ASUS ZenFone 4 Bumper Case giveaway by ASUS Malaysia

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Are you a happy customer of a brand new ASUS ZenFone 4? Be prepared to get even more happier as ASUS Malaysia is doing a giveaway of its genuine ZenFone 4 Bumper
Case
 (worth RM49) by simply having you to participate in an extremely simple and straightforward contest. All you need to do is to take a selfie with either a ZenFone 4 package box or ZenFone 4 logo, of course there’s no requirement that you should use the ZenFone 4’s camera to do a selfie, after that simply upload that smashing selfie of yours to your Facebook wall and hashtag #zenfone 4 #asusmalaysia. Below screenshot is an example.

“Make sure you set your post privacy to Public!”

After posting up to Facebook simply take a screenshot your post and send over to
[email protected]
. For more details of the contest, hit up the source link down below.

“This is why you will want a bumper
case
 for your beloved ASUS ZenFone 4”

Source:
ASUS Malaysia Facebook Fan Page

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ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro Review: Insane Battery Life Made Affordable

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There’s always that category of smartphones that sport insanely huge batteries without requiring you to break the bank. To make huge battery smartphones affordable, manufacturers usually cut corners such as putting in a subpar processor, meager amount of storage and RAM, hence it doesn’t necessarily translate into a great experience. Leveraging on the success of the ZenFone 3 Max, ASUS has made two successors to its long battery life smartphone line up in conjunction with the new ZenFone 4, one of it is the ZenFone 4 Max Pro, which now sports an impressive 5000mAh battery and a dual camera system, can it succeed once again as the huge battery smartphone? Let’s find out.

Design and Hardware

In many ways, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro looks pretty similar like the rest of the Zenfone 4 family, you are still getting a metal unibody design, a front face with a fairly slim side bezel, and I’m glad that ASUS has gave the power and volume button a very nice circular effect texture, which gives the impression that it isn’t some cheap looking smartphone. By all means, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro isn’t a flagship, hence you’ll notice that the overall industrial build isn’t as premium looking as the higher end Zenfone 4(s), details such as the chrome antenna lines on the back and the squarish front fingerprint sensor makes the ZenFone 4 Max Pro like a two-year old device.

ASUS hasn’t upgraded the internals of the ZenFone 4 Max Pro from last year’s ZenFone 3 Max, which is still OK considering that it is still powered by a capable Snapdragon 430 processor along with 3GB of RAM, but still it would be good if ASUS could have included a more powerful processor to be considered as a ‘Pro’ device in 2017. Besides, the phone still uses a standard 5V/2A charging output to juice up its battery, though you are most probably not going to charge the phone every now and then, it would be great if ASUS had at least enabled Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, which is natively supported by the chipset.

One unique hardware feature of the ZenFone 4 Max Pro is the 3-in-1 SIM tray, which lets you expand storage without needing to use the secondary SIM slot, this is pretty useful for those who requires the dual SIM functionality while being able to expand the phone’s storage at the same time, which many smartphones have tend to neglect that requirement. Both SIM trays will support connecting to 4G networks, with the main cellular data SIM activated, the inactive one will stay connected to 3G.

The ZenFone 4 Max Pro’s display size is decent at 5.5-inches, it does look a little pixelated due to the mere 720p resolution but colors still look favorable to the eyes, it is also bright enough to be seen outdoors with great viewing angles. Despite of that, I still think ASUS could really manage to fit in a 1080p panel, considering the fact that the phone already has highly efficient hardware, it shouldn’t affect the phone’s battery life significantly.

Besides, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro’s loudspeaker is disappointing, I would have expected it to produce sound on par with the ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro, or probably better since it has a thicker body profile, it sounded soft and isn’t able to produce low frequencies properly, which you shouldn’t expect it to happen on a Zenfone and especially when it is a smartphone in 2017. Therefore, don’t expect to hear great music without pairing the phone to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones.

Software and User Experience

The ASUS ZenUI software has come a long way, the company is finally determined to keep its software clean of bloat on the new ZenFone 4 series, which is why the ZenFone 4 Max Pro has been a really enjoyable smartphone to use. The phone runs Android 7.1.1 out of the box, which is rather commendable considering some phones of the same price range are still running either Android 7.0 or 6.0.1, it has also received about two enhancement updates during the review period and I do find it to perform better with every update.
 Even though there’s only 3GB of RAM, ASUS has done a great job in memory management on the ZenFone 4 Max Pro’s software, there aren’t any cases such as force closes or restart as I’m using throughout the review period, though you shouldn’t expect apps to launch in a snap due to the processor, at least it isn’t a frustrating experience like some other smartphones of the same class.

Since the ZenFone 4 Max Pro is all about having the longest battery life, ASUS has built a Power Master app that lets you perform a few power management features, such as increasing the lifespan of the phone’s battery by limiting the charging rate, switching between performance profiles based on schedules, and suspending apps that isn’t being used, it really is made for those having OCD about their smartphone’s battery life. Should you have another device that requires a charge, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro can reverse charge using the provided USB OTG cable.Battery Life is undoubtedly the ZenFone 4 Max Pro’s best feature, and I’ve went on as much as three days without requiring a charge with an average 2.5 hours of screen-on-time daily.

It is hard to find any fault on the ZenFone 4 Max Pro’s software, the complaints that we use to have on ASUS’ smartphone software is no longer an issue, ASUS has done great optimizations on the phone’s software and there isn’t a time where I find the need to clear the phone’s memory or perform a restart. Furthermore, you will be happy to know that ASUS updates the Android Security Patch, and at this time of writing, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro is running on the September 1 2017 security patch.

Camera

[fshow url=https://flic.kr/s/aHsm9MF32u]

When ASUS announced the ZenFone 4 Max, I have never expected it to come with a dual camera system, whatever the reason I assume ASUS must have probably considered users purchasing this phone will want a decent camera besides having a long lasting battery life. While it is great to know that the dual camera system comprises of a 13-megapixel standard lens and 5-megapixel wide angle lens, which is rather useful if you were to take a group photo or landscape scenery, picture quality is acceptable but not great for its class, in some cases photos tend to look soft and has noticeable loss of detail, hence don’t expect this to replace your compact camera.

ASUS has surprisingly installed a rather high 16-megapixel lens with an LED flash on the front, which I call it quite an overkill for taking selfies, and if you’ll still be impressed with the beautify features it has to slim your face or give you rosy cheeks. Furthermore, the BeautyLive feature is also available to beautify your features if you happen to do Facebook or Instagram live streaming with the phone.

Verdict

At RM1099, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro’s is the clear winner in terms of battery life, no smartphones will of the same class would be able to match its insane standby and usage time, it is therefore a worthy upgrade over the previous ZenFone 3 Max for what it is intended for. However as a ‘Pro’ smartphone, I have expected more than just an increase in battery size, things like the dual camera system is something that I could without, and I would rather trade it off for either Quick Charge 3.0 or a better processor, but let’s face it, there’s no perfect smartphone out there.

The Good

Insane battery life

Reliable software

Good build quality

Useful dual camera system

3-in-1 SIM tray

Can be upgraded to Android Oreo

The Not so Good

No support for Quick Charge 3.0

Camera takes average quality pictures

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ASUS ZenFone 4 now available in Malaysia

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While the heat of affordable smartphones is still hot at the moment, another company has a good news to announce, the ASUS ZenFone 4 is finally now available for purchase in Malaysia! Back in Jakarta, we had a really great experience with the ASUS ZenFone 4, this is a Dual-SIM smartphone that has a 4-inch 720p WVGA IPS display and is powered by an Intel Atom Z2520 processor with 1GB of RAM. The ZenFone 4 also features a 5-Megapixel PixelMaster camera which is able to capture images with great detail.

There’s a lot more to it on the ASUS ZenFone 4 and the company is committed to give the phone an update to Android 4.4 KitKat soon while it now ships with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, the ZenFone 4 feels premium but it is priced affordably at RM299 ONLY! If you don’t feel like queuing up in some online stores to buy affordable smartphones, the ZenFone 4 might be a great choice and can save you heaps of cash. As for the ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6, ASUS Malaysia is working super hard to make them available here so stay tuned to our sites for more update and probably a review coming right up.

Source:
ASUS


Asus Zenfone 4 is now officially available in Malaysia

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All you Asus fans looks like you will not need to wait any longer for the new ZenFone 4 as the company has officially announced that it is not available for purchase in Malaysia.

The 5.5-inch phone comes with a luxurious, crafted design and delivers an excellent mobile photography experience with its dual-camera system which features Sony IMX362 image sensor, alongside a large F1.8 aperture lens and a 120-degree wide-angle lens. Equipped internally, is the Snapdragon 630 processor and powering the device is a 3300mAh battery. Other than that, you will be getting 6GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage which supports up to 2TB microSD cards and Android 7.1.1 with Asus’s ZenUI 4.0.

If you are looking forward to getting this phone you can head over to
Asus online store at Lazada
 or walk into any Asus authorised resellers and purchase the phone for a price of RM2,099 and it will come in Moonlight White or Midnight Black.

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ASUS ZenFone 4 prices leaked, 4 variants in tow

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The ASUS ZenFone 4 series is slated to be unveiled real soon, with ASUS intending to launch its latest offering of smartphones a little over a week from now on August the 19th. Prior to the ZenFone 4’s launch, we have received some news about the pricing of all four variants of the handset.

Yes, ASUS will be releasing a total of 4 variants for the ZenFone 4, according to fellow tech news site Mdroid. The folks at Mdroid cited sources from local Taiwanese media, in regards to the info of the ASUS ZenFone 4 series. The 4 variants of the ZenFone 4 will be the regular variant, ZenFone 4 Selfie, ZenFone 4 Max and ZenFone 4 Pro. One thing to note is that the ZenFone 4 will come in two processor variants as well, likely to vary based on region. Here are the leaked prices of the ZenFone 4 series:

ZenFone 4 Max (Snapdragon 425): 5,990 TWD (RM 850)

ZenFone 4 Selfie (Snapdragon 625): 9,990 TWD (RM 1415)

ZenFone 4 (Snapdragon 630): 8,990 TWD (RM 1270)

ZenFone 4 (Snapdragon 660): 10,990 TWD (RM 1560)

ZenFone 4 Pro (Snapdragon 835): 18,990 TWD (RM 2690)

All variants of the ZenFone 4 seem reasonably priced, with the highest end ZenFone Pro costing as much as the OnePlus 5 in terms of ringgit. We can’t be certain as to whether or not all variants will be available in Malaysia, but it is highly likely that we will only be receiving either model of the regular ASUS ZenFone 4.

