Asus Zenfone 4, 5 and 6 launched in India; priced Rs 5,999 onwards

Showcased at the CES this year, Asus’ colourful new Zenfone series of smartphones made an entry to the Indian market today. The new phones will come in screen sizes of  4, 4.5, 5 and 6 inches. The low-end Zenfone 4 has two variants with different display sizes. The 4-inch Zenfone 4 has been priced from Rs 5,999, while the 4.5-inch model has a price tag of Rs 7,499. The Zenfone 5 will come in two variants - 8 GB and 16 GB models, with prices starting from Rs 9,999. Finally, the Zenfone 6 has been priced at Rs 16,999.   Features common to the three Zenfones are seen in the camera, which allows users to increase the brightness of dimly-lit scenes by as much as 400 per cent to give you better low-light shots. The cameras also come with a feature called Clear Zoom that automatically drops the megapixel count when you’re trying to take a macro shot without losing the detail. There’s a Time Rewind feature, which allows you to shoot a burst of images and select the image you want, a common feature that we’ve seen on many smartphones.   ASUS has also added a ‘Genie’ feature on the Zenfones which, similar to Google Now, gives you contextual updates based on your usage habits and patterns.   All the phones in the Zenfone series come with locked bodies, which means you can’t replace the batteries. They are powered by Android KitKat.   [caption id=“attachment_227104” align=“aligncenter” width=“737”]  Asus Zenfone 4.5[/caption]   Asus Zenfone 6 The frontrunner in Asus’ latest smartphone range is a 6-inch phablet, which runs on a faster processor, has a higher-resolution rear camera, a higher capacity battery and sports a larger screen-size in comparison with the other Zenfones.   The Zenfone 6 is no high-end device, featuring a decent 1280x720 pixel IPS display and a dual-core processor. The 13MP camera has a f/2.0 aperture which should help you get better shots in low light. There’s a 2MP front camera for video calls and self shots. The phone runs on a 2GHz Intel Atom dual-core processor, which Asus claims is faster than quad-core Cortex A7 class ARM processors.  The phone is available in 8, 16 and 32GB storage options and Asus allows you to expand it to up to 64GB.   Asus Zenfone 5 Sitting in between the higher-end Zenfone 6 and low-end Zenfone 4 is the dual-SIM Zenfone 5, which features a 5-inch screen. The Zenfone 5 also has a 1280 x 720 pixel IPS display, but sports a 8MP rear camera. It also lacks the f/2.0 aperture for low light shots. There’s the standard 2MP camera for selfies and video calls. It runs on the same 2GHz Intel Atom dual-core processor as on the Zenfone 6, so it should be just as speedy. It’s available in both 8GB and 16GB versions and you can add up to 64GB with an microSD card. [caption id=“attachment_227102” align=“aligncenter” width=“768”]  Asus Zenfone 4[/caption]   Asus Zenfone 4 The youngest in the Zenfone family is the 4-inch and 4.5-inch Zenfone 4. The former has a screen resolution of 800x480 pixels, while the 4.5-inch model has a slightly higher 854x480 pixel resolution. It runs on a low-powered 1.2GHz Intel Atom dual-core processor, though it should be able to handle light web browsing and gaming with little effort. Both come with 1GB of RAM, and while the larger model has a 1750 mAh battery, the 4-inch model sports a 1600 mAh battery. [caption id=“attachment_227101” align=“aligncenter” width=“691”]  Asus Zenfone 4[/caption]   Staying true to standard budget-smartphone specifications, the 4-inch model features a 5MP main camera and a 0.3MP front camera, and is available with 8GB storage.The larger phone has a 8MP front camera. Both are dual SIM phones and have 1 year’s warranty from Asus.