Asus has finally unveiled the ZenFone AR and it is full of promise.
Back in December, Asus released a teaser video in which a couple of shots show the outline of a phone. Rumor mongers quickly pointed out that it is the ZenFone AR. The 30-second trailer was called "Explore the Unknown".
This time, however, Asus officially made it known at the CES 2017 that it will be releasing the ZenFone AR.
The new Asus smartphone lays claim to being the first in two major accomplishments. First, it is the only phone in existence that can handle both augmented reality and virtual reality. The ZenFone is actually only the second device to have Google Tango, an AR system, incorporated in it. The first one was the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. The ZenFone AR uses a system with three cameras to take 3D scanning and attain augmented reality.
The new ZenFone takes things a little further by having VR compatibility. It has support for Google's Daydream View VR headset. Google, however, stressed that the two realities are not directly connected. In other words, there is no interplay.
8GB of RAM and Other Features
The other distinct feature of the ZenFone AR is that it is the only smartphone to have 8GB of RAM. The new Asus phone sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution. It has Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 processor under its hood. Qualcomm has said that the CU was specifically designed for the Tango.
The ZenFone AR will also come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and has a 23MP camera with the Sony IMX318 module and other features such as dual-PDAF, improved Laser Focus, TriTech+ autofocus system, and continuous focus.
Asus unveiled another smartphone at the first day of the CES 2017 in the Asus ZenFone 3. The ZenFone AR will be available sometime during the second quarter of the year.
