The design of the Galaxy XR seems recognizable, yet wearing it differs somewhat from my expectations.
My initial thoughts on Samsung’s Galaxy XR hardware were quite positive. The headset is stunning, lightweight, made from premium materials, and appears to incorporate the best design elements from the leading VR headsets on the market. However, something felt off during my first few uses.
Although the headset does share visual similarities with the Meta Quest Pro, I soon discovered that it can’t be worn in exactly the same manner. General discomfort, a limited field of view, and even alerts from the Android XR operating system about eye-tracking problems indicated this. Surely, this wasn’t how it was intended to function, was it?
While you can change the forehead pad with varying thicknesses, there’s no way to tilt the side arms of the head strap or adjust the lens distance from your face with a dial like the Meta Quest Pro allows. Thus, I returned to the beginning to figure out the issue, and it turned out that the solution was simply to modify how I donned it.
Achieving the right angle
The left side of the image above illustrates how I initially wore the headset. I began by positioning the forehead pad at the top of my forehead, then tightened the wheel at the back to prevent the headset from slipping. While this seemed geometrically correct, I realized that the side arms shouldn’t be perfectly horizontal.
When worn this way, the back padding fails to align properly with the contour of my skull, causing the displays to misalign with my eyes. Android XR repeatedly urged me to lower the headset further, which I found impossible since the forehead pad was already positioned as low as it could go.
To resolve this, I altered my approach by setting the front of the headset onto my cheeks first, then bringing the back down onto my skull. This repositioned the front of the headset at a slight downward angle. The comparison can be seen in the image below.
At that moment, I finally felt like the Galaxy XR fit just right. Instantly, my view of the stunning micro-OLED displays behind the lenses seemed complete. They filled a much larger portion of my vision compared to the almost telescope-like effect I experienced when the headset was worn incorrectly.
Moreover, the pressure on my forehead was alleviated, now evenly distributed across the back of my head. I also immediately ceased receiving notifications from the OS regarding eye-tracking issues, and that impressive eye-tracking navigation began to function as intended.
It was surprising that such a minor adjustment resolved so many issues simultaneously, but I was relieved to have discovered it and can now fully enjoy the Galaxy XR!