Asus zenfone ar, analysis and first contact

The Asus Zenfone AR is a high-end mobile that delves into the world of virtual reality and augmented reality. It is compatible with both Google's Daydream glasses and its Tango project, designed so that we can interact with objects in the real world. Apart from this important attraction, the Asus Zenfone AR also has a number of features that place it at the top. A 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen of 5.7 inches with 2K resolution, up to 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory or a powerful processor to cope with the most demanding apps and games. All this with a battery of3,300 milliamps with fast charging and the latest version of the Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. We tell you the main details of the Asus Zenfone AR.

A triple camera to take advantage of augmented reality

The new frontier. Augmented reality is one of the great pending accounts of the world of technology. A technology that, precisely, has been with us for a long time now, but it does not finish taking off. The Asus Zenfone AR is one of the first really serious proposals (along with the Lenovo Phab Pro 2) that wants to enter this world and take advantage of the development of Google's Tango project. To do this, it incorporates three cameras on the back that work in unison to create magic.

The first one has a 23 megapixel lens and is the one that allows us to see in detail the objects that are going to interact with the real world. The remaining two have lower resolution and are concerned, on the one hand, with following the movement of objects and, on the other, with offering depth of field information to correctly mark the distances between the mobile phone, virtual objects and elements. of the real world. This last camera incorporates an infrared sensor for this purpose.

And what is augmented reality going to do for us? Right now, we are still in the early stages of Google's Tango project. But we already have a handful of apps and games that show us the future of this technology. For example, augmented reality can help us decorate our house and find out how the sofa we want to buy would look in any corner of the living room. This application can also be brought into a more professional field for applications such as medicine or architecture.

Augmented reality can also serve as a practical guide to learn mechanical trades in which we are told how to place parts or work with different objects in a visual way. And of course, we must not disdain the hours of fun that can give us the fact of being able to interact with characters that appear sitting on our sofa or even an amusement park that is mounted on the living room table. Precisely, this year has been the explosion of augmented reality to have fun with the blazing -and fleeting- success of Pokémon GO.

Also virtual reality

Asus has also wanted its Asus Zenfone AR terminal to be designed to be used together with Google's Daydream virtual reality glasses. To do this, it is essential to enjoy a 2K resolution 2,560 x 1,440 pixels on your screen Super AMOLED. This type of panel promises greater clarity when viewing content immersively. By the way, this screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 4, which improves its resistance to bumps and scratches.

Top-notch cameras

Apart from augmented and virtual reality, the Asus Zenfone AR can also take advantage of its suite of cameras to take good quality photos. As we mentioned before, its main sensor has a 23 megapixel resolution, dual LED flash and an aperture of f / 2.0 that improves your photos in low light conditions. Its autofocus works in just 3 hundredths of a second to take photos faster and it has optical image stabilization. This feature is key to preventing photos from being blurred. It also features a 3x optical zoom for taking quality photos of scenes further away.

The front camera of the Asus Zenfone AR is one of the few that includes a dual LED flash for selfies at night.

As for the secondary camera, the Asus Zenfone AR bet on a humbler sensor with a resolution of 8 megapixels. Of course, with three features that increase its performance: an aperture of f / 2.0, a dual LED flash (something very rare in a camera for selfies) and a lens with an angle of view of 85 degrees to improve group photos..

Elegant and sober design

The Asus Zenfone AR is an elegant terminal, which is surprising for not following the trend of almost all high-end smartphones to introduce a metal or glass back. In this case, we have a cover in a material that simulates leather that is reminiscent of legendary models such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. One of the great design challenges of this phone is the inclusion of the triple rear camera. And the truth is that it can be its greatest handicap in terms of appearance, since the plate that gathers the three objectives protrudes a lot from the back of the mobile, which can spoil the final result. Of course, this loss of harmony is probably worth it considering the advanced functionalities of the equipment.

