Asus are probably best known as a maker of laptops and tablet hybrids, but they are aiming to score a larger share of the American smartphone market with the upcoming ZenFone AR, for which Verizon will be the exclusive wireless provider in the USA.
Asus announced during the Google I/O conference that Verizon would be the exclusive provider of the Asus ZenFone AR in the US. The ZenFone AR is a smartphone that contains both support for Tango augmented reality applications and google Daydream virtual reality. The standard ZenFone AR model will come with Android 7.0 Nougat OS with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.
Tango capabilities means that the phone is capable of motion tracking, depth perception and area learning. This means that the ZenFone can determine how far away it is from objects, or surfaces such as a wall or the floor to enable to better movement in 3D space. There are currently over 100 Tango-capable apps on the Google Play Store.
The high-contrast display in the Asus ZenFone has a 5.7 inch screen using AMOLED technology to allow for better clarity when using VR applications with the Google Daydream headset as a resolution of 1440×2560. The ZenFone is powered by a Qualcomm Sanpdragon 821 processor with a Qualcom Areno 530 GPU. Sound supports DTS virtual surround sound and external audio is produced with an ‘ultra-loud’ 5 magnet speaker. The built-in camera uses Sony’s IMX318 sensor and TriTech autofocus system.
Pricing for the Asus ZenFone AR has not yet been announced, though Verizon says it will be revealed at the later date. The phone is due to launch in the USA sometime in summer 2017.
VRFocus will bring you further news on the Asus ZenFone AR and other VR smartphones as it becomes available.