Today, we got our hands on the all-new (well new to the United States) Asus ZenFone 2. What makes this phone so special is that it is the first device to come with 4 GB of RAM. Even better, the price tag for it is only $300 off contract and unlocked.
My first impressions of it are it is a big device, but it is also very comfortable to hold. I would say it is a good combiniation of the LG G3 and the Google Nexus 6. As you can see in the picture below, it isn’t much smaller than Google’s phablet, even though it only sports a 5.5 inch display.
The perks for the ZenFone 2 go further than just the price tag and 4 GB of RAM. The device features a removable back cover, but not removable battery. Beneath the battery cover, you will find a microSD slot along with a dual-SIM card setup. That means you can build on top of the 64 GB of on-board storage.
When starting up my device, somehow Google Talk Back was enabled, which made it VERY VERY VERY difficult to setup, it took forever. I had to long press the section I wanted, then double tap it to select it. Unfortunately, I did not know you can use two fingers to scroll/swipe, so it took me forever to get to the accessibility settings, but oh well. It’s over with.
| Dimensions | 152.5 x 77.2 x 10.9 mm |
| Weight | 170 grams |
| Display | 5.5″ IPS (1080 x 1920) | 401ppi |
| Camera | 13 megapixels (rear) | 5 megapixels (front) |
| Hardware | 2.3 GHz 64-bit Super quad-core Intel Atom processor |
| Battery | 3,000 mAh |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Storage | 64 GB (expandable) |
| Operating System | Android 5.0 Lollipop | ZenUI |
| Durability | N/A |
| Colors | Silver, Black, Tan, White, Red |
The device does come with quite a bit of applications that aren’t seen on other phones, such as Clean Master (this is the devil), TripAdvisor, and a handful of Asus apps that are unnecessary and already done better by Google… almost a revival of Samsung’s past.
As far as performance goes though, the device is speedy quick. I don’t know if I can for sure tell the difference between having 3 GB of RAM and 4 GB of RAM just yet, but we’ll have to see. I haven’t seen any big lags or stutters. Then again, I’ve only used the phone for three hours or so.
Currently I’m running ZenUI, and for the most part it is pretty customizable. Not to the extent of CyanogenMod, but it definitely is better than other OEMs such as HTC and Samsung. I’m sticking with it for now, but we’ll see how long I last until I cave and install the Google Now Launcher.
That’s it for now. I’ll be sure to follow this up with a review (obviously) and maybe an update blog depending on how the device goes. If I do, I’ll definitely talk about battery life, more performance with benchmarks, and whatever else you’d like. If there is something you want me to cover with the Asus ZenFone 2, be sure to drop a comment down below!
