ASUS has announced a bunch of new smartphones at its CES press conference this year – all branded under the Zenfone line, in all shapes and colours, and all running on an Intel chip. It is available in three different varieties – a four-inch model (Zenfone 4), a five-inch model (Zenfone 5) and a six-inch model (Zenfone 6).
None of the Zenfone models, however, support 4G LTE.
The Zenfone 4 is designed for those who want a light and thin, but powerful phone. Internal specs include a dual-core 1.2GHz Atom Z2520 processor, a 5-megapixel rear camera, a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 1GB of RAM, and a microSD card slot for storage. And because it is a cheap phone – the price tag is US$99 – the screen resolution is just 800 x 480 pixels.
The Zenfone 5, on the other hand, features a 2GHz Atom Z2580 processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera with image stablisation, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 1GB of RAM, and a microSD card slot. It also comes with support for its PenTouch and GloveTouch technologies – meaning that you can use a stylus or while you have gloves on.
In contrast with the Zenfone 5, the Zenfone 6 also includes a 2GHz Intel Z2580 processor, 1GB of RAM and a microSD card slot. However, the cameras are upgraded in the Zenfone 6 to a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Designed with entertainment in mind, it is also fitted with its SonicMaster audio technology.
All three will include a brand new ski called ZenUI, with over 200 new enhancements to Android core – including a modified email app, smart reader mode and online syncing with the cloud via the Gallery. Described as knowing what the users want, ZenUI comes with additional extras such a task management app and a free messaging app powered by Omlet Chat. The new messaging app lets users share any kind of content to anyone easily and to any phone.
Australian availability has not been revealed.