The Asus ZenFone 2 is an Android smartphone with a 5.5 inch, full HD display, an Intel Moorefield 64-bit processor, and a starting price of $199 for an unlocked phone.
It’s also one of the first smartphones that will be available with 4GB of RAM, although the entry-level model will have just half that much.
Asus unveiled the ZenFone 2 during CES in Las Vegas this week, although it will likely launch in other markets before it’s available in the US. Asus does hope to bring the ZenFone 2 to the States in the second quarter of 2015, which would make it one of the few smartphones from Asus available in this country.
The phone has a 3000mAh battery and a fast-charge feature that lets you charge the phone for 40 minutes to bring the battery to 60 percent of capacity. It has a 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, a microSD card slot, and support for 802.11ac WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, LTE.
For a phone with a 5.5 inch screen, the ZenFone 2 doesn’t feel all that large… or maybe I’ve just been spending too much time with big phones lately to notice. The screen looks great, the system seems pretty responsive, and that’s about all I was able to test because there was no internet access in the Asus suite where I got a chance to play with the ZenFone 2.
The phone will be available in a variety of colors including black, white, red, grey, and gold.
Update: Asus is now selling the Zenfone 2 in North America. A model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage sells for $299, while a cheaper model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage runs $199.
Asus also offers a smaller model with a 5 inch screen and a less powerful processor in some markets, but not in the US.
Does anyone know if this phone will be released in Australia?
Incase anyone is curious about the performance of this Z3580 CPU, compared to other ARM SOCs:
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/06/05/how-does-intels-atom-z3580-hold-up-against-qualcom.aspx
wish it was a bit smaller. i know I’m probably splitting hairs, but 5.2″ would be perfect
Pending decent battery life, I will buy one of these in a heartbeat. Lets hope the 4gb model gets sold with LTE bands that support US and Canadian networks.
From the official website
4G band: FDD LTE: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/9/17/18/19/20/28/29
TDD LTE: 38/39/40/41
It has band 4 so you can use it on 4G LTE t-mobile and At&t networks in the US. Not sure about canadian networks but I’m sure your band is in there too.
Yup that covers me. I’m on Rogers, in Canada. They use FDD LTE bands 4,7, and 17
ASUS confirmed on their twitter account that the Zenfone 2 is in fact coming to the US, probably in March.
Dual SIM support?
Second quarter of 2014 -> I guess you meant 2015 🙂
Want…
Well, this isn’t a flagship killer, cuz US availability isn’t guaranteed. There are tons of ‘flagship killers’ in China, they just never make it here
Asus is known brand in USA, the other companies are not.
Asus confirmed on their official twiiter account today that the phone IS coming to the U.S.
Lol OPO is done. This is a real flagship killer. 😀
This is not a flagship, not by 2015 standards, this is midrange.
What??? Midrange? 64 bit processor and 4 gigs of ram. 3000 mah battery with quick charfe technology. 13 mega pixel camera and dual Sim. 5.5 full HD screen. How is that midrange?
It’s a flagship by anyone’s standards.
Antutu scores say it’s a flagship
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1XQlXqfLwzo/VK24wRAdo6I/AAAAAAAAC-k/ruNV1poiXHM/s1600/Asus%2BZenfone%2B2%2BAntutu%2BBenchmark%2B%282%29%2B.jpg
When I see these phones running 64 bit Intel CPUs, I wonder if they are running a 64 bit OS. 64 bit Android is fully available to them.
I think most likely they are. They’d be stupid to put 32-bit Android on there especially with Lollipop natively supporting x86-64.
Seeing 4gb of RAM is a tell-tale sign that they must have a 64 bit OS.
Is that true though? There was a 32-bit Android box talked about on here recently of getting a 4GB model.
Awesome. When a really good phone is $199 unsubsidized, there’s really no need for most people to sign up for a 2 year contract.