Asus Zenfone Selfie Now Available To Order via Flipkart For Rs.17,999

Asus has launched the a new Zenfone series line-up at their Zen festival event in Delhi last month 6th wherein the company announced the Zenfone 2 Deluxe, Zenfone 2 laser( which is with us now, so review will follow very soon), and Zenfone Selfie(Hands-on). The company has just announced that the Zenfone Selfie smartphone which is specially designed for selfie lover is now available to order via Flipkart for Rs.17,999 and will come in three different colors they are Pure White, Chic Pink or Aqua Blue. 

To remind you, The smartphone sports 5.5-inches FHD(1980*1080) IPS display with 178-degree viewing angle, also the display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615Soc clocked at 1.7GHz Octa-Core processor with Adreno 405 GPU coupled with 3GB LPDR3 Ram with 32GB internal storage with an SD card slot for memory upto 128GB. On the photography side, the device features a 13-megapixel autofocus primary camera with f/2.0 aperture, Dual LED flash and a same 12-megapixel front camera with Dual tone LED flash, 5 element largan lens, f/2.2 aperture. Connectivity features include 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, GPS/GLONASS, Dual SIM.Runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with improved Zen U.I on top. There is a 3,000mAh massive battery on board. Head over to "Flipkart"(Link)  to order the Zenfone Selfie.  

Zenfone Selfie with 2GB Ram will be available from September 30th, 2015. 

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Asus Vivo Stick PC Announced at IFA 2015

Asus has announced the Vivo Stick PC which is running on win 10. This small gadget will transform your TV or any monitor into full fledged PC via an HDMI port. Intel has also come up with similar Dongle called as Compute Stick. Asus Vivo stick is powered by by a Intel’s 14nm Cherry Trail platform with 2GB of Ram and 32GB internal storage. The only con with this Stick PC should be the lack of an SD card slot as win 10 Operating system eats half of the space. 

The Stick PC has USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 slots to connect accessories, the MicroUSB port is used to charge the device. Connectivity features include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and an HDMI port which is key port to connect it to a display. The Asus VivoStick comes in a Blue, White and Black colors and is priced at $129 (Rs. 8,540 approx.) although no information on availability is enclosed for now. 

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Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML Review: Best in Class

Asus has launched the a series of Zenfone smartphones at the Zenfestival event that took place on 6th August 2015. One among the many devices that Asus launched is the Premium high-end smartphone called the Zenfone 2 Deluxe not Just Zenfone 2, but its Zenfone 2 Deluxe. The smartphone is pretty much the same as the original Zenfone 2 with some slight design changes and its now comes in 64GB, 128GB and a whopping 256GB internal storage, probably the world's first smartphone to feature 256GB of storage. Now Asus has marked its place in the history of smartphones with industries first 4GB Ram smartphone and first smartphone to have 256GB storage on board, but these factors can save the company? will the smartphone live up the expectations? let's find out in our Review.

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Design: Let's Start our review with the Design of the smartphone, On top we have the 3.5MM audio jack accompanied with power on/off button which is not an optimal placement for a smartphone. On the rear side, we have the beautifully designed 500 tessellated triangles which give the smartphone attractive and premium look, but it isn't that easy to hold in hands as it is very slippery at times, but the best thing is that the back doesn't attract fingerprints and smudges keeping the smartphone clean all the time. Though the back panel is removable all we can do is insert Dual SIM cards and a MicroSD card while the battery isn't user replaceable. We have nothing on either side of the smartphone. On the front we have the huge 5.5-inches FHD display which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and the three capacitive buttons below the display are not back-lit as they are just painted in white making it harder to access in dark, the 5-megapixel selfie camera accompanied with usual set of sensors. While the back, we have the 13-megapixel primary camera with Dual LED flash, volume rockers, and Speaker Grills, Design wise there isn't much to talk about as the phone resembles Original Zenfone 2 except for the stylish back-panel. 

 Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Display: As said above the device sports 5.5-inches 1080P full HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla glass protection. Asus has done a good job with the display of the Zenfone 2 deluxe, colors look accurate and is sharp with no pixelation seen at any point of time. But things get complicated under broad daylight as the display is reflective which makes it hard to access under direct sunlight, cranking up the brightness to maximum might help at times. There is an option under the system settings where you can tweak the saturation levels on the display, Balancing, Vivid, and custom adjustment these are the settings that are available to choose from while adjusting the display's saturation and temperature. 

