The Zenfone series of phones have been fairly successful for Asus and not without reason. The Zenfone 2 brought in a very well rounded package with high end specifications and a well polished interface. Amidst the intense competition, the company has decided to give the series slight upgrades all around in a bid to spur sales. The Zenfone 2 Deluxe is part of that launch spree.
Specifications:
- 5.5-inch ( 1920 x 1080 pixels) display with Corning gorilla glass 3 protection
- 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 processor with PowerVR G6430 GPU
- 4GB RAM, 64GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 64GB via micro SD
- Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
- Dual SIM
- 13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, Real Tone flash
- 5MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture
- Dimensions: 152.5 x 77.2 x 10.9mm; weight 170g
- 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
- 3000mAh battery
With the launch of the Zenfone 2 Deluxe, Asus is basically selling you the same phone in a more premium package. The Zenfone 2 Deluxe takes the best SKU in the Zenfone 2 line up and gussies up the hardware. The front of the phone continues to sport a Full HD 5.5 inch display that is fairly bright and vibrant.
Three capacitive keys can be found below it while up above you’ll spot a notification light and a 5MP front facing camera. As with the original Zenfone 2, the buttons are placed at the back of the device. The volume rocker in particular follows the design language first started by LG. A 13MP camera is placed above it while a dual tone flash is placed further above still.
Look closely at the back though. That there is pretty much the sole difference between the regular Zenfone 2 and the Zenfone Deluxe. Not only does the back cover of the Zenfone Deluxe look good, it feels brilliant in the hand. A diamond cut design at least in marketing speak, it has a criss-cross pattern of raised bumps on the rear panel that feel very unique and comfortable in the hand. The color too is rather gorgeous and shifts between a brilliant turquoise like shade to purple depending on how it catches the light. I’m all in for subtle designs and even to me this certainly doesn’t feel loud, you might want to check it out in person once though before going in for it though.
Beyond that, there’s little to differentiate the devices. The camera as we mentioned earlier too is a 13MP unit and takes reasonably good photos. It packs in the Pixelmaster 2.0 technology for enhanced low light images which essentially boosts up the ISO drastically so you should probably use it with caution. Powering the phone is a 2.3Ghz Intel Atom Z3580 processor that is prone to heating up but it fares quite well in terms of performance. There is also the built in 4GB of RAM that is still somewhat unique in this segment. It was a good phone when it launched and it still is a pretty decent phone. Competition has as always spoilt us for choice and without a price, it is hard to say whether the handset is competitive or not. At least on paper, it seems to be a nicely built and decently performing smartphone. Asus on its end has been a bit coy with the pricing of the Zenfone Deluxe and aims to announce it on 6th August where we’ll be reporting live. For a deeper look into the working of the handset, follow along to our Asus Zenfone 2 review. We’ve got more images of the Zenfone 2 Deluxe below.
