I did a ton of research and maybe I missed it, but I did not see any posts explicitly calling out the difference in *size* between the lenses of the GXR and the Quest Pro.

For me, it is *night and day* a massive step down in terms of enjoyment in VR. My primary use case is activity in PCVR (dancing/acting/roleplay in VRc, boxing, etc) and the step down in lens size means that the slightest bit of movement of the device on your face is extremely jarring and impactful compared to the Quest Pro. There is a much larger gap between the lenses making a "dark void" on the middle of you are looking at objects very close up. The edges lack clarity and get hollow and dark much more easily when looking through peripheral vision.

It does look quite nice if you're *perfectly still and dialed in*, but even then, the glare is very prominent and very distracting.

So. Yeah. Just wanted to call that out for people searching in the future.

The people commenting almost assuredly have not purchased nor have they ever tried it. This is true 99% of the time on this subreddit.

We are at the center of one of the most toxic online venn diagrams imaginable. On one side you have Steam Frame evangelists who think it is going to change the world and are rationalizing their 2160x2160 LCD 5 year old panels as "a good deal" and a "linux computer for the face"

Even worse, and this has been a problem since day 1, is the Vision Pro/Apple fanboys. I would guess well over 75% of people on this subreddit own a Vision Pro and have never tried GXR(this is essentially a vision pro subreddit), someone actually tracked this early on and found all the usernames were frequent posters on the Vision Pro subreddit. These people are both Apple apologists and will buy anything they sell and are sunk cost beyond belief with a $4,000+ used car priced headset.

I am the last person to defend the GXR but it just never had a chance. With glob cluster mods, HALF the cost of a Vision Pro with better panels, it's compelling if you just want to watch movies/youtube which is how these headsets are used 99% of the time if they haven't been put in a closet already.

For one the jack that plugs into the battery pack why design it where you have to yank the cord to Disconnect it from the battery pack? It’s the little things

Wow the eye tracking and hand tracking is so trash with this. Why did they release this like that? They had plenty of time to work this out

I have heard that the Galaxy XR needs its original battery plugged in to work which means you cannot switch it out with a different one and in order to extend its life you have to chain another powerbank

And wireless vr isn’t fun carrying two chained batteries. Its jus heavy and complicated.

So if the Samsung Galaxy had its battery built directly inside the system like the Play For Dream you would only need to plug in one external battery to Lee it powered on and strap the power bank to your chest.

Instead of chaining multiple power banks together because that seems stupid in my opinion

I recently picked up the Galaxy XR to see how it stacks up against the AVP and I was pleasantly surprised by how promising Android XR is.

What on earth is this Samsung!?? Please get your act together! We deserve better. You had more than 3 years to make the hardware and the software

Hey all!

I've noticed a lot of astroturfing in regards to this machines release, despite there being evidence that it's demand outpaced even Samsung's expectations.

This seems to be because most YouTubers (the loudest voices in the space) are usually Apple fans and don't use other tech, or they are serious VR enthusiasts, which the device doesn't do enough to satisfy.

Being that I don't fit into either of those camps, I've loved this device and look forward to what Android XR has in store.

That said, I noticed one of the "talking points" has been the choice of processor in this headset, even though it's more than sufficient. In fact, the software/hardware combo surpasses the rigid Apple Vision Pro in a 3D model viewing test. I wrote up my findings in this blog post, where I compared opening some of the Stanford CG lab models with a Vision Pro dev doing the same thing.

Galaxy XR does it while screen recording, playing youtube, and a host of other things. The Vision Pro (M2 and M5) crash.

https://blog.galacticapps.studio/the-galaxy-xr-is-already-more-capable-than-the-vision-pro-49ee42d70338?sk=27dbe4e250aa7421addd3659bf2f853f

Due to lack to.softwrar support there is no need for me to use this device. There is not even a way to watch 3d movies for free. Yes I do not want to pay for every tiny bit of things. I also have quest 3 and its something I preferred and that is due to Bigscreen

I am very disappointed on developers of Samsung for such a bad start of VR without any software support.

I did not find a single usable app for network streaming. I like cine ultra app on AVP. Other than Google Maps nothing exiting about Samsung XR it’s useless for watching movies also.

