The Asus Zenfone AR and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro are the only commercially available smartphones that feature Google's Tango technology. Which device will best suit the needs of every consumer?
Price And Release Date
There are no official reports yet as to how much the Asus Zenfone AR will cost, but some reports claim that it will be $1,333.31. Its released date is rumored to around the second quarter of 2017. As for the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it was announced in June 2016 and was released later in November the same year. Its price tag is $733.33.
Body
The Asus Zenfone AR's body dimensions are 6.25 x 3.06 x 0.35 inches and weighs 170 grams. Compared to the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it is much sleeker looking, more manageable on the hand, and less bulky. It back design even has this smooth leather backing that makes it really comfortable against you palm.
As for the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it features 7.08 x 3.49 x 0.42 inches and weighs 259 grams. It's heavy and large. Its sides and back are covered in metal and have these exposed screws at the bottom, which is probably part of its "trendy" design. It also features a microUSB instead of a Type-C USB.
Display
The Asus Zenfone AR features a 5.7 inch SUPER AMOLED Quad HD screen with a screen resolution of 1440 x 2560. On the other hand, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro features a 6.4 inch Quad HD screen with 1440 x 2560 pixels. In terms of visual performance of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it is quite bright, but struggles with visibility under sunny conditions. It also has issues with color reproduction. And lastly, its mid-range tones are oversaturated you the user does not fix it by adjusting the color temperature and intensity on its settings menu.
Platform
The Asus Zenfone AR runs on Android 7.0 Nougat. It sports a Snapdragon 821 chip that has a CPU power of 2.34GHz. As for the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and is powered by Qualcomm MSM8976 Snapdragon 652 chipset.
Memory
With the ROM storage of the Asus Zenfone AR, it is said to feature 32, 64, 128, and 256GB of ROM. But for its RAM storage, there a several reports. Some say it's 6 GB, some say 8 GB, while others claim it is both.
The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro on the other hand, inbuilt memory is 64 GB. Its RAM storage is 4 GB. It also has an expandability option of up to 256 GB.
Camera
The Asus Zenfone AR features a 23 MP rear camera along with the usual motion-tracking camera anda depth-sensing camera that is needed to run Google's Tango feature. It has a 8 MP front-facing camera. For the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it also has the motion-tracking and depth sensing camera, but it is only 16 MP. Its front camera MP is the same as the Asus Zenfone AR.
Battery
The Asus Zenfone AR houses a non-removable Li-Ion 3300 mAh battery. As for the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it is powered by a non-removable Li-Ion 4050 mAh battery.
Features
There are a number of notable features for the Asus Zenfone AR. First, it is the second commercially available smartphone to feature Google's Tango technology - or augmented reality. Second, it is compatible with Google's Daydream VR, making it the first smartphone to be VR and AR ready. Third, it has this "vapor cooling system" that prevents the device from overheating when using its AR and VR capabilities.
On the hand, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is the first smartphone to feature Google's Tango technology. Regarding its performance, its Tango apps are great but struggle when pushed to its limits. There are even instances when the apps itself will crash down.
The Verdict
Based on the information above, the Asus Zenfone AR is far more superior to the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, especially for a smartphone with a SD 821 chip and possibly 8 GB of RAM. However, there are no sources available yet to show as how its Tango apps really perform in real-world usage (like really test it out in every possible angle). Yeah, it looks good on paper, but it could paint a different picture just like what happened to the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro when it was used in real-life situations and in the end was later labeled just as an "experimental smartphone" for a new technology. But then again, we all have our own opinions and views as to what makes a smartphone great.
