After a long wait and a lot of behind-the-scenes collaboration, Google and Samsung finally revealed Google's Android XR platform and the first hardware to run it: Project Moohan, Samsung's mixed reality headset.
If you just looked at the photo of the new Project Moohan headset and did a double take, you're not alone: It looks like a cross between Google's old Daydream VR headset and Apple's high-end Vision Pro glasses.
Google and Samsung revealed the platform and headphones as a development kit today, December 12. The pair also teased AR glasses, although there is no timeline for consumer availability. The Samsung Project Moohan headphones are a different story: Google and Samsung told us in a presentation last week that “the first products based on this platform will launch in 2025.”
It's been a long journey for both Samsung and Google, each of which has had its flirtations, and even long-term relationships, with virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality headsets. Samsung's commitment, so far, has never really matched that of Google, which launched the famous Google Glass and, almost a decade later, finally killed the project.
That failure apparently left Google unfazed. “We, like many others, have made some attempts […] “And I think the vision was right, but the technology wasn't quite ready,” said Sameer Samat, president of Google's Android ecosystem. “But most importantly, we never stopped working on it.”
The tipping point, as Google sees it, has been AI and the arrival of Gemini, and Android XR is its “first platform built entirely for the Gemini era,” Samat said.
Samsung and Google described Project Moohan as a headset that will feature the full range of XR experiences, from those that are fully immersive to mixed reality ones. That makes sense considering that 'Moohan' means 'infinity' in Korean. The headset features eye and hand tracking and will respond to voice queries.
Gemini, Google's generative artificial intelligence platform, will sit at the center of Google's AR system. “Gemini will see what you see and hear what you hear,” he said. This contrasts with Apple's Vision Pro, which, although it integrates Apple Siri, doesn't have that level of awareness, at least not yet (Siri with Visual Intelligence on the iPhone 16 gets it halfway there).
Samsung remained somewhat tight-lipped about Project Moohan's key specifications, refusing to delve into details such as price, weight, battery placement and imaging technology – beyond that, it will be “high resolution.” I could see from the photos and videos that these are mostly gray headphones with a single band and foam support (?) around the back of the head (there may be a battery back there) and a glass front surrounded by a thin chrome layer. bezel.
What we do know is that the silicon powering Project Moohan comes from the third party in this partnership: Qualcomm. Samsung didn't specify which chip or chips will be inside Project Moohan, but it stands to reason that we'd expect the cutting-edge Snapdragon XR2.
Android XR will provide a visual experience inside Moohan that should feel familiar to anyone who has experienced mixed reality inside the Apple Vision Pro or Meta's Quest headset. In the videos I saw floating app screens arranged around the Project Moohan user, who could pinch and grab windows to move them.
Google's Samat said Android XR will focus on personalization and immersion, natural multimodal AI interactions, and “open collaboration with existing XR communities.” Google, however, did not say that Android XR will be open source.
Google is also focused on making sure its native apps, such as Gmail, Maps, Google TV, and YouTube, are ready for Android XR, and showed how YouTube could provide an immersive video viewing experience.
Although the demo videos focused primarily on gesture control, the platform will come with controllers and Android XR will support controller input on other devices when they arrive.
Speaking of other devices, we also got a glimpse of Samsung's AR glasses. In the video they looked like, for example, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses (and maybe smaller than Meta Orion). In the demo, the user could talk to the Gemini on board and ask for directions, and screens on the lens overlaid turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps. There is no timeline for the delivery of these AR glasses.
Speaking to us about Android […] We want to empower users to improve everyday life in a completely new and incredibly immersive way. The possibilities are endless and we are just getting started.”
Starting today, developers will be able to take home these headphones, the new APIs, and an emulator that will allow them to create and migrate applications to new Android XR experiences. They will follow a list of reputable partners who already have them and are working to migrate their applications and services to the system. These include Major League Baseball, Calm, Adobe, AmazeVR Concerts, Naver, and Mirrorscape.
The Moohan Project and AR glasses are just another reminder that 2025 could be the year of mixed reality for the masses… maybe.