye tracking to sharpen whatever you’re looking at. In practice it’s seamless and works a lot like your own eyes.
The micro-OLED displays are the most expensive part of the glasses. Angela said Meta had to commit investment to its display partners and uses more than one supplier. It’s pushing the edge of what’s possible with this type of screen.
Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and IMAX Enhanced are supported. The sound was good too, with a real spatial sense that makes you feel immersed in the scene.
Controls: eyes, hands and voice
I was so happy that these use both eye tracking and hand tracking. There are no silly devices you have to hold on to. I was sitting at a desk with my hands close in front of me, and it tracked them really well.
When you first put them on, there’s an eye tracking test like on the Vision Pro. You look at dots and they disappear. After that you pinch to select, drag corners to resize windows, and pinch to zoom. There’s also a scroll gesture: you make a fist and move your thumb forward, back, left or right, like a scroll wheel or trackpad. It took me a little getting used to, but it works well. You can also use Meta AI to control things by voice.
Make a fist and use your thumb to scroll. Credit: Meta
There are 13 cameras and sensors in total. Six watch the world around you, and two of those are on the arms, pointing down at your hands. There are two colour cameras for passthrough, four eye tracking cameras and a time-of-flight depth sensor.
There’s no outer screen showing your eyes, as the Vision Pro has. I don’t know how I feel about that. It’s definitely a cost saving. That screen lets people around you know whether you can see them, and that eye contact is an interesting psychological feature. Meta has dispensed with it entirely.
Movies and sport
One demo was the 3D Billie Eilish concert film. It was very good, though not quite as good as on the Vision Pro, which felt more immersive and wrapped around me more. You still got a real sense of separation, with layers of people in the crowd holding up their phones, and it felt like I was right up on stage. It didn’t feel gimmicky. It’s proper 3D.
For sport there was an NBA game in 180 degrees, so it wraps around you horizontally more than vertically. I was right in the action, with basketball to my left and right, and I could see details in the crowd, including Kylie Jenner on one side and Taylor Swift on the other.
There’s also something called VR Enhanced Cinema, where the movie studio decides the environment around the screen and it changes to match the content. I watched a scene from an Avengers film set in outer space, with planets surrounding the screen. If you’re a real fan it’s nice, but I don’t think you need it. I’d rather make the screen as big as I could on a wall. Disney content is on the way, and streaming apps like Disney+ and Prime Video are there too. You can make the screen really big.
The Meta VR Glasses give you a cinematic experience from a small package – great for travel? Credit: Meta
One thing I couldn’t do was get up and walk around, so I couldn’t check how well virtual objects stay in place as you move. The Vision Pro does this exceptionally well. I assume these can too, given the camera system, but because they’re tethered I guess Meta didn’t want us trying it in the demo. And because there’s no hood blocking the light, a fully immersive mode that takes you somewhere else entirely, like an island or a mountain top, probably won’t be as effective.
Work and productivity
The Virtual Display mode gave me three big screens in front of me. It works with Windows PCs and Macs. On Microsoft Surface laptops a button appears when you look at the laptop, and you just press it to extend the screens. On a Mac you’ll need to download some software.
I did some vibe coding, with the website on one screen, the code on another and a palette of colours on a third. The text was clear and sharp, though the extra screens could benefit from a higher resolution. It was still very useful, and it’s something I could see myself doing, especially with glasses this light and comfortable that pack into a bag for the cafe.
Love the multi-screen extension and virtual keyboard and trackpad. Credit Meta
It connects to your devices wirelessly over Wi-Fi 6. There’s a Wi-Fi 7 chip inside, but it isn’t set up for Wi-Fi 7 yet. Meta says there’s no drop in quality over Wi-Fi compared with plugging in, and you can also connect by USB-C.
I really love the virtual keyboard. You place your hands flat on a surface, it maps a keyboard and trackpad onto it, and you type. If you’re out and want to write a long email or text, you can type it out instead of tapping it into your phone. The size and shape of the surface doesn’t really matter, so a fold-down plane tray is fine. The limit is very low light, when it can’t see your hands. Contrasting, well-lit surfaces work best. There’s also a floating keyboard you can tap in the air.
Gaming
The Quest is the more dedicated gaming device, but Meta says the VR Glasses will support more than 75 games you play with your hands, and controllers open up the full Quest library.
I played Dragon Grove, a game board floating in front of you where you connect leaves and grow things. It’s more of a kids’ game, but it showed how you can manipulate objects right in front of you. They looked clear, realistic and sharp up close, and the tracking felt low latency. I also streamed an Xbox racing game with a controller, and that was fine.
The USB-C port also takes a DisplayPort signal, so you can plug in a console or handheld and use the glasses as a big personal screen.
Price and how they compare with Vision Pro
Meta VR Glasses will cost US$1,299, compared with US$3,699 for the Vision Pro. That’s a huge drop. Angela Chang said the Vision Pro has more expensive parts, including two processors, premium materials and the outer display. Meta used supply chain deals and investment to keep the price down, and it’s selling the glasses at cost. I think Meta wants to grow the category and bring more people into it.
Australian pricing hasn’t been announced. My guess is it could land around A$2,000, and A$1,999 would be a really nice price point. The Vision Pro starts at A$6,299 here, so that would be about a third of the price.
Scaling down the size – Apple’s Vision Pro (left) and Meta’s VR Glasses (right). Credit: Valens Quinn
I wouldn’t say they’re better than the Vision Pro at anything in particular visually. Where they move ahead is comfort and price. They’re lighter, they have pretty much all the features, and they’re way cheaper.
I asked Angela whether we’ll ever see the holy grail: glasses like these that can block out everything around you or turn transparent. She thinks so, and said there’s a roadmap beyond micro-OLED displays, though we’re not there yet.
Who is it for?
Meta VR Glasses suit people who want a big personal screen for movies and sport, frequent flyers, and anyone who’d like extra monitors wherever they work. Gamers are covered, but the Quest is still Meta’s dedicated gaming device.
I was very impressed with the experience, and the price really drives it home. They go on sale in spring 2027, and we’ll share Australian pricing when Meta confirms it.
Valens Quinn attended Meta Connect in California as a guest of Meta.
When will Meta VR Glasses be available in Australia?
Meta says they go on sale in spring 2027, and Australia is one of the launch countries.
How much do Meta VR Glasses cost?
They cost US$1,299.99. Australian pricing has not yet been announced.
Can you use Meta VR Glasses if you wear glasses?
Yes. You need prescription lens inserts, which attach to the glasses with magnets.
How long does the battery last?
Meta says up to three hours of media playback. You can also plug the puck into power and keep using them.
Do Meta VR Glasses work with a Mac or PC?
Yes. Virtual Display connects to Windows PCs and Macs wirelessly or over USB-C and can show several large screens.
