Asus equips Tango phone ZenFone AR with Snapdragon 821-soc

Asus will present its ZenFone AR at CES, a smartphone with Google’s Tango technology for augmented reality. The device will receive a Snapdragon 821-soc, according to a message that Qualcomm has put online. The phone also supports VR platform Daydream.

Asus will not present the phone until January 4, but Qualcomm briefly published a press release announcing the arrival of the ZenFone AR. The chipmaker’s message states that the smartphone will get a Snapdragon 821 soc. Qualcomm also reports that the ZenFone AR is the first phone to support both Tango and Daydream. The message has since been taken offline again, but it was noticed by 9to5google, among others.

Smartphone specialist Evan Blass, better known as @evleaks, has A photo of the device was released on Monday. It is not yet known how big the ZenFone AR will be, but the phone is probably smaller than the only other Tango device on the market: the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro with 6.4″ screen. Notice that the sensors are positioned differently from Lenovo’s Tango phone, which has a sensor stack where all the sensors are arranged in a row.

Lenovo presented the Phab 2 Pro in June last year and the phone hit the market in December. It was the first Tango phone and the first commercial product to use Google’s ar technology. The Phab 2 Pro features a Snapdragon 652-soc, which is slower than the Snapdragon 821 that Asus packs into its ZenFone AR.

Google Tango is a technique for advanced augmented reality. It works with a module consisting of several cameras and sensors, including a depth sensor and infrared laser. The sensors make it possible, for example, to measure objects with a Tango phone by pointing the camera at them.