ASUS Zenfone 2 - 1080p, IPS, Dual SIM, Intel Atom.. Only $200!!! - CES 2015
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,133 words · ~5 min read
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Linus Tech tips coverage of CES 2015 is brought to you by Phantom glass visit
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store. phantom.in screen protectors out there
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as well as hyperx so ASUS isn't exactly
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known for their you know phones they've done really well with tablets in the
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past but phones have somehow eluded them I mean we've checked out some stuff that
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we thought is pretty cool but nothing's really knocked our socks off this might
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be the one that changes all that and they are extremely proud of the Zen
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phone 2 and I think for a good reason in terms of CPU you're looking at an Intel
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morfield atom Z and I'm just going to cheat here cuz their product naming
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scheme is indecipherable z 20 3258 quad
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core processor running at a nominal 1.8 and boost of 2.3 GHz so that is a quad
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core it's got 2 gigs of RAM it's got a 1080p display 16 gigs of onboard storage
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that's an IPS display by the way so viewing angles brightness and color
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vibrancy are outstanding it's got Wireless AC it's got Bluetooth 4.0 it
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has a 3,000 mamp battery which isn't quite you know the endurance master that
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something like a droid turbo would be but it's certainly better than we saw
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even in Flagship phones from the last generation it supports quick charging so
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it'll get up to 60% battery in 39 minutes was it 39 minutes and what else
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can we really say about it okay they've got their they've worked on their camera technology I'm not quite sold on it
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trying it out here in the suite necessarily but there are a couple of cool things that it does they've done a
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lot of work on backlit subjects with HDR as well as extremely low light so even
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compared to the iPhone 6 where we did a side-by-side test in their little
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complete darkness owl vision box thing
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here it actually managed to find a little bit of color in the butterfly
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inside whereas the iPhone 6 did not and I think that's pretty much it oh yeah
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it's a 5 and 1/2 in display now is the kicker so we started talking pricing and
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they said well this is the 2 gig RAM model with a 1080p display and I kind of
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went okay so there's a 4 gig RAM model with a 1080p display that one will cost
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more and then there is a 720p display model that one will cost less this one
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available in five different colors red white osmium black sheer gold you know
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they got to name it something more interesting than just a gold red white
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black and gray or something along those lines and they kind of said Okay so this
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one is 199 and I kind of went oh okay cool what carriers are you launching
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with and they go what do you mean carriers it's simless it's unlocked it's
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199 for this phone not only that but it supports dual SIM so you pop off the
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back you can throw a couple of SIM cards in and it has micro SD expansion this is
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looking like one badass phone for $1.99
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under $200 Unfortunately they didn't try to do the whole under $200 it is
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$200 and it has blown my socks off so
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far I'm not sure how I feel about the non onscreen buttons and you guys will
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have to decide which one is for you so the buttons are haptic feedback buttons
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below the screen but uh man it's light
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it's feels really Snappy it's running lollipop with a with ASUS's own skin
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that doesn't look too intrusive it doesn't really look like they've changed
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a whole lot and I am really really impressed for the price so far speaking
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of really impressed with the for the price so far and ASUS has another trick
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up their sleeves also a Zen phone product this is called the Zen phone
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Zoom I'm not allowed to pick up the phone because it's like it was actually
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under glass I had to ask very nicely even to get them to take the glass off
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but what this is is they're saying it's the world's thinnest phone with a 3x
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optical zoom so for the folks you know what I'm just going to pick it up what
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are they going to do to me for the folks complaining about the camera bump on the
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iPhone 6 this thing's got a bit of a camera bump but if the idea is you want
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to be able to really zoom in and get much better pictures and take full
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advantage of all them megapixels on the sensor if you're shooting something
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further away this looks like it might be it I'm not personally sold until I
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actually see it in action it's going to be priced at$ 3.99 with no sim but cuz I
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ASUS's IM processing has not proven to me yet that it's up there with someone
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like Samsung or Apple but I am very excited to see it once they've actually
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got 100% working prototypes and I will be glad to bring you guys a review of
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this one once it is ready other than that specs are pretty similar to the Zen
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phone so what you'd be paying for is really the camera capabilities on this
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guy right here so thank you for watching
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this video on the Zen phone and the Zen phone Zoom guys remember our trip to the
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show this year was brought to you by Phantom glass Phantom glass makes screen
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protectors for your phone that are super clear super scratch resistant feel just
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like the glass that's already on your phone and are super easy to apply it's
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basically impossible to get a bubble stuck under it you can check them out at
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store. phantom.in in the video description and I want to do a shout out
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for hyperx as well check out their YouTube channel it's youtube.com/ hyperx
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they've got a lot of great gaming content there also linked in the video description huge thanks to those guys
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for allowing us to be here and huge thanks to you guys for watching we'll see you at the next crazy amazing that's
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like freaking revolutionary okay maybe not this one but definitely the 199 Zen
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phone holy cow