ASUS has announced their flagship ZenFone 2 line of devices back in January during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This Taiwan-based smartphone OEM has surprised many people during that launch, not only because they announced 4 really solid devices as part of their lineup, but because the most powerful of them sported 4GB of RAM and didn’t cost all that much. This was also the first smartphone in the world to be released sporting 4GB of RAM, which was enough for ASUS to steal the show. Anyhow, those devices have been available in select parts of the world for a while now, and ASUS has announced two of them (including the 4GB of RAM variant) for the US and Canadian market today. We’re here to take a closer look at their specifications, read on.
This Taiwanese smartphone OEM has announced both the 2GB and 4GB variants of the ZenFone 2 for the US and Canadian market. To be more specific, the company has announced two ZenFone 2 ZE551ML models. The two devices are almost identical, what’s different here are the processors running them, internal storage count and the amount of RAM on the inside. The lower-end ZE551ML variant ships with 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB of internal storage and is powered by Intel’s Atom Z3560 64-bit quad-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz. The higher-end variant, on the other hand, comes sporting 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 64GB of inbuilt storage and is powered by Intel’s Atom Z3580 64-bit quad-core SoC running at 2.3GHz. The rest of the specs are identical, the ZenFone 2 ML551ML features a 5.5-inch 1080p (1920 x 1080) IPS LCD display (with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 on top of it, 72% screen-to-body ratio), two SIM card slots and offers 4G LTE connectivity.
The 13-megapixel PixelMaster camera (f/2.0 wide-aperture lens) is located on the back of this handset and above the sensor you’ll find a dual-LED, dual tone flash. The 5-megapixel PixelMaster snapper is available on the front side of this handset. The 3,000mAh non-removable battery is also a part of this package, and it features BoostMaster fast-charge technology (BoostMaster adapter comes bundled in with the 4GB variant ONLY). Google’s Android 5.0 Lollipop comes pre-installed here with ASUS’ ZenUI on top of it. The ZenFone 2 measures 152.5 x 77.2 x 10.9mm and weighs 170 grams, and the device ships with 3 capacitive buttons below the display: back, home and overview (recent tasks), respectively. ASUS has announced that the device will be available in Black, Red, Gray and Silver color options in the US, and it will go on sale starting May 19th. The 2GB variant of the device costs $199, and the 4GB model will set you back $299 should you choose to purchase it. These two handsets will be available to order from Amazon, B&H, Groupon and NewEgg in the US, while it will also be available in Canada via NewEgg.ca.
