CES 2017: Asus Zenfone AR Officially Revealed, First Smartphone To Feature Both Google Tango, Daydream VR

Asus has officially unveiled the Asus Zenfone AR at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new Android smartphone is the second Tango-enabled phone that will be available commercially.

The Asus Zenfone AR comes with flagship features like its 5.7-inch 1440p Super AMOLED display and being powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor. The device also comes with 6GB/8GB of RAM with storage options ranging from 32GB up to 256GB. It also has a microSD card slot for expandable storage.

Its guts might seem excessive to some, but comparing it to the the first ever Tango phone, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, it seems like those specs are reasonable. Just as a refresher, the Phab 2 Pro came with 4GB of RAM, but it was simply not enough to handle some of the Tango’s demanding features.

Speaking of Google Tango, the Zenfone AR comes with a 23MP camera on the back capable of 4K video recording, according to GSM Arena. Unlike most smartphones, the Zenfone AR comes with extra sensors for the motion tracking camera as well as a third depth sensing camera. These will be responsible for delivering all those nifty Tango augmented reality features like mapping environments.

If that’s not impressive enough, the Asus Zenfone AR is also the first smartphone to feature both Google Tango and Google’s Daydream VR. Users will be able to put the smartphone in the Google Daydream View VR headset to experience virtual reality content.

For those thinking that they’ll be able to use the Tango AR and Daydream VR at the same time, that’s simply impossible at the moment. The Daydream View headset will cover up the Zenfone AR’s cameras and sensors, as pointed out by ArsTechnica.

The Asus Zenfone AR is also packing a generous 3,300 mAh battery, an 8MP front-facing camera, quick charge support, NFC and of course Android 7.0 Nougat. For those wondering, the handset still comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Asus says that the Zenfone AR will be available some time during the second quarter of 2017. Unfortunately, the company didn’t provide pricing for the handset just yet. However, Asus CEO Jerry Chen previously stated that they would sell the Zenfone AR "at a competitive price," according to Digital Trends.