ASUS enters the era of "small smartphone". The days of countless versions of Zenfone (Go, Selfie, Z, Zoom, Lite, Deluxe, to name but a few) are over, the company is moving from increasing turnover and share to trying to make more money on every device sold. This happens for a reason - the zoo of models simply did not work on the modern market, the company's share was falling steadily in any case. So the reduction in quantity while improving the quality (read - marginality) of individual smartphones did not come as a surprise. This is the official position - confirmed in an interview with 3DNews by ASUS Smartphone Marketing Director Marcel Campos.
What exactly will remain in the Zenfone family along with the fresh flagship is still unclear. Even the fate of the very successful hangs, a decision about their future has not yet been made. These smartphones bring popularity and market share to the manufacturer, but not money.
Therefore, one should not be surprised at the turn that took place in the Zenfone 6 regarding the past numbered zenphones - instead of another middle-class smartphone with an unusual feature, we get a full-fledged flagship. competitor if not , or , then at least /7 or . That is, in the category "about 50 thousand rubles."
It was this regrouping that took so long - ASUS needed to come up with a truly original concept in order for the Zenfone 6 to look appropriate and competitive in an extremely competitive environment.
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ASUS did not hesitate to show the different stages of the project development at the preliminary presentation of the device - from the first sketches to a variety of prototypes. It is very interesting to follow the movement of design and engineering thought. Moreover, in this case, you can see live how she slid after fashion.
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Take the notch, for example – early last year, this design element, which first appeared on the iPhone X, seemed almost inevitable, and the whole point of the work was to minimize it, which led to the appearance of “droplet” cutouts. Moreover, ASUS designers thought not only to insert it into the screen, but also to do it with an offset - and it's great that they changed their minds. Then the swing of fashion moved towards absolutely frameless displays, either with the introduction of the front camera directly into its area, or with the use of moving elements - we are talking about both a mechanical slider in the style of Xiaomi and Honor, and a camera module with an electric drive in the manner of OPPO and Vivo.
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And the Taiwanese have found the same original move that highlights the Zenfone 6 against the general background. A folding camera capable of performing the functions of both a rear module and a front one. I wanted to write a little higher “making Zenfone 6 unique”, but actually a similar solution was offered 5 years ago and four years ago . However, the consumer's memory is short, the folding camera has not received distribution, so it looks fresh here - and against the general background, which is literally "sick" with various variations on this topic, it is appropriate.
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The implementation of the folding module could also be different - this applies to both the mechanism and the external design. ASUS again made public part of the development process and allowed to review the design of the module - with words about very careful and complex engineering. Roughly speaking, almost all circuits and modules important for the life of a smartphone are soldered in its upper part, while the lower part is occupied by the battery. Where to put the bulky rotary module there? ASUS' answer is to make the board two-layer, but at the same time relatively thin. The smartphone is rather big (the thickness is 9,1 mm), but remains within reason. Another question is what is there with cooling with such a dense placement of computing elements. Of course, the manufacturer claims that everything is fine, but whether this is actually the case can only be understood based on the results of full testing.
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The rotary module itself is very interesting. It is made from a material described by the manufacturer as "liquid metal" - with an amorphous atomic structure, due to which increased flexibility and strength are achieved (it is 4 times stronger than stainless steel). This material, in principle, is used today in many places, but it was the Zenfone 6 that received the largest element made from it. At least that's what the manufacturer claims. Will we believe?
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Its other feature is an unusual mechanism that allows you to operate the module not in two positions, but in eighteen, and you can control the motor manually. This allows you to achieve unusual angles (for example, from around the corner), and automatically shoot panoramas - instead of moving your hand with the smartphone clamped in it, just press the button, and the device will "hold" the camera itself.
Of course, an emergency camera folding system is provided - if Zenfone 6 falls from a height of one meter, the camera manages to turn to a safe angle for its design, if from a height of 1,25 meters, it hides completely.
This module houses all sensors and two cameras. There are no surprises here. The main camera is the most popular Sony IMX 586 Quad Bayer module today with a resolution of 48 megapixels (physical dimensions - 1 / 2,0 '', pixel size - 1,6 microns) with an f / 1,79 aperture lens. The secondary camera is a wide-angle one with a 13-megapixel OmniVision sensor and 125-degree optics. A XNUMXx software zoom is also available, exclusively through the use of an increased resolution of the main camera. Autofocus combines a phase system (with Dual Pixel sensors) with a contrast system, supplemented by a laser “rangefinder”. Asus promises seriously tweaked camera brains that are very good at combining multi-frame exposures in the manner of a Google Pixel - it also announced an HDR + mode for daytime shots with a wide dynamic range, and Super Night for sharp night shots. But there is no optical stabilizer - due to restrictions on the size of the module.
The 6,4-inch display uses - and this is another unpleasant surprise - an IPS matrix, although all the flagships seemed to have finally switched to organic crystals. Marcel Campos, of course, spoke about the "matter of taste" in response to a question about the choice of outdated technology. But here it is a matter of economy and circulation - Zenfone 6, apparently, is not planned to be produced in very large quantities, and the purchase of OLED matrices for it is simply unprofitable for manufacturers and at the same time expensive for ASUS. This decision brought with it another unpopular move - a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. It is bought as part of a ready-made OLED sandwich, but ASUS just refused it.
Otherwise, the characteristics are familiar - the screen occupies 92% of the front panel area, has a Full HD + resolution, supports DCI-P3 color gamut and is covered (as well as the back panel) with Gorilla Glass 6. Of course, there is no moisture protection in a smartphone with a movable element. They brighten up the multimedia sadness of the stereo speakers and the analog audio jack left in its rightful place.
The design of the rear panel is familiar - it is covered with polished glass rounded at the edges, slippery, but spectacular. At least the first time, until it gets smeared with prints, which is inevitable. Colors are blue and black and blue. ASUS Zenfone 6 does not make any incredible impression outwardly, it is a neat and modernly designed smartphone with a pronounced own face. More precisely, not even the face, but the back, of course. His face is just the same usual - one solid screen.
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Another bright - and now pleasant - feature of the ASUS Zenfone 6 makes it related to the hit Zenfone Max Pro. This is, of course, a capacious battery. When designing the smartphone, engineers considered three options to find a balance between fast charging and high capacity: 40W charging and 4000mAh battery, 18W + 5000mAh battery and 40W + 5000mