Asus ZenFone AR review: Bending reality, one Tango at a time

              

"The ZenFone AR is the world's first smartphone that is both Tango-enabled and Daydream-ready" -- this is how Asus describes its new high-end phone. While Tango is a set of sensors and computer-vision software that enables smartphone augmented reality, Daydream is a platform for high-quality, mobile virtual reality achieved through Daydream VR apps. Both Tango and Daydream are technologies built by Android-maker Google. Asus claims it has worked closely with Google (and Qualcomm) to effectively blur the gap between augmented and virtual reality through the ZenFone AR.

The ZenFone AR is notably the world's second smartphone -- the first being Lenovo's Phab 2 Pro -- to support Google's Tango technology. The ZenFone AR is however, the world's first (and only) smartphone to support Tango as well as Daydream.

Because computer-vision workloads and graphics of Tango and Daydream applications demand intensive data crunching, a phone that must do both, ought to have high-end hardware. The ZenFone AR, when you look at its spec-sheet, leaves little to be desired in this regard. The phone comes with top-notch hardware and plenty of megapixels in the camera department. The ZenFone AR has been seemingly designed from scratch to bend reality, and let's just say, it's quite good while at it.

What dreams may come

As per Google's Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) for Android 7.0 Nougat, a Daydream VR-ready phone's "display must support a low-persistence mode with less than or equal to 5 ms persistence. Although Google doesn't specifically demand an OLED display -- as a requisite for Daydream -- the requirement for low persistency (and low latency) invariably means that only phones with an OLED panel -- and not an LCD panel -- qualify for Daydream.

The ZenFone AR comes with a gorgeous 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display with a 1440x2560 pixel resolution which roughly translates to 515 pixels per inch. The display on-board has a 2ms persistence rate, or in other words how fast the images take to fade from the pixels as they change, and 1ms response timing, which controls how fast the pixels can light up and power down as the display frames change. This ensures images change rapidly without blurring, and in time with the movements of the user's head.

When paired with Google's Daydream View VR headset -- to be purchased separately for Rs 6,499 -- the ZenFone AR is capable of churning out "immersive" VR experiences on a mobile form factor, claims Asus. And it does. When paired with Google's Daydream View VR headset, the ZenFone AR can churn out "immersive" VR experiences with little or no visible blurring, keeping motion sickness -- a common occurrence in VR -- a bare minimum while at it, for those who're effected by it.

Daydream is a gradual step up from Google's old-school(ish) Cardboard VR experiences, and a first genuinely viable effort from the global search engine giant to take on Samsung's Gear VR platform. Unlike Gear VR that is exclusive to Samsung's high-end phones, Daydream can work on any high-end phone -- in tandem with Daydream View -- provided it meets Google's set of hardware requirements: which means that it's a lot more mainstream than the Gear VR. That's not to say that it's perfect though. For one, it still needs more apps -- although Google seems to be hard at work, and the platform does boast of a lot more exclusive content now as compared to earlier -- and Google still needs to iron out some of the kinks for instance in the way the platform handles app permissions, among other things. But, it's getting there.

It takes two to tango

As opposed to Daydream, a technology like Tango requires more heavy-duty hardware including some serious camera gimmickry. The ZenFone AR sports a 23-megapixel -- Sony IMX 318 sensor - TriTech camera on the rear with f/2.0 aperture, 4-axis Optical Image Stabilisation (and 3-axis electronic image stabilisation for videos), alongside a host of depth and motion tracking sensors. While the depth sensing sensors -- assisted with an infra-red (IR) projector -- measure the phone's distance from real-world objects, the motion tracking sensors help in tracking the phone's location as it moves through space.

  

The ZenFone AR, as a result, is a phone that will be aware of it surroundings and will allow users to interact with it virtually through AR. All that users will have to do is look through the phone, and they'll see objects and information overlaid onto the real world, something on the lines of Microsoft's Hololens, only cheaper. This can then be utilised in various ways. Through apps and games. Holo and iStaging are two classic examples. While Holo let me make Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton dance together outside the White House, iStaging could easily be the answer to all your furniture shopping woes.