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Performance: Powered by Intel Atom Z3580 Soc clocked at 2.3GHz Quad-Core processor with 4GB of Ram. Frankly speaking we didn't notice any lag which is quite obvious considering the best in class specifications on board. 4GB Ram is more than enough for a smartphone to run anything that is available in playstore in today's world and Zenfone 2 deluxe does it with ease. But we do feel that the smartphone is filled with log of bloatware which might slow it down at times but as soon as we booted up the device we did disable and uninstall most of the apps that we didn't feel they would be of use and we suggest the same to our readers if they are planning on getting the smartphone. We played series of games like Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 5, Real Racing 3, Need For Speed and we are more than happy to say these games ran beyond our expectations, there is no slowing down once we have started playing we never feel like stopping that great the performance is. Keeping aside the gaming experience, Multitasking was a never a pain, switching between apps is so comfortable and there is absolutely no lag while switching. 

Every smartphone does Heat up a little bit be it a flagship device or mid-ranger, the smartphones these days do heat up quite a bit, the Asus zenfone 2 Deluxe is no exception. As said above we played lot games on the device that results in warming but nothing like it is unbearable, but its is worth mentioning being a full review. 

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Android Version: The Device Runs on Android version 5.0 lollipop with Zen U.I on top. Now Asus has made quite a few changes in the U.I as the Android version is upgraded to Lollipop. The U.I is almost stock that helps in eliminating the lag while switching between apps although there are a lot of apps that come pre-installed. which we can't call them as bloatware as they are useful at times, apps like what's Next, Audio Wizard, Web Storage, and few others are helpful as we said above we did disable few apps that we didn't feel the need. The all new improved Zen U.I gives us most of the lollipop sweetness as all the animations are present, L lock screen is present revealing the notification even before unlocking the device. Asus has included themes support for the first time in their interface, and the support for the Themes is growing gradually. There are three themes installed by default while the rest can be manually downloaded and installed via PlayStore.

                            

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Camera: The 13-megapixel Rear Camera on the Asus Zenfone 2 is yet another positive feature of the smartphone. The company seems to do an excellent job with mid-range smartphones camera modules, we have seen this earlier with Zenfone 5 which is one of the best cameras smartphones under 10,000 at the time it was launched. There are multiple modes to play around with the rear camera that only make the things even better. The pixel master technology has improved a lot over the previous iterations. There are various modes like 

• Manual: That allows the users to tweak the camera settings manually
• HDR: high dynamic range mode that enhances in taking bright images at any given condition
• Beautification: This mode automatically applies the settings that will help to take the better picture with a lot of details. This feature comes in handy during selfies.
• Super Resolution: This mode is used to better quality images during optimal light conditions.
• Smart Remove: Can be used to remove objects in the background if required.
• There is Gif support by default using that we can create Gif animations. 
• Panorama is also present to take panorama shots or a wide angle shot.

Keeping aside the Modes, the camera performance has impressed us the Owl mode or Low light mode is one of the fantastic features that will be of great help to take images even in Zero light conditions. Images below shows how well the Low-Light Mode can perform. The daylight shots turn out be accurate with no over saturation or pixelation as such.

                                        

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Battery: The Only thing that we weren't happy about the Zenfone 2 smartphone was the battery life, but this time around Asus seems to have fixed up few things with battery algorithms and now we are very glad to say that Zenfone 2 deluxe has a decent battery with around 5-hours of screen on time. Do note we are not saying its the best among the competition but at  the same time it is one among the best. The battery can last for an entire day with minimal usage and can give 5-5:30 of the screen on time on continuous usage. Gaming and data can drain the battery, but the power saving modes available by default might save some juice. The device supports fast charging which will be of great use during the emergency.  

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Connectivity: The device supports 4G LTE on the primary SIM card while the second slot supports 2G but not 3G. The device supports OTG. The in-call speaker is terrific, the voice is clear, never faced any issue, and the device connects to network very quick and is stable once it is connected. 

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Storage: Storage is not a problem for Zenfone 2 Deluxe as the device comes with 64GB variants that can further expanded up to 128GB via an SD card slot. Few Apps can be moved to SD card, and massive games can also be installed directly. Of the 32GB internal storage around 25.5GB is available for the users. As said storage is not an issue. 