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The ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie sports dual front facing cameras

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ASUS will be launching a bunch of ZenFone 4 handsets right before IFA 2017 commences, but one of those have been heavily leaked – the ZenFone 4 Selfie. The ZenFone 4 Selfie will have a Pro variant as well, according to the details and renders released by the folks at Win Future.

First off, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie will sport a 5.5-inch 720p display on the front. Underneath the hood, the handset will be powered by the entry level Snapdragon 430 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The rear camera will be of 16 megapixels while the dual camera setup on the front is set to impress fans, rumored to be of 20MP + 8MP.

The ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro will bring it to the next level, but with a rather odd 24MP + 5MP selfie camera configuration. The rear camera is said to remain the same at 16 megapixels. Other similarities include the same 5.5-inch sized display, but an AMOLED screen in Full HD resolution. The Snapdragon 625 processor is also a bump up from entry level to mid range territory. Memory and storage however will remain the same – 4GB RAM and 64GB storage.

Both the ZenFone 4 Selfie and the ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro are set to make their appearances along with the other ZenFone’s by Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS. Are you ready for the flood of ZenFone’s?

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ASUS ZenFone 4 VS Huawei Honor 3c: The Affordability Showdown!

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Before Xiaomi enters the Malaysian smartphone market, there was the ASUS Zenfone family, the entry-level surprised us when ASUS announced that it is selling at a mere RM299. Last month, the refreshed version of the ZenFone 4 A450CG got released last month with a bigger display and better camera sensor. On the other hand, Huawei has been a long time smartphone player but their phones simply didn’t kick off until the introduction of the
Honor 3c
 that is meant to compete with its competitor Xiaomi.

Both the ASUS Zenfone 4 and
Huawei Honor 3c
 are the most wanted entry-level smartphones, not only they are affordable but they pack features that many other smartphone makers couldn’t offer. In terms of hardware performance, the
Honor 3c
 may have the advantage over the Zenfone 4 with its Mediatek Quad-Core processor and 2GB RAM, higher display resolution and better front facing camera, the ZenFone 4 offers a much better user experience out of the box thanks to Android 4.4 KitKat and ASUS ZenUI. Find out the comparison down below on how we pit the ZenFone 4 against the Honor 3c.

ASUS ZenFone 4 vs Huawei Honor 3c Video

ASUS ZenFone 4 Camera Samples

Huawei Honor 3c
 Camera Samples

The next round…Motorola
Moto E

After the
Huawei Honor 3c
, we are pitting the ZenFone 4 against
Motorola
’s most affordable entry-level smartphone ever,Motorola priced the Moto E similarly with the original ZenFone 4 and comes with guaranteed OS updates, so this is going to be a very interesting comparison and we are going to find out if the Zenfone 4 still holds the crown to the best entry-level
Androidsmartphone
.


Asus ZenFone 4 will be updated to Oreo by the end of December 2017

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Asus ZenFone 4 users will be happy to know that Android Oreo will be coming to the phone by the end of this month. News of this comes from an Asus forum moderator which posted up the reply when a user asked when will his ZenFone 4 get the Oreo update.

Users of the phone will get to take advantage of picture-in-picture mode, notification channels, notification dots, smart text selection and more when the update rolls out to the phone. The company also mentioned that they will be cutting back on the bloatware as the new version of ZenUI comes with 16 pre-installed apps comparing to the previous version that came with 35 apps. Initially, the ZenFone 4 was set to receive the Oreo update in the first half of 2018, so it is a pleasant surprise that they are releasing the update much earlier than expected.

If you are the owner of the mid-range ZenFone 4 phone, then you should expect to see an update by the end of the month, make sure you check back your system update menu in case the update comes in.

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ASUS ZenFone 5 First Look & Unboxing

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We last saw this beautiful device back in ASUS’s launch event in Indonesia and now ASUS Malaysia has brought in the
ZenFone 5
to the Malaysian market, this is an extremely luxurious device that only cost below RM600. Fortunately, the Malaysian market has got the higher end variant
A501CG
, which has an Intel Atom Z2560 1.6GHz Dual Core CPU, 2GB RAM and 8GB ROM with MicroSD expansion. The ZenFone 5 features a 5” HD 720p IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, 8 Megapixel PixelMaster camera that captures up to 400% brightness in low light mode, 2 Megapixel front facing camera and a 2110mAh battery, the phone ships with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box with ZenUI running on top and will be upgradeable to Android 4.4 KitKat at a later time. The
ZenFone 5
 supports DC-HSPA+ 42 Mbps and GSM networks with Dual SIM capabilities.

Our first impressions were already positive when we saw the device back in the regional launch, the
ZenFone 5
 features a strong and solid build quality, which you would expect from the company for its Zen branding being used for this product. The IPS display displays vibrant colors and has a very smooth touch response, viewing angles and brightness is pretty good as well. Booting up the device for the first time clocks in around 10 seconds, which is pretty common for Android devices and ZenUI is simply beautiful on the
ZenFone 5
 as it blends beautifully with the phone’s hardware design. Check out our first look and unboxing video down below.

We’ve got a plethora of devices similarly positioned to the
ZenFone 5
 in our labs, so stay tuned to our space and subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t done so.


Asus ZenFone 5 Lite specs leaked, comes with 6-inch screen and Snapdragon processor

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In an interview with Asus CEO, Jerry Shen in September 2017, he confirmed that the ZenFone 5 smartphone series will be introduced to the market as early as March 2018. It looks like he is keeping to that promise as the ZenFone 5 Lite has been recently certified in Russia.

The model number for the phone is ZC600KL, which indicates that it will be running on a Snapdragon chipset with support for LTE connectivity, and the number 60 in the model number indicates that it will come with a 6-inch screen. Wheather it will be an 18:9 screen ratio is still unknown. There is also no indication on the release date or if Asus will be unveiling the ZenFone 5 series at MWC 2018 next month.

We will know more about the phones when it comes closer to the release date, but we can say for sure that we should be seeing the phones before Computex, as they released the ZenFone 4 series during the 2017 Computex event.

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ASUS Zenfone 5 Review

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’ve reviewed a plethora of cheap Android devices lately, most of them have fantastic software features and hardware internals onboard, but sadly they hardly become our favorite daily drivers, not because we don’t love them, their software experience and hardware just don’t blend well together and we are saying that merely from our own perspective. Meet the ASUS ZenFone 5, a mid range
Android smartphone
 that we’ve been anticipating for its arrival at our shores here since its regional launch a few months back, this is a device that will truly change your perspective on how affordable smartphones can be built with a polished hardware and software onboard.

ASUS Zenfone 5 Video Review

A high profile mid-range smartphone

Mid range smartphones today simply look “mid range”, they don’t necessarily offer great build quality or a similar software experience like flagship devices when it has sufficient processing power. The Zenfone 5 fortunately doesn’t give us that perception, it is still a plastic made device but we are impressed with the phone’s hardware engineering, you simply don’t perceive it as a mid range device with its high resolution Corning Gorilla Glass 3 IPS display, ergonomic curved back and the signature “spin” effect that makes the device look handsome.

If you think the phone’s design language is somehow familiar, you’re not alone, because we also think that the Zenfone 5’s design is being inspired from HTC devices, which isn’t surprising since ASUS could have gotten design engineers over from HTC when they were in trouble back then. Despite of that, ASUS has implemented made this great hardware design approach
stand
 out on the Zenfone 5, which is totally distinguishable from an HTC smartphone thanks to the “spin” effect on the front.

The phone’s display is gorgeous with great color saturation and viewing angles, outdoor visibility is excellent in our test due to its great brightness, touch response is one of the best that we’ve ever experienced on a mid range
Android smartphone
. We were never particular about the 720p resolution because it really looks awesome! We don’t really like the capacitive function key placements as they are located far away between each other, which makes one handed operation a challenge at times.

The Zenfone 5 is one proud looking smartphone that you won’t feel shy carrying around, in fact most of the people that we’ve approached thought that the phone should be priced similarly with powerful flagship devices out there, given that we didn’t mention the hardware internals of course. Our review unit has the following hardware specifications:-

ASUS Zenfone 5 (A501CG) Hardware Specifications

Processor:
 Intel Atom Z2560 1.6GHz Dual Core 4T

RAM/ROM:
 2GB/8GB (expandable via MicroSD)

Display:
 5″ 720p IPS with Gorilla Glass 3

Camera:
 8MP Pixelmaster Camera (Main), 2MP (Front)

Connectivity:
 WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, BT 4.0, USB OTG

Features:
 PixelMaster Camera, Dual SIM, ZenUI

Networks:
 DC-HSPA+/GSM

Battery:
 2110mAh

Zenfone powered by ZenUI, an elegant and relaxing software experience

After the
HTC One M8
, the Zenfone 5 is another smartphone that does well in its software user experience. ZenUI, as the name suggests is a very elegantly designed and relaxing user interface to the user with its flat design app icons and a selection of high quality scenery wallpapers. We’ve used the ZenUI back in the ASUS Fonepad 7 FE170CG and got no issues on getting use to it on a smartphone, ASUS has maintained the overall user operation methods of stock Android on ZenUI and ensures a consistent user experience across its default apps like Phone, Messages, Email, Music and etc. The phone currently runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and is promised an update to Android 4.4 KitKat at a later time.

ZenUI isn’t exactly a lightweight launcher but we haven’t faced any freezes throughout our usage, the entire user experience is very productivity oriented with features like What’s Next and Do It Later, which literally shows you your upcoming appointment in a home and lockscreen widget and tasks you have saved to do later from default apps. It’s very practical and user friendly, theses features really ensures we are on track with what we are doing.

Though it doesn’t come preinstalled back on the Fonepad 7 FE170CG, the Zenfone 5 features 3 Zenlink features – PC Link, Remote Link and Share Link. PC Link allows you to mirror your phone’s display to your PC via its USB connection so that you can use your smartphone while working on your PC; Remote link transforms your phone into a remote control for your laptop via Bluetooth; Share Link lets you transfer files between Android devices without using a Bluetooth or data connection, you can install Share It from the Google Play Store from other smartphones to enjoy this feature.

We have to give all the credit to ASUS in the software experience, the entire user experience is beautiful, complete and well thought out, apart from HTC Sense, ZenUI is another OEM launcher that has impressed us in terms of software features and blends well together with the hardware itself. Of course, we look forward to see more feature improvements from ASUS in the future.

The Master Of Pixels – PixelMaster Camera

We have a new camera in town – the PixelMaster camera, you can simply call it a rebadged version of HTC’s Ultrapixel camera, the camera combines 4 lenses and sacrifice picture resolution to capture up to 400% brightness in pictures, however ASUS is smart enough to only have that feature enabled in its low light shooting mode. Pictures taken in the low light mode yields bright and visible features, however picture resolution has been reduced to 2 Megapixel which is only acceptable when viewing on the phone’s screen, pictures taken in low light mode also loses its detail with lots of noise.

Our casual shooting with the phone’s camera yields some decent picture quality with great color saturation and fine detail, however it isn’t the best 8 Megapixel shooter that we have seen, check out the camera samples down below.

The camera has a number of interesting shooting modes, highlights include Time Rewind, Beautification and Selfie mode. Time rewind is somewhat similar to a Best Picture mode, which captures a few seconds of the scene and lets you rewind it to get the perfect shot, picture resolution is being sacrificed as well; Beautification mode makes you look – well – more beautiful and can even make you look thinner in pictures, girls will certainly love this; While we have the front camera for taking selfies, some of us just want to use the
rear camera
 to take selfies or groupies, the Selfie mode automatically detects the number of faces on the scene and triggers the shutter countdown to capture the perfect selfie shot.

Video recording on the Zenfone 5 is great in Full HD resolution with clear undistorted audio quality. Check out the video sample down below and make sure to bump the resolution up to Full HD.

Benchmarks, Call Quality and Battery Life – where the phone doesn’t shine

We’ve talked a lot of good things on the Zenfone 5 already and here is where the phone starts to get all our gripes. The phone isn’t a champ in benchmarks which you can’t really expect much from a dual core Intel CPU, benchmark results have shown that the phone is even worse than a 3 year old
Samsung GALAXY S2
 or slightly better than an
HTC One
 X. Of course, we don’t buy that and we can really assure you – the Zenfone 5 runs our apps smoothly and gaming experience is on par with a flagship device when we tried on graphics demanding games such as Asphalt 8.

We hope we are able to test it ourselves in the call quality department, but our experience with callers aren’t perfect as some of them have complained our voice being soft or in a distant, this happens even when we are talking directly to the phone’s microphone and in good cell reception areas.

And now, an even disappointing one would be battery life, we have to admit that a 2110mAh battery sounds underpowered for a device with a 5” display, but given the fact that Intel’s CPU are well known for power efficiency, the Zenfone 5 simply fails to live up to our expectations on its battery life with a mere 13 hours of usage in a single charge. We merely use the device for a few phone calls, Facebook browsing, sending 3-4 IMs, and short listening durations on offline Spotify music, which we considered it as pretty lightweight. Fortunately, the phone charges rapidly via a 2A
charger
.

Beautifully Crafted Hardware with Compromises

At the end of the day, the Zenfone 5 is still positioned as a mid range device and we expect some compromises out of it in order to have it that cheap. Despite of some disappointments, we love the Zenfone 5 and don’t really mind carrying a powerbank around to feed the phone’s battery, the beautiful hardware and software experience is the only reason why we want to use it as our daily driver and we certainly appreciate the performance that the phone is able to offer at an affordable price tag of RM599. Trust us, no Android smartphones in this range is able to make us love the phone that much, if you’re looking for a premium looking smartphone with decent hardware onboard, the Zenfone 5 is the way to go.

Verdict

The ASUS Zenfone 5 is a beautifully crafted smartphone from the company and has set a standard for many smartphone makers to follow in order to achieve a perfect balance between hardware and software experience, yet maintaining an affordable price tag.

The Good
+ Affordable and decent hardware

+ ZenUI is a great OEM launcher

+ Decent system performance

+ PixelMaster camera works as advertised

+ Good ergonomics

+ Beautiful display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3

+ Good DC-HSPA+ performance

The Bad

– Poor battery life

– Call quality not the best

– Lengthy form factor

We rate the ASUS Zenfone 5 at 4 out of 5 stars.


Asus Zenfone 5z is on a flash sale for one-day only

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Asus has having a one-day flash sale for their flagship Zenfone 5z, but there are limited units so you have to get it fast if you want to enjoy this discount.

We had some time with the phone and we really loved what Asus has done with the Zenfone this time around and we recommend that you go with the 5z if you have the extra cash lying around. The variant on sale comes with the Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Powering the device is a 3300mAh battery which supports QuickCharge. The phone is a good all-rounder flagship phone that comes with the price of a mid-range phone.

The Zenfone 5z retails for RM1,899 but for today only, it will retail for RM1,799. The phone is available for purchase on their
official Lazada store
 now.

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ASUS ZenFone 5z could sport a Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6GB RAM and a notch

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It seems like ASUS is taking the MWC 2018 stage very seriously this round, as a new device with the code name of Z01RD has appeared in the Antutu Benchmark database sporting a list of specs, which includes a Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6GB of RAM, and a rather unusual but impressive 2246×1080 resolution display, while we believe the 32GB ROM (built-in storage) could be a misinformation supplied by the app, as it definitely doesn’t make sense for a flagship device. Not too surprising either, the ZenFone 5z could also come with a notch like the iPhone X.

ASUS is expected to unveil at least three ZenFone 5 models in MWC 2018, which the other two devices would be the ZenFone 5 Max and ZenFone 5 Lite, and we shall expect them to come equipped with a mid-range and lower end Snapdragon processor respectively, along with great photography capabilities and long battery life. Stay tuned on 28 February 2018 2.30am Malaysian Time as ASUS will be live streaming its #backto5 event.

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ASUS ZenFone 6 confirmed to feature Snapdragon 855 SoC and 5000mAh battery

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Popular Taiwanese PC hardware and smartphone maker ASUS is set to unveil its next flagship smartphone on May 16. Ahead of the official launch event next week, the brand has posted a new image on
Twitter
 confirming that the ZenFone 6 will be powered by a 7nm Snapdragon 855 chipset under the hood.

In addition to the chipset, the image confirms a few other details as well. These include a triple-slot configuration for SIM and microSD cards, notification LED light, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a smart key. On
Instagram
, an ASUS executive revealed some more key highlights of the upcoming ZenFone 6 using Morse code. The code tell us the upcoming ASUS flagship smartphone will have a 48MP + 13MP dual-camera setup and a massive 5000mAh capacity battery.

Previous leaks have suggested the ZenFone 6 will adopt a
notch-less display
, although no actual renders of the phone have been leaked online so far. Along with the ZenFone 6, ASUS is expected to announce a few more smartphones at its launch event in Valencia, Spain on May 16.

Since the ASUS ZenFone 5z was launched as a direct rival to the OnePlus 6 last year, we can expect the ZenFone 6 to be pitted against the OnePlus 7. Both the ASUS ZenFone 6 and OnePlus 7 are likely to be significantly more affordable than flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Huawei P30 Pro.

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ASUS Zenfone 7 flagship launches this August 26 on livestream

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ASUS remained tight-lipped on their upcoming flagship, the
Zenfone
 7 for the most part, but the Taiwanese giants have now quietly announced its launch date which is set to happen this 26 August at 2PM.

The livestream event will see at least two
Zenfone
 7 smartphones introduced – but because the
rumour
 mill for this device has been so barren that there’s really not a lot known about it. Some folk are speculating a
motorised
 flip camera like on its
predecessor
, but possibly with four lenses.

We’re also expecting the top-range model to sport a Snapdragon 865+ chipset, while the base model will get the regular Snapdragon 865. According to GSM Arena, we could see the phones come with 16GB RAM – we can’t say for sure how much storage you’ll get, but 256GB is a safe bet.

Not much more is known about the device, so be sure to catch the livestream launch this August 26 on their YouTube channel
here
.

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ASUS Zenfone 7 leaked; triple rear camera on a square module

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There’s no doubt that every smartphone manufacturer will eventually release 5G phones of their own — some have already done it while some are about to this year. ASUS is one of the few who will be launching a 5G phone this year, suspected to be the Zenfone 7.

There hasn’t been much news about the Zenfone 7 until today when a photo was posted on the official ASUS ZenTalk Forum. A picture of a slide revealed a phone that’s allegedly the ZenFone 7 and it comes with a square camera bump, just like the iPhone 11 and the Google Pixel 4. However, the camera bump is placed at the center this time.

Image credit: SlashLeaks

Based on the image alone, we can expect this upcoming ASUS phone to sport a triple camera setup where the bump will be slightly protruding. On the front, you’ll be able to distinguish a pill-shaped cutout on the left, indicating that it’ll come with two lenses.

Since the Zenfone series has always been ASUS’s flagship series, it’s only logical to assume that this device will be featuring the latest Snapdragon 865 chipset and a 5G modem to support 5G connectivity. If it’s anything like last year, then the Zenfone 7 should be released sometime in May.a

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ASUS Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip launched: Comes with Snapdragon 888 and flip camera

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ASUS has launched their brand-new
Zenfone
 8 lineup, consisting of two very capable flagships – the
Zenfone
 8 and the
Zenfone
 8 Flip.

Zenfone 8

This device packs a 5.9-inch AMOLED panel from Samsung, and it pushes a 120Hz refresh rate and a whopping 240Hz touch sampling rate. Besides smooth motion and impressive clarity, the panel also offers a 112% DCI-P3
colour
 gamut and a Delta E<1
colour
 accuracy output. Protecting the panel is Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

Under the hood, the phone packs the very powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset along with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage.

For imaging, the phone comes with a 64MP dual lens setup – 64MP Sony IMX686 main camera, and a 12MP dual pixel ultrawide shooter. For selfies, you get a 12MP camera. For videography, the phone can shoot 8K footage at 24FPS, and comes with a 3-axis
stabilisation
 system too.

Powering the device is a 4,000mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 4.0 and PD charging.

Zenfone
 8 Flip

Like the
Zenfone
 6
 and
Zenfone
 7, the
Zenfone
 8 Flip packs the brand’s signature motorized flip-up camera module. The system consists of a 64MP main lens, a 12MP ultrawide shooter, and an 8MP telephoto lens. Because the camera flips 180-degrees from the back, this means that the same set of lenses are used for taking selfies!

Under the hood is the same Snapdragon 888 processor, but this phone only comes with 8GB RAM. You still get up to 256GB of storage, while the battery is now larger at 5,000mAh.

The
Zenfone
 8 Flip comes with a 6.67-inch FHD+ all-screen AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. The panel also offers a 110% CDI-P3
colour
 gamut, and a Delta E<1
colour
 accuracy.

Pricing and availability

The
Zenfone
 8 is available in Obsidian Black and Horizon Silver, and costs €599; while the
Zenfone
 8 Flip comes in Galactic Black and Glacier Silver, and will set you back €799. Local pricings are not available yet, but visit ASUS’
website
 for more updates.

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ASUS Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip officially launched in Malaysia

600

The Zenfone 8 series that was just announced today consisted of two phones — the Zenfone 8 and the Zenfone 8 Flip. Both are flagships from ASUS, powered by the premium Snapdragon 888 chip.

