INMO Air — specification and verdict
The INMO Air is a 78 g standalone Android glasses unit with a single micro-OLED waveguide panel at 640x400 across a 26 degree diagonal field. That is a notification-and-teleprompter budget, not a training budget: at this resolution a trainee can read a short instruction line or a checklist item, and nothing dense enough to be a procedure sheet. Tracking is non-positional, so nothing the glasses draw can be pinned to a machine, a valve or a workbench. Input is the separate 3DoF INMO Ring worn on the index finger, and the 350 mAh cell gives about 210 minutes. Our VR training courses do not run on it at all.
INMO no longer sells the first-generation Air: the INMO Air Series store collection lists only Air3 hardware and Air3 accessories, so a fleet today would have to come from remaining channel stock or the used market. There is no vendor MDM, no kiosk mode and no enterprise licensing programme, which means each pair is configured by hand on INMO OS. The launch price was 349 USD for the glasses alone and 469 USD with the INMO Ring, and the ring is a separate purchase you cannot skip if you want more than poking at menus on the frame. INMO is a Chinese vendor with no PL or DE distribution or service presence we could find, so an RMA means shipping abroad.
Do not buy the INMO Air for training. It is a withdrawn 2022 consumer product with a 640x400 monocular panel, no positional tracking and no fleet tooling, and INMO's own store has moved on to the Air3. If you specifically want hands-free glanceable text on a shop floor, look at a purpose-built industrial assisted-reality unit; if you want VR training that runs our courses, you need a standalone VR headset instead.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the AR — wearable display devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: $579, from 13 models that publish the figure.
Full specification
An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure.
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- INMO
- CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all.
- AR — wearable display
- Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it.
- Standalone AR
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- 2021-07-27
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2022
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- Discontinued
- Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy.
- Support ends: not published by the manufacturer
- DisplayHow the image is produced. "No display" is a real answer in this category, not a gap.
- Micro-OLED, one eye
- Eyes coveredOne eye or both. Over a full shift this is a real difference in fatigue.
- One eye
- Resolution per eyePixels delivered to each eye. Higher means small text and labels stay readable.
- ≈640x400*VRcompare
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- Refresh rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- ≈26° diagonal*VRcompare estimate
- Pixel densityPixels per degree of view — the honest way to compare sharpness between a headset and a pair of glasses. Higher is sharper. Only shown where somebody published it; we never compute it ourselves.
- Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does.
- Brightness: not published by the manufacturer
- WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour.
- ≈78 g*VRcompare
- Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis.
- Visible field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Rendered field of viewWhat the device draws. Never smaller than what you see.
- Rendered field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens.
- Binocular overlap: not published by the manufacturer
- Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper.
- Average pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens.
- Peak pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Subpixel layoutHow the coloured dots sit in a pixel. A stripe looks cleaner on text than PenTile.
- Subpixel layout: not published by the manufacturer
- Foveated renderingWhether detail is dropped outside where you look, to save performance.
- Foveated rendering: not published by the manufacturer
- Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range.
- Vision correction: not published by the manufacturer
- DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself.
- Dimensions: not published by the manufacturer
- Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear.
- Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer
- Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour.
- Glasses frame
- MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words.
- plastic
- ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in.
- Black · Grey
- Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers.
- Haptics in the headset: not published by the manufacturer
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- None
- Tracking camerasHow many cameras it uses to know where it is.
- Tracking cameras: not published by the manufacturer
- Tracking rateHow often position is recalculated. Higher is steadier.
- Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Depth sensorA dedicated sensor for distance, on top of the cameras.
- Depth sensor: not published by the manufacturer
- Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone.
- No
- Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios.
- Face tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs.
- Body tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- No
- Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller.
- INMO Ring
- Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only.
- 3DoF
- Finger tracking on the controllerWhether the controller senses individual fingers, and how.
- Finger tracking on the controller: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller inputsButtons, sticks and triggers the controller offers.
- Controller inputs: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller hapticsVibration feedback in the hand.
- Controller haptics: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller powerDisposable cells or a built-in rechargeable — a fleet question.
- Built-in rechargeable
- Controller weightOne controller, as the vendor weighs it.
- Controller weight: not published by the manufacturer
- Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands.
- Ring
- Where it computesWhether the device computes on its own or depends on a phone, PC or belt-worn puck.
- Standalone (own computer)
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- ARM Cortex-A53
- CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them.
- Quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.4 GHz
- GPUThe graphics part of the chip.
