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What to expect for Zenfone 2: exact variants, prices, release dates

April 11, 2015April 11, 2015 Abe Olandres Leave a comment

Based on discussions with several Asus PH execs and multiple sources who wants to remain anonymous, we’ve got the most up-to-date details on the Zenfone 2 like the exact variants, their release dates and their expected retail prices.

We earlier got a confirmation from Asus Philippines that two models of the Zenfone 2 will be release in May. These are the ZE500CL and the ZE551ML (see here).

Check our Asus Zenfone 2 Review.

However, there are three variants of the ZE551ML model (55 means 5.5-inch, 1 means FHD; 0 means HD).

The specific variant of the ZE551ML will be the 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and 1.8GHz CPU.

The other variants of the ZE551ML will not be released in May (our initial info is May 10). The 4GB, 2.3GHz with 64GB storage is pushed for a later date (perhaps Q3 of 2015). The 32GB variant might not be even released in the Philippines at all, just like the ZE550ML.

The pricing is as follows:

The prices were provided to us by a 3rd-party source and is very close to the SRP when it was announced in Taiwan last month. I also had a conversation with an Asus executive last Tuesday (during the T300 Chi event) that a Php2,000 difference between model/variants is the ideal so there is no overlap.

A source familiar to the industry shared with us that Asus PH is experimenting on the Zenfone 2 variants. They wanted to know if the interest is driven more by hype or by specs. If it’s hype, then a ZE551ML with 2GB RAM/1.8GHz CPU under the Zenfone 2 label will be enough to drive sales targets. That’s probably the reason why the 4GB/2.3GHz variant is scheduled for a later date.

According to an Asus executive, they requested an initial shipment of 300,000 units of the Zenfone 2 for the first release. Asus managed to sell over 250,000 units of the Zenfone 4, 5 and 6 last year (including other variants of the Zenfone 5). That’s more than double their initial target of 100,000 units in 2014.

Another source told us Asus PH is still generating as much as Php70 million in revenue a month for the Zenfone 4/5/6 sales until today. That’s about 10,000 to 12,000 units per month, 10 months after it was released in the Philippines.

* Please note that the accuracy of these details is not 100% guaranteed as they can still change as we approach the launch date. As of the moment, these are the best details we can get. Asus might change them prior to the official launch. If everything goes as planned, the details we shared here (especially the SRP) can be another shock to the local mobile industry.

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Asus ZenFone 2 ZE500CL First Impressions

April 9, 2015April 9, 2015 Ronnie Bulaong Leave a comment

In addition to the ZE550ML, we also got an Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE500CL) yesterday to give you guys an early look at the most modest variant of arguably one of the most highly-anticipated smartphone in the local scene today.

asus zenfone 2 ze500cl philippines

Despite the difference in feature set, the ZE500CL features the same design as the ZE550ML that we featured earlier.

The ZE500CL is, however, shorter than the ZE550ML since it only has a 5-inch display compared to the 5.5-inch panel found on the latter. The smaller screen also favors the ZE500CL in terms of pixel density as it resulted in to a higher pixel-per-inch of 294.

Just below the screen are three capacitive buttons for Back, Home and Menu. It should be a welcome addition to the handset’s feature set, particularly for those who are accustomed to getting their way around on their Android devices using these buttons, but it may look a bit outdated to some especially since some newer Android smartphones gets away with just on-screen buttons thanks to Android Lollipop. Oh and these buttons doesn’t light up, in case you’re wondering.

The bezel around the ZE500CL’s screen looks very acceptable even at close quarters, albeit not as spectacular as the ones on other note-worthy handsets. Placed at the top is the smartphone’s earpiece with the company’s logo just below it and are neighbored by the ZE500CL’s 2-megapixel front shooter.

The only other thing in the front panel that’s worth writing home about is the company’s signature embellishment on the chin of the device – a piece of metal with circular pattern that adds a hint of flavor to the handset’s design, especially when a light hits it.

Some of the external components are around the edges of the ZE500CL. These include the Power button and audio jack at the top, as well as the MicroUSB port at the bottom neighbored by microphone pinhole.

Similar to the ZE550ML, this 5-inch ZenFone 2 sports a curved back panel and a removable back cover with a soft matte finish. Needless to say, this combination, along with the right amount of heft, makes for a very good handling experience as it sits nicely in to the users hand and the soft matte cover provides enough traction to prevent the phone from slipping.