Because computer-vision workloads and graphics of Tango and Daydream applications demand intensive data crunching, a phone that must do both, ought to have high-end hardware. The ZenFone AR, when you look at its spec-sheet, leaves little to be desired in this regard

Powering the whole thing is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor which has apparently been optimised for Tango, clubbed with a whopping 8 gigs of RAM and 128GB of storage which is also expandable. Although the Snapdragon 821 isn't as high-end as high-end can get right now -- that is the Snapdragon 835 -- it is surely second in-command. Also, 8 gigs of RAM on a smartphone may sound atrocious, but, it really takes a phone like the ZenFone AR to realise the world is not enough.

Tango, as a platform, has lots of potential, but, it is still early days for it. Although the Google Play Store now has over 25 Tango apps (and counting) not every app is available in India. At the same time, most of these apps feel like they are still in nascent stage -- like Tango -- and have a long time to go before realising their true potential. The ZenFone AR, although it has pretty high-end hardware, is prone to lag while opening and closing of Tango apps suggesting more work needs to be done. The start, I dare say, is nothing short of phenomenal though.

Elsewhere...

-- The ZenFone AR shares a lot in common with the ZenFone 3 Deluxe while its design seems to be inspired by the ZenFone Zoom. Asus' new phone boasts of a leather and aluminum body which measures 170 gram in weight and 9mm at its thickest point. The combination ensures two things: a) the ZenFone AR isn't as slippery/glossy as some of the other high-end phones in the market right now, b) the ZenFone AR feels like a breeze to handle and operate even with one hand. Had it been all-glass and chunky, it would have been difficult to justify its VR and AR calling. 

On the front, the ZenFone AR comes with curved 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and a screen-to-body ratio of 79 per cent, which is very impressive. It comes with a front-mounted physical home button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner and physical capacitive keys which are also backlit. The rear, because it has a premium leather finish, is resistant to smudge and fingerprints. If only, it was water and dust resistant too.

-- The 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display of the ZenFone AR metes out excellent (over-saturated with deep blacks) colours. The panel gets bright (enough) and viewing angles leave you fairly well satisfied. Even in outdoor sunny environment.

Always-on displays have become a norm in the high-end flagship category. Most high-end Android phones out there have one or the other solution to allow individual pixels on-board the screen to stay illuminated even when they are on standby. The ZenFone AR also has one. It gives you a quick peek into the system clock, date, and battery level, as well as notifications such as missed calls and incoming messages.

-- The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor-8 gigs of RAM combo meanwhile ensures that the ZenFone AR is a mighty capable performer in real world usage. Basic tasks are handled very well, which means you can make phone calls, text and WhatsApp, watch movies, listen to music, browse Internet and also play less demanding games on it, without breaking a sweat. More demanding games like Asphalt 8: Airborne are also handled very well. The dualSIM phone supports NFC, USB OTG, expandable storage (of up to 128GB via hybrid micro-SD card slot) and USB Type-C for charging and data syncing.

-- The ZenFone AR runs Android Nougat-based ZenUI which is Asus' custom ROM. It's suffice to say that the software inside the ZenFone AR is mostly fine-tuned well with its hardware. Hence, it (largely) metes out a more or less seamless experience across the board. But does it feel faster (and smoother) than the Samsung Galaxy S8 or the iPhone 7? Nope. Does it feel faster (and smoother) than the HTC U11? Nope. And that could be a problem.

Asus' ZenUI still remains overwhelming/cluttered, like it has always been. Needless to say that the phone is in dire need of some spring cleaning, the moment you start using it because the ZenFone AR, like every other ZenFone, comes jam-packed with many Asus-proprietary apps. A lot of these Asus-proprietary apps have a tendency to pop notifications out of the blue and far too frequently. A lot of these notifications also tend to stay glued to the pull-down (notification) menu unless you take necessary action.

