Asus has announced a couple new phones at the ongoing ZenFestival in New Delhi, India.
The new phones — ZenFone 2 Deluxe and Laser — don’t bring a lot of new stuff to the table. While the ZenFone 2 Deluxe is a minor variation to the standard ZenFone 2, the ZenFone 2 Laser is a budget phone with a couple different screen sizes on offer.
Let’s take a look at the specifications of each of them.
Asus ZenFone 2 Deluxe
The ZenFone 2 Deluxe comes with an IPS 5.5-inch full HD display, 2.3GHz 64-bit Z3580 CPU from Intel with 4GB of RAM. Storage on the ZenFone 2 Deluxe goes up to 128GB, and it has a 13 mega-pixel rear camera, a 5 mega-pixel front facing camera, and a 3000mAh battery. The device comes with a dual SIM slot and 4G LTE connectivity. The ZenFone 2 Deluxe costs 22,999 INR or US$360.
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Asus ZenFone 2 Laser
The ZenFone 2 Laser on the other hand features a lower 1280 x 720p resolution across either a 5.5-inch or a 6-inch screen. True to its name, the ZenFone 2 Laser comes with laser autofocus (akin to the Meizu MX5 and OnePlus 2) to aid the 13 mega-pixel rear camera, which is pretty impressive for a phone that costs just 9,999 INR (US$156). It comes with a Snapdragon 410 processor along with 2GB of RAM, 8GB storage and a 2070mAh battery.
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Not very deluxe. Bad move ASUS not having upgraded cameras. Any flagship phone in this era needs 20MP+ back camera and a 8MP+ front. Maybe Intel chipset isn’t up to scratch?
Does a 20mp+ camera mean better pictures? There is much debate about the top flagship phone camera but most can agree these are in the top 3:
Galaxy S6 – 16mp
LG G4 – 16mp
Iphone 6 – 8mp
20mp doesn’t mean it will take amazing photos. These days the MP number is more marketing than anything else. It plays a part but not as much as people seem to think. What a flagship phone should have is a 5 or 6 element lens, OIS, Laser Focus, dual or triple LED Flash, aperture below 2.0 and great software. Those features (and more) will have a greater impact on your phones pictures than the MP number will.
It has to mean better quality, but may not transpose to positive visuals in the mind.
It has to mean better quality? Why because its a larger number? MP’s help in two instances: printing larger photos without losing quality and cropping or zooming in on photos without losing quality. But even then the difference between 13mp and 20mp isn’t that great. An editor from a camera review site took 3 images: 13mp, 8mp and 5mp all of them 16×24 in size. He hung them in NYC and asked people walking by which is which, 95% couldn’t accurately guess. MPs do play a part in quality but so do about 10 other things and just having a high MP doesnt mean anything unless it has all those other things as well.
Also the higher MP the better ability to compute details from images. Example barcodes, faces, objects, etc.
Regardless, they needed to change the sensor, I got a Zenfone 2 and the camera is below average, and on video mode the results are the kind of videos you would expect from a $150 dollars phone not a $260 one.
There is nothing wrong with the sensor itself and Asus used a good lens and 2.0 aperture, the problem is their optimization is horrible. It won’t matter what sensor they use if they can’t optimize it correctly to work with their device.
I had my hopes up on the title, then the disappointment. I thought maybe this deluxe Zenfone 2 would sway me from the Elephone Vowney, but nope.
wow! can we get the Zenfone LAser in Pak please!