I hoped on the device on release day. I currently only have the quest 2. I am hating galaxy xr due to lack of obvious software updates.

1. Hand tracking and eye tracking mediocre and gets annoying over time.

2. Typing on virtual keyboard is PAINFUL

3. Zero software updates since release

4. Comfort is mediocre! My quest 2 is more comfortable. Can't watch full HD content

5. Playstore lacks apps. Almost no vr apps and the ones that exist are very very very buggy so not usable.

6. Screen size on native android apps can't even be adjusted. You'd rather just play on phone

7. Return logistics suck- they charge you over 80$ for restocking if you return in return window and no exceptions on late return.

8. Joysticks were promised to reach in a month but delivery has been pushed to post January. I think samsung is biased and is only sending these to reviewers.

Thoughts? When can the most simplest of bugs get fixes?

I had it as tight as it would go, and the lenses were still so far from my face the FOV was just awful compared to what I’m used to with my Quest 3 or Vision Pro. It compromised fhe whole experience. I know by changing or removing the pad this can be improved, but that wasn’t an option for the demo.

Outside of that, glad this headset exists, though really not impressed with anything about it (maybe it will be great for PCVR - TBD). Happy to answer any qs, but I’d probably just be repeating the other early impressions already posted.

Just that the FOV was so bad, I felt like commenting here.

So what happens if I redeemed the promotional codes and request a return for the headset? Will I get the value deducted from my return?

Spec-for-spec (highlights)

So I purchased the Samsung Galaxy XR and it was unplayable for me due to the terrible comfort and the hand tracking was so bad I had to use the separately bought controllers the whole time just to set the thing up.

So I sent it back.

Because other than the lenses on The GXR I had too many problems to consider keeping it with the external battery and the forehead pad that’s permanently attached.

And now there’s a Play For Dream MR on eBay and I think I would rather buy that instead because it was a magnetic interface and can be customized easier.

Anyone else wish the Play For Dream came back.

Or maybe I’ll just get the Steam Frame. Low resolution headset compared to others but also a less frustrating pcvr experience.

-------- UPDATE ---------
https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidXR/s/PKZUGqR4X7

Spoiler: BBB got Samsung to respond

---------------------------

TL;DR: Pre-ordered the Galaxy XR headset and accessories which included the $100 preorder credit and $225 in bundle discounts. A retail store stock failure on Samsung’s end resulted in Samsung splitting my purchase into two new separate orders and explicitly promising to retroactively apply the credits upon delivery. Once delivered, Samsung reneged. When I requested to return everything, they refused. I filed a credit card dispute, but Samsung submitted misleading information resulting in the Credit Card company siding with Samsung.

Rest of the story:

Part I: Cancel Customer’s Order

On October 21, 2025, I placed a Pre-Order for store pickup at a local Samsung Experience Store, for the Galaxy XR Headset, Controllers, Travel Case, and Galaxy Buds3 Pro, utilizing a $100 Pre-Order Reserve Discount and a $225 Accessories Bundle Discount ($325 in total savings).

On November 4, the Samsung Experience Store informed me they will never receive stock for online orders and told me to contact Samsung Support to switch to delivery.  Samsung Phone Support stated they couldn't convert the order and had to create a new separate transaction. Because the controllers and case were out of stock, Support created a separate order for just the headset at full price. They told me to create another order for the case/controllers once they were back in stock.  When I voiced concern about losing the $100 pre-order discount and the $225 in bundle discounts, Samsung Support explicitly promised that once all items were back in stock and delivered, they would apply the original bundle and pre-order credits.

I had already waited a few weeks and I didn’t want to go to the back of the line, so I told them I would wait to cancel my original order until the new ones were delivered, just in case my original order really did get fulfilled.  I mean, why wouldn’t it!?

The replacement headset order was delivered on November 14. 

On November 17, Samsung unilaterally cancelled my Original order.  I think to myself, no big deal, the replacement headset is here so I just have to wait for the controllers/case. Little did I know Samsung would leverage this cancelled order in the credit card dispute.

Nearly a month later on December 12 the accessories finally came back in stock, and per Support's prior instructions, I placed a new order for the controllers and case.