Zenfone 8

This compact phone comes with a 5.9-inch AMOLED display, pushing FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s HDR10+ certified, supports DCI-P3 colour gamut and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

Apart from having a flagship processor, the Zenfone 8 comes with either 8GB of RAM + 128GB of storage or 16GB of RAM + 256GB of storage. It comes with a 4,000mAh battery that supports 30W fast charging — the phone only requires 80 minutes for a full charge.

On the photography end, the Zenfone 8 is powered by a 64MP lens and another 12MP ultrawide lens. On the front, you get a 12MP lens that has dual-pixel autofocus.

Zenfone 8 Flip

Moving on to the more interesting phone — the Zenfone 8 Flip. As suggested by the name, the Zenfone 8 Flip has a motorised flip-up module that allows users to use the rear lenses on the front too. With a 64MP lens accompanied by a an ultrawide lens and a telephoto lens, the triple-camera system can take sharp photos and selfies.

It’s also slightly bigger with a 6.67-inch-inch AMOLED screen and uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for protection. Similar to its younger sibling, the Zenfone 8 Flip also has dual stereo speakers with Dirac HD sound.

There’s only one storage configuration for the Zenfone 8 Flip — 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It comes with a 5,000mAh battery and also supports Quick Charge 4.0 and PD charging.

Pricing and availability

The 8GB+128GB variant of the
 Zenfone 8
 is priced at RM2,699 while the 16GB+256GB model is priced at RM3,299 and is only available on Shopee. It is available in Obsidian Black and Horizon Silver.

On the other hand, the
 Zenfone 8 Flip
 is priced at RM2,999 and comes in two colour options — Glacier Silver and Galactic Black.

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ASUS Zenfone AR announced ahead of CES 2017

251

As CES 2017 is about to begin this week, expect a lot of things to be announced even before a press conference begins and one of the first annoucements we have here, is the Zenfone AR. Spotted by GSMArena and reported by The Verge, the ZenFone AR is being disclosed on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Blog and the post is accidentally set live ahead of its January 4th publish date, it is the second Google Tango enabled smartphone after the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, which emphasizes on augmented reality and is expected to make appearance in ASUS’s Zennovation event in CES 2017.

The ZenFone AR is the first Tango smartphone to be powered by a Snapdragon 821 processor, which is the fastest smartphone that runs AR and outperforms the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, which was launched back in Malaysia last month that is powered by a Snapdragon 652 processor. In addition, the Zenfone AR is also reported to be Daydream-ready, which means you should be able to use Google’s Daydream headset to view VR content, hence it is also the first smartphone to be equipped with both Tango and Daydream. Looking at the press render itself, it would seem that the Zenfone AR doesn’t look too different from the current Zenfone 3, you still get a home button with a fingerprint scanner on the front, slim bezels on the screen with a good screen-to-body aspect ratio, otherwise there is a dual camera setup on the back for AR purposes.

We will be at CES 2017 and hope to get a hands on with the Zenfone AR when possible, so stay tuned on our site for more.

Source:
GSMArena
, Via:
The Verge

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The ASUS ZenFone AR can be yours for RM3,399

280

Before the OnePlus 5, the ASUS ZenFone AR was deemed to be the world’s first smartphone to come with 8GB of RAM back in CES 2017, while it still owns the title of being the first and only phone that is both Tango and Daydream ready, its launch price tag here isn’t something that you might feel like paying for, however the good news now is that if you ever still want to try out ASUS’s first AR smartphone, the phone can be yours at RM3,399 over at
11street
 as part of the e-commerce website’s Shocking Deals, receiving a price cut of RM500.

Apart from its beefy 8GB RAM, the ZenFone AR has a decent Snapdragon 821 processor, a 5.7-inch Quad HD display, 128GB of built-in storage, 23-megapixel main and 8-megapixel front cameras. Despite of the price cut, it is still pretty expensive for what it is priced at if you are not really investing into Augmented Reality, especially with the fact that you could already purchase better specced devices like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and HTC U11, even the OnePlus 5 sports a much powerful Snapdragon 835 processor with the same amount of storage at a much lesser price tag. However, if you are a person who wants to experience Tango and Daydream, this is probably the best phone for now.

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ASUS ZenFone AR finally goes on sale

304

When ASUS first introduced the ZenFone AR to us, it was a whopping 5 months ago during CES 2017 in January this year. 5 months is pretty much equivalent to ages when it comes to the ever growing and fast paced smartphone industry. We haven’t heard from ASUS about the phone since, till Google hinted that the ZenFone AR will finally go on sale in mid June, and that news is spot on.

According to My Drivers, the world’s first ever 8GB RAM smartphone has finally gone on sale on home soil in Taiwan. When the ASUS ZenFone AR made its first appearance at CES 2017, the Chinese manufacturer was full of praises about it, boasting the fact that it is the first ever Google Daydream and Tango enabled smartphone that was made. The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro was the first Tango compatible phone, but it did not have Daydream compatibility, and moreover turned out to be a flop.

The ASUS ZenFone AR on the other hand hasn’t been skimped upon when you look at its specs – a QHD display, Snapdragon 821 processor and up to 8GB of onboard RAM. The futuristic phone also features a 23MP rear camera, along with depth and motion tracking sensors for its Daydream and Tango functionalities.

The price tag of the ZenFone AR has been set at a premium level. The phone will set you back 24,990 TWD, which is equivalent to RM 3,527.80. It will be exclusive to the Taiwanese market for the time being.

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The ASUS ZenFone AR is still alive and will be released this summer

276

It has been more than 4 months since ASUS first unveiled the first ever Google Tango and Daydream compatible smartphone – the ZenFone AR. Showcased back in CES 2017 earlier this year, there seemed to be no word on this futuristic handset since, till Google hinted its debut date at I/O.

During I/O 2017, Google has stated that the ASUS ZenFone AR will debut some time this summer, which isn’t that far off from now. The ZenFone AR isn’t only the first ever Tango and Daydream smartphone, but is also the first ever smartphone to be powered by a jaw dropping 8GB of RAM. It runs on a slightly older but still high end chipset – the Snapdragon 821. The handset is spec-ed to the brim in many other aspects as well, including its 5.7-inch QHD display, the 23MP rear camera along with a couple of camera sensors for Tango.

Google’s Tango and Daydream technologies are undoubtedly not as popular just yet. The first ever Tango phone was the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, which has been rarely heard of ever since its launch last year. Google will be placing high hopes on the ZenFone AR as the company finally looks forward to its new technologies taking flight. What do you think?


ASUS ZenFone AR will finally launch mid June

407

It has been nearly 5 months since ASUS unveiled the first ever Daydream and Tango compatible smartphone. It was at CES 2017 where the company launched the ZenFone AR, making quite the waves in the convention earlier this year. But the wow factor has since died down as the pricing and availability of the futuristic smartphone hasn’t been talked about.

A little over a week ago, Google has indicated that the ZenFone AR will go on sale some time this summer, without a specific date. The announcement at I/O 2017 sparked some form of interest again and we finally have more news regarding the phone.

During a media event earlier today, ASUS CEO Jerry Shen has revealed that the ASUS ZenFone AR will be launched in mid June, which is about two weeks away. The availability of the phone will however be limited to the home land of ASUS, Taiwan. According to Shen, the ZenFone AR will then roll out to the US market by the end of June and early July.

Unfortunately, the price of the ZenFone AR has once again yet to be revealed by ASUS. It is however, good to know that the phone will finally be making an appearance before being labeled as an ASUS flop. Regardless, the ASUS ZenFone AR will be a tough one to get your hands on when it launches.

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ASUS ZenFone First Look and Hands On

338

While we are at the ASUS ZenFone event today at Indonesia, we witnessed one of the best and affordable smartphones that is going to change the way people look at smartphones. Therefore, we’ve taken our time here to film a very quick and straightforward hands on video on the three
ZenFone
 models that we’ve seen at the event. We are going to cover a lot more stories on the ASUS
ZenFone
 so do stay tuned to our site for more stories on why the
ZenFone
 is going to be your preferred smartphone. Check out the video down below.


ASUS ZenFone Live (L1) to be available for less than RM400

385

ASUS is set to unveil it’s new entry-level ZenFone Live (L1) here in Malaysia, as local retailer DirectD has mentioned that the phone will retail for less than RM400, this is an entry-level device set to rival with Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5A, and not surprising, it sports a very identical specs sheet too – Snapdragon 425, 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, 13MP main and 5MP front cameras, and a 3000mAh battery.

However, what the ZenFone Live L1 is advantageous over its rival would be it’s display, it is significantly larger at 5.5″ with an 18:9 aspect ratio, it will also come with ASUS’ ZenUI 5 based on Android Oreo and supports Face Unlock. In addition, the phone’s front camera will also come with a softlight LED flash that gives additional light when shooting in low light.

This isn’t the first device that ASUS is attempting to challenge Xiaomi, the
ZenFone Max Pro M1
 has proven to be quite a serious contender to the Redmi Note 5 when it comes to its features and value. Based on the current market, Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5A retails at RM329 and even if ASUS managed to price the ZenFone Live L1 slightly higher, it is still a pretty good value judging on the display size alone.

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The ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) unveiled with 18:9 display

371

ASUS’ flagship smartphones were not given the full screen display treatment. In fact, the ASUS Pegasus 4S is the company’s first ever smartphone that features an 18:9 display, something which has become a norm among flagship smartphones and mid rangers. The ZenFone Max Plus follows suit with the same display aspect ratio, along with a list of respectable specs.

First off, the ZenFone Max Plus comes housed in an aluminium chassis, featuring design element that is similar to that of the Pegasus 4S. On the front is the 18:9 display measuring at 5.7-inches in Full HD+ resolution. The phone however still sports rather large bezels for a full screen display smartphone. Underneath the hood lies a MediaTek MT6750T processor with two storage and memory variants – 2GB RAM/16GB and 3GB RAM/32GB.

The handset packs a dual rear camera setup consisting of 16MP + 8MP sensors, plus an 8MP selfie camera on the front. The fingerprint sensor has been mounted on the rear panel as well for more screen real estate on the front. The ZenFone Max Plus has a large 4,130mAh battery, which sounds more than sufficient on paper. It comes with an older Android 7.0 Nougat software however, instead of Android Oreo.

The ZenFone Max Plus was spotted on the company’s Russian website, but there happens to be no news regarding its availability or pricing just yet. Stay tuned for more updates of this phone!

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(Price Update) Asus ZenFone Max Pro comes with a massive 5,000mAh battery, releases 31 May 2018

255

Asus Malaysia is all set to launch the Asus Zenfone Max Pro 31 May 2018. It sets itself in the mid-range category but comes with the latest mid-range Snapdragon processor and a massive battery size.