What do I think about the Zenfone 2 Deluxe: Competing with some big names like OnePlus One, OnePlus Two, Mi4 the Zenfone 2 Deluxe is a tough fight for the competition. For a price of 19,999 that won't drill a hole to your pocket the Zenfone 2 Deluxe is surely a package of a flagship. The device is a future rich smartphone that has 4G of Ram,4G LTE, NFC and many other worth mentioning feature. Now if you can comprise on terrible battery life and average front camera, the Zenfone 2 Deluxe is surely worth looking at if you are planning to buy a mid-ranger smartphone with flagship features.

Pros: 

• Build Quality
• Rear Camera
• 4GB Ram
• 4G LTE, 64 Bit enabled
• Fantastic Performance

Cons:

• Bloatware
• Low Speaker Sound(bad placement)

Our Score: 90/100

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Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe with 256GB Storage Announced

As you guys already know by now, Asus has announced the Zenfone 2 Deluxe smartphone during the ZenFestival event and we already brought you the Unboxing and initial impressions last week. The company today has announced a special edition of the Zenfone 2 deluxe with 256GB of massive internal storage. The company has announced the 256GB variant in Brazil earlier this month, but the company has decided to launch only the 64GB and 128GB variants skipping the special edition for now.

The smartphone sports 5.5-inches FHD(1980*1080p) IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protections. Powered by Intel Atom Z3580Soc clocked at 2.5GHz Quad-Core processor with 4GB Ram. A 13-megapixel primary camera and a 5-megapixel selfie camera. Runs on Android 5.0.2 lollipop with Zen U.I on top of it out of the box. The device comes in Black and white colors and will be made available starting from next month though the pricing isn't mentioned.

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Special Edition specifications:

• 5.5-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels) display
•  Intel Atom Z3580 2.5GHz 64-Bit Quad-Core processor
• 4GB RAM, 256GB internal storage
• Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
• Dual-SIM, Dual-Active
• 13MP rear camera
• 5MP front-facing camera
• 3000mAh battery
• 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS

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Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe Unboxing; Initial Impressions

Asus launched the Zenfone 2 deluxe smartphone last week at Zenfone festival in Delhi. We were at the event, and we have already posted the hands-on of Zenfone selfie. Today we have got the zenfone 2 Deluxe the premium model among all the new launches, so here we are with unboxing and initial impressions of the smartphone. 

Box contents of the Zenfone 2 deluxe: 1-smartphone; USB cable; power adapter and user manuals. Once you open the box pack, you are welcomed by the smartphone itself sporting a huge 5.5-inches FHD(1980*1080p) display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Next will be the regular USB cable, USB wall adapter with Asus branding and the AC adapter gives the output of 5V=2A current. Next up will be the user manual guides and warranty information. Now this being a review unit we didn't have the earphones in it but a retail unit might have the earphones bundled. 

Upfront, as said above a huge 5.5-inches FHD display with three touch type capacitive buttons for back, home and recent apps, do note these buttons are not backlit so they don't light up they are just coated with white color just like any other Asus smartphone. 5-megapixel front camera accompanied with a usual set of sensors and in-call speaker and Asus branding.  On Top is the power on/off button with 3.5MM audio jack. We the MicroUSB port on the button with the primary microphone. 

While the back is what makes the device so special, the crystal cut type design makes the device look even more premium than it already is which is made out of polygonal material and feels good while holding. There is a 13-megapixel primary camera with Dual Tone LED flash, Laser autofocus and volume rockers. 

On opening the back we have slots for SIM cards and micro-SD card but the 3,000mAh battery isn't removable. The device is powered by Intel Atom Z3580 Soc clocked at 2.3GHz Quad-Core processor with 4GB Ram and 64GB internal storage out of which 54GB will be available for users. A 3,000mAh battery runs the show behind. 

Priced at Rs. 22,999 for the 64GB variant and the 128GB variant costs Rs. 29,999. It will go on sale exclusively from Flipkart and from offline retail stores across India starting from this month.

