The Asus ZenFone 2 is proving to be the only smartphone in the world with the most number of variants all launched within a period of one year.
Asus has just released in North America the latest variant of its current flagship smartphone officially called the ZenFone 2 Laser. The new variant brings significant changes to the base model without really altering its price point.
Tom’s Hardware explained that the latest Asus ZenFone 2 variant is called Laser because its 13-megapixel rear-facing camera is matched with a fast laser autofocus.
It is the same camera feature of several other flagship handsets including the LG G3, the LG G4, the Nexus 5X, and the Nexus 6P.
The laser autofocus sends a laser light from the back of the phone onto the objects in front of it. The light is eventually reflected back onto the camera sensor. The smartphone shall then compute the time it took the light to return and calculates the distance where the camera should focus from. The feature makes snapping pictures very precise and fast too.
But the 13-megapixel camera itself has not changed from the previous iterations of the Asus ZenFone 2. It is still matched with a f/2.0 aperture, five-element Largan Lens, a dual-tone LED flash, and can still shoot 1080p video at a frame rate of 30 fps. The front-facing snapper will still have the same 5-megapixel resolution, but it has an added autofocus.
Coming out to the markets this week
The Asus ZenFone 2 Laser will be released to the US and Canadian markets this week with a retail price of $199. It will come with a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, a 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and 3,000 mAH battery, details Droid Life.
There is also a 32GB internal storage variant of the smartphone which comes with a $249 price tag. The smartphone also features Gorilla Glass 4 protection and Bluetooth 4.1.
The latest ZenFone 2 variant will come out with the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system and it is likely that it will be capable of upgrading to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. It is still not clear if the handset will be capable of upgrading to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The Asus ZenFone 2 Laser also features a removable battery, a scratch-resistant screen, and dual-SIM slots that both support LTE.
The handset is a very good option for people looking to purchase an unlocked device that they can use for travel and is also capable of handling multi-tasking.
A good replacement
The Asus ZenFone 2 Laser replaced the 1.8GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor used in the ZenFone 2 for a 1.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chip. It also changed the PowerVR G6430 used in the base model for the Adreno 405 GPU.
The internal storage of the Asus ZenFone 2 Laser can accommodate up to 128GB through a microSDXC card. It also comes with the patented ZenFone UI 2.0.
When Taiwanese smartphone maker Asus launched early this year the latest iteration to its groundbreaking ZenFone of 2014, the company has set a lofty goal for the ZenFone 2 in terms of sales performance.
The company was not only looking at coming up with a better smartphone compared to its predecessor, Asus was eyeing to sell 30 million units of ZenFone 2 and its all subsequent variants this year.
After it was launched early in January this year and subsequently made it to the global retail markets a few weeks later, the ZenFone 2 was already doing brisk sales in the markets.
However, Asus has a very strategic game plan to meet its target. It came out with plenty of variants of the ZenFone 2 in key markets like India, China, the US, Europe, and its own home market in Taiwan.
amazing phone for the bucks….