As we all expected, the new Zenfone 3 and full array of variants were launched here at Computex Taiwan. A few hours earlier, GSM Arena got hold of the specs of the device WinFuture and were later confirmed during the actual launch.
The new Zenfones are Zenfone 3 Deluxe, Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 3 Ultra. These devices are all powered by Snapdragon processors.
Zenfone 3
The new Zenfone 3 has a metallic frame with front and rear 2.5D contoured Corning Glass. It has a 5.5-inch FHD super IPS+ display and ultra sim bezel at 2.1mm. Insane.
It is the 1st smartphone worldwide that is powered by the latest Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor. Based on specificagtions, this processor is the 1st 600 Series processor with 14nm FinFet process technology, X9 LTE modem and 802.11ac Wifi. RAM is still 4GB.
Here are something equally cool about the new Zenfone 3: cameras and fingerprint sensor. It has a 16mp camera with ASUS TriTech autofocus. The latter is basically its 2nd generation laser, which has phase detection and can achieve .03 seconds focus that bring about sharp images in any condition. ASUS has been really focused on making the cameras of their smartphones at highest standards, that’s why they developed everything with PixelMaster technology. If you want to be a geek, its sensor is Sony IMX298 – the same sensor you can find on Xiami Mi5, Huawei Mate 8 and OPPO R9.
Zenfone 3 Deluxe
Their flagship Zenfone is the Zenfone 3 Deluxe. It is made of strong and light aluminum alloy unibody with thing 4.2mm edge. According to ASUS, it is the first smartphone with full metal design with invisible antenna.
It has a 5.7-inch FHD Super AMOLED display. It can produce rich, vibrant colors at any outdoor lighting condition.
Apart from its looks, its innards make the Zenfone 3 Deluxe more interesting. It is powered by Snapdragon 820 with Adreno 530 GPU. It has a 6GB of ram, a huge jump from their previous iteration.
Zenfone 3 Deluxe’s main camera is 23 megapixels. Its sensor is Sony IMX 318. It is the first ever Exmor RS sensor from Sony with integrated hybrid autofocus (AF) and 3-axis electronic image stabilization (EIS) for video. It has a large f/2.0 aperture lens, and 4-axis OIS. It can take stead 4K UHD videos, thanks to its 3-axis EIS or electronic image stabilization. Just like the Zenfone 3, the Deluxe version also has Asus Tritech laser auto-focus technology.
Zenfone 3 Ultra
ASUS’ hero device, the Zenfone 3 Ultra or the ZU680ML, is powered by Snapdragon 625 SoC with 1.8Ghz octa-core CPU, with 6.8-inch full HD display. It has ASUS Tru2Life+ visuals, dual speakers, hi-res audio and DTS headphones X surround.
Its camera is supercharged to 23mp PixelMaster camera, which is a huge jump their previous Zenfone 2 iterations. The camera has light speed autofocus (much like what we have at Zenfone Zoom and Zenfone 2 Laser), and has optical and electronic inahe stabilization.
Its design is equally stunning. It is only 6.8mm thick with diamond cut edges. Battery is 4,600mAh with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.
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Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.