I finally completed my quest to turn my Samsung Galaxy XR into a bona fide Steam Frame, and it only took one free app to do it.
AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Senior Android Content Producer Nick Sutrich delves into all things VR, from new hardware to new games, upcoming technologies, and more.
I didn’t expect it, but the Samsung Galaxy XR has become the ultimate portable gaming machine. Not only can it natively play any Android game from the Google Play Store, but the single app is free and allows you to use Steam games without any configuration or nonsense involved. No cloud streaming, no ridiculous subscriptions. Just your favorite Steam games, all running natively on the Galaxy XR (even your Android smartphone).
Why choose an XR headset to play these games on instead of a phone or a portable system like the Steam Deck? Neck and arm comfort, especially, since you don’t have to look down on the system or lift it up for hours at a time. The screen just floats in front of your face, whether you’re sitting or lying down. Really, it’s as good as I’ve gotten for a portable gaming system. It’s the kind of functionality you’ll find in the upcoming Steam Frame headset, except you don’t have to wait for Valve to release it.
Playing Steam games on Galaxy XR
GameSir, makers of many of our favorite mobile controllers, released an app called GameHub on the Google Play Store last November. It’s a customized fork of the popular Winlator app, which people have used for years to emulate Windows on Android, but it’s easy to use.
In the app, you connect your Steam account, and it ends up looking like SteamOS running inside the app window on the Galaxy XR. Fire up the app, hit Steam, and your entire library is fully playable on the Galaxy XR without any additional configuration. I connected the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Bluetooth controller to my Galaxy XR to play games, but I’m sure GameSir would appreciate it if you used one of their controllers instead.
When the app launched, it caught a lot of flak on sites like Reddit for requiring multiple permissions, but the latest version of the app doesn’t. anywhere permissions to run it. There is no permission notification, or it will occasionally pester you about allowing them. If you’re worried about the telemetry data, someone made a version on Github that has been removed. Another option is GameNative.
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Once you’ve installed GameHub, run it and sign in to your GameSir account, or just use the modified version of GameHub Lite linked above, which doesn’t require an account. After that, you will open the menu on the left, select Steam from the list, and log in to your Steam account.
Now, whenever you open the app, you’ll be greeted with a Steam button right up front that takes you to your Steam library. Just like on Steam Deck, find the game you want, hit the install button, and you can just play it from there. No cloud connection required, no registration required. Everything works on the Galaxy XR.
If you’re worried about compatibility or performance, you can test each game before it’s installed, which gives you a decent idea of whether or not the game will work.
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You can also configure additional options if you want or need to make performance changes, but I found the default settings to be more than adequate for my needs. If you’re having problems or just want to get in touch with your GameHub experience, this YouTube video is a great resource and it uses a phone that sports a slightly slower processor than the one on the Galaxy XR, so those settings (starting at the 4:50 mark) will help you get the most out of the system.
If you want to try out just one feature, I’d recommend enabling Snapdragon Super Resolution, which is found in the GameHub menu found when you press the home button on your connected controller. You can read about it in the video linked above at the 9:18 minute mark.
I found the performance to be remarkably similar to my Steam Deck, except that this app has to translate x86 code to the headset’s ARM processor. Portal 2, for example, ran at a locked 60fps on both my Steam Deck and Galaxy XR, but newer games like Resident Evil Requiem are simply too taxing to run on this level of hardware. We will have to wait and see if the actual Steam Frame fares better with them since it has a faster processor.
It takes all the best features of Steam Frame now
I recently wrote about how two of Steam Frame’s best features are already working on the Galaxy XR, and now even Steam game emulation is possible on Samsung’s Android XR-enabled headsets. That means three of the four main pillars of what makes the Steam Frame great – foveated streaming, a dedicated wireless network, and native Steam game compatibility – are available on the Galaxy XR. right now. The only thing missing is native use of PC VR games, something the framework could continue to excel at.
The only thing you’ll need to run regular Steam games is a Bluetooth controller of some sort, like this GameSir Cyclone 2. For PC VR games, you’ll want a pair of Galaxy XR controllers and the Virtual Desktop app from the Google Play Store. Once you’ve got those (and a VR-ready PC), you’re good to go.
It’s surprising to see Steam Frame’s best features already making their way into other headsets before Valve’s next-gen headset is launched, but (ironically) it’s all thanks to Valve and the work they’ve poured into Proton and FEX over the years.
The Galaxy XR is an uber-comfortable mixed reality headset that combines the best Android apps with the best, bespoke XR experience.