- GPU: not published by the manufacturer
- MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be.
- 2 GB
- PlatformThe platform an application is built against — and what an MDM has to speak.
- INMO OS
- SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card.
- SD card slot: not published by the manufacturer
- BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure.
- ≈210 min*VRcompare
- Battery capacity (Wh)Energy in the cell. Bigger is longer, given the same power draw.
- Battery capacity (Wh): not published by the manufacturer
- Battery capacity (mAh)The same fact in the other unit vendors use. We never convert between the two.
- 350 mAh
- Charge timeFrom empty to full. Rarely stated by the manufacturer, so it usually comes from whoever timed it.
- Charge time: not published by the manufacturer
- ChargerPower of the supplied charger — it decides the charge time above.
- Charger: not published by the manufacturer
- External batteryBattery on a cable or a puck instead of on the head.
- External battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Charging caseExtra runtime carried in the case the glasses ship with.
- Charging case: not published by the manufacturer
- Hot-swap batteryWhether a charged battery can replace the empty one without ending the session. This is what decides if a headset can hold an all-day training station.
- Hot-swap battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Third-party appsHow a third party's application reaches the device: an ordinary Android package, a vendor-only SDK, or not at all.
- Ordinary Android app (APK)
- Runs Skillsive appsOur own statement about whether Skillsive training applications run on it today.
- No
- Suitable for trainingOur judgement on whether it survives real deployment: comfort, hygiene, fleet management.
- No
- CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine".
- IP67
- PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts.
- USB Type-C
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- Wi-Fi: not published by the manufacturer
- BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories.
- 4.2
- Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly.
- Video from a computer: not published by the manufacturer
- AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working.
- Built-in speakers
- MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert.
- Yes
- MicrophonesHow many. An array picks a voice out of a noisy hall; one does not.
- Microphones: not published by the manufacturer
- CameraA camera is what makes a remote expert call and photo documentation possible.
- Yes
- Price bandThe band it sits in, rather than a price that goes stale.
- Entry level
- Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale.
- $349
- Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch.
- Headset only $349 · Headset with INMO Ring $469
- Price todayApproximate current net price in USD — a general figure, since these barely differ between regions once tax is stripped out. A snapshot from the date shown, not an offer.
- Price today: not published by the manufacturer
Who this device is for
This suits a hobbyist or an experimenter who wants to see what a light standalone waveguide feels like on the face for under 500 USD, or a researcher who already owns one. It is not for a training team: 640x400 over a 26 degree diagonal field and non-positional tracking rule out both procedure text and overlays anchored to equipment.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
INMO publishes almost nothing durable about this generation any more: the surviving inmoxr.com page for the Air carries a tagline and no specification table, so the resolution, the 26 degree field, the 78 g weight, the 210 minute runtime and the INMO Ring figures here are all VRcompare's. Brightness in nits is published nowhere we could find, which is the figure that matters most on a waveguide. INMO also states no discontinuation date and no software support end date, and the 350 mAh capacity comes from the same secondary source rather than the maker. VRcompare counts one controller in the box while its own description calls the ring optional and the 469 USD bundle price implies it is extra; we recorded it as not included.
INMO Air — frequently asked questions
- Can you still buy the original INMO Air in 2026?
- Not from INMO. The INMO Air Series collection on inmoxr.com now lists only the Air3 glasses and Air3 accessories, with no first-generation Air product, and inmoglass.com redirects to that store. Anything you find is leftover channel or used stock, and INMO has published no support end date for it.
- Do you need the INMO Ring to use the INMO Air?
- Practically yes for anything beyond basic navigation. The Air launched at 349 USD for the glasses and 469 USD bundled with the 3DoF INMO Ring, a finger-worn controller rated for about 48 hours, and the glasses themselves offer only on-frame input. We record the ring as not included, because that 120 USD difference is what buys it.
- Will Skillsive VR training courses run on the INMO Air?
- No. Our courses are 6DoF standalone VR applications and the INMO Air is a monocular AR viewer with non-positional tracking, a 640x400 panel and 2 GB of RAM on a Cortex-A53 chipset. Use a standalone VR headset for the courses; the Air cannot render them in any usable form.
Compare this device
Consider these too
The nearest devices in the same class, ranked by availability and launch price — not by our opinion of them.
Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-08-10. Manufacturer's specification
Product and company names used here are the trademarks of their respective owners and appear only to identify the hardware being compared. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of these manufacturers. Illustrations are our own.