At long last ASUS have brought their much-anticipated smartphone, the ZenFone Zoom, to Malaysia today. Sporting a massive 3x optical zoom camera mounted at the back, this device is supposed to be the thinnest of its kind, featuring a 5mm “ultra-thin edge” thanks to the ZenFone series’ familiar curved back.
It’s no one-trick-pony either as the smartphone packs a 64-bit quad-core Intel Atom Z3590 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable (up to 64GB via microSD) internal storage — plenty for all your photography needs. It also features a 5.5″ full HD display hidden under the protective arm of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4.
Enough about the performance specs though, we’re interested in that massive camera module. ASUS have mounted their 3x optical zoom glass horizontally across the back of the device allowing its thickness to be greatly reduced. The primary camera itself is a 13-megapixel Panasonic SmartFSI sensor with an f/2.7-4.8 10-element lens and a whole host of goodies like optical image stabilisation (OIS), Pixel Master 2.0, laser autofocus plus a dual-tone LED flash. If you’re worried that 13MP isn’t enough, ASUS have included a Super Resolution function that fuses four shots into one picture for up to 52-megapixels per photo.
Besides that, the camera boasts a 5cm macro shot distance as well as a pro-style Manual mode. The front camera is a modest 5MP f/2.0-aperture, wide angle 88-degree lens with Pano Selfie.
While the device itself has nice metal rails — an improvement over the plasticky ZenFone 2 — the back is made of some kind of soft touch leather that ensures the phone is grippy even in one hand. Close to the dedicated shutter and video record button is a slight bump which helps with the ergonomics when you’re shooting pictures with this device.
This smartphone will come running Android 5.0 Lollipop with ASUS’s ZenUI skin on top. It also sports a reasonable 3,000 mAh battery with ASUS’s BoostMaster fast-charging technology. The ZenFone Zoom will have support for up to 802.11ac WiFi and a single 4G LTE micro-SIM slot.
Being a relatively premium device, the ZenFone Zoom will come in two colours — Ceramic White and Pure Black — at a retail price of RM2,099 and will be available at the end of January.
