Should you get this if you already have the Zenfone 5?

Last weekend ASUS Philippines have announced the two Zenfone 2 SKUs that they’ll be releasing. Included in the official list is the ZE500CL, a device that is wildly different from the two other Zenfone 2 SKUs. It’s actually closer to the current Zenfone 5 than the Zenfone 2. Don’t believe us? Take a look for yourself:

We’ve been talking to other tech heads and we all agree: the Zenfone 2 ZE550CL may be ASUS’ replacement for the Zenfone 5. It makes sense: with the arrival of the higher-priced Zenfone 2 ZE551ML, ASUS will need a device to take over on the sub 8K price range. You can read here what we thought of the Zenfone 5.

But as far as specs go, the Zenfone 2 ZE550CL isn’t that too far off from the original Zenfone 5 – it sports the same processor, display resolution and while it has  ASUS’ PixelMaster camera, it’s not the same, improved one on the higher Zenfone 2 SKUs.

So what does the ZE550CL have? Well, it starts with 16GB of storage over the 8GB version that ASUS sold originally when the Zenfone 5 arrived in the PH. It also receives a 390mAh battery bump over the Zenfone 5. It also has the new, Zenfone 2 back cover and more importantly it gets LTE capability though drops the dual SIM setup.

The big question is: should you upgrade to the ZE550CL if you already have the Zenfone 5? The answer is no. There’s not much in terms of specs here to justify paying extra for the Zenfone 2 ZE550CL. While the SKU has the label of the Zenfone 2, it’s still very much an upgraded version of the Zenfone 5.

It’s actually better for Zenfone 5 owners to sell their current units then upgrade to the ZE551 instead of getting the ZE550CL or the grey market ZE550ML units that are floating around now. You can check out Carlo’s hands-on video on the higher spec Zenfone 2 above, and find out why he thinks that the ZE551 (specifically, the 4GB RAM variant) is better value for money.