CES 2015: Asus Zenfone 2 featuring 4GB RAM and Zenfone Zoom offering 3X zoom camera launched

Taiwan-based Asus, known for its relatively affordable series of smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, began its CES 2015 campaign by launching the successor to its popular Zenfone series of budget smartphones.

Asus announced the new Zenfone 2 and Zenfone Zoom smartphones that run Google's latest Android 5.0 (Lollipop) operating platform straight out of the box.

The USP of Asus' Zenfone 2 is that the device features 4GB RAM, along with a 64-bit quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 processor. This combination should lead to the smartphone offering users comparatively faster computing as well as allowing users to play high-end games.

On the other hand, the Asus Zenfone Zoom is targeted at people preferring to indulge more in photography via their smartphones, rather than buy and use a separate camera.

The USP of the Zenfone Zoom is its 13 MP camera which provides 3X optical zoom. The device also comes with a mammoth 128GB internal storage which should be sufficient for users to store photographs, videos and multimedia data.

Key technical specifications of Asus Zenfone 2 and Zenfone Zoom

Asus Zenfone 2:

• 5.5in IPS display having resolutions of 1080 x 1920 pixels
• Android 5.0 (Lollipop) operating platform
• 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor
• 13MP rear autofocus rear camera with dual LED
• 5MP front snapper for video calling
• 2/4 GB RAM
• 16/32/64 GB internal storage
• MicroSD card slot for expansion of internal storage up to 64 GB
• 4G-LTE, HSPA, GSM, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and microUSB connectivity
• 3,000 mAh Li-Polymer battery

Asus Zenfone Zoom

• 5.5in IPS display having resolutions of 1080 x 1920
• Android 5.0 (Lollipop) operating platform
• 2.3 GHz Intel Atom Z3580 quad-core processor
• 13 MP autofocus rear camera with LED flash
• 5MP front camera for video calling
• 4G-LTE, 3G, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and microUSB connectivity
• 3,000 mAh Li-Polymer battery

Both the above smartphones should provide for a fairly decent high-end smartphone experience, and should do well to compete with high-end smartphones of major brands, once commercially released.

Asus Zenfone 2 is speculated to get a price tag of $199 (for the 2GB variant, pricing of 4GB edition yet to surface) and Zenfone Zoom is rumoured to be commercially sold at $399 (£262).