Lenovo’s Legion Glasses promise big-screen gaming wherever you are

A person plays a game on Lenovo Legion Go while looking up at a virtual screen with Legion Glasses on. Lenovo
Lenovo’s new Legion Go handheld gaming computer has a built-in 8.8-inch screen, which is great for a pocketable device. But if you want more, you can supersize that to TV dimensions without sacrificing portability, thanks to the new Legion Glasses. Legion Glasses have stylish frames and tinted lenses, resembling sunglasses. Hidden behind the shades are micro-OLED displays that provide 1920×1080 pixels per eye, so you get full-HD gaming on a large virtual screen in a compact, foldable form factor. The earpieces have built-in speakers, so the Legion Go and Glasses are all you need for handheld gaming with big-screen enjoyment. While the attached 1.2m (3.9ft) USB-C cable is unusual, it eliminates the frustration of forgetting to bring the right cable. Lenovo’s Legion Glasses can also connect to laptops, computers, tablets, and phones that support USB-C Alt mode. Many Windows laptops, MacBooks, and iPads with USB-C ports, as well as Android phones, are compatible. Two adjustable nose pads and an anti-slip adapter should help with comfort. Lenovo includes a lens frame to hold prescription lenses. Lenovo Legion Go paired with Legion Glasses sounds like an interesting combination. We’ll need to get some time with Lenovo’s solution to know how these compare to other popular smart glasses. The Legion Glasses weigh 142g (5oz), field of view is 38 degrees, providing a density of 58 pixels per degree (PPD). The brightness of the display hasn’t been announced yet. We do know, however, that the glasses will be available in October, starting at $329. For smart glasses, an ideal device must be affordable, lightweight, and contain a bright display with a wide field of view. For example, the market-leading Xreal Air smart glasses cost about $400, weigh 75 grams, and have a 400-nit display with a 45-degree field of view. A heavier device will put pressure on the nose, a dimmer display will look translucent in a bright room, and a narrow field of view results in a smaller virtual screen. If Lenovo’s Legion Glasses are similar to the Lenovo Glasses T1 we reviewed last year, they should be a nice option, particularly when paired with the Legion Go handheld. I’ve never used a laptop quite like the Lenovo Legion 9i. It’s the only laptop I’ve given a perfect score, which you can read about in my Lenovo Legion 9i review, and it puts many of the best gaming laptops to shame. It’s out of reach for most people — it’s certainly too expensive for me — but I didn’t touch another laptop this year that excited me as much as the Legion 9i did. Sure, it’s a powerful laptop, but when you’re spending $3,000 (or more) on a gaming laptop, you expect peak performance. The Legion 9i stands out so much because it refines this class of laptop. It takes all of the elements that make 16-inch desktop replacements impractical and turns them on their head. It’s not a flawless laptop — no laptop ever is — but it’s the closest I’ve seen this year.
Slimmed down The video game hardware scene is so busy these days that it’s hard to keep track of. During November, for instance, we saw the launch of the Legion Go, Steam Deck OLED, PlayStation Portal, Atari 2600+, and a new PlayStation 5 model. It’s a whole lot to keep track of, as hardware makers find themselves in a race to innovate. A lot of those fast and furious changes are coming from the portable market, as Steam Deck competitors and cloud devices pile up. That gave us a lot to choose from when picking the most innovative gaming tech of 2023. While the Steam Deck was the only clear choice last year, there were no shortage of directions we could have gone in this time. From groundbreaking controllers to creative handhelds, these were the pieces of hardware that moved the gaming industry forward in 2023. Lenovo’s Legion series is known for its solid lineup of gaming notebooks, but it also includes gaming tower PCs. With an elegant design and standard-size components, the Legion Tower 7i is currently the best Lenovo gaming PC you can buy. In our testing, we concluded it delivers strong performance alongside an appealing and subtle design. Unlike most prebuilt gaming desktops, it comes with a standard mid-tower chassis. This allows for comprehensive upgrades in the future, meaning you can easily swap out or add parts if or when required. All the parts installed inside the Tower 7i are standard, including the motherboard and power supply.