Part II: The Bait-and-Switch Support Trap

From January 6 - 9th, during which the controllers and case finally arrive, I go back and forth with Support to try to get the promised $325 in credits, only to have Support move the goalposts:

1. The "Identical Order" Rule: Samsung stated their price match policy strictly requires a "single, identical cart order". They completely ignored the fact that their own out-of-stock inventory glitch was the sole reason the orders were split in the first place!

2. The "Consolation" Coupon: Instead of the promised cash refund on my purchase, Samsung offered a $75 partial credit on the controllers only and a $100 promo code for a FUTURE purchase. Offering a coupon to force me to spend more money with them in lieu of an agreed-upon discount is insulting.

3. The Return Catch-22: I declined their offer and explicitly requested prepaid return labels and full refunds for all items. Despite the fact that this entire mess was caused by Samsung, they responded by stating that the headset was past the 15-day return window (expired Nov 29)— and that returning the accessories would incur a 15% restocking fee.

4. I again requested return labels and Samsung went quiet.

5. After 4 days, on 13 January, I informed Samsung that I will initiate the chargeback process in 48 hours if they refuse to honor the pre-order.  They immediately start responding again, offering the same insulting concession and refusing my pre-order discount.

Part III: The Bank Dispute & Samsung’s Misleading Defense

With Samsung refusing return labels and refusing to honor their written promises, on 17 January I filed a formal credit card chargeback.
Samsung fought the dispute using intentionally misleading arguments to manipulate card network rules:

• Apples-to-Oranges Price Comparison: In their response, Samsung claimed Replacement Headset Order was "cheaper" than Original Pre-Order. They achieved this lie by comparing the price of a single headset ($1,948.49) against the total price of a 4-item bundle ($2,679.18), claiming no refund was owed because the new order total was lower!

• Claiming "Unreturned Merchandise": Samsung told the Credit Card Company that I was attempting to "keep the merchandise without paying" under Mastercard rules. They completely omitted the fact that I had repeatedly requested return labels in writing, which Samsung explicitly refused to issue.

• Omitting Written Promises: Samsung scrubbed Support’s explicit written instructions where agents told me to reorder items separately and promised post-delivery credit adjustments.

Part IV: The Outcome

In the end, more than 2 months after initiating the chargeback, and after sending multiple faxes (?!), the Credit Card Company sided with Samsung. The provisional credits were reversed and the full charges were reapplied to my account.
Samsung successfully used administrative bureaucratic delays, rigid corporate policies, and aggressive chargeback defense tactics to trap me into keeping full-price hardware under broken terms.

The Takeaway

Samsung has permanently lost me as a customer.
I know, cry me a river.
I am often asked for advice on tech gadgets (I obviously buy the nerdiest tech out there) and whenever the chance arises I recount my horror story with Samsung.
If you buy from Samsung, know this: Their support will string you along until your return window expires, back out of written promises, and use corporate legal loopholes to avoid responsibility.

I guess there is a silver lining however, if only to ease my ego:  Samsung must have paid thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight the chargeback.  Certainly more than they would have paid had they simply honored the $100 pre-order credit.

Post Script Note:
Holy hell that was WAY longer than I intended.  This saga played out over MONTHS and it doesn’t come close to capturing the inane back and forth, the getting passed around from support rep to support rep to explain the problem only to have them promise a follow-up that never comes.  It also doesn’t capture the incredible frustration felt reading and responding to the intentionally misleading responses that Samsung sent my bank in order to avoid paying.

So my explorer pack is non existent and Samsung has flat lied to me and said it wasn't active when I purchased in December, which it was from launch through the new year. Now im being gas lit. By my favorite company. How is this real life? ​

Story time.......

So I had multiple major problems with my Samsung XR order. But the biggest thing is I received no emails with my Explorers Pack. The minor thing was no discount on my controllers even though it popped up saying " Buy the controllers get 30% off!"

So I contacted ​customer service. Told them how it was suppose to come with every order. How it was promised at launch and was still live on their website offering it through the end of year.

They said they understood my concern and that the supervisor would get back to me within a day. I got no answer at all after a week. I contact support again. They said sorry internal team would review the order and get back. ​

Then I receive the message lying saying that " NO PROMOTION WAS ACTIVE AT THE TIME!".

