Android XR Catalyst: we have been selected

On 25 July 2026, Scale-1 Portal was selected for Google’s Android XR Developer Catalyst programme. We now have a Project Aura development kit — the augmented reality glasses built by XREAL with Google.

What Project Aura is

Project Aura is a pair of optical see-through XR glasses: you see the real world through the lenses, with digital content layered on top. It runs on an X1S chip with a split-compute design — the heavy electronics sit outside the frame, which stays light and portable.

The field of view reaches 70 degrees in OLED, well above current consumer AR glasses. The whole thing runs on Android XR, Google’s XR platform, with Gemini built in. Commercial launch is announced for autumn 2026.

Why we applied

Our job is to pick the right technology for a business goal, with no vendor lock-in. That means knowing the hardware before it reaches the market — not discovering it at the same time as our clients.

Early access lets us port our existing applications to these glasses and measure how they actually behave: ergonomics in optical see-through, interface legibility under varying light, comfort over a long session, performance under split compute.

What it changes for our clients

• An informed opinion rather than a hunch. When you ask whether your use cases make sense on AR glasses, the answer will rest on testing, not on a spec sheet.
• Time saved when the day comes. The porting work starts now. When the product ships, we will not be starting from scratch.
• An honest comparison between formats. Standalone headset, AR glasses, projection: we will be able to say which one actually serves your goal, from experience.

What comes next

We will document what we learn here: what works well on this format, what resists, and the use cases where it genuinely beats a headset or a smartphone.

Have a project in mind for this kind of hardware? Let’s talk.

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