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The ASUS ZenFone is a series of Android smartphones designed, marketed and produced by ASUS. It was announced at the 2014 Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, Nevada for the First Generation ZenFones. In addition to its the Intel Atom processors and the Android operating system, ZenFone also features the Zen UI which is a user interface from Asus.
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ZenFone 4
The ZenFone 4 is the 4-inch WVGA (800×480) TFT display model. The ZenFone 4 features a 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2520 saltwell processor, a 5 MP rear & 0.3 MP front camera and 1 GB RAM. However, ZenFone 4 does not have an LED flash unlike the rest of the models in the ZenFone series.
ZenFone 4.5
The ZenFone 4.5 is the 4.5-inch WVGA (854×480) TFT display model. Using the same processor as the ZenFone 4 and having 8GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM and a MicroSD Card Slot supporting up to 64GB Storage, it does have a better rear camera than the ZenFone 4. The phone carries an 8 MP rear camera, and uses the same 0.3MP front camera as the ZenFone 4 does.
ZenFone 5
The ZenFone 5 is the mid range of the series and includes a 5-inch 1280×720 HD IPS display protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. This Zenfone features either a Dual-Core Hyper-threaded (dubbed Multicore) Intel Atom or a Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an 8 MP rear and 2 MP front camera.
This phone comes with 2 GB of RAM in comparison to other models and features at a competitive price. However, some of the earlier productions of this phone came with just 1 GB of RAM.
ZenFone 6
The ZenFone 6 is the 6-inch 1280×720 IPS display. The ZenFone 6 features a 2 GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2580 processor, a 13 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front-facing camera. The ZenFone 6 is equipped with 8 GB, 16 GB or 32 GB of internal memory, depending upon the version, external memory of up to 64 GB, and 2 GB of RAM.
ZenFone 2
The ZenFone 2 was announced at CES 2015. The flagship phablet model (ZE551ML) launched with Android 5.0 Lollipop running Asus's custom Zen UI and has a 5.5" Full HD (1920×1080) IPS display. The phone is powered by Intel Atom Moorefield SoCs with up to 4 GB of RAM, a first for smartphones. The phone also includes dual MicroSIM card slots, 13/5 MP rear and front cameras, a non-removable 3000 mAh Lithium polymer battery, up to 16/32/64/128 GB of internal storage, and a MicroSD Card slot.
Additionally, Asus announced two other models of the Zenfone 2. The ZE550ML comes with a 5.5" HD (1280×720) IPS display, but otherwise features similar specifications to the ZE551ML. The ZE500CL, the low cost variant, comes with a 5" HD display, an Intel Atom Cloverview CPU, 2 GB of RAM, a single MicroSIM slot, 8/2 MP rear and front cameras, and a 2500 mAh battery.
The ZenFone 2 was launched in Taiwan on March 9, 2015 - followed by India, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand
In July 2015, the ZenFone 2E was released in the United States as an exclusive prepaid AT&T GoPhone.
Deluxe editions was released on September 2015. It is basically a ZE551ML with extended memory and a special back cover dubbed "Illusion Case", which has 3D polygonal pattern that makes it got more premium look and feel than the original ZE551ML. Other markets offered the Deluxe Special Edition with red bezels, extended 256 GB of memory and Intel Atom Z3590 2.5 GHz processor. Colors offered are white and blue with purple shade, while the special edition available in silver or carbon fiber pattern. It is priced at around $299 for the deluxe edition and $469 for the special edition.
The ZenFone 2 won the 2015 iF product design award for top design in innovation, ergonomics, and functionality.
ZenFone Zoom
The ZenFone Zoom was announced at CES 2015 and along with ZenFone 2, it's one of the first phones to offer 4 GB of RAM. The specifications are largely the same as the Zenfone 2, with the exception of the camera. It has a 13 MP at the rear along with 3× optical zoom and 12× digital zoom, Real Tone Flash, optical image stabilization and laser auto-focus. It is priced at around US$399 for the 2 GB version.
Third generation (2016)
Asus unveiled the third generation ZenFone series at Computex Taipei on May 30, 2016. The ZenFone 3 series (ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe, and ZenFone 3 Ultra) uses an aluminum frame body with no visible antenna lines and features a fingerprint sensor for quick and secure access. The ZenFone 3 uses 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass on its front and rear panels. The ZenFone 3 Deluxe uses a Super AMOLED display and a Sony rear camera. The ZenFone 3 Ultra features a 4600mAh battery that can double as a powerbank for other devices with a 1.5A output. Both ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Ultra use the USB Type-C connector, which takes advantage of Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 support. Only ASUS provided adaptor is supported for charging for the Quick Charge 3.0 charging speed.