Here’s the first live demo of Android XR on Google’s prototype smart glasses [Video]

Google has been working on Android XR, its platform for smart glasses and mixed reality headsets, for a while now and offered a first glimpse late last year. During the recent TED2025 conference, Google offered the first live demo of Android XR in action on a pair of prototype smart glasses, and now that demo is readily available to view.

Our only look at Android XR on smart glasses thus far has been in a video posted by Google in December, where the company showed a few examples of what the software looks like and what it will be able to do. But we’ve seen clips like that before for plenty of smart glasses, and it rarely works as well in real life.

During the TED2025 conference, Google’s Shahram Izadi led a talk where a demonstration of Android XR’s capabilities was presented with the help of a pair of prototype glasses and Nishtha Bhatia. In the demo, we can see the lens that displays Android XR. Izadi says that the lenses support a prescription. He was using the glasses on stage to show speaker notes and said that they connect to your phone and can use “all your phone apps.”

The demo shows the glasses and Android XR kicks off with Gemini generating a haiku on demand, then ramps things up quickly by having Nishtha turn around briefly and then ask Gemini several seconds later about what she saw, asking if Gemini caught “the title of the white book on the shelf behind me,” which Gemini then recites immediately. Google previously teased this functionality as a part of Project Astra, which is now available as part of Gemini Live on smartphones. The same is used to then locate a hotel key card on the shelf. Some simpler, but still impressive demos include explaining a diagram, translating a sign to English, and then translating that same sign into the Farsi (Persian) language. Building on that Nishtha then speaks to Gemini in Hindi – without changing any settings – to which Gemini immediately replies in Hindi as well.

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Continuing with XR applications, Gemini then looks at a record and is able to recognize it and find a song from that record to be played on demand. Navigation is then shown with a heads-up direction and a 3D map.

Following that, the same video dives into Android XR on headsets using Samsung’s Project Moohan headset, which Izadi reiterates is being launched later this year. This demo goes into examples of what Gemini can do in the headset, which lines up with our hands-on experience last year. Some of the demos include Google Maps Immersive View and using Gemini to get tips while playing Stardew Valley.

The full video can be viewed below (or on the TED website). The prototype glasses Google used here are said to be a prototype for a product that will ultimately be released by Samsung, potentially next year.

What do you think of this look at Android XR?

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