8GB ASUS ZenFone AR arrives in India at ₹49,999

Taiwanese electronics giant ASUS has unveiled its flagship ‘ZenFone AR’ smartphone — the world’s first Google Tango-enabled and Google Daydream View-ready smartphone with a huge 8GB RAM — for the consumers.

First showcased at ‘CES 2017’ in January this year, the 5.7-inch ZenFone AR with a unique rear tri-camera system and 128GB internal storage (expendable up to 2 TB) will be available exclusively on Flipkart for ₹49,999 from 4 p.m. on July 13.

The tri-camera system has 23MP main camera, a depth-sensing camera and motion-tracking camera with a “Super Resolution” mode that can create massive 92MP image and capture 4K-UHD video.

The device sports 8MP selfie camera.

“With ZenFone AR, we desire to turn your physical world into a magical world by enabling it to perceive space and motion that goes beyond the boundaries of a touch screen,” Peter Chang, Regional Head, South Asia & Country Head, System Business Group-ASUS India, told reporters here on Thursday.

“We’re excited to be a part of the augmented reality (AR) universe, which will soon be part of our lifestyle,” he added.

In close cooperation with Google and Qualcomm, ‘ZenFone AR’ delivers high-quality AR and virtual reality (VR) experiences and is the thinnest and lightest Tango-enabled device, featuring Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor.

Tango is an AR computing platform developed by Google.

The device has 5.7-inch 2K display and comes with ASUS SonicMaster 3.0 technology.

A five-magnet speaker driven by a powerful “NXP smart amplifier” delivers clear, expansive sound.

ZenFone AR that runs on Android 7.0 Nougat is paired with the Google Daydream View VR headset and controller.

‘ASUS TriCam’ system consists of three rear cameras — a motion-tracking camera, depth-sensing camera and a Sony IMX318 image sensor 23MP PixelMaster 3.0 camera — that provide input to Tango, enabling smartphone AR experiences for users.

The camera has a four-axis optical image stabilisation (OIS) photo and three-axis electronic image stabilisation (EIS) video.

It also boasts a ‘Super Resolution’ mode that creates ultra-high resolution, 92MP photos by capturing and combining four native 23MP photos to create a single image with exceptional clarity, greater detail and less noise.

ZenFone AR also offers photographers the freedom to shoot and store compositions in RAW format and has several professional manual creative controls, like white balance, exposure value (EV), ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, and focus.

ZenFone AR is backed by a 3,300mAh battery pack with Quick Charge 3.0 charging technology by Qualcomm. This technology enables 60% battery charge in 45 minutes.

Users can avail a discount of ₹2,500 on Google Daydream View VR Headset, along with the purchase of ZenFone AR on Flipkart.