The phone comes equipped with a 6-inch FHD+ display, Snapdragon 636 processor, dual 16MP+5MP camera for the 6GB RAM, 64GB storage or dual 13MP+5MP camera for the 3GB RAM, 32GB storage and 4GB RAM, 64GB storage variants. The front houses a single 16MP camera for the 6GB RAM model and 8MP for the other variants with Softlight LED flash.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the phone is that it is powered by a massive 5,000mAh battery which Asus has promised will take 2 hours and 45 minutes for a full charge and gives you about 9 hours of continuous PUBG Mobile gameplay. It also supports Bluetooth 5.0 and aptX HD which is also pretty impressive for a mid-range phone and they also decided to drop ZenUI in favour of a pure stock Android Oreo experience

I had the chance to visit Asus’s office to try out the phone and I was seriously impressed by the thermals as well. After playing two games of PUBG Mobile, the phone was not even warm to the touch. Where some flagship phones have trouble with keeping the thermals down, the Zenfone Max Pro stays cool throughout the entire playthrough.

They did not mention the price during the preview of the phone, as they are probably planning to announce it when they officially release the phone on 31 May 2018. We will definitely be attending the event and update this article as soon as they announce the price.

Price update:
The Asus ZenFone Max Pro (M1) will come in four variants of two 3GB RAM/32GB storage, 4GB RAM/64GB and 6GB RAM/64GB storage variants. The 3GB RAM variant will come with either a 13MP+5MP camera setup or 16MP+5MP setup, while the 4GB and 6GB RAM model will come with a 16MP+5MP setup. The 3GB model with the 13MP+5MP and 16MP+5MP main cameras will retail for RM649 and RM699 respectively, the 4GB model will cost RM999 and the 6GB model cost RM999. Asus has partnered up with Lazada and is offering a flash sale for the 3GB/ 16MP+5MP model which will cost only RM599 every Tuesday of June, and the 4GB RAM variant will cost only RM799 on the 2nd and 3rd of June as a pre-order bonus.

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ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M1, Max Pro M2, and Max M2 to Receive Android Pie Update in April

352

Last month, Taiwanese PC hardware and smartphone maker ASUS began rolling out  Android Pie beta for its popular ZenFone Max Pro (M1) and ZenFone Max Pro (M2) budget smartphones. The company has now confirmed that the duo will start receiving the stable Pie update next month.

The information was revealed in a video posted on Twitter by ASUS India. According to the official statement, ZenFone Max Pro M1 and Max Pro M2 will be updated to Android Pie by April 15. The ZenFone Max M2 is also expected to receive the stable Android Pie update by the same date in India.

In Malaysia and other major markets where the three smartphones are sold, the update may be rolled out before the end of April. It should be noted that both the ZenFone Max Pro M2 and ZenFone Max M2 were originally scheduled to be updated to Android Pie in January this year. ASUS had also promised to roll out the stable Pie update for the ZenFone Max Pro M1 by February.

ASUS recently expanded its budget-friendly ZenFone Max lineup with the launch of ZenFone Max Shot and ZenFone Max Plus M2 smartphones. They happen to be the world’s first smartphones to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SiP 1. The System in Package (SiP) includes all the major components such as the processor, audio codec, RF front end, and power management in a single package.

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ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M1 Review: Snapdragon 636 + 5000mAh battery for RM599! Is This The Real Deal?

454

A pure Android experience has proven to be successful on a number of smartphones, and ASUS is now beginning to explore that market with one killer mid-range smartphone, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 is what the company calls it a gaming phone that doesn’t break the bank, it runs Pure Android Oreo 8.1 and has got a powerful Snapdragon 636 processor and a 5000mAh battery inside, but is this a deal that’s too good to be true? Time to find out.

Like the previous ZenFone Max Plus M1, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 came in as a surprise announcement from the company, not only this is a really good looking phone, it packs a number of features that makes it a serious contender to Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5. Unlike the other ZenFone Max models we have come across, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 features a really solid build with a metal body, it sports a 6-inch 18:9 FHD+ display with thankfully no disturbing notch, it isn’t the brightest display I’ve seen but it produces decent color saturation and contrast, which is generally decent enough for watching movies.

The ZenFone Max Pro M1 also features a mono loudspeaker which the company calls it a five magnet speaker with a smart amplifier, it sounds pretty loud when maxed out but gets distorted really bad when playing music with lots of instruments playing at the same time, headphone audio is unfortunately disappointing with flat frequencies and there’s no built-in audio software to help improve that. The rear fingerprint scanner is also a hit and miss, it works well when you are on your lock screen but requires a little pressure to be applied if you want wake up your phone, alternatively you can use your face to unlock the phone, but it is sadly not reliable.

For the first time, ASUS hasn’t installed the ZenUI skin on top of Android, even though the ZenFone Max Pro M1 isn’t on board the Android One program, ASUS has promised to deliver the latest Android software and security patches as soon as they are made available. The ZenFone Max Pro M1 performs reasonably fast during my review, even though with no custom skin running on top, there is still occasional lags in the user experience which can be attributed to the 3GB RAM I have on my unit, but otherwise there were no app compatibility issues and force closes. If you are thinking to buy the Zenfone Max Pro M1 to game with the hope of cranking up graphics quality and hoping for smooth frame rates, you are going to need to lower your expectations on that, as the phone’s GPU isn’t as powerful as the Snapdragon 800 series chip, I have to set the graphics quality to low on PUBG Mobile in order to achieve playable frame rates, you can go up to medium but I can assure you that you are not going to be able to shoot your enemies properly with that inconsistent frame rate. The good news here, is that the phone doesn’t heat up terribly like when gaming for extended durations, and that 5000mAh battery holds up very well after numerous sessions of game play.

[fshow url=https://flic.kr/s/aHskC7BddA]

The camera department is where ASUS tends to cut corners a little to make this phone affordable, but by all means it doesn’t have terrible cameras, my review unit comes equipped with a 13MP f/2.2 main sensor supported by a secondary 5MP sensor for measuring depth information, the phone also uses a Snapdragon Camera app that is less capable than the ASUS camera app, which I totally don’t see the point of not using the latter as it isn’t going to affect the phone’s performance. But overall, image quality is acceptable in good lighting conditions with good detail and dynamic range, though it tends to get the wrong exposure at times. Like most mid-range phone cameras, it doesn’t do well with low light, as it tends to get the wrong focus and causes soft spots in the frame. As for the front camera, it is sufficient for casual selfies.

The ZenFone Max Pro M1’s battery life is impressive as what ASUS claims to be, it could easily hold up two days of charge when used moderately, I streamed 4 hours of Netflix over 4G and the battery percentage merely dropped 30% in my tests. However, what’s disappointing here is that ASUS doesn’t include Qualcomm’s Quick Charge to make things even better, so it is going to take around 2 hours to juice up the phone if you totally exhaust the battery. All thanks to the new LTE modem of the Snapdragon 636 SoC, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 supports dual 4G standby when two SIM cards are used, VoLTE is not supported at the moment, but there’s no need to worry about voice call quality made over the phone.

In a nutshell, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 delivers its purpose as a powerful mid-range phone with a insane battery life, its hard to find any fault with it apart from some minor performance issues and the camera’s image quality, which isn’t a deal breaker considering what ASUS has offered on the table. The ZenFone Max Pro M1 goes official on May 31st 2018 with an expect retail price of RM699, there is however a 6GB RAM model being mentioned to us during the briefing, which will obviously perform much better than my current review unit with a better main camera system, ASUS is definitely giving Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 a run for its money for what it has done on this phone, especially if you prefer a clean Android experience and want to have that insane battery life.

The Good

Most affordable Snapdragon 636 powered device

Unrivaled battery life

Pure Android

Dual 4G standby

The Not so Good

Distorted loudspeakers

Poor headphone audio quality

Average camera

Fingerprint scanner not responsive

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Asus ZenFone Max Pro supports EIS, here’s how you can enable it

337

The ZenFone Max Pro has been a great contender for phones under RM1000, with its smooth performance and stock Android interface as well as its large battery which is suitable for gamers that want a game for hours on end. However, it lacked slightly in its camera department but that might be slightly improved thanks to a feature that the company keep hidden until now.

The phone supports EIS but it takes a few easy steps to enable. An XDA Member by the name of ronello explained how you can enable EIS on the stock camera app:

Open the camera app

Tap Settings

search for Redeye Reductions and tap and hold until the notification appears stating that you have unlocked additional settings

Switch to video mode

Change the recording resolution to below 4K, preferably 1080p

Activate Image Stabilization in the Settings menu

The steps are pretty simple but sadly we do not have the phone to test out if this works. However, users have reported that their videos are less shaky after enabling EIS. If you have the phone, do try it out and let us know if it improves your video capture. Alternatively, you could install the Google Camera app to get EIS without tinkering with the settings.

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The ASUS ZenFone V packs a 2016 flagship processor

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While Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS has launched most of its major smartphones for 2017, it has also quietly unveiled another handset in the US for the nation’s vast smartphone market. The ASUS ZenFone V makes its debut exclusively with US major carrier Verizon, with pretty respectable specs by today’s standards.

For starters, the ZenFone V sports a 5.2-inch Full HD AMOLED display on the front, which should make colors pop including deep blacks. Underneath the hood is a more familiar Snapdragon 820 processor, the same one which powered most flagships from early 2016 like the Galaxy S7 series, LG G5, the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the OnePlus 3. Running alongside the slightly aged chipset are 4GB of RAM, plus 32GB of internal storage.

In the camera department, the ZenFone V features a 23MP camera equipped with EIS plus the company’s TriTech technology which enables the shooter to focus in an extremely short 0.03 seconds. The front facing selfie camera shouldn’t disappoint as well at 8 megapixels. The phone comes packing a 3,000mAh battery which supports fast charge of up to 60% in 37 minutes.

The ASUS ZenFone V will be released soon to the US market under Verizon. It carries an affordable price tag of $384 (RM 1,608.19).

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ASUS ZenFone Zoom Review: A premium smartphone that deserves a better camera

375

I remember the Nokia N93 back then, it was the most iconic smartphone that not only sports a really interesting clamshell design, but it also has a camera with an optical zoom. Years later, we finally have the Nokia 808 Pureview and Lumia 1020 that sports Lossless Digital Zoom and that’s pretty much about smartphone cameras already, manufacturers have mostly focused on putting the best camera sensors on their flagship devices and getting closer to your object from far has slowly become a forgotten feature. The Zenfone Zoom is a device that attempts to bring back the optical zoom feature that has been missing on smartphone cameras today, snap on the most powerful hardware internals from the heroic Zenfone 2, and the phone becomes one ultimate device that anyone should own, but is that really so? We find out.

