The launch of the Apple Vision Pro sparked renewed interest in augmented reality experiences, both those that offer full-fledged and heavy headsets and those that enable simpler glasses. The latter often rely on your smartphone or a dedicated remote control to navigate the apps projected in front of you, an indirect method of interaction made even more cumbersome by the standard design of these devices. Remote controls may be fine for TVs and home appliances, but not when you can barely see your own hand. This concept design seeks to challenge conventions by redesigning the front of a remote control, offering a more ergonomic and easier way to navigate mixed reality with these XR glasses.
Designer: Yiqiao Liu
XR or eXtended Reality glasses like the Xreal Air and TCL RayNeo can be described as poor man’s vision pro. They basically display a virtual monitor in front of you that can be attached anywhere or follow your head. This makes the glasses lighter, cheaper and less conspicuous, although they look like oversized sunglasses. This also makes using the XR platform feel a bit more familiar, as it more or less corresponds to familiar operating systems like Windows or Android.
It also makes it easier to move and interact with objects in this XR space, and some even use the phone itself as a pointer and remote control, which is difficult to use when the view is partially obscured by the glasses and the fingers only feel a flat, monotonous surface. On the other hand, traditional remote controls can also be cumbersome to use with their numerous buttons and straightforward layout.
The XR Glasses Controller concept takes the minimalist design of an Apple TV remote and tilts it at an angle. Visually, this soap-shaped device looks like an unbalanced remote, with the top buttons tilted to the right and the bottom touch wheel sliding to the left. It’s not a design made just to look different, although it definitely gives it a distinctive appearance.
The theory behind this design is the mobility and limited reach of our thumbs when holding a remote. As many smartphone designers already know, the thumb holding the remote naturally moves in an arc, and this up and down movement can cause more strain. The controls are therefore aligned with this arc, allowing the user to easily switch between buttons and touchpad without having to overextend or bend their thumb. In addition to the significantly reduced number of buttons, the remote is also easier to use, despite being limited to Android-based XR platforms, as these buttons fit perfectly with Android’s navigation scheme.