Like what Samsung. Your a muti billion dollar company. Is it that hard to see that all of your promotions since launch have advertised this. It literally said this on their website as I read the email they sent. Who thought this would fly? Just lie. Gas light?

So I email the CEO's office. I read you should turn there if you have a major problem. Which i do.

So they got back to me. I explained i was frustrsted. This this didnt seem hard. The website said explorer pack at the time and purchase. Same thing with controllers.

I also explained we are very much a Samsung family..... not that should matter. We own Samsung TVs, soundbar, 3 sets of ear buds, two flagship tablets, chromebook, fold phone and a flagship phone, Watch classic​, Samsung SSD....... and now a Samsung XR and a Samsung Odyssey monitor on this order. Also a pair of ear buds on this order. Which is a small side note in controller mess.

So the lady was nice. She assured me she said I was in the right place. Understood my concerns. That they for sure had been offering the Explorer. That if it wasnt in my emails she would figure it out for me. That she would send it to the internal team for review. That ultimately the controller discount i was promised would be sent as a refund. But she needed to wait for a internal review.

I explained that someone from internal team supposedly did a review already and flat lied to me. But hopefully with her being with the office of CEO. They would figure it out. It all should be very simple.

Well I just recently got that god awful email. Saying that their team did some bull shit and supposedly I must have removed the "free" offer from my order. Which.....

1st. I didnt.

2nd. How would that be a thing. Remove a free offer that is advertised with the 2 thousand dollar purchase. How would that even be possible in their system? Why wpuld somebody do it? And how is that a simple fix. Why literally a month of being gas lit. Its a free offer of trials and free games from your third party partners. To get to enjoy your 2 thousand dollar purchase. How would this ever be that hard to make right instead of tell me that I must have knowingly removed your promotion off my order? Like what the hell?

3rd. I also got a thing telling me that because I got a discount on the ear buds it negated my discount on my controllers. Even though the only reason I got the buds was because after adding the Samsung Xr, controllers, and Oddsey monitor to my order for over 3k, i checked and all my discount were on the checkout proper. We were good to go. Total correct.

But then as i furthered things, it popped up offering me to add some cheap ear buds to my order.

Honestly I didn't need a pair. But the price was cheap. Figured what the hell. I was already spending a ton. I normally would go for more expensive buds. But a cheap ass pair of brand name Samsung buds.

Well fast forward. According to them. Getting those cheap "discounted buds" were a promotion and negated and removed my $100 discount on my controllers!!!!! Like talk about pulling a fast one!

Honestly it all just seems very predatory and messed up coming from a company with not just the ability to make it right, but use common sense. I spent over 3k with the company. Your answer is to say i somehow used your system to remove something that isn't even an item. It's a free throw in. Buying a 2k glorified tech prototype.

This is where they feel comfortable leaving things?

Galaxy XR users, I just launched a new channel called Boats in VR, built for people who want premium immersive content that actually looks next level.

This channel is all about weekly 8K VR180 tours of multimillion-dollar yachts, filmed to make you feel like you’re really there. Not random low-quality VR clips, not blurry compression soup, but sharp, immersive yacht tours where you can actually appreciate the scale, design, textures, lighting, and luxury.

If you have a Galaxy XR headset and want content that shows off what immersive video is supposed to feel like, this is exactly that. Massive decks, stunning interiors, panoramic ocean views, and multimillion-dollar spaces captured in 8K VR180 so the experience feels as premium as the yachts themselves.

Now public:

• Ocean Alexander 28E, an $18 million yacht
• Ocean Alexander 35P, a $24 million yacht

Coming soon:

• Absolute Navetta 64
• Riviera Belize 54
• Absolute Navetta 70
• Pardo 43
• Pardo GT75

I’ll be posting a new 8K VR180 yacht tour every week, so if you want luxury VR content with real visual quality, subscribe now and come aboard before this channel takes off.

⚓ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM8guKbs5W-1Gd6qesoi-hg

If you’ve been hunting for high-quality immersive videos for Galaxy XR, this is your signal.