Design and Hardware

On first impressions, the Zenfone Zoom thankfully has a very distinguishable design from the rest of the Zenfone family, the spin effect frame remains an iconic design below the capacitive buttons. Unlike other Zenfone siblings, the Zenfone Zoom is solidly built with an aluminum alloy body, coupled with a very high quality fine leather back cover, this is the most premium looking Zenfone that I’ve ever seen. ASUS has taken hardware design seriously on the phone as well, since the phone is intended to be a point and shoot camera, there’s a dedicated picture and video button on the right side, the volume keys have been labeled with ‘W’ and ‘T’ for the camera’s zoom control, and finally, a lanyard hole for users to slot in a lanyard to prevent the phone from dropping, ASUS does provide a rather nice looking leather lanyard out of the box.

On the performance department, ASUS has equipped the Zenfone Zoom with Intel’s fastest Atom Z3590 SoC mated to 4GB of RAM, there’s 128GB of internal memory and you can even further expand it with a MicroSD card. The phone has a 5.5-inch Full HD display that looks bright and beautiful, touch response is great so that you will love to text on the phone. In addition, ASUS has also been attentive to the phone’s audio performance and has included the Bluetooth apt-X codec for lossless wireless streaming. ASUS has sadly kept the phone’s battery size at 3000mAh, which isn’t a favorable size given for its power hungry hardware internals, there is however, support for fast charging so just keep a fast charger handy if you ever run out of juice.

ASUS has once again done pretty well in the design and hardware department, the Zenfone Zoom may be a hefty device, but it has a hardware package that will appeal to a power user especially in the storage department, where the company has been very generous of offering a substantial amount of space for storing almost anything.

Software

We are all familiar with ASUS software and I have absolutely no problems in using it, the Zenfone Zoom continues to offer a number of bloatware out of the box and I have totally removed them on my first time setup. One thing I really love about ZenUI is the continuous update and support from ASUS on Google Play, even though there could be unnecessary features, it is always good to see great software support from a device manufacturer. The Zenfone Zoom’s hardware unfortunately performs rather average, as compared to Qualcomm powered siblings or even the older Zenfone 2, there is noticeable lag and delays in response after some extended usage, RAM management has also been pretty bad as it easily hits below the 1GB mark, I would assume that the memory leak issue on Android 5.0 to be the culprit and I wished ASUS could have shipped the phone with Android 5.1, in other ways the Android Marshmallow update is seriously way overdue.

Things are not entirely bad with ZenUI as I have to commend the ASUS folks for implementing a very complete software experience, every system app is filled with features that usually requires a third party app. For instance, the phone dialer app has a pretty decent call blocking feature and apps can be locked from unauthorized access with CM AppLock. Lastly, ZenUI has a very decent set of free and paid themes to beautify the software experience, users are also able to customize system fonts, app drawer grid size and get access to a collection of useful widgets. ZenUI is pretty, but ASUS seriously need to put some work on improving its reliability.

Camera and Imaging Performance

Many of us have been looking forward to the Zenfone Zoom’s main camera as ASUS has emphasized this as an ultimate device that can substitute your point and shoot camera, the 13-megapixel camera has a 10-element HOYA lens arrangement, optical image stabilization and laser autofocus. While these features sound impressive on paper, what ASUS  didn’t specifically mention would be the variable aperture value of f/2.7-4.8, 28mm-84mm focal length and a relatively small 1/3.06″ sensor size, these technical figures are not optimistic when it comes to today’s smartphone photography standards, which technically means that pictures will only look good with sufficient lighting conditions and you can’t take wide angle photos with this camera module, check out the sample images above.

Apart from the mediocre camera hardware, ASUS have not optimized the camera software properly, the viewfinder has an inconsistent frame rate and it drops significantly in low light, shutter speed e can be slow at times which easily causes blur on fast moving objects, focusing speed is thankfully fast and there were times it wasn’t able to focus on my subjects properly. Lastly, I am disappointed with the phone’s video recording capabilities, there’s simply no way to adjust recording frame rate, no 4K video support and videos are sadly recorded in a low bitrate.

The Zenfone Zoom’s camera performance is overall an underwhelming one, the camera hardware isn’t entirely bad but it could have fared better with a more optimized software, and that’s really a deal breaker for some.

Benchmarks, Battery Life and Network

I’ve always got a love and hate relationship with Intel’s Atom SoC, they do look appealing on paper however when it comes to real world usage, the promised performance and capabilities are neither here nor there. Take the Intel Atom Z3590 on the Zenfone Zoom for instance, it is a powerful processor that has a really fast 2.5GHz clock speed and a reputable 2MB L2 cache, coupled with 4GB of LPDDR3 1600 RAM, this is a very powerful hardware package for smartphones. Unfortunately, the Zenfone Zoom barely hits the expected benchmark score range of current flagship devices, particularly in the Geekbench test, you will find the Zenfone Zoom’s performance merely hitting the score of two year old Snapdragon 800 SoC, the processor is still a powerful one but I can’t help feeling disappointed with Intel ruining the Zenfone Zoom as a flagship smartphone. On a side note, the device heats up terribly after some extended time of usage. Hence at the end of the day, you know who to blame. Cough…Intel…Cough…

Battery life hasn’t always been the Zenfone’s strength apart from the Zenfone Max, the Zenfone Zoom’s battery life is neither good nor bad, one full charge will definitely get you through your 8-hour working day if used moderately, I’m glad that the phone supports fast charging and it will generally work with most 9V chargers.

Ever since the Zenfone 2, ASUS phones have never disappoint in cell reception and speakerphone quality, the Zenfone Zoom delivers strong 4G LTE signals all the time and has impressive speeds over WiFi connection, callers have reported a very clear voice from my end and I love the smooth and crisp volume coming from the speakerphone.

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ASUS ZenPad 10, ZenPad S 8.0, ZenWatch 2 First Look at COMPUTEX 2015

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COMPUTEX is a major event for ASUS this year as the company pulled the curtains off its new tablets – the ZenPad, which is meant to combine and close the gap between the Fonepad and MeMoPad series tablets. Over at COMPUTEX Taipei, we had a little time with the company’s two spanking new tablets – the ZenPad 10 and ZenPad S 8.0 – and not to forget the most anticipated wearable – the ZenWatch 2.

The ZenPad 10, as the name already suggests, is a 10.1-inch slate that comes in three different variants – the Z300C (WiFi), Z300CG (WiFi+3G), and Z300CL (4G LTE), the WiFi and 3G models are powered by the latest Intel Atom X3 system-on-chip (SoC) while the 4G LTE model has got the trusty Intel Atom Z3560 SoC that we are familiar with. In terms of common hardware, all ZenPad 10 models will come feature a WXGA (1280×800) resolution IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass, dual front facing speakers, up to 64GB of storage, 7.9mm of thickness and comes preloaded with Android 5.0 Lollipop. The keyboard dock as you can see in the pictures is an optional accessory for the
tablet
 that produces beautiful 5.1 channel surround sound and audio connection is made possible with Bluetooth.

The ZenPad S 8.0 is the true flagship
tablet
 in this announcement, sporting a 8-inch QXGA (2048×1536) resolution display and comes in two variants – the Z580C and Z580CA – that sports different performance internals while omitting cellular and telephony connectivity out of the package. The flagship model (Z580CA) has a 64-bit Intel Atom Z3580 SoC mated to 4GB RAM, 8-megapixel main camera and 5-megapixel front facing camera, dual front facing speakers with DTS-HD Premium Sound, 8-hours of battery life and features USB 3.1 Type-C connectivity. With such powerful internals under the hood and despite the lack of cellular capabilities, the ZenPad S 8.0 could be a really affordable
tablet
 once it gets released in the market.

Last but not the least, the ZenWatch 2 is probably the most eye catching gadget in the show, ASUS has shown off various watch straps that pairs with its new wearable, which includes an extremely premium gold aluminum strap that could make the watch look as expensive as an Apple Watch Edition. In terms of hardware, the ZenWatch 2 is slightly smaller and rounder than its predecessor, it comes in two strap sizes – 18mm and 22mm – and has a beautiful 2.5D curved AMOLED display that shows stunning vivid colors, the ZenWatch 2 now charges using a magnetic cable and there’s a new charging backplate with built-in battery that extends the juice of the watch itself, simply reminding us of Samsung’s Gear S implementation. ASUS officials have not confirmed any release dates for the wearable yet and we were told to look forward for an August release this year.

In COMPUTEX Taipei this year, ASUS has certainly demonstrated its further commitment in making even better and affordable tablets for consumers while making its product line less confusing, we are seeing the company trying to implement a similar approach like its PC products by introducing model numbers rather than focusing on the product name itself, which could actually achieve better results in a total marketing strategy.


The ASUS ZenPad 3S 10 can now be yours for RM1,499

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Its hard to come by great tablet deals as much as smartphones, however if you are really looking for a decent one, the ASUS ZenPad 3S 10 is now offered by local retailer Satu Gadget at the price of RM1,499, that’s RM300 off the tablet’s original price at RM1,799. The ZenPad 3S 10 is a very well specced tablet, it features a 9.7-inch display with a 2048×1536 resolution, powered by a Snapdragon 650 hexa-core processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

Despite being a rather huge slate, the ZenPad 3S 10 weighs merely 480g, it also features a dual stereo loudspeaker setup with support for DTS audio and Bluetooth aptX. If you are a person who takes photos with a tablet, the tablet has an 8-megapixel main and 5-megapixel front camera, which is actually pretty decent for tablet standards. Last but not the least, the price cut makes this the most affordable 4G LTE capable tablet as you can insert a Nano SIM to enable internet connectivity, while ASUS claims the tablet to have up to 16 hours of battery life.

The ZenPad 3S 10 is a great alternative to more expensive tablets like the iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S3, and considering that most of us will use tablets for content consumption, the hardware power of this tablet could pretty much satisfy the average joe. Head on over to Satu Gadget to check out the ZenPad 3S 10.

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ASUS ZenPad 7 Review: The next best budget oriented tablet?

405

ASUS announced the new ZenPad during Computex 2015 and it was a hype due to the specifications plus a price that the tablet can offer. Now that we’ve finally gotten our hands on the device and I have to say that the first impression is pretty impressive. One thing I’m glad of is that the ZenPad comes with a microSD slot, on top of a large range of accessory support.

The device has a luxurious look that features a design possibly inspired by a clutch bag, with switchable back covers. The ASUS ZenPad 7.0 uses Non-Conductive Vapor Metalization (NCVM) materials to let the device look metal and feel like metal, although it isn’t metal. Upon popping out the back cover, you will see a microSD slot, micro sim slot, and a connector for audio cover.