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Asus Zenfone Selfie Hands-On Initial Impressions

Asus has launched the Zenfone Selfie smartphone in India yesterday at an event in Delhi, we were there at the event and got to spend some time with the smartphone. Here are the specifications of the device, device sports 5.5-inches FHD(1980*1080p) display which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and has 72% screen to body ratio. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615Soc clocked at 1.7GHz Octa-Core processor with Adreno 405GPU coupled with 2GB Ram and 16GB internal storage and another variant with 3GB Ram and 32GB internal storage and an SD card slot for memory expansion up to 64GB. There is a 13-megapixel primary camera with Real Tone LED flash and laser autofocus and a 13-megapixel selfie camera with Real LED flash and f/2.2 aperture. Connectivity features include 4G LTE, Dual SIM, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, etc. There is a 3,000mAh battery to power the device. Runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with Zen U.I 2.0 on top of it. 

Let's start talking about the design of the device; There is no major design change over the Zenfone 2 smartphone, but that's nothing we would want to complain being an IFA design award winner we can make peace with the design of the device for now but Asus might want to come up with a new design language the next time. On the front, there is a huge 5.5-inches FHD IPS display with 403 pixels per inch, also the display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection.From our initial impressions, the display looked sharp and crisp also the viewing angles are also good. The 13-megapixel selfie camera accompanied with Dual LED flash and Laser autofocus helps in shooting perfect selfies. On top of the device, there is 3.5MM audio jack and power on/off button and secondary noise cancellation mic. On the back, also a 13-megapixel primary camera with Laser autofocus and volume rockers.  There is absolutely nothing on either of the sides. 

Though the device is selfie centric, Asus hasen't skipped on the internals of the device. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615Soc clocked at 1.7GHz Octa-Core processor and you have 2GB/3GB Ram options to choose from, the 2GB Ram comes with 16gigs of storage and the 3GB version comes with 32gigs of storage, both these can take in an SD card slot for memory expansion. Yes it is something we have learnt over months that SD 615 has heating issues and it throttles a lot while gaming but it's just too soon to judge the performance of the device. Unless we review the device we won't be commenting on the performance. The key highlight of the device is 13-megapixel selfie camera with Real LED flash I mean we have seen smartphones that had same megapixels count earlier but what struck us the most is the Real TONE LED flash which really helps in capturing better images in low-light and also gathers a lot of details. 

On opening the back panel, we get access to the SIM card slots and a MiroSD card slot for memory expansion, and the 3,000mAh battery is removable which Asus users were asking for a long time now. So there you guys here are our initial Hands-on impressions of the Asus zenfone Selfie smartphone and we will be coming up with the full in-depth review of the device over the next couple of weeks so till then stay tuned for Zenfone Laser and Deluxe impressions, which were also launched yesterday. 

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Asus Launched Zenfone Selfie, Zenfone Laser, Zenfone 2 Deluxe Phones in India

Asus has launched the Zenfone Selfie, Zenfone Deluxe, Zenfone Laser smartphones in India today. Except the Zenfone deluxe, the devices are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processor instead of the Intel chipsets. The specifications and the pricing of the devices are listed below and we will be coming up with the hands-on initial impressions very soon. Stay tuned/

Specifications of Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe:

• 5.5-inch full HD (1920×1080) FHD display
• Intel atom Z3580 64-bit 2.3GHz quad-core
• 4GB Ram and 64GB internal storage with SD card slot
•  Android 5.0 Lollipop
• 13 mega pixel Auto Focus with dual-tone LED flash
• 5 megapixel
• 3000mAh battery
• 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Dual SIM
• price: Rs.22,999

Specifications of Asus Zenfone 2 Selfie:

• 5.5-inch full HD (1920×1080 pixels resolution) Display
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor
• Android 5.0 Lollipop 
• 2GB/3GB Ram and 16GB/32GB SD card slot
• 13-megapixel primary camera with LED flash
• 13-megapixel with f/2.0 aperture
• 3000mAh Battery
• 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Dual SIM
• Price: Rs.15,999

Specifications of Asus Zenfone 2 Laser:

• 5-inch HD (1280×720 pixels resolution) Display
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 64-bit quad-core
• Android 5.0 Lollipop
• 2GB Ram and ROM: 8GB/16GB SD card slot.
• 13-megapixel with Laser Auto Focus
• 5-megapixel front camera
• 2070mAh battery
• 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Dual SIM
• Price: Rs.9,999

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Asus Zenfone 2E Launched as an AT&T Exclusive Device

You are forgiven if you get confused over the Asus zenfone 2 naming, as the company introduced yet another smartphone under Zenfone 2 series called as Zenfone 2E which will be an AT&T exclusive device. The device will be made available via AT&T stores from July 24th and will hit BestBuy by 2nd August. Talking about the specifications, the smartphone sports 5-inches 720p HD display and powered by Intel Atom Dual-Core processor coupled by 1GB of Ram and 8GB internal storage that can be further expanded. 

