Last year, Lenovo sold Android smartphones based on Intel Atom SoC but sales numbers turned out to be disappointing. This year, Asus announced 3 smartphones powered by Intel Atom Z2520 and Z2580 SoC at CES 2014, with screen sizes ranging from 4″ to 6″, and much more aggressive pricing, as the 4″ version will sell for $99, the 5″ version for $149, and the 6″ version for $199.
Asus ZenFone 4/5/6 Specifications:
- SoC
- ZenFone 4 – 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z2520 CPU with Quad-Thread Hyper-Threading Technology
- ZenFone 5/6 – 2GHz Intel Atom Z2580 CPU with Quad-Thread Hyper-Threading Technology
- System Memory – 1GB RAM
- Storage – 8 or 16 GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot (Up to 64GB )
- Display
- ZenFone 4 – 4″ WVGA 800 x 480-pixel TFT display
- ZenFone 5 – 5″ HD 1280 x 720-pixel IPS display
- ZenFone 6 – 6″ HD 1280 x 720-pixel IPS display
- Camera
- ZenFone 4 – 5 MP rear camera, 0.3 MP front camera
- ZenFone 5 – 8 MP rear camera, 2 MP front camera
- ZenFone 6 – 13 MP rear camera, 2 MP front camera
- Connectivity – Integrated 802.11b/g/n; Wi-Fi Direct
- Cellular Networking – GSM/GPRS/EDGE; WCDMA/HSPA+, DC-HSPA+ (DL/UL): 42/5.76 Mbps
- Battery
- ZenFone 4 – 1170 mAh
- ZenFone 5 – 2050 mAh
- ZenFone 6 – 3230 mAh
- Dimensions / Weight
- ZenFone 4 – 124.4 x 61.4 x 11.2-6.3mm / 115g
- ZenFone 5 – 148.2 x 72.8 x 10.3-5.5mm / 144g
- ZenFone 6 – 166.9 x 84.3 x 9.9-5.5mm / 200g
ZenFone 6 will also feature GloveTouch and PenTouch technologies so users can operate the device with gloved hands or any stylus, as well as the company SonicMaster audio technology and PixelMaster technology for the camera. Asus ZenFones will initially support Android 4.3 with ZenUI, and be upgraded to Android 4.4.
The phone will be available at the end of Q1 2014 in Asia, and most probably on Aliexpress, and other Chinese retailers. We’ll see how Intel based smartphones will fare this year in terms of performance, app compatibility, and sales. At least the Asus phones are priced to sell, and they’d better sell well, as according to rumours, 2014 could be a make or break year for Intel, as the company may simply stop investing in R&D for mobile SoCs in 2015 if they can’t improve sales.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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