The Asus ZenFone Zoom is a smartphone with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, an Intel Atom Moorefield 64-bit processor, and a 5.5 inch full HD display. But those aren’t the features which make this phone special: it’s the camera that does that.
Asus outfits this phone with a 13MP camera with a 3X optical zoom lens for a focal length of 28 – 84mm.
The phone is expected to begin shipping to US customers in February, and now you can pre-order one from B&H for $399.
At that price the Zenfone Zoom is about $100 more expensive than the Zenfone 2 I reviewed last year. That’s not a bad thing though, since the Zenfone 2 is still a pretty good phone.
It has more RAM and storage than most phones in its price range and offers pretty speedy performance.
Aside from the camera, the two phones have pretty similar hardware, and both run Android 5.0 software with the Asus ZenUI user interface and app suite… although Asus says an Android 6.0 update is coming this year.
Is it worth spending an extra $100 to get a model with a better camera? I guess that depends on how much you want a camera with a zoom lens… although that’s not the only thing that makes the Zenfone Zoom’s camera special.
The Zenfone Zoom also has a dedicated camera shutter button, optical image stabilization, and laser-assisted auto focus.
The phone supports GSM and 4G LTE networks, 802.11ac WiFI, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC and has a microSDXC card slot for removable storage. It has a 5MP front-facing camera and a 3,000 mAh battery.
via Android Central