The dimensions of the Asus Zenfone AR stand at 158.67mm long x 77.7mm wide x 8.95mm thick, alongside a weight of 170 grams. The thickness is greater than what we have seen in the high-end launches of recent times, but the weight remains competitive for a device of this screen size.

A technical printing set

Another key to the Asus Zenfone AR is its technical set. We are facing one of the most powerful models that you can currently find on the market, thanks to the combination of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor together with a 6 GB RAM or even 8 GB in its most powerful version. Honestly, we are not very clear that such a high RAM memory makes sense today in a mobile, but the truth is that on paper it is impressive. It also keeps a very high profile in its internal memory, which will go from 32 GB to 256 GB.

Autonomy, price and opinions

The Asus Zenfone AR incorporates a battery with a capacity of 3,300 milliamps. It is a capacity in line with what we would expect in a computer of this size, although it will be necessary to see how much energy its processor and screen consumes in real use. Although we do not have specific details about the autonomy, what Asus has shared is its fast charging system, capable of recharging 60% of the mobile capacity in just 40 minutes.

At the moment we do not know the price and the launch date of the Asus Zenfone AR. We are very interested in knowing what the final cost of this equipment will be when it reaches the market, to see if it can become a sales success or if for the moment it will be available to a few. But the truth is that it is a very serious proposal that has all the signs of becoming a reference terminal if the world of reality increases finally explodes.

Asus Zenfone AR

Brand	Asus
Model	Zenfone AR

screen

Size	5.7 inch
Resolution	Wide Quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixels)
Density	515 pixels per inch
Technology	Super AMOLED
Protection	Corning ^® Gorilla ^® Glass 4

Design

Dimensions	158.67mm long x 77.7mm wide x 8.95mm thick
Weight	170 grams
Colors	Black
Waterproof	Not

Camera

Resolution	23 megapixels, fixed focus, autofocus
Flash	Yes, dual LED
Video	2160p @ 30fps, video stabilization
Features	HDR Low light mode Manual mode Real-time beauty mode Super-Resolution function Night mode Depth of field mode Photo effects Animated GIF mode Thumbnail mode Smile detection Panoramic mode Slow motion Rewind mode Timelapse mode
Front camera	8MP selfie mode beauty selfie panorama

Multimedia

Formats	MP3, Midi, AAC, AMR, WAV, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, 3GP, MP4, 3GPP…
Radio	Not
Sound	Asus SonicMaster 3.0 system NXP Smart AMP amplification technology Integrated mono speaker High definition audio 192kHz / 24-bit
Features	Dedicated noise-canceling microphone

software

Operating system	Android 7.0 Nougat + Asus ZenUI 3.0 customization layer
Extra applications	-

Power

CPU processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 2.35GHz Octa-Core 64-Bit
Graphics processor (GPU)	Adreno 530
RAM	6GB / 8GB

Memory

Internal memory

32GB / 64GB / 128GB / 256GB

Extension

Yes, with MicroSD card up to 2 TB

5 GB free cloud storage Asus WebStorage

100 GB capacity free on Google Drive for 2 years

Connections

Mobile Network	HSPA +: UL 5.76 / DL 42.2 Mbps LTE Cat12: DL 600 Mbps LTE Cat13: UL 75 Mbps
Wifi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, dual band, WiFi Direct, allows you to create WiFi zones
GPS location	Yes, a-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.2 A2DP, LE
DLNA	Not
NFC	Yes
Connector	Reversible USB Type-C 2.0
Audio	3.5 mm minijack
Bands	GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz UMTS: 850/1900 / AWS / 2100 MHz LTE: B2 / B4 / B5 / B7 / B12
Others	DualSIM (two nanoSIMs) Fingerprint sensor Optimized for augmented reality use

Autonomy

Removable	Not
Capacity	3300 mAh with Quick Charge 3.0 and BoostMaster Fast Charging: 60% charge in 40 minutes
Standby duration	""
Duration in use	""

+ info

Release date	January 2017
Manufacturer's website	Asus