Asus announced its flagship Zenfone 5Z smartphone in India at the start of this month. However, at the time, only its 6GB RAM version with 64GB and 128GB storage options went up for sale. Now, the company has announced the smartphone’s 8GB RAM/256GB internal storage version will be available exclusively via Flipkart from July 30. The top-tier variant of the AI-centric Zenfone 5z will cost you Rs 36,999 and there are obviously no other hardware changes, except for the extra memory and storage. In terms of pricing, the device’s base variant costs lesser than the OnePlus 6 and offers an almost similar set of features and performance.
There are also some launch offers with the device, same as the Zenfone Max Pro M1 (review), the company is offering Complete Mobile Protection Plan for the Zenfone 5Z at Rs 499, which is said to be worth 2,299. There is also a no-cost EMI option starting at Rs 1,542 per month, with 25 percent down payment. Jio subscribers can avail a cashback of Rs 2,200 cashback with the device, along with additional 100GB of free 4G data.
Coming to specifications, the Asus Zenfone 5Z is powered by the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC. It sports a 6.2-inch full-HD+ LCD screen with a 19:9 display aspect ratio. There is a notch on the front, which houses the front-facing camera, the earpiece and other sensors. There is also an option to hide the notch while watching videos or when gaming on the device. It runs on Android 8.0, is equipped with Face Unlock and comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
For shutterbugs, the smartphone sports a 12MP + 8MP dual-rear camera setup with a f/1.8 and a f/2.2 aperture lens respectively. AI seems to be the buzzword and Asus says that the AI-based features on the device come into play while capturing an image as it is able to detect between 16 different scenes and subjects. The Zenfone 5Z also has an ‘AI Gallery’ feature, which is said to display an image with different filters and group photos automatically. For the front camera, it is equipped with a f/2.0 8MP sensor that has 84-degree field of view. Both the front and rear cameras support EIS.
The smartphone is powered by a 3300mAh battery, which supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0. The company claims that 60 percent of the device’s battery charges in 38 minutes. For audio, the device is equipped with Dual NXP SmartAMP speakers for delivering better audio and it comes with Qualcomm aptX, Hi-Res Audio and DTS Headphone X technology. It supports digital USB audio output (USB DAC) as well.
You can read our review of the smartphone here and our comparison of it with the OnePlus 6 and Samsung Galaxy S9+ here.