Looking Glass Go Review: Do you need this 3D display?

Looking Glass Go is a portable 3D display for personal photos. What does it look like, and who is it for? Find out in our review.

New York-based startup Looking Glass has been producing 3D displays in various formats and sizes since 2020.

In 2024, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, the company launched its most portable model to date: the 6-inch Looking Glass Go display, which can be used on the go with the help of an external battery.

Looking Glass promotes the device as a spatial photo frame that adds depth to personal photos. Alternatively, Looking Glass Go can be connected to a computer and used to visualize animated 3D models, Gaussian splats, and NeRFs.

For this article, I will focus on its primary use as a 3D photo frame and answer the following questions:

• What does the 3D display look like?
• What is the user experience like?
• Do you really need a 3D display for personal photos?

Looking Glass Go: Review in a nutshell

Looking Glass Go offers the ability to convert your smartphone photos into 3D images and watch them come alive on a portable holographic display. Unfortunately, the hardware and software still suffer from teething problems and the price is too high for what the device offers.

Looking Glass Go is less suitable for you if …

• you are hoping for a pocket hologram or the like,
• you expect mature hardware and software,
• and you don't have the money to spend on $300 gadgets.

First impressions

Looking Glass Go has a retro-futuristic design that I really like. It could easily pass for a prop from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. The build quality is good, but not so good that I would dare drop it on the floor.

When unfolded, it can serve as a 3D display or photo frame; when folded, it looks like an oversized smartphone that barely fits in your pocket.

Although the device is portable, it is primarily intended for use on a desk, shelf, or wall. This is because Looking Glass Go does not have a built-in battery. It is powered either by a USB-C cable connected to an electrical outlet or by an external battery back. Looking Glass offers a matching accessory, but you have to buy it separately for $30, and it only lasts for two hours. Alternatively, you can connect a power bank via USB-C.

Image quality and depth

Looking Glass Go uses a lenticular display to show a slightly shifted view of the subject depending on the viewing angle.

The unit can display up to 100 views of an image within a 58-degree viewing angle range. Moving the head creates the illusion of fluid perspective changes. In addition, a slightly different perspective image is generated for each eye, creating a stereoscopic impression of depth.

Both visual effects work without 3D glasses and for multiple people at the same time, as long as they are within the supported viewing angle range. If you leave this area, the image will turn black.

As expected, the depth impression was limited in my test: The image mostly expands backwards into the depth rather than forwards. By no means should you expect something like a pocket hologram.

Below are two videos showing shots of two of my sample photos. Please note that the smartphone videos only show the perspective change and not the stereoscopic 3D effect. This means that the images have more depth with the device in front of you.

One of the weaknesses of lenticular displays is their low resolution and brightness, and the Looking Glass Go suffers from this as well. The manufacturer claims a resolution of 1,440 x 2,560 pixels, but the actual resolution seems much lower. If you hold the screen in your hand and look at it like a smartphone, you can see individual pixels. The brightness is also disappointing. During the day, in a well-lit house or in direct sunlight, it looks pale and hardly comes into its own. It only shows its strengths in low light conditions and at night.

I find the viewing angle range to be satisfactory, but it is annoying that the display only really works when viewed in portrait format. Pictures taken in landscape format have to be cropped and viewed in portrait format to take advantage of the display.

I have tried different shots and found that objects and people photographed at close range and with a deep background work best. The portrait format is not suitable for most landscape shots because the resolution is insufficient.

Companion app

To transfer your own smartphone photos to the device, you can use a proprietary companion app for iOS or Android that connects to the Looking Glass Go via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

My experience with the app was not great. Once you upload a photo, it usually takes minutes for it to be processed and appear on the screen. This is probably because Looking Glass first has to use AI to create dozens of new views of the photo and then fan them out to the different angles. Because of the long wait times, I've resorted to uploading several photos at once and then moving on to something else until the process is complete.

What's great about the app is that you can create playlists of photos and adjust parameters such as the focus area and zoom into the images as needed. I would love to see more editing options like this in the future.

Looking Glass Go itself is mostly an output device. You can jump to the next or previous image or pause an image using three buttons. There is no touch input or other direct interaction method. Although the device is only a display, it struggles with this itself and sometimes takes seconds to load the next image, which can make viewing a series of already processed images a test of patience.

Conclusion: Do you need Looking Glass Go in your life?

I have been using Looking Glass Go for a week now and would like to share some general impressions.

As a VR and 3D enthusiast, I really enjoyed the 3D effect at first and tried a lot of different subjects. I really liked how it brings old photos to life.

However, the novelty wore off quickly, and after a while the device fell into disuse. The lengthy conversion of content is probably a factor, but so is the fact that the Looking Glass Go is ultimately just an output device that can't do much else.

Not only the hardware, but also the software feels like it has a lot of room for improvement and needs to mature. The device froze several times while booting, and the companion app crashed twice.

In the long run, the display will probably end up on my desk or nightstand, where I can admire it up close. Placing it on a shelf or mounting it on a wall doesn't make sense in my opinion, as the 3D effect only really comes into its own up close and in dimly lit areas. If you want a matching frame, you have to buy it separately for about $30.

This brings us to the elephant in the room: Looking Glass Go costs a whopping $300. At that price, I can only recommend it to absolute 3D enthusiasts for whom money is no object. The device simply doesn't do enough for that price. And while I like the effect it has on my photos, Looking Glass is an expensive gimmick, at least in its current form.

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