The power button and volume rocker are placed on the right for easy reach for one handed usage, and on the top is the 3.5mm jack for your earphone or headphone; perfect position for the jack.

Overview

The overall look of the tablet is sleek and elegant, and exudes class when you’re carrying it around because of the dual color design at the back. Besides that, you have different color choices to swap depending to your mood.

Moving to the top, that is where the headphone jack is. I feel that this is the best position for it because it will not cluster together with the USB cable when you are trying to charge it.

To the right you will find the volume rocker and power button, which is just too close to each other, hence you tend to press the wrong ones by accident since both buttons don’t feel different to allow you to identify them apart.

The back cover can be easily popped out with a finger tip. Bottom of the tablet also shows the USB port for charging and file transfer. Once you pop out the case, the exposed back shows the connector for audio speaker case, microSD, and microSIM.

Software

One unexpected thing that was included within the device is Android Lollipop, so at least it can run the latest applications. However, the device isn’t butter smooth on my first day of using it but bearable with the lag. ASUS also included ZenMotion with touch and motion gesture for easy access to applications and tasks. One thing though, there is huge number of pre-installed apps on this tablet, leaving you with just 9GB of the original 16GB on-board storage free, but a couple of these apps can be uninstalled or disabled, and can merely be hidden from view if they get on your nerves clogging up the app tray.

Now, the ZenPad runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with ASUS Zen user interface over the top, and this is most obvious in the layout of the Settings menu and in the drop-down editable quick settings menu. ASUS also included some motion and touch gestures such as shaking the tablet twice to make a screenshot or, when you’re in Do It Later, create a new task. There’s double-tap to wake the screen, and you draw letters on the screen (when switched off) to launch an app of your choice.

Battery Life and Benchmarks

Battery life is one of the most important function that every user will want to know. For the ASUS ZenPad 7.0, with the 3,500mAh in capacity, it lasted almost 10 hours without having to charge. For the benchmark, here are the results using Antutu, 3DMark, and GFXBench GL. The score might be low but at least you can do most of the basic work stuff, although I faced a superb lag when playing Dragonica Mobile.

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ASUS ZenPad 7 will be launching on August 26, 2015

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ASUS Malaysia has just held a media preview session for the ASUS ZenPad 7 as the company’s new
tablet
. During the media preview session, we were told the ZenPad 7 will launch officially on the August 26th, 2015 in Malaysia.

The
tablet

is measure at 8.7 mm thickness and weight 272 g, which makes the ZenPad 7 becoming one of the world’s thinnest and lightest 7 tablets in the world. In term of specification, the ZenPad 7 has a 7-inch 1280 x 800 resolution IPS display, an Intel Atom x3 C3230 Quad-Core processor with 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage (expandable with a microSD card up to 128 GB), and 3G connectivity. In addition, the device has an 8 MP rear camera, a 2 MP front-facing camera, and Android 5.0.1 Lollipop with the company’s ZenUI out of the box.

Besides the specifications, what makes the ZenPad 7 becomes particularly interesting is because users can swap the existing functional back covers and it’s the first in the world. Other than that, there is an extra accessory for ZePad 7 and it’s an Audio Cover that can provide “immersive 5.1 channel surround sound”. We are pretty impressed by the maximum volume and audio quality of this innovative
tablet

cover.

ASUS never unveils the actual price of the ASUS ZenPad 7 and the impressive Audio Cover at the moment because the company still review the price that suitable on the market in Malaysia. However, we have the device with us at the moment and there will be a video about the ZenPad 7 soon. Stay tuned for the video release on the first impression on this device.

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Asus ZenWatch 2 announced at IFA 2015 Berlin

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W
earables seems to be the main focus of this year’s IFA in Berlin, and Asus has joined the bandwagon by announcing its new ZenWatch 2. With a
Qualcomm
Snapdragon
400

processor on the inside, this Android Wear smartwatch combines style with functionality.

Aesthetics-wise, Asus has made the ZenWatch 2 to be more personalised, as you would be able to choose between two sizes – 1.63-inch and 1.45-inch; and three stainless steel colours – silver, gunmetal and rose gold, with 18 different strap material and colour combinations. Strap materials consists of rubber strap in blue, orange, red and taupe; soft, premium leather strap in khaki, brown, grey, blue and orange colours; and stainless steel link bracelet in silver, gunmetal and rose gold. For a bit more bling, you also have the option of choosing a leather strap embossed with a diamond pattern accented by Swarovski crystals.

Compared to the previous iteration, the Asus ZenWatch 2 now sports a metal crown button. As for the watch face, it is designed with a gentle curve and made from Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection against scratches and damage.

Not only is the watch itself made to suit your personal style, you can also choose up to 50 instant-changeable watch faces, and even a new FaceDesigner smartphone app that allows you to create your own watch face and functionalities.

As for feature-wise, Asus has updated its activity tracking sensors with a full-featured activity tracker with a built-in
pedometer
 in order to provide you with more accurate step-counting. Asus also mentioned that with the ZenWatch 2, you can track your progress and fitness level with its redesigned Wellness personal activity manager.

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ASUS ZenWatch starts selling $200 on the Google Play Store

298

Here comes another new Android Wear smart watch made available, the much anticipated ASUS ZenWatch is now available from the Google Play Store at $200 (approx. RM660), that makes it one of the cheaper Android Wear devices in the market and the ZenWatch is no cheap looking device as well.

You’ll definitely be having the same software experience like any other Android Wear devices out there, the ZenWatch has a 1.63-inch 320 x 320 AMOLED display, 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor and 512MB RAM onboard. The watch is also built with exquisite craftsmanship, there’s a really nice aluminum frame and some rounded corners, and that leather wristband looks really comfortable and premium, definitely a good choice if you can’t afford the more expensive round Moto 360 smart watch.

Our own sources over here is that ASUS Malaysia will be bringing in the ZenWatch early 2015, so unfortunately you won’t be able to get it as a Christmas present this year. No worries, just keep calm and wait for the ZenWatch.

Source:
Google Play


ASUS ZenWatch unveiled at IFA 2014

315

Here’s the first piece of our coverage on IFA 2014, ASUS’s first smart watch is finally unveiled at IFA 2014 and its called the ZenWatch, it features a metal frame and runs on the Android Wear platform, which will have pretty standard features like receiving notifications, taking pictures remotely, find your smartphone as well as tracking fitness with the built-in heart rate sensor. The smart watch has a 320×320 1.63” AMOLED display and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Looking at the design it seems pretty cool with some rounded corners instead of a squarish form factor, and it comes with a very comfortable 22mm leather strap which can be easily swapped with aftermarket straps. The ZenWatch will be priced at $199 when it hits the market, expect prices to be around RM750 or below in Malaysia.

Source:
TechnoBuffalo


ASUS announces the new ZenWiFi, priced at RM1,299 on Lazada

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ASUS has just announced ZenWiFi, a new range of mesh WiFi systems that is can support the latest WiFi 6.

The ZenWiFi is supposedly ASUS’s latest device to offer fast and reliable WiFi to homes with advanced controls, a tri-band design and optimised antennas. With three WiFi bands, users are able to connect to either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band depending on their needs.

In addition, the system now features upgraded AiMesh technology which allows users to set up their network via mobile app or web. They can also control and adjust networking features with the advanced controls that are offers in the app and website. They can also add another router to the network if needed.

The ASUS ZenWiFi comes in two models — ZenWiFi AX and ZenWiFi AC. The former is a WiFi 6 model whereas the latter is a WiFi 5 model, but both systems have six internal attends, quad-core chipset and has similar MU-MIMO technology. However, the ZenWiFi AX is a slightly higher-end variant as it supports 256MB Flash and 512MB RAM, features OFDMA technology and has 1024-QAM high data rate.

The ZenWiFi AC is available now whereas the ZenWiFi AX will be launched later this year. With three years warranty, the ZenWiFi AC can be
pre-ordered
 at the price of RM1,299 on Lazada.

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ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 launched in Malaysia: Gaming laptop with cool LED cover

749

Fast forward to six months after the
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14
 debuted in CES 2020,
ASUS
 finally launch the ROG Zephyrus G14 series in Malaysia.

Display and design

Image credit: ASUS

As suggested by its name, the Zephyrus G14 is a laptop with a 14-inch IPS display and users get to choose between a Full HD panel with up to 120Hz refresh rate or a QWHD panel with up to 60Hz refresh rate. It is an ultra-thin laptop made of magnesium-aluminum alloy and weighs at 1.6kg without its custom LED matrix.

LED lid display

Image credit: ASUS

You can get the Zephyrus G14 with or without its ANiMe Matrix display — a feature that uses 1,215 mini LEDs to display any animations you’d like at your laptop lid. This is one of the unique features on the Zephyrus G14 that really caught the attention of many during CES. However, you can also choose to get the laptop without said feature.

Internals

Image credit: ASUS

Under the hood, the Zephyrus G14 is equipped with the new AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Mobile Processors. The most powerful processor is powered by a Ryzen 9 4900HS processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q graphic card. As for its storage configuration, this laptop supports up to 16GB RAM and 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD storage.

Battery and ports

Image credit: ASUS

The Zephyrus G14 is also impressive in terms of battery life as it can last over 10 hours and supports up to 65W charging via USB Type-C PD 3.0. Apart from charging purposes, the USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port can also serve to connect external monitors via DisplayPort 1.4. The Zephyrus G14 also has an extra Type-C Port paired with two Type-A ports, an HDMI port and headphone and microphone combo jack.

ASUS Zephyrus G14 price and availability

Image credit: ASUS

There are eight different models of the ASUS Zephyrus G14, but not all will be available immediately. The models are priced as below:

Available now

GA401I-VHA232T: RM7,699

GA401I-IHE103T: RM5,299

Available August 2020

GA401I-VHA231T: RM7,699

GA401I-UHE099T: RM6,199

GA401I-IHE102T: RM5,299

GA401I-HHE027T: RM4,499

Available September 2020

GA401I-VHE340T: RM7,699

GA401I-VHE341T: RM7,699

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ASUS's Republic of Gamers GR8 II is now available for pre-order

342

Remember ASUS’s GR8? ASUS’s own take on the consolified PC is getting a sequel, and the machine is making its way to the local markets as well.

Aptly named the GR8 II, ASUS has updated this 4-liter gaming PC with components that are more in line with modern day gaming machines. For starters, the GR8 II sports a 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, which is paired up with 32GB of DDR4 memory and a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card. The specifications of the machine also means that the GR8 II is VR-ready. In order to facilitate the VR headsets, the GR8 II  comes with two HDMI ports. Other components that can be found in GR8 II includes either an M.2 PCI Express SSD or a more traditional SATA SSD.