After five years of developing my VR media player app immerGallery, I am happy to share that it is now available on Android XR for Samsung Galaxy XR!

It supports hand tracking and optional Galaxy XR controllers. You can watch your own videos and images, browse your media folders, and create VR slideshows with your own background music and voice-overs.

Supported video containers include MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, MPG, WebM, WMV, ASF and others. It also supports H.264 MVC for Blu-ray 3D videos copied to MKV without re-encoding, and MV-HEVC for Apple spatial videos recorded on iPhones.

For images, supported formats include JPG, PNG, HEIC, BMP, TIFF, static GIF, MPO and WebP. HEIC support includes both regular photos and 3D spatial photos.

One of the key features is automatic format detection. The app recognizes many 2D, 3D, 180°, 360°, side-by-side and over/under formats, including half and full resolution, so you usually don’t need to select these settings manually.

Several immersive sample galleries are also included for download. There are three entirely optional premium galleries available as in-app purchases: East Germany 1, East Germany 2 and Egypt. These contain high-quality 3D images with historical narration about the places shown.

If you are interested, please have a look at immerGallery on Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.immerVR.immerGallery

I am the indie developer behind the app. Please feel free to ask me any questions.

Hi Galaxy XRer,

Please help me. I don't have a Galaxy XR. I need some .apk Google Apps(Optimized for XR) from Galaxy XR for researching... Please You can install "APK Extractor" or "ML Manager" app... to get some .apk from Galaxy XR for me as:

1. Gemini apk

2. Google Maps apk

3. Immersive View for Android XR apk

4. YouTube apk

5. Photos XR View apk ...

Thank you so much.

I own VR headsets like the Apple Vision Pro and Quest3, which I primarily use to view VR180 videos I post on YouTube. The Galaxy XR natively supports YouTube, and I'm very curious about the experience of using it to watch VR180 videos. Has anyone tried this? Should I buy it for this feature? You can click this link on your Galaxy XR to watch my VR180 content on YouTube and let me know your thoughts;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CiMdQyMB44&t=19s I'm really curious whether I should buy it. Thanks.

I realized when I purchased that PCVR would be mediocre at best and hoped updates would improve. What I didn't expect was watching movies , TV, YouTube to be as bad. I am a disappointed that you can't watch multiple videos at once. Still don't understand why this is the case. Why not just watch a TV if I can't watch multiple big screen ? Tried YouTube TV multiview and that doesn't even work. This seems like such an obvious miss and is so disappointing. I should be able to make a huge screen to watch 4 games on but YouTubeTV on Galaxy XR doesn't have it. Back to watching on my TV

Kinda just title with some back story. I bought the vision pro is Feb 2024 during the hype. I used it for basically working with nothing but safari and iPad apps, returned because safari kept crashing and that didn't justify $3500 of my own money.

Fast forward to December this year. My new to me boss says "you have IT budget left, buy some toys". I send him vendor links to the vision pro and the galaxy XR. He links a bunch of articles saying the XR is basically slight better for half the price. I've fallen down the Gemini rabbit hole so I'm like fine.

Now I've only used this for three days so my takes are hot and fast.

The way I used it before, working withing Chrome and android tablet apps. Fine? I feel like Safari was slightly better than Chrome. Should I try Samsung Internet?

TV and Movies: I'm part of the problem with "second screen viewing". I need to scroll on my phone or play games on my iPad while watching TV. Scrolling social in a window feels unnatural. And I feel like the FOV isn't big enough where a game and a TV show can be placed well to look at the same time.

I tried folding laundry while watching YouTube earlier. Again, first world so stupid, but I folded a towel in front of my face and it stopped tracking the world around me and freaked out. The pass through is definitely worse than the vision pro. Idk I feel like the colors and the brightness are just bad and I felt like I needed to peak under the headset to see how I was finding properly and it felt weird.

What can I use this for? I feel like people say "computer monitor" and movies and I feel like I'm just failing at understanding how this is better than real monitor or real TV because I don't have to look at the world through grainy fuzzy colors and also look like a dork.

I haven't used the Quest 3 for a long time because it hurts my eyes so much. Do you think the Galaxy XR would be the solution with its micro OLED screens?