Viture One
A wearable 1080P display with built in speakers, in the form of a large pair of eyeglasses. I used to own a laptop-sized portable monitor, but the Viture works so well, I gave the monitor away.
Unbeatable private and portable movie experience for planes
The number one use case for this thing is watching movies and TV shows on the plane. This gives me a tonne of advantages over using the plane's inbuilt entertainment systems:
- Other passengers can't snoop at what I'm watching
- My wife can sleep next to me and I don't have to blind her with light pollution from whatever I'm watching
- The virtual display size is much larger than the tiny screen planes give us. Even in business class!
Improved comfort and posture
Using my laptop in a coffee shop or otherwise means having to sit in a certain way, and also look down at my laptop screen.
These display glasses mean I don't have to tilt my head down, nor shape my body like a prawn. I can lean back into a big soft lounge chair, laptop in lap, and be able to work perfectly. I'm typing this paragraph now from my bed, looking up at the ceiling.
Sound is convenient for some cases, but not for others
Putting these display glasses on, you get a small speaker near each of your ears, so you do not need to wear headphones. The sound quality is surprisingly good considering the circumstances, but is worse than almost any actual headphone or speaker you can get.
In some situations the little speakers can be annoying. For instance, in my quiet bedroom at home at night, my wife can hear some of what I'm listening to.
Motion sickness is a thing
When using it in its standard mode, where it displays a screen all the time, moving my head while focusing on the display can give me noticeable motion sickness. I've learned to focus on the real world when moving my head.
It works on many, but not all devices with USB-C
It plugs into many laptops, gaming handhelds, and some some Android smartphones, such as my Samsung Galaxy S22. It can work with a Nintendo Switch when using a dongle. Alas, it doesn't work with my wife's Pixel 7, or any phone that can't display video over USB-C.
It lacks HDR and is only 60Hz
This is unfortunate, as the blacks are quite excellent, and using it's clear enough for most games.
It's not so good for heavy read, writing, or coding.
I have had mixed success using this for productive activity like coding. Unfortunately, something about the mirrors/lenses of this device mean it can be difficult to display fine text clearly, particularly towards the edges. For example, in the bottom right corner of Obsidian is very small text "20 backlinks" or "525 words", which can be hard to read. Sometimes I am able to wear the device at just the right angle where I can read everything, but this is very fussy.
This thing is one of my near essentials, and I bring it with me on all flights, and most coffee-shop trips.