Asus ZenFone AR leaked, will be world’s first Daydream-ready Tango phone

Asus ZenFone AR's details and photos have leaked online and it will be the second Project Tango smartphone

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Asus ZenFone AR will be launched during ‘Zenovation’ at CES 2017 on January 4 (Image Source: Evan Blass)

Asus has plans to unveil two devices at CES 2017 during its ‘Zenovation’ press conference – the ZenFone 3 Zoom, and the ZenFone AR. It appears Asus had accidentally published a press release on its website (which has since been removed) post-dated January 4, revealing some details of the upcoming smartphone.

According to the leaked image of release, the ZenFone AR will be the world’s first Tango-enabled and Daydream-ready smartphone taking advantage of both Google’s virtual reality and augmented reality platforms. It is also going to be the first Tango-enabled smartphone to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, as per the leaked release.

Famous tech tipster Evan Blass recently shared renders of the upcoming device in a tweet, before the official announcement of the phone on January 4.

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“With Zenfone AR and the Daydream View headset and controller, you’ll be able to explore new worlds with apps like Google Street View and Fantastic Beasts, dive into your personal VR cinema with YouTube, Netflix, Hulu and HBO, and get your game on with Gunjack 2, LEGO BrickHeadz, Need for Speed and dozens other titles,” explained Asus’ online post as reported by GSMArena.

The leaked press release of the Asus Zenfone AR smartphone.

The first Tango-ready smartphone was the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro (running on Snapdragon 652 SoC), which was announced by the company at CES 2016. The phone was finally launched in June this year at Tech World 2016, running on 4GB RAM and featuring 64GB of internal storage. It packs a massive 6.2-inch display, and capable of 3D projections and figure out space. Phab 2 Pro faced many delays, and only started shipping in November.

The AR mode of the Phab 2 Pro allows users to choose from virtual characters like a dog, dragon, cat, etc; which will be superimposed on the real world. You can do some fun tricks with the AR app; for example, if you shine a laser towards the virtual cat, it will chase it around.

Read: CES 2017: Smartphones to virtual reality, here’s what to expect at the tech show

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Currently, there is limited content out there that will make the investment in AR smartphones worthy, which for now is more-or-less focused on entertainment or figuring out which piece of furniture will fit in your smartphones.

Tango-enabled smartphones may be niche products at the moment, but might hold the key to future technology. We’ll have to wait and see how powerful the Asus Zenfone AR is, and how soon it starts shipping globally.

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