There is an 8-megapixel autofocus primary camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel fixed focus selfie shooter. The battery is of 2,500mAh capacity. LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth are built-in. Runs on Android 5.0 lollipop out of the box. Smartphone is priced at $119 sans contract from Walmart and Target stores.
Source | Via

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Asus ZenPower PowerBank Review: A Bit Pricey But Efficient

Asus has launched the ZenPower Powerbank sometime in May and is exclusively available via Indian E-Commerce website Flipkart. The portable power bank from Asus comes in  Silver, Gold, Pink, Blue and Black, now the While the Gold, Silver, Pink and Blue variants are priced at Rs.1499, the Black variant costs additional Rs.100 and is priced at Rs.1599. The logic behind pricing them according to the color is unknown. The Asus powerbank competed with big names like Xiaomi and OnePlus now when the competition is brisk the performance of the device must impress the audience for the company to sustain. How well the powerbank performs? let's find out in our review.

Build & Design: The build quality is decent and just like any other powerbank, The glossy, metallic surface feels premium and looks good, but the problem is it feels a bit heavy weighing nearly 215 grams. The design looks inspired from Xiaomi's Mi Powerbanks. Though we are not complaining about it but it's something you should know, and it might disappoint some of you out there as the company failed to provide a unique look. 

On Top, there is power on/off button that is accompanied by LED notification lights to indicate the amount of juice left. A USB port and a microUSB port to charge the smartphones and the powerbank. While the bottom has nothing  but the powerbank capacity written in bold letter and Asus branding logo.

Technical Specifications: The powerbank provides up to 2.4A output and 2A input. There are total four LED notification lights representing each portion of the whole capacity. 

• 1 LED notification Light: 0-25%
• 2 LED notification lights: 25-50%
• 3 LED notification lights: 50-75%
• 4 LED notification lights: 75-100%

Must Read:--------> Asus Zenfone 2 4GB Ram Review

Performance: The powerbank will take around 6-7 hours to charge completely as the company claims it has fast charging capabilities. I tested out the powerbank by charging Yu yuphoria from 3% to 100% it took around 1 hour 40 minutes or so, but then again yu yuphoria supports fast charging 1.0. Then again i tested it out with the smartphone that doesn't support fast charging, i.e., A7000 it took around 3 hours 10 minutes to charge it completely. There is a complaint on A7000 as the device takes more time to charge completely (more on that in A7000 updated review soon). This time i took Huawei Honor 4C which am currently reviewing and it took 2 hours 35 minutes to charge from 2% to 100%. On the whole, the power bank works fine and has nothing to complain. 

The charging capacity of the powerbank depends on the smartphone's battery capacity, as said above we tested the powerbank with various smartphones that pack different battery capacities.  Asus claims that Zenpower can charge the Zenfone 5 up to 3 times in a single cycle and Zenfone 2 times sadly we do not any Asus smartphone to test and support the statement. But never the less the Power bank has charged the Yu Yuphoria around 2 and half times so by far its near to what the company says. 

Features: The power bank comes with a sensor that automates the process of switching on and off the charging. Meaning, the power bank automatically turns off once the smartphone has finished charging. The Zenpower come with short circuit protection and over voltage output protection adding extra safety to the powerbank as well as the smartphone. The best part is the powerbank will adjust the voltage according to the smartphone that is connected. 

Verdict: The 10,050mAh Zenpower is available exclusively via Flipkart for Rs. 1,499 on the other hand Xiaomi has launched the 16,000mAh power bank for 1,399. Asus must have thought twice before pricing the powerbank on the costlier side. 

Pro's

• Features
• Build Quality
• Safety Measures

Con's:

• Over Priced
• takes more time to charge completely

Our Rating: 8.0

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