That's not to say that Asus' ZenUI doesn't have its plus points. It does. A number of customisation options that it offers are pretty useful. The ability to tinker with the app drawer (as well as the home screen) to suite your needs is worth mentioning. So is the option to selectively lock apps for additional privacy. There's also an option for screen pinning to keep the current screen in view until you unpin. A home-brewed theme engine -- along with additional icon packs -- meanwhile helps personalise your experience.

-- The mono speaker vent on the bottom edge of the phone churns out good audio, in line with rival phones. It comes with an NXP smart amplifier that tends to amplify the output quite a bit. The phone also supports Hi-Res Audio via dedicated headphones and even ships with a pair in the box. Phone calls made with the ZenFone AR are of excellent quality and we did not encounter any odd call drops on our review unit.

-- The ZenFone AR with its 23-megapixel (Sony IMX 318) rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, laser and phase detection autofocus, 4-axis optical image stabilisation and dual-LED (dual tone) flash is easily among the best camera phones at its price point. It may not beat the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8, HTC U11 or the LG G6, but it's no slouch either.

The Asus ZenFone AR, at this point of time, is the complete package as far as mobile AR is concerned and it supports mobile VR too

Photos clicked with the ZenFone AR in good lighting come out well, with lots of detail and colours which are mostly true to source. Dynamic range is also spot-on. The ZenFone AR is also capable of taking some good shots in tricky and low light conditions. The sensor manages to hold on to detail (at the cost of some noise) in such conditions, resulting in some well to-do photos. The phone also comes with an in-built Low Light mode that ups the detail (even further) and leads to brighter photos at the cost of resolution (5-megapixel).

Speaking of which, the ZenFone AR is practically overloaded with photo modes. There's a Depth of Field mode for bokeh shots and a GIF animator, to make, GIFs. There's also a Super Resolution mode that claims to stitch together 4x23-megapixel shots into one for more pixel-peeping clarity. Thanks to the 4-axis OIS, shake is minimal (or altogether absent) in videos and the 4K clips shot with the phone also look fantastic.

The ZenFone AR is a pretty capable camera phone, but, its shutter speed often brings it down. It's slow and when you consider phones like the Galaxy S8 or the U11 or the iPhone 7, there's frankly, no margin for error.

The ZenFone AR is further backed by a 3,300mAh battery and supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 technology that is claimed to charge 60 per cent of the phone in just 39 minutes. Battery life is good, if not the best although VR/AR usage really takes a big toll on it draining it faster than one could imagine. Mixed usage, which included an hour of video playback, half an hour of GPU-intensive gaming, 45 minutes of basic games, phone calls (to the tune of one hour), some music streaming and YouTube playback along with some web browsing gave us close to 13 hours on the device. A more generalised usage should see most users sail through one to one and a half days effortlessly.

Should you buy it?

2017 is clearly the year when smartphone manufacturers have started embracing the future, like never before. While some companies are now stretching their screens left, right and center, others are punching extra holes to fit a dual-camera system. All of these are mere banalities though. The real deal, but, is augmented reality. Two of the biggest technology conglomerates in the world -- Google and Apple -- have now realised that AR is the future. While Apple has launched ARKit, Google has come out with ARCore to realise this future. Why is this such a big deal, you ask?

Well, Google is the maker of Android -- the operating system that powers literally every other smartphone in the market today, and Apple is the company behind the iPhone. The two maybe alpha and omega but at the end of the day, everything narrows down to Android and the iPhone. And because both these companies have started pushing for AR, others will likely follow. Where does that leave the Asus ZenFone AR? Well, you can say that, it was the smartphone that (actually) started it all. Although Lenovo's Phab 2 Pro was the first Tango AR-ready phone, it was far from perfect. Heck it wasn't even close to it. The Asus ZenFone AR, at this point of time, is the complete package as far as mobile AR is concerned and it supports mobile VR too.

If you're an early adopter of next-generation technology or perhaps a developer looking to make inroads in AR/VR, the Asus ZenFone AR is technically the only phone in the market right now to support both these technologies out-of-the-box. As for the rest of the world, well, can we have a moment of warm appreciation for Asus? Raise a toast maybe? The company just created history after all.