We go hands-on with ASUS’ eagerly awaited ZenFones!
ASUS managed to create quite a stir when they announced their ZenFone series of smartphones way back in CES. Roughly six months later, all three smartphones are finally arriving on our shores, but not without stiff competition. Six months is quite a long time for the announcement of a product until its official release, and during that period many of ASUS’ competitors have already announced and released their own price busting smartphones (with ASUS themselves announcing LTE versions of the 5 and 6 during COMPUTEX). Was the wait worth it for these three phones?
ASUS ZenFone 4 specs
- 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2520 processor
- 1GB RAM
- 4-inch TFT display, 800 x 480 resolution
- 4GB of storage, expandable via microSD up to 64GB
- 5-megapixel main camera
- VGA front camera
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
- 1200 mAh removable polymer battery
- Android 4.3 ( will update to 4.4 KitKat ) with ASUS ZenUI
ASUS ZenFone 5 specs
- 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2560
- 2GB RAM
- 5-inch HD IPS, 1280 x 720 resolution
- 8GB storage, expandable via microSD
- 8-megapixel f/2.0 PixelMaster Camera
- 2-megapixel front camera
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
- 2050mAh, non-removable polymer battery
- Android 4.3 ( will update to 4.4 KitKat ) with ASUS ZenUI
Initial impressions: simple design that gets the job done
The ZenFone series of devices are ASUS’ first smartphones that have not been designed in conjunction with a tablet, unlike their PadFone series of devices. It’s not surprising that the design of the ZenFone series is simple, with the majority of the phone(s) being made out of plastic. Both the ZenFone 4 and 5 use plastic backs, with both phones using a removable plastic shell much like the Lumia series of phones.
There’s a sliver of metal on the chin of both of the ZenFones which tries to break up the monotonous plastic construction of the device. The plastic on the body has been treated with a ceramic-like coating that makes the ZenFone feel pleasant to hold.
The ZenFone 4 uses a 4-inch TFT display with a display resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The ZenFone 5 has a bigger 5-inch, HD IPS display (also protected by Gorilla Glass 3).
Additonally, the ZenFone 5 that will be offered in the PH will have 2GB of RAM, paired with Intel’s Atom Z2560 1.6GHz dual-core processor.
One of the main draws of ASUS’ ZenFone line of devices is the Zen UI layered on top of Android 4.3 (which will be upgraded later to KitKat). It’s a simple, clean look that adds additional functionality to the smartphone, though we didn’t have enough time to actually play with the UI enough to notice all the enhancements.
While the two devices technically use dual-core processors, their performance is actually more akin to quad-core processors by MediaTek.
Their AnTuTu scores (15212 for the ZenFone 4 and 23406 for the ZenFone 5) show that they’re not exactly pushovers, though only a full review of the two devices will show if they’re really up to snuff.
Watch out for the pricing for these two devices, along with their bigger brother the ZenFone 6 (which was not present during the media gathering) on July 17.
EDIT: Apparently the ZenFone 5 that ASUS had on hand during the event was the 2.0GHz version, so you can expect the 1.6GHz version of the ZenFone 5 to have a slightly lower benchmark.