The curved form factor also creates an illusion that the ZE500CL is thinner than what its specs sheet suggests. It also makes it easier to pick up the phone when it’s lying on its back.

Prying the removable back cover open reveals a somewhat similar layout to the ZE550ML, albeit with slight variations. The handset’s 8MP rear camera is smacked right in the middle with the accompanying LED flash unit placed on the right side, instead of a dual-tone flash located at the top on the ZE550ML. Also present here is the ZenFone 2’s iconic volume rocker with the same circular finish as the handset’s chin.

The ZE500CL’s 2500mAh battery is tucked underneath the SIM and MicroSD card slots. Do note that, unlike the ZE550ML, this 5-inch ZenFone 2 only accommodates one MicroSIM card instead of two, though you’ll still get LTE connectivity.

It’s quite disappointing that the ZE500CL didn’t really get a huge shot in the arm in the processing department. If anything, it seems like a repackaged ZenFone 5 with 2GB of RAM and LTE connectivity, as far as it internal setup is concerned.

That notion was validated by the results we got out of the synthetic benchmark tests that we ran on the ZE500CL. This handset only yielded slightly better results on AnTuTu and NenaMark 2, but has seen significant decrease in score on Quadrant Standard.

Along with the aforementioned synthetic benchmark tests, we also ran a few other benchmark tests on the device and here are the results we got:

Antutu Benchmark: 23,231
Quadrant Standard: 8,182
Vellamo Mobile Benchmark:2,985 (Chrome), 1,357 (Multicore), 1,194 (Metal)
Nenamark 2: 60.7fps
PCMark (Ice Storm Unlimited): 8,594

As far as design goes, there’s really not much to say about the Asus ZenFone 2 ZE500CL, or any of the other handsets under the ZenFone 2 lineup for that matter, that hasn’t been said on other ZenFones that we’re featured here in the past. We’ve come to expect well-built devices from ASUS, and we’re glad to report that the Taiwanese firm didn’t disappoint on their new smartphones.

Performance-wise though, we can’t help but feel a bit underwhelmed by the results we got out of the ZE500CL’s outdated Intel Atom processor. We’re just hoping that this variant of ZenFone 2 will be priced somewhere around the ZenFone 5’s SRP (maybe even a little less) so as to not disappoint consumers who are looking for a wallet-friendly ZenFone 2.

ASUS ZenFone 2 (ZE500CL) specs:
5-inch IPS LCD display, 1280 x 720 @294ppi
1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2560 dual-core processor
PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU
2GB RAM
Expandable 16GB internal storage
64GB via microSD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
LTE
Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and EDR
8MP Autofocus rear camera w/ LED flash
1080p video recording @30fps
2MP front-facing camera
2500mAh battery
Android 5.0 Lollipop
148.1 x 71.5 x 10.9 mm
155 grams

The variant of this ZenFone 2 featured here was purchased from E2 Power Gadgets at SM Cyberzone Megamall for Php10,430.

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ASUS ZenFone 2 Spotted At SM Megamall

April 8, 2015April 8, 2015 Ronnie Bulaong Leave a comment

Yesterday, one of our contributors spotted one of the most highly anticipated handsets in the country today – the ASUS ZenFone 2 – and it’s being sold for Php10,430 in of the retailer stores at SM Megamall Cyberzone.

The model of the ZenFone 2 being sold at Sm CyberZone (E2 Power Gadgets to be exact) is the ZE500CL. For those who are not familiar, ASUS has released different variants of ZenFone 2. These models varies slightly from one another in terms of model of Intel processor used, how much RAM is in it, battery capacity, as well as the screen size and resolution.

The ZenFone 2 ZE500CL we spotted, as far as its specs is concerned, is the most modest of all the ZenFone 2 siblings. It sports a 5-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution and with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 laid on top of it for protection against scratches.

Unlike its more capable brethren, the ZE500CL only rocks a dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 clocked at 1.6GHz with 2GB of RAM. The said processor is similar to the one found inside the crowd-favorite ZenFone 5 (some versions of it at least) and its bigger brother the ZenFone 6.

As mentioned earlier, the ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE500CL is being sold at E2 Power Gadgets located at the 4th floor of SM Megamall for Php10,430. Bear in mind though that the ZenFone 2 units being sold there are just parallel imports, therefore does not have an ASUS local warranty.

We were told that the store provides one year service warranty for the handset and seven days replacement for factory defects. The service warranty only covers the labor costs, and consumers will have to shoulder the cost of the components that will be replaced if anything happens to it.

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