In order to counter the heat generated from the GR8 II, ASUS has outfitted the machine with specially-tuned cooling system with an optimized airflow design, copper heat pipes and dual fans. This is coupled with cleverly-designed vents and dedicated chambers to provide the machine with the appropriate amount of airflow to keep the machine cool. Lastly, the GR8 II features ASUS’s own Aura Sync RGB LED for those who like colours with their gaming machines.

For those interested in the machine, ASUS is now offering a special price of RM4,999 to those who pre-order the machine. The standard retail price of the GR8 II will be RM5,499.

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ASUS's ROG GX700 is now available in Malaysia

377

Everybody has been waiting for ASUS to bring in its most ridiculous laptop ever. That wait is over, as ASUS has officially launched the Republic of Gamers’ GX700 laptop in Malaysia.

Touted as the world’s first liquid-cooled gaming laptop, the GX700 is aimed squarely at the enthusiast market. This mean machine comes with an 6th-gen Intel mobile K-SKU (Skylake) processor and a desktop-class NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 graphics card, allowing the laptop to perform as well as a desktop machine. The GX700 also sports a screen that comes with NVIDIA G-Sync display technology for the smoothest, fastest and stunning gaming visuals possible.

Of course, the main selling point of the GX700 is its water cooling system. The laptop comes with a detachable ROG-exclusive Hydro Overclocking System cooling module which uses a pump to circulate coolant around heat-generating components inside the GX700. This liquid coolant would then head back into the cooling module where two radiators help to dissipate heat. This liquid-cooling system gives the GX700 some serious overclocking processor as you can potential overclock the CPU performance by up to 47%. The DDR4 RAM can also be boosted up to 2800MHz from 2133MHz, which is an 43% increase in power.

If the GX700 sounds like your kind of laptop, be prepared to shell out top dollar as the GX700 sports an ear-watering price tag of RM18,999.

Aside from the GX700, ASUS has also taken the opportunity to reveal the GT51 desktop. Winner of the 2016 CES Innovation and iF Design Award, the GT51 is powered by a  6th-gen Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Gear for one-click full-cre CPU overclocking to 4.6GHz without having to reboot. The GT51 is also capable of supporting two Titan X-es in SLI mode for Ultra HD gaming. Rounding up the GT51 are two 512GB NVMe PCIe RAID 0 SSDs and DDR4 2133MHz RAM.

For the cooling system of the GT51, this desktop features a multi-zone thermal solution that lower the system’s internal temperatures by up to 31%. The machine also features a liquid-cooled Hydro Overclocking System for the CPU as well as dedicated air channels to draw cool air into the chassis for the graphics card. The PSU for the GT51 also features its own isolated airflow design to further improve the machine’s cooling.

Pricing for the GT51 has not been revealed yet, but ASUS has mentioned that the desktop will be available in June.

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Asus’s TUF gaming notebooks and ROG Phone launch in Malaysia

1.2K

Asus is launching their gaming machines today in Malaysia and they are none other than the Asus ROG Phone and Asus TUF Gaming FX505.

The TUF Gaming FX505 and FX705 come with LED backlit Full HD display and have NanoEdge display with 6.5mm bezel. These are the only gaming notebooks with up to 144Hz refresh rate and military grade certification. The notebooks can be powered by the Intel Core i7 or i5 processor, and the graphic uses NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series. They feature desktop-inspired RGB-backlit keyboard with an impressive cooling system that has fan overboost technology. Asus also has a TUF backpack that can fit both the 15-inch and 17-inch laptops with the price of RM 149.

On the other hand, the ROG Phone comes with a 6-inch AMOLED screen with 90Hz refresh rate and 1ms pixel response time which reduce blurry visuals. It is powered by Snapdragon 845 chip at 2.96GHz which is optimised for lag-free gaming and has 8GB RAM with up to 512GB internal storage. It also has a 3D Vapor-chamber Cooling system and comes with the AeroActive Cooler, an accessory that can reduce the temperature of the phone when gaming. The ROG Phone also has Air Triggers on the right side of the phone for 4-fingers gameplay. In addition, the ROG has HyperCharge technology and comes with 4000mAh battery, which can last up to 14 hours of Wi-Fi video playback or 7.2 hours of continuous WiFi gameplay.

The TUF Gaming FX505 comes in Red Matter and Gold Steel design. The Red Matter version that has either Nvidia GeForce GTX 10504G/GTX 1050TI 4G will cost you RM 3,699 onwards whereas the Gold Steel version that has up to 144Hz refresh rates with Nvidia GeForce of GTX 1050TI 4G/GTX 1050 6G comes at the price of RM 4,399 onwards. On the other hand, the FX705’s Red Matter with i7-8750H processor, GTX 1050TI 4G, 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD plus 1TB HDD will cost RM 4,999 whereas the Gold Steel version with up to 144Hz refresh rate, i7-8750H processor, GTX 1050TI 4G/GTX 1060 6G, 8GB RAM and 128/256GB SSD plus 1TB HDD will cost from RM 5,299.

Next, the ROG Phone with 128GB is priced at RM 3,499 whereas the ROG Phone with 512GB is priced at RM 3,999. Both versions come with the AeroActive Cooler and also the ROG Phone Case. Asus also started selling ROG accessories, and the prices are listed as below :

ROG Phone Case : RM 199

GameVice for ROG Phone : RM 349

Mobile Desktop Dock : RM 599

Limited edition ROG Suitcase : RM 599

Asus WiGig Display Dock : RM 899

TwinView Dock : RM 999

The accessories will be available in November at Lazada and Asus stores. As for the ROG Phone, it can be pre-ordered starting today till 4th November at any Asus brand stores, Lazada and Shopee.

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"Asynchronous spacewarp" tech lowers minimum specifications to run the Oculus Rift

405

Virtual reality is one of the most demanding things that a PC can run. However, Oculus has a new piece of technology that the company says is capable of lowering the barrier of entry into VR.

At the Oculus Connect event held earlier today, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe announces the “asynchronous spacewarp” technology. Built into the Oculus API, Iribe mentions that this tech would allow games to run at an internal 45 frames oer second while still providing a smooth 90 frames per second to the headset. This tech works by taking two previous frames generated by software, analyzes the difference, and calculates a spatial transformation that can generate a “synthetic frame” based on current head translation and movement.

Prior to the introduction of asynchronous spacewarp, the Oculus Rift has a minimum PC specification that inclues an Intel i5-4590 processor and a Nvidia GTX 970 or equivalent graphics card. With asynchronous spacewarp, Oculus has updated the minimum requirements, with the processor being bumped down to a Intel i3-6100 or AMD FX4350 processor and an Nvidia 960 graphics card or equivalent graphics card.

While asynchronous spacewarp allows for lower powered PCs to handle VR, Iribe has made it clear that this synthetic frame rate system is not a replacement for native 90hz rendering. If you want the optimal Oculus Rift experience, you’re still going to have to build a decently powerful PC.

Source:
Ars Technica

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Atari is releasing a cap with speakers called Speakerhat

412

Atari was known as the pioneer of classic gaming, releasing consoles and games that manage to capture a broad range of audience. Now, they have decided to enter the wearables market with the release the first product in the Atari Connected Life line called the Speakerhat.

If you guess it’s a hat with speakers, you guess correctly but it also comes with a microphone, the hat, which is actually a cap, will connect to your device via Bluetooth and you can pick up calls and play music which will come out of the speakers that are built into the bill of the cap. To top it off, Atari also mentions that the cap will have a Multiplayer Mode which will allow multiple owners of the cap to listen to the same music together.

Personally, I prefer to keep my music in my ears and not let people around me listen to it. It is also slightly disappointing that Atari had to go down this road when this has nothing to do with gaming and has gimmick written all over it. I liked them better when they were producing great consoles and games.

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ATLAS: New in-car infotainment system that comes with a payment feature

1.2K

Local in-car infotainment system developer ACO Tech, has revealed their latest offering in the form of ATLAS (ACO Tech Local Automotive Services).

This new operating system builds on the company’s experience of developing the infotainment head units for the Proton X70 and X50 SUVs.

ATLAS comes packed with all sorts of features, which includes an entertainment system that uses JOOX and SYOK for your dose of music and radio content.

Built and developed by Malaysians, ATLAS has an AI-powered speech recognition system that can recognize “Malaysian English at varying tones” – nifty.

On top of that, there’s an intelligent notification system that can even detect a tire puncture or extreme weather.

To make things even more convenient for car owners, the ATLAS comes with an in-car payment system, aptly dubbed ATLAS Pay.

According to the company, the feature lets users pay for everyday needs all from the comforts of their own cars – the feature will require the ATLAS Auto (available to download this Q4 2021) companion mobile app to work for now, and it will be integrated into infotainment systems by the first half of 2022.

Speaking of the mobile app, ATLAS Auto works in-tandem with the car’s system – and it also offers other neat features like ATLAS Mall, a marketplace for you to make purchases and make reservations while on the move, ATLAS Discover, a community-driven news and information hub, and ATLAS Vehicle, which lets you control your vehicle remotely, and retrieve stats.

For navigation, ATLAS Map is a native navigation system that supports real-time traffic info, and safety-related info. It can utilise GPS connection systems when internet access is limited too.

To learn more about
ATLAS
, visit ACO Tech’s website
here
.

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atlas
proton x50
proton x70


AT&T rumoured to be working with ZTE on a Cyanogen-powered smartphone

360

ZTE smartphones, much like most Chinese smartphones, have been running on Android. That though may be changing as rumours are going around that American telco company AT&T is thinking of partnering with both ZTE and Cyanogen to create a Cyanogen-powered ZTE phone.

First reported by The Information, AT&T is looking at developing an experimental phone that would allow it to push its own services in a more prominent way to mobile consumers than what Android or iOS would allow. The thinking behind this move is that it would be able to generate more revenue from consumer services on mobile devices.

Of course, this is all in the planning stages. ZTE has quite recently had
trade sanctions
 place on it, so it’s hard to tell if this project would even get off the ground.

Should this project manage to move past the concept stages though, Cyanogen would stand to gain the most out of the partnership. Cyanogen was launched as an attempt to weaken Google’s hold over Android, and having a Cyanogen-powered phone that is being sold by one of America’s largest telco company could be the big break that the startup is looking for.

While the AT&T smartphone is aimed solely for the American market, it is entirely possible that future ZTE models worldwide could adopt Cyanogen as their OS of choice if this partnership proves fruitful.

Source:
The Information

att
cyanogen
smartphone
zte