ASUS officially unveils six new smartphones under the ZenFone 4 series: the flagship Zenfone 4 Pro, standard Zenfone 4, Zenfone 4 Selfie, Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro, Zenfone 4 Max, and the Zenfone 4 Max Plus.
First, let us look the high-end premium one, the Zenfone 4 Pro with model number ZS551KL. comes with a 5.5-inch AMOLED LCD display, under glass-metal-glass design, with both sides using 2.5D Gorilla Glass panels, adding the aluminum mid-frame’s rounded edges for nice looking body. Under the hood we find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, with eight Cortex-A53 cores running up to 2.2 GHz and an Adreno 540 GPU. The chip is backed by up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of native storage.
The ZenFone 4 Pro features two cameras at the back, where one camera includes a 12-megapixel Sony IMX362 sensor which is coupled with an f/1.7-aperture, 25mm wide-angle main lens. It comes with large 1.4um pixels for light sensitivity, plus 4-axis image stabilization; optical stabilization for stills and electronic stabilization for videos. While the second camera comes with a dedicated 50 mm, 16-megapixel sensor which comes in a Sony IMX351 sensor (same as the front camera shooter on the HTC’s flagship, U11) with an instant 2X optical zoom and an f/2.6 aperture for “Portrait Mode”. Additionally, the Taiwanese phone maker manage to used contrast detection auto-focus instead of TriTech+, which is good in well-lit conditions.
The front-facing cam shoots 8-megapixel for selfies and bears a bright f/1.9 aperture and 87.4˚ wide-angle lens. There’s a usual beautification mode here with various options if you want to have a tweaks on it, like contour, smoother skin and eyes.
The fingerprint sensor is located at the front side of the phone, embedded on the home button. The company claims that the fingerprint sensor can unlock the device in 360˚ for only 0.3s.
As we go on to the battery capacity, the handset packs a size-able, 3600 mAh cell inside it. Quick charging should be supported by the handset, with a speed of 18W. For the pricing, the base model costs $249, carrying 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Naturally, the 128GB variant will cost you extra.
Moving on to the standard Zenfone 4 with model number ZE554KL, it carries a full metal body and a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS LCD (instead of AMOLED) display. The screen of the phone is further protected with a Corning Gorilla Glass panel. It also features a blue-light filter for eye care that prevents strain over long periods of viewing the screen of the phone.
The ZenFone 4 will be available in two processors and RAM variants, one with Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset that pairs on 6GB RAM, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset that comes on a smaller 4GB RAM. However, both of these will come on a 64GB of inbuilt storage that’s expandable via microSD card up to 2TB.
Asus also boasts with the dual camera system at the back. One is a 12-megapixel lens with a slightly slower f/1.8 aperture sensor, while on the secondary camera is an 8-megapixel lens with OmniVision 8856 sensor and a large 1.12um pixels with a slightly slower f/2.2 aperture. Like the “Pro”, the front sports an 8-megapixel camera with wide 84° field of view and a super-wide 140° Selfie Panorama.
The price starts at $399 for the base SD630 variant. For the SD660 model, let just wait for the official announcement, but it is expected to be a higher one.
Asus Zenfone 4 Pro (ZS551KL) key specs:
5.5-inch FHD AMOLED LCD display; 1920 x 1080 resolution
Corning Gorilla Glass panel
2.45Ghz 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor
Adreno 540 GPU
64GB / 128GB storage
6GB RAM
MicroSD slot that supports up to 2TB
Dual 12-megapixel (f/1.7 aperture, Sony IMX362 sensor) + 16-megapixel (2x optical zoom, Sony IMX351 sensor) rear cameras, with DualPixel phase detection & laser auto-focus and dual-LED flash
8-megapixel front camera, f/1.9 aperture with phase detection auto-focus and Sony IMX319 sensor
4K (2160p) video recording
Hybrid Dual-SIM, Dual standby
3G HSPA+, 4G LTE-A (Category 12) connectivity
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, USB-OTG, NFC
Live Fingerprint sensor
FM Radio
Android 7.1.1 ‘Nougat’, ZenUI 4.0
3,600 mAh non-removable battery
Rapid charging support, 18W
156.9 x 75.6 x 7.6 mm
175 grams
Colors: Moonlight WHite and Pure Black
Price: $599 or ~P30,765 (64GB model only); TBA (128GB model)
Asus Zenfone 4 (ZE554KL) key specs:
5.5-inch FHD IPS LCD display; 1920 x 1080 resolution
Corning Gorilla Glass panel
4GB RAM: 2.2Ghz 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 octa-core processor; Adreno 508 GPU
6GB RAM: 2.2Ghz 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor; Adreno 512 GPU
64GB storage
MicroSD slot that supports up to 2TB
Dual 12-megapixel (f/1.8 aperture, Sony IMX362 sensor) + 8-megapixel (120˚ wide-angle) rear cameras, with DualPixel phase detection auto-focus and dual-LED flash
8-megapixel front camera, f/2.0 aperture
4K (2160p) video recording
Hybrid Dual-SIM, Dual standby
3G HSPA+, 4G LTE-A (Category 12) connectivity
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, USB-OTG, NFC
Fingerprint sensor
FM Radio
Android 7.1.1 ‘Nougat’, ZenUI 4.0
3,300 mAh non-removable battery
Rapid charging support, 18W (SD660); 10W (SD630)
155.4 x 75.2 x 7.5 mm
165 grams
Colors: Moonlight WHite, Mint Green and Pure Black
Price: $399 or ~P20,490 (SD630 model only); TBA (SD660 model)
Availability
There will be a local launch of all the six smartphones on Saturday (August 19), so expect to check our page as we get the official prices.
