The ZenFone 2 was already launched in Taiwan about a month ago, and saw positive responses as a whole – so it only made sense that the rest of the world would be excited to get their hands on the device as well. And now, it’s also been made available in Europe, with pricing starting at €179 for the base model, the ZenFone 2 ZE500CL.
Next in line we have the ZenFone 2 ZE550ML at €249, a significant addition to the price; following it in line is the ZenFone 2 ZE551ML at €349, but it will actually be offered at €299 in the beginning as a promotion. That’s a nice gesture, although it only covers the most expensive version of the device, although this move does make sense if the company wants to promote their higher-end hardware on the market.
The most impressive device in the line-up, the ZE551ML, offers a stunning 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of built-in storage, beating other smartphones on the market by a very large margin. Sure, other manufacturers have started increasing the RAM in their own devices as well, but 4 GB is still a rarity and something guaranteed to give users the best possible performance in Android.
Speaking of Android, the ZenFone 2 doesn’t run a “clean” version of the operating system, as it has the ZenUI overlaid on top of the base Android 5.0 Lollipop image. According to reviews, the changes implemented by Asus have actually been very successful and work quite well in combination with Android’s interface as a whole, although they might require some getting used to for some users.
Other than lots of RAM and storage memory, the ZenFone 2 ZE551ML also comes with a 5.5 inch display running at a full HD resolution. It should be noted that the ZE500CL, the base model, only comes in a single SIM variant, while other entries in the line have dual SIM support as well.
The camera is the only aspect of the ZenFone 2 that doesn’t really shine with anything special, although it’s good enough by most standards as well. Users will get a 13-megapixel sensor on the back and a 5-megapixel camera on the front, although the cheaper versions of the phone will replace the rear camera with an 8-megapixel one. The front camera on the ZE500CL is a 2-megapixel one as well.
Powering all this is a 3000 mAh battery in the high-end models and a 2500 mAh battery for the ZE500CL, and both choices should be sufficient for the kind of hardware that they have to support. We don’t know details about the charging times yet.