Asus ZenFone AR Review: Not The Best Packaged Smartphone

Asus ZenFone AR has been launched in India with a price tag of Rs 49,990 and will be sold exclusively via Amazon starting from 13th July. Asus ZenFone AR is banking on its Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) capabilities, moreover, while it’s neither the first Google Tango-enabled smartphone nor the first to come with Daydream feature, it is the only handset to come with both feature.

With specifications like humongous RAM, three rear cameras as well as a flagship SD Chipset, Asus ZenFone AR has definitely generated a lot of curiosity since its launch in January which also means that the Asus ZenFone AR literally took six months to make a touchdown in India.

Is the Asus ZenFone AR still interesting? Hell Yes. Google Tango and Daydream have what it takes to bring Virtual reality to life and it’s pretty cool. But with a price tag of almost Rs 50,000, the question arises that would this be your next flagship smartphone? Well, for that the Asus ZenFone AR needs to have much more than the virtual games to tackle the challenges posed by Samsung Galaxy S8, OnePlus 5 and HTC U11 which are priced similarly to the subjected smartphone? Let’s see!! (Let’s just keep the iPhone 7 out of question this time because this is the battle of Android Knights)

Asus ZenFone AR Specifications

• Full metal frame with soft leather backing for grip

• 5.7-inch (2560 x 1440) Quad HD Super AMOLED Capacitive Touchscreen display offering 515 ppi and protected by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass

• 2.35 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor coupled with Adreno 530 GPU

• 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage, expandable up to 2TB via microSD

• Android 7.0 Nougat With Zen UI 3.0 on top

• 23MP Sony IMX318 rear camera with optical stabilization, dual-PDAF, laser autofocus, continuous autofocus, electronic image stabilization, additional depth and motion sensors, f/2.0 aperture, 6P lens, LED Flash, 4K Video support, 3-axis EIS for videos, 4-axis OIS for photos and RAW file support.

• 8MP sensor at the front with f/2.0 aperture, dual-LED flash, an 85-degree wide-angle lens, real-time beautification modes and HDR.

• Fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button

• 3300mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0

• Other features include a five-magnet speaker for better audio output, dual-microphone active noise cancellation for better audio quality, NXP amplifier, DTS-HD Premium Sound, Hi-Res Audio support and DTS Headphone:X 7.1 channel virtual surround sound.

• 4G VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, USB Type-C 2.0, 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/ A-GPS and NFC.

What’s There To Like About Asus ZenFone AR

• The 8GB RAM, SD 821 SoC, and Adreno 530 GPU is good performance package for heavy users and multitasking as well as gaming will be like a walk in the park, however, there is just one concern that we will talk about in the next segment.

• Augmented and Virtual experience is what the Asus ZenFone AR is banking on and that coupled with the 23MP Sony IMX318 sensor is the best package at this price. The pictures or videos offers vibrant and real-time colors, crisp output both outdoors and under low lighting conditions.

• For selfie lovers, the 8MP unit at the front couples with LED Flash and 85-degree wide-angle lens results in great pictures.

• The 5.7-inch display offers great visibility and is easy on the eyes. There is no oversaturation and viewing angles are up to the benchmarks.

The things we hate about Asus ZenFone AR

• The Zen UI 3.0 is not the clearest of interfaces and comes with a lot of bloatware

• The above-mentioned concern that we were talking about is the SD 821 chipset. While at the time of its unveiling in January, it was the best processor in the market, at present, new flagships have been launched with SD 835 and Qualcomm is even working on 836, which makes the Asus ZenFone AR fell outdated.

• Asus ZenFone AR is a beast of a smartphone and the 3300 mAh battery will not be able to power for a whole day on heavy usage, however, it comes with an 18w charger that can charge the device up to 60% in 18 minutes.

Verdict

Asus ZenFone AR definitely comes with stand-out features and the smartphones, fortunately, manages to justify its Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) capabilities, however, some of the specifications feel outdated when compared to the competition and what Asus could have done was to price the Asus ZenFone AR even more competitively to hide its drawbacks which in this tech-savvy world can hold the device back.

That being said, the Asus ZenFone AR is nothing short of a flagship device with features like 8GB RAM and a super AMOLED display, however, when it comes to packaging, it’s hard to ignore the fact that not everybody is going to buy the Asus ZenFone AR for virtual reality experience.

Asus ZenFone AR is a good smartphone but not the best when it comes to well-rounded packaging.