The Asus ZenFone AR finally has a release date. First unveiled[1] at CES 2017 with a Q2 2017 launch date, the smartphone was then revealed[2] by Google[3] at its I/O developer conference to launch this summer. Now, on the sidelines of Computex 2017, Asus[4] CEO Jerry Shen revealed the smartphone would launch in Taiwan in mid-June, and then the US in late-June or early-July.
The ZenFone AR's availability was revealed[5] by Shen to Engadget, which notes that about 50 of the 100 Tango AR apps now run stably on the smartphone. To recall, the Asus ZenFone AR is one of the first smartphones to sport 8GB of RAM, and, is the second smartphone with Tango[6] support, Google's augmented reality platform. It also supports Daydream[7], Google's new VR platform.
As for specifications, the Asus ZenFone AR[8] sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED QHD (1440x2560 pixels) and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC coupled with 8GB of RAM.
Asus ZenFone AR's camera sports a 23-megapixel Sony IMX318 module with TriTech+ autofocus system, dual-PDAF, second-gen Laser Focus, and continuous-focus. The rear camera supports 4-axis OIS (optical image stabilisation) as well as 3-axis EIS (electronic image stabilisation) for video recording alongside support for 4K video recording. The company has opted for a 8-megapixel front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture and an 85-degree wide angle lens.
Other specifications include up to 256GB of inbuilt storage that's expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB) in a hybrid dual-SIM (Micro+Nano) configuration; a 3300mAh battery; USB 2.0 Type-C port, as well as Bluetooth v4.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11ac connectivity....