Finally, the Zenfone 5 is upon us.
Today, at Mobile World Congress 2018, ASUS announced 3 new versions of the Zenfone 5: Zenfone 5, Zenfone 5 Lite (or Zenfone 5Q) and the Zenfone 5z. All the new devices are powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, which is a perfect fit for the phones’ core features. The new Zenfones also feature displays with fairly wider aspect ratio – 19:9. And we’re not even scratching the surface yet.
The new Zenfones are packed with the necessary features that can take on their biggest competitors. Their focus on AI (not just in photography), photo, performance and the quirky Zenimoji make us really feel that they are are stepping in the right direction.
Let’s zero in to the Zenfone 5z!
The more premium Zenfone 5z, which retails for 475 Euro, comes as the greatest shocker in the line-up. Armed with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, it is – as of this writing – the most affordable smartphone with such SoC. I got the chance to quickly interview ASUS Marketing and PR Head, Anvey Factora, and he admitted that he was shocked when Jerry Shen announced its retail price on the lavish stage at MWC 2018.
Zenfone 5z features a 6.2-inch display with a 90% screen-to-body ratio. Thanks to its 19:9 aspect ratio, similar to its younger siblings, the Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 5q or Lite. Phones with bigger screen real estate making it a perfect tool for watching videos and playing mobile games.
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Performance-wise,Zenfone 5z is compensated with a 6GB RAM and 64GB internal memory. Riding along the processor is an AIE (artificial intelligence engine), which features a 3rd generation AI platform that includes Hexagon 685 Vector DSP, Adreno 630 Graphics and Kyro 385 CPU.
5z isn’t short of networking capabilities as well as it’s packed with a Snapdragon X20 Gigabit LTE modem, 2×2 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.
ASUS excels a lot in photography, and they made sure that this feature is not left out. The new Zenfone 5z sports the latest flagship Sony IMX363 sensor with large 1.4µm pixels, an f/1.8 aperture lens, 120° wide-angle secondary camera, four-axis optical image stabilization (OIS) and AI-enhanced camera features. Apart from being able to detect subject, which then automatically picks up the right preset, it also has AI Photo Learning and Real-time Beautification, a staple feature among the previous line-up of Zenfone.
And it does not end there, as they also announced a feature, which the Apple iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9 already have – Zenimoji. (Video Courtesy: Monica Pinter and ASUS)
While this feature may seem similar to Galaxy S9’s AR Emoji and Apple’s Animoji, Zenfone 5’s Zenimoji detects eye movements and may be used during livestream. The latter is a rehashed version of previous Zenfone’s live face enhancement features.
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