ASUS’ ZenFone line of devices might not be the most highly anticipated phones we have seen come across the GizChina desks, but maybe that should change.
Back in January at CES, ASUS announced the ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6, with each of them expected to launch this month. With the end of April fast approaching, it didn’t look like ASUS was going to hit its targeted release date. Now, we know that at least one of the phones will be launching tomorrow, and it’s getting an upgrade from its previously announced specs.
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The ZenFone 5 now contains 2GB of RAM instead of the 1GB previously announced. From the Weibo announcement, it is unclear if this is for a special edition of the ZenFone 5, or if it is for all ZenFone 5s. It still only costs ¥999 ($160, €116).
As for the rest of the specs? It has a 1280×720 5 inch screen, 16GB of expandable storage, an 8MP back camera and 2MP front camera. It is powered by Intel’s Atom Z2580 dual core CPU. That may not sound impressive, but Intel’s chip relies heavily on hyper threading, which makes the two chips work significantly better in certain situations. It also runs ASUS’s own Zen UI.
No word yet on the ¥799 ZenFone 4 or the ZenFone 6 (expected to cost around $199) but they are sure to be close behind. We have reached out to ASUS for comment and will report back if we hear anything.
[Source: Weibo]
Was a good deal,now it is just great.
Spent some time with one recently at an IT fair. Really impressive, especially considering the price. Now it should be even better.
Have a friend that buys knock offs at around this price… now I’ll recommend him an ASUS without any doubt. My 1920×1200 tablet has same CPU and RAM, and usually runs smooth (would prefer vanilla Android, but this Zen UI’s also quite nice). Devices like this can change the market, I’m also thinking on the next Lenovo-Moto G 😉
If it were dual SIM it would be a great alternative. Great though also with the 4, 5 and 6 inch. This I personally believe is a good way to target a broader spectrum of people, if the phones at least have similar specs (best would be all the same but with a small form factor that can become difficult or vise versa the specs would be too medicore for the large one).
What is dual core performance compared to mediatek octa core ?
At 1080p it got 28k in antutu, and the Octa is just at 26k… so they are on the same level. The dual core is on par with snapdragon 600 from Samsung Galaxy S4.
Does this Atom support Glonass? And how many Mah have baterry? Waiting for Bay Trail phone OOO 😉
Zenfone 6 officially costs almost $300 in Thailand, but it wasn’t unexpected because everything smart usually costs about $100 more here. It might be attributed to taxes, but I don’t really know why. Some sellers have it advertised for almost $400.
I hope it maintains it’s affordable price here in the philippines. A moto g here costs almost like $250. A nokia 520 costs around $200.