Asus Launches the Zenfone Zoom in Malaysia

[Tech & Gadgets]

Headed over to Ruyi & Lyn on 13 January 2016 for the launch of the new ASUS ZenFone Zoom, and several other Zen products, at its Zensation event. Ruyi & Lyn was setup with several experiential zones for us media folks to try out the new ZenFone Zoom in various settings, including a studio setting, macro, and long distance zoom.

The new ZenFone Zoom is claimed by ASUS to be the world’s thinnest smartphone optical-zoom smartphone, with a 13MP PixelMaster rear camera and 3X lens in a body that measures just 5mm at the edges. The innovative 10-element digital eye was created by the optics experts at Hoya. Glass, synthetic and prismatic lenses are meticulously configured in a dual-prism periscope arrangement to maximize incoming light and capture the best possible photo quality. Built-in optical image stabilization (OIS) ensures sharper, steadier shots even at maximum 3X optical magnification.

The rear camera benefits from dual-LED Real Tone flash to create a natural illumination for indoor portrait shots, generating a combination of yellow and white to capture more natural colours and skin tones. ZenFone Zoom’s rear lens also has laser auto-focus to focus in just 0.03 second.

The ASUS engineers rotated the ZenFone Zoom’s lens mechanism to create a more compact, intricately calibrated periscope-style layout. Coupled with a Panasonic SmartFSI® image sensor, ZenFone Zoom captures more light and more colour — revealing more details in both natural and low-light compositions.

ZenFone Zoom’s design gets inspiration from professional DSLR cameras, with dedicated buttons for shooting, recording and telephoto operations. Its strong unibody frame is precision-crafted to a metallic finish that’s cool and smooth to the touch, with a choice of premium Pure Black or sleek Ceramic White on the rear — and diamond-cut to create four (4) patterns across the back and sides. The ZenFone Zoom also has practicality in mind with an integrated a safety loop and many strap options.

Asus ZenFone Zoom (24) — Tried my hands at going full manual for the studio shoot with the guidance of the professional photographer present to assist us. Hopefully I’ll get a unit to review soon.

The ZenUI Camera app helps user to capture professional-quality photographs with the ASUS-exclusive Super Resolution mode applies multi-frame-fusion technology to create incredibly detailed photos. Four high-resolution 13MP shots are fused to create a single image of with clarity that’s four times (4X) greater than a single shot. ZenFone Zoom is claimed to be able to capture more detail and less noise — and Super Resolution shots of up to 52MP.

ZenFone Zoom can also be used for macro photography, enabling extreme close-ups as near as 5cm (2-inch) and turn pro with one tap to switch to the Manual mode allowing instant adjustment of shutter speed, exposure value, white balance, ISO and a host of other professional-grade settings.

ZenFone Zoom’s 64-bit quad-core Intel® Atom™ processor balances performance and power efficiency, powered by Intel’s sophisticated 22nm Silvermont architecture. Intel’s new Tri-Gate transistors have three times (3x) more surface area than planar transistors, enabling the flow of more electrons to increase computing performance and reduce power leakage. ZenFone Zoom also has 4GB of fast dual-channel DDR3 RAM, and up to 128GB of storage as an option.

Featuring LTE Category 4+ for download speeds up to 250Mbit/s, and a 60ms touch-response time, ZenFone Zoom delivers fast, fluid experience anywhere; and with a high-capacity 3,000mAh battery, that should provide enough juice for one day’s use. ZenFone Zoom also benefits from exclusive ASUS BoostMaster (the 18W BoostMaster adapter is included only with the 2.3GHz/4GB ZenFone Zoom model) technology for turbo-speed charging taking the battery from 0% to 60% in just 39 minutes.

ZenFone Zoom’s expansive 5.5-inch 1920×1080 Full HD IPS display offers wide 178-degree viewing angles, with a 403ppi pixel density to provide superior detail. The display includes exclusive ASUS TruVivid technology, which seamlessly transforms the conventional four-layer design into an innovative two-layer construction with full lamination. Fusing the cover-glass and touch-panel layers eliminates the air gap, bringing everything closer to the user’s touch.

The Corning® Gorilla® Glass 4 display offers twice (2x) the drop-damage resistance of its predecessor, a 2.5X increase in retained strength and is 85% less likely to break in daily use.

TECH SPECIFICATIONS
ASUS ZENFONE ZOOM
Processor	PC-grade 64-bit Intel^® Atom^™ Quad Core CPU 2.5GHz
Operating system	ASUS ZenUI under Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
Display	5.5-inch with 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) resolution and 403ppi pixel density IPS display with 400cd/m² brightness and full-screen lamination Scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass 4 with anti-fingerprint coating
PixelMaster cameras	Rear: 13MP, f/2.7- to 4.8-aperture, 10-element, 3X optical zoom lens, with optical image stabilization (OIS), laser auto-focus and dual-color Real Tone flash Front: 5MP, f/2.0-aperture, wide-angle 88-degree lens with Pano Selfie PixelMaster features include Low Light mode, Backlight (Super HDR) mode, Beautification mode, Professional (manual-settings) mode
Network standards	GSM/GPRS/EDGE; WCDMA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+; FDD-LTE (Network support varies by country)
Memory and storage	128GB ROM mDDR3 4GB RAM Micro SD card slot (up to 64GB supported)
Wireless	802.11ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth® 4.0
Connectors	3.5mm audio jack, single micro-SIM
Location sensors	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
Other sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, ambient light, gyro, digital compass and Hall-effect sensors
Battery	3000mAh non-removable lithium-polymer
Colors	Pure Black, Ceramic White
Dimensions (H x W x D)	158.9 x 78.84 x 11.95~5mm
Weight	185g