It was back in late September that the mid-range ASUS ZenFone 3 became available in Canada for $429.99. ASUS is now officially introducing the Deluxe model of their ZenFone 3 for $699 CAD with availability in early November. It will be sold through Best Buy Canada, Canada Computers, NCIX, Newegg.ca, Memory Express, and Staples, where it is listed as $669.99. NCIX and Staples are currently taking pre-orders, and it appears to come in silver only.
The new flagship from ASUS, the ZenFone 3 Deluxe is an all-metal beauty that even has the antenna hidden in the frame of the device. This design gives it a clean and smooth appearance on the front and the back of the device. It is true that ASUS still uses the Full HD resolution, but the Deluxe model has a Super AMOLED display that really makes it pop. The ZenFone 3 Deluxe sports a phablet-size 5.7-inch Super AMOLED FHD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and a somewhat respectable 386 pixels-per-inch (PPI.) ASUS also included the ‘always-on’ display that helps conserve battery life while staying on to keep you apprised of your notifications. While ASUS has introduced a new Deluxe model with the Snapdragon 821, the model coming to Canada keeps the original 64-bit Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor with a dual-core clocked at 1.6GHz and a dual-core clocked at 2.15GHz. The 820 is teamed up with an Adreno 530 GPU to pump out the most demanding graphics.
The ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe packs 6GB of DDR4 RAM and comes with 64GB of expandable memory via a microSD card. The internal memory is the faster UFS 2.0 design. The primary camera uses a Sony 23MP sensor on what ASUS calls their PixelMaster 3.0 camera with a sapphire crystal lens cover. It uses an aperture of f/2.0, dual LED flash and 4-axis OIS and 3-axis EIS for steady shots. The front-facing camera (FFC) is a large 8MP sensor with an 85-degree wide-angle lens for selfies and video chatting. The Deluxe packs a 3000mAh non-removable battery with Quick Charge 3.0 for a rapid charge. It has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking the device as well as authoring mobile payments. It is running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and will use ASUS’ own ZenUI 3.0 running over the top. It measures 156.4 x 77.4 x 7.5mm and weighs in at 170 grams.