AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content Producer Nick Sutrich delves into all things VR, from new hardware to new games, upcoming technologies, and so much more.
This week, I plugged a pair of Viture Beast smart glasses into my Motorola Razr Fold 2026 to see what it would do. Most phones just mirror the phone screen onto a pair of smart glasses like this, but Motorola does something totally different. A special menu appears on the glasses, giving you a way to quickly launch games, movies, video chats, or even turn your phone into a full-fledged laptop replacement.
As smartphones have become more capable over the years, I’ve found my travel bag growing lighter and lighter. Smartphones have largely replaced dedicated cameras for the vast majority of people — I’ve even gone to more than one event without a big camera — and laptops may soon be on the way out, if my experience with the Razr Fold is anything to go by.
Using a phone as a laptop isn’t a new thing, per se, but Motorola makes the transition effortless with Motorola Smart Connect, a piece of software they’ve been improving over the past few years that links all your devices. The brilliant part is that this works on more than just Motorola devices, as it’s designed to let you carry over all your digital belongings and information, no matter which platforms you use.
Fulfilling the XR dream
For the past several years, we’ve seen new VR headsets launch with the idea that they were a “laptop for your face.” Apple did it with the Vision Pro. Samsung did it with the Galaxy XR. Both companies were successful in their own ways with these launches, but the price proved prohibitive for most people.
But a pair of XR smart glasses like Xreal 1S or Viture Beast are a different story entirely. While still a bit expensive, these glasses are a fraction of the cost of bulkier VR headsets and offer a much sleeker hardware profile, easily fitting into a travel bag and looking a lot less awkward when wearing in public.
Possibly even better is the fact that the glasses plug into your phone, meaning you don’t have to remember to install all your favorite apps or copy your most important files over to another device. On top of that, Motorola’s excellent Smart Connect software gives you a completely different UI when glasses are plugged in, and it looks just like your desktop or laptop PC.
For maximum productivity, I recommend slipping a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse into your travel bag. This brilliant Logitech keyboard ($24 as of writing this) has a laptop-style trackpad built into it, so you can get all the comforts of laptop controls without having to pack extra equipment. Just open your Razr Fold’s Bluetooth settings and pair the keyboard to the phone, no extra configuration needed!
When you plug your favorite pair of smart glasses into your Razr Fold, a menu will appear, allowing you to quickly launch desktop, TV, video call, or gaming modes. The Razr Fold’s screen will automatically turn into a trackpad for navigation, so if you don’t want to go the keyboard and mouse route, this is a supremely convenient fallback.
Now, all you have to do is use your thumb (or any finger, really) to slide the on-screen mouse cursor over to your mode of choice, then tap the screen to perform a click. If you launch Desktop Mode, a familiar desktop UI will appear on screen, complete with a mouse cursor.
From this point, there’s literally nothing your Razr Fold can’t do. Play games, launch your favorite browser, open Google Drive or Gmail, and get some work done. Whatever floats your boat works here, and you can even scale windows, move them around, minimize them, etc., just like a Windows or Mac computer.
To make things even better, you can load up the GameHub app from the Google Play Store and play Steam games natively on your Razr Fold, replacing devices like a Steam Deck. I recently checked out the latest Viture Beast glasses and an accompanying Viture controller that are perfect for this functionality, replacing yet another device in your travel bag.
Now, your phone does it all, and thanks to smart glasses like Viture Beast or Xreal 1S, your neck won’t hurt from looking down at a handheld gaming system or laptop for the entire trip.
