ASUS ZenFone AR 5.7-inch WQHD AMOLED 6GB RAM, 64GB Storage LTE Unlocked Dual SIM Cell Phone, US Warranty (ZS571KL-S821-6G64G-BK)

** Edit ** - After a week of real usage, I keep my 5 star rating. The battery is excellent, now granted I came from a Galaxy S5 but I had a new battery in it, and the life of it didnt come close to the Asus. One day with heavy conference calls and some playing with the device I have only 7% by the time I went to bed, but that was impressive. My average day with playing, texts and some calls, I go to bed with 35-40%. The quick charge took the 7% up to 100% in about an hour. It has yet to lag and, for once, vendor software is almost welcomed on the Asus - Their boost program is cool - click it in the quick settings and it frees up RAM, which I suggest doing before doing any 3D scanning attempts or even AR/VR games. I picked up a Daydream headset just to try it - Best buy had them for $59 for a week - so Why not... Full disclosure - I do have a Vive on a 1080 card - so no comparison there, and its probably why I am critical of Daydream (or Gear VR for that matter). If I had nothing but Daydream for VR it would be a cool toy, but not something I would play a lot with - but thats likely due to missing the content I have on the Vive. Some of the VR experiences are cool and the controller works well enough - but again, Im used to Vive Trackers which are just plain excellent at tracking. For the $59 to play, it was worth it. Im very happy with the camera tests so far - Nice pictures all around and Im still shocked at how quick the laser focus is with Auto mode. My Galaxy S5 in auto mode was so slow at focusing - uselessly slow - So I was always in sports mode just to take any picture. The Asus camera is nice all around and the manual settings are fairly impressive for a phone (Its not an SLR, by any means .. but I wouldnt expect it to compare to a SLR camera). I did go to the modified Pixel Launcher rather than Asus' launcher - The Asus launcher is good, but Im just used to Googles Launcher since they releases the Google Now Launcher years ago on the on the play store. My mom has the last Asus phone with the default skin/launcher and she loves it - so this is all opinion. Calls work great - and the bluetooth to the car is fast and 100% connection now (over my Galaxy) - but again, thats an older phone so its not a far comparison. -------- Below is my Original Review ------------ I've been waiting for a reasonably sized Tango phone for some time - something that was a phone size, daydream support, good camera, and of course Tango. I did buy the Lenovo Phab 2 Tango Phablet, but never used it as a phone since it was just too big - which I knew when I bought it, it was purchased for Tango only. Now to the Asus - Its a quick phone, great screen and how many vendors include a Glass screen protector for the front, and an acrylic (Plastic?) back protector right out of the box. I couldn't transfer my Galaxy S5 Sim, as I assumed beforehand, since it was too big but AT&T took about 15 minutes to get me the new sim when I stopped in the store (FYI, they charge $5 for a sim now... they used to be free). Obviously this is a huge upgrade from my Galaxy S5 which I never had an issue with, but after so many years it was just starting to have a few issues, mostly with bluetooth and my car stereo which was annoying. The Asus skin isn't bad, I may still switch to the pixel launcher or some third party launcher - but thats just a preference and Ive used the google launcher since you could sideload it. The back button is on the opposite side of where Samsung puts it, so just another small change after having an S3 and S5 - so Samsung for 5 or 6 years. The Fingerprint sensor is lightning quick - I usually disabled locked screens due to the unlocking and just being a pain at the wrong time. The fingerprint scan is so fast and you can store 5 different prints, so scan your finger holding the phone differently to handle any situation. The regular camera for daylight pictures is vibrant and quick to focus (it should be with the tech) - I do want to see it in action in darker situations, but in some darker rooms to test the results were fairly good - Not SLR good, but good. The AR aspect is what I expected - the Lenovo handled AR fine as well. Tango 3D Scanning works VERY well and the limitations right now are software based, not hardware based - Scandy is trying to address many of those issues, but their app isnt there yet. If you want to use a floor plan for a VR game / etc, RTAB-Map handles this very well, and Matterport scenes scans well too. Im sure as more people start to use these apps, they will get more attention and just get better and better. Right now, dont expect to 3D scan something and then export as an STL to 3D print anything.. Soon, just not yet without some extra clean-up work on your side. AR games are cool - theres a new one called Hologrid Tango - Its like Star Wars Holochess - its a strategy game that puts a board anywhere you want and its just fun. As with the Phab 2 - the Lowes app, Wayfair app, and Gap applications are all cool. The measuring program is awesome - Just click point 1, then point 2 and you have your measurement (If you are in the US, change the measurements to Imperial if you want inches/feet) I added a 64GB MicroSD since I had one Im not using - its the lightning fast version from Samsung that used to transfer 100+MB/sec on my Surface Book, so with the scanning Ill do, I wanted more space and the speed will help. All other aspects are excellent - Sound quality is great for a phone, it pairs with my car without any issues each time, the asus keyboard takes time to get used to but like all Android devices you can change that. I was worried about the size before the phone arrived - I always thought larger than say 5.1 or 5.25 screens were as large as I could carry easy in my pocket. Since Asus did a pretty job of shrinking the bezel, so its about as wide as the Galaxy s5 and about 1/2 taller - so really, not too big at all but gives me a 5.7" screen over my old 5.1" screen. It didnt take long to get used to that :) As I 3D Scan more in different scenarios, Ill update my review. I was working with Scandy before their release and I have some more input for them from my results on the Phab2 and the Zenphone AR - maybe some that will help them.... This should be a killer portable 3D Scanner - but right now, its just a cool toy 3D scanner for objects, for spaces and point in cloud, its pretty good as it is.

