The last big conference from MWC 2018 has just concluded and Asus took the final spotlight to introduce the first three phones of the latest ZenFone 5 line up. The phone caters to different users with the ZenFone 5, ZenFone 5Z and ZenFone 5 Lite.
Asus ZenFone 5 Lite
The first phone that was showcased was the ZenFone 5 Lite which comes in either a Snapdragon 630 or 430 depending on the variant, 6-inch FHD 2160 x 1080 18:9 aspect ratio screen, 2.5D glass panel on the front and back, and it comes with face unlock.
Asus has decided to go with a dual SIM and microSD card slot for the phone and has placed a 20MP Sony IMX 376 sensor coupled with a 120-degree wide-angle lens and the front comes with a 16MP sensor and a 120 degrees wide-angle camera as well. The ZenFone 5 Lite will start shipping March 2018 but there was no mention of price.
ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 5z
The ZenFone 5 is a strong contender in the mid-range market, coming with a 6.2-inch FHD 19:9 aspect ratio screen, Snapdragon 636 processor, 4GB or 6GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage and Android Oreo out-the-box. Powering the device is a 3,300mAh battery which should give you a days use on a single charge and there is a 12MP f/1.8 camera coupled with a 120 degrees wide-angle lens and an 8MP shooter on the front. The phone uses the power of AI to enhance the experience of using the phone and Asus has included some rather interesting features.
AI Camera is a feature that will help adjust your photos and allows you to choose which photos you like. This allows it to help you when taking a photo by adjusting the image to your preference. Other AI features include AI Boost which gives you 12.72% performance increase and AI Charging which maintains the battery percentage at 80 when you are sleeping and gets it to 100% few hours before you wake. This is done by understanding your sleeping patterns and the time that you usually wake to preserve battery life.
The screen comes with a notch, but Asus has probably the best implementation of the notch, as they have shown that notification icons or system icons that stretch into the notch will automatically be hidden. Accessing them is as simple as tapping on them and a notification bar will extend showing you the hidden icons. Asus has included dual stereo speakers with smart amps which they claim is 1.2x louder, 2.1x low-frequency production and 10% less distortion than the “Fruit Phone X” (obviously indicating the iPhone X). Similar to the ZenFone 5 Lite, there is no mention of the starting price as well.
Asus has created their own Animoji-like feature which they are calling ZeniMoji which works exactly as Animoji except you can use in on live videos and it will event work with Facebook or Instagram’s face filters.
The ZenFone 5z share all the same AI and design features of the ZenFone 5 but comes flagship specs like the Snapdragon 845 processor, 256GB, 128GB or 64GB of storage and 8GB, 6GB or 4GB of RAM with a starting price of 479 Euro. The ZenFone 5 and 5z will start shipping on April and June 2018 respectively.
