5 Awesome Things the Asus ZenFone AR Can Do

Asus' ZenFone AR is the first smartphone that incorporates both Project Tango, Google's augmented-reality platform, and Daydream VR, Google's answer to virtual reality. With three rear-facing cameras, six sensors and abilities to track motion, perceive depth and map rooms, the ZenFone AR aims to be the ideal phone to bring Google's mixed-reality vision to life.

The hardware on this $648 phone certainly sounds impressive, but you're probably wondering: Just how useful is an AR/VR smartphone in real life?

We got to spend some time with the ZenFone AR before Verizon started taking pre-orders on the phone and can attest to its cool factor, though with only 35 Tango-compatible apps in the Google Play Store, we're not sure this phone is a must-have — yet. Here are the five most impressive things the ZenFone AR can do right now.

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Online furniture retailer Wayfair just added a feature to its app that helps you play interior decorator. The Wayfair app uses the ZenFone's augmented-reality capabilities to place 3D models of couches, lamps, wall hangings and more in your home so you can see how your spruced-up space will look.

Every item is to scale, so when you move pieces around the room and experiment with layout, you’ll get an accurate representation of how that setup will look in real life. Not every item in the Wayfair app offers a 3D model, but the app's home screen has a shortcut to the furnishings that are compatible with the ZenFone's AR features. Wayfair is sweetening the deal with a $25 gift card when you buy the Asus phone from Verizon.

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Augmented reality is a natural for games, but playing Slingshot Island on the Asus ZenFone AR really drove home how Project Tango can bring games to life. There I was, standing in front of an island in the middle of a room, trying to fling rocks at eggs -- and failing miserably. If I were playing the unaugmented version of this game, I would have swiped out immediately. (What can I say? I hate losing.) But augmented-reality games are just more fun.

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If you’re in the market for a new BMW — who isn't? — then the BMW app optimized for the ZenFone AR gives you a sneak peek at what the luxury BMW i8 sports car would look like parked in your garage. All you have to do is point the ZenFone's camera at an area big enough to park a car and then place the i8 in the image by tapping the screen. From there, you can walk around the car, take a look inside and even turn on the windshield wipers. It's a gimmick, but a damn cool one, with broader implications for mobile shopping.

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A Google app for teachers has the potential to transform how children learn. Google Expeditions lets teachers choose from a library of lessons; the ZenFone AR then puts the objects from those lessons right in front of students. They can see the rings of Saturn up close and personal, or look at a human skeleton and organs in incredibly sharp detail. Educational applications that bring concepts from textbook to augmented reality make the ZenFone much more useful than, say, parking a virtual car in your garage does.

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Want to rent a fun photo booth for your next event but don’t have hundreds of dollars? Use your smartphone instead. An app called Holo uses the ZenFone AR’s camera sensors to put characters next to you that aren’t really there — and they don’t even look that fake.

Holo offers a variety of options, from Spider-Man to a ferocious-looking tiger, that will impress your guests for at least a little while. Taking photos with Holo's characters makes for a good time, but the ZenFone AR really impresses with the ability to pin a character to a specific spot on the floor and then walk around it. The app itself isn't game-changing, but the technology is — or at least it will be.

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