ASUS launches the ZenFone AR

ASUS unveils the first augmented and virtual reality-ready phone

Design

Asus has launched the ZenFone AR, the first to deliver augmented reality (Google Tango) and virtual reality experiences (Google Daydream). VR is of course best on a large, high-resolution display. And Asus has gone above and beyond with a 5.7″ Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 – offering a pixel density of 515-pixels-per-inch. The combination of Quad HD and Super AMOLED is one of the best duos you can get in a smartphone display, giving you extremely rich and saturated colours that pop out of the screen. Considering the software the ZenFone AR carries, it still remains a sleek device and weighs just 170g, 18g less than the iPhone 7 Plus.

What is Google Tango and Google Daydream?

“Our phones already assist us in our day-to-day lives, but we believe they can do even more. We’re excited to see Tango technology incorporated into ZenFone AR, making its capabilities available to more people.” – Johnny Lee, Tango Director of Engineering.

Google Tango:

Tango is a Augmented reality Computing platform, developed by Google. It uses computer vision to enable mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to detect their position relative to the world around them without using GPS or other external signals. This means you could watch virtual objects and see information appear on top of your surroundings. For example, head to your local museum and navigate with directions overlaid onto your surroundings. Take a home re-design to a whole new level with virtual furniture or entertain the kids by bringing virtual toys into their world.

Google Daydream:

Daydream on the other hand, is a virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google for Android Nougat, the seventh major and currently most recent version of the Android mobile operating system. VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. Daydream-ready phones such as the ZenFone AR are built for VR with high-resolution displays, ultra smooth graphics and high-fidelity sensors for precise head tracking.

Specs

The ZenFone AR specs are high-end with a whopping 23 megapixel rear camera – on par with Sony’s Xperia X and nearly double the MP of the Samsung Galaxy 7 camera. The ZenFone AR runs on the latest version of Android – 7.0 Nougat and offers a huge 8GB of RAM. With a 3,300mAh battery, you can rest assured the AR and VR won’t hog up the battery life. The ZenFone AR also has up to 256GB of built-in storage and a MicroSD slot for adding up to 2TB more. Finally, it’s also equipped with USB-C charging, a standard headphone socket and a physical home button with an integrated fingerprint sensor – as if it could get any better?