I bought this phone, because I was tired of having to close apps to use other apps. The 8GB RAM works like a charm. Sound quality: top notch. Battery, pretty good considering I play a lot of games on it. But the materials used for the display, are quite weak. My girlfriend and me bought the same phone, her phone fell once (even with the screen protector on) and the display went off. My 1st pf the two I bought got hit by a falling EMPTY can, on one side, the display died, and yes, it had the screen protector on too. Features: AWESOME! Mat. Quality: Not too good. Feels like and iPhone in that department.

This is my first Asus phone. I would rate it 5 stars but I really miss the Wacom stylus that comes on the Samsung Note series. If Asus could bring Wacom tech to their Zenfone series, they would get my loyalty. Asus'tech support is horrible, a query to them on this sales page about LTE bands supported gave stock answers, referring to their Asus webpage, which doesn't have band information at all. This is typical Asus, if you ever think you will need actual tech support don't bother with anything Asus. It is almost like they have a firewall between their designers in Taiwan and the support in the USA. So I took a gamble and purchased the phone hoping Band 12 would be present. One of the first things I did after getting the phone was to load the LTE Discovery App. It now can decipher LTE bands from TMobile. I did a log and I got Bands 2, 4, & 12 being used on my phone in the last two days. The glass screen protector is very, very nice, the case protector - not so much. The Google Tango demo crashed a few times, but when it doesn't crash it runs with no latency and is very neat. I will be testing Matterport Scenes and Scandy in the next few weeks. I also liked the lack of bloatware from Asus, just the basics loaded here. I really appreciate that, especially combined with Android's 7 controls that lock programs off if you desire. This is the opposite of Samsung who frontloads lots of trash apps that you can't even figure out what they do. I am looking forward to using the AR features more as I get used to the phone, but that will take some time. All in all, a solid piece of hardware from Asus.

Google announced a new direction with Tango shortly after this phone was released killing the big thing it had going for it. Ignoring Tango, this was a reasonable phone with some serious build quality issues. Something like 6-9 months after owning it I started developing what appears to be a common problem with the vibration motor. Even light pressure on the back of the phone would cause it to trigger which got to be pretty annoying. I often had to take it out of my pocket because if I moved my leg the wrong way the pressure from the fabric of my pants could trigger it. I've seen reports of other people having different build quality issues. If you develop problems and are able to get your phone to ASUS in the warranty period they might fix it, but I have no idea if the replacements are actually built any better. It took me a while to get a backup phone so I could send my zenfone for replacement and by then I realized I was one week out of the warranty period. Now they're asking for $300+ to repair my phone when $200 will buy you a refurbished one elsewhere. TL;DR: Even if you don't care about Tango, as a regular phone this is marred with build issues and only a 1-year warranty. For $200 it might be worth getting, but definitely don't pay $300+ for it.

The Tango apps are NOT ready for prime time. They crash, have few functions and generally don't work. The phone gets very hot when you use any Tango app and they are quite a battery drain. After having the phone announced at CES 2017 and not ship until 8 months later, it is really sad how not ready the phone still was. I don't think that is is Asus' fault, I just think Google software was not ready. If you look, there are only 2 Tango phones, this one from Asus and one from Lenovo.

Asus ZenFone AR is my first expensive phone. The phone is very satisfied, it is fast, stable and pleasant. Technology Tango is very pleased and works almost perfectly. Otherwise, the textures would look like real and glossy surfaces would see. I hope that I will manage to avoid the problem with vibration, because there is no way to return from Russia to Amazon. Amazon delivers very strange and unpleasant. At first, 27 days were waited, and then delivered within 3 days. Among the advantages can be identified the following: Good AR / VR; Fast charging; High speed of work; High stability of work; Pleasant appearance; Despite the impure Android, the Asus UI does not create problems; The camera can shoot almost in the dark thanks to IK-backlight from Tango; The sound is amazing. From the minuses: The battery leaks when Bluetooth is on, even when scanning with Tango, the battery lasts longer; The processor could have made 8 kernel, but not 4; Batteries last for one day of average use of the phone, not enough for a day of playing 3D games; In addition, the battery is consumed not linearly, but irregular, especially when the network is switched on; Touch ID fades over time, but does not get smart and stops passing the famous finger almost completely; Despite the fact that the camera has 23MP shoots well only outdoors in bright light, in other cases the photo leaves much to be desired; Simultaneously with good sound quality, the volume seems low even at the maximum; Google Drive activation does not work because of an incomprehensible error.

UPDATE 2: I chose to return the phone. There is nothing wrong with the phone itself. It's perfect for someone looking for a near stock Android device with a few interesting features. But I realized that I am locked into the Samsung ecosystem as a long term Note user. I am used to things like Bluetooth and multi window to be a lot more refined and finished than what I was getting with this phone. I don't recommend it for people like me who have high expectations from manufacturers. UPDATE: I went into my phone settings and the current Android Security Patch is April 2017! I really love this phone. The screen is beautiful and Asus has also done a great job with their Android skin. The camera is decent enough and has a super high resolution option that lets you zoom way into photos. The one problem I have with it is that it's main feature, Google Tango, the reason it has all of the sensors on the back of it, has been scheduled to be shut down by Google in Q1 of this year. So, it's not worth spending much money on this phone unless you're okay with it's main unique feature being crippled in the coming months. Thanks a lot, Google. So, if you want a neat phone that will be able to do some really great 3D / cloud mapping for a few more weeks, grab it. But other than that, not sure what the point of its existence is.

Project Tango and Daydream in the same phone - whats not to like? Tends to heat up more than I am comfortable with during daydream sessions in particular but thats not too surprising. I am dissappointed that I cant tie the two technologies together yet from a developer perspective but this is no fault of the phone. Its amazing some of the things you can do with Tango - would strongly recommend the phone. I did replace the ZenUI launcher with the stock Android launcher though - don't know why there is a need for a custom skin over stock android - just gets in the way.