The trend of taking the so-called selfies seem to be here to stay. Manufacturers of mobile products also seem to encourage it, as they are improving on the cameras that they integrate on the front of smartphones and tablets. They are not only getting sensors that take still photographs with more resolution, but they are also including wide-angle lenses so that more people or surrounding elements can fit into the picture. While it’s still not very common, some phones include an LED flash next to the front-facing camera or some of them use the whole screen to accomplish arguably better selfies in low light conditions.
Following this trend, Asus recently announced a phone called ZenFone Selfie, which (if the name isn’t any indication) integrates a very powerful camera on the front. The front camera has a 13-megapixel sensor with dual-tone flash with laser autofocus, f/2.2 aperture and a wide-angle lens to capture up to 88 degrees. The one in the back shares most of the features, except it’s an f/2.0 module and the lens is less wide. Other than that, we’re looking at a mid-range smartphone with a large 5.5-inch screen with Full HD resolution to really appreciate how those selfies turned out. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 615 processor and 2 GB of RAM. There are 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage options, but either way, its memory can be expanded. A 3,000 mAh battery keeps this phone powered on.
Now, Asus France, through its official Twitter account, is promoting this phone with a selfie-oriented campaign. But instead of encouraging users to take selfies, they illustrate some places or circumstances where attempting to take a selfie could be catastrophic. Those scenarios include acting like a superhero and taking a selfie while jumping somewhere, using metallic accessories under a thunderstorm, on railroads, while biking or driving, and with some wild animals. This might sound like trivial scenarios and that people should have common sense while taking this kind of pictures, but a recent report suggested that more people were killed while trying to take a selfie than by shark attacks. There’s a whole page in Wikipedia dedicated to selfie-related injuries, which include electrocutions, falls and even accidents with guns. So, it’s good that you want to share your surroundings with the world from unique angles and in great detail and quality, but safety should always come first.