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ASUS Zenfone AR First Impressions

In January, ASUS unveiled its first smartphone to feature Google’s Project Tango Augmented Reality (AR) technology – the Zenfone AR. It packs a 5.7-inch Quad HD display and powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 SoC, a massive 8GB of RAM, and a 23MP camera paired to a motion tracking and fisheye depth-sensing camera. We took it for a quick spin so check out our first impressions below.

The ASUS Zenfone AR is a pretty large smartphone thanks to its 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display which is the same size and type as the ASUS Zenfone 3 Deluxe ZS570KL. It’s got a higher resolution screen though at Quad HD which equates to 515ppi and is mounted with Gorilla Glass 4.

Above the display are the earpiece, sensors, and the 8MP front camera. Down below backlit capacitive keys for navigation and the physical home button which also works as the fingerprint scanner.

Located on the left side is the hybrid SIM tray, while on the right are the volume keys and the power/lock button.

Up top are the secondary microphone and a couple of antenna bands, while down at the bottom are the headset port, main microphone, USB-C port, loudspeaker, and another set of antenna bands.

The back part is where all the fancy stuff happens. There’s a metal plate that houses the phone’s imaging technologies like the 23MP Sony IMX318 main shooter, TriTech AF system, Motion tracking camera, and the Depth sensing camera with IR projector.

On the hands, the Zenfone AR feels like your typical large-screened premium smartphone. The metal frame is cool to the touch while the leatherette back panel adds class and grip at the same time. It might be chunky at its thickest point at 8.95mm but the curved sides make up for it. It’s a bit hefty though at 170g but that’s understandable, although we suggest handling it with extra care as it is top heavy and might easily topple from your hand.

ASUS Zenfone AR specs:
5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display
Corning Gorilla Glass 4
2.35GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad-core CPU
Adreno 530 GPU
Up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM
Up to 256GB UFS 2.0 storage
23MP Sony IMX318 f/2.0, 2nd-gen, Laser AF camera w/ dual LED flash, OIS, 4K video
Motion tracking and fisheye depth-sensing camera
8MP front camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE Cat13
WiFi 802.11ac, dual-band, MIMO
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
NFC
USB Type-C
Fingerprint scanner
3,300mAh battery w/ Quick Charge 3.0
Android 7.0 Nougat w/ ZenUI 3.0
158.67 x 77.7 x 4.6 ~ 8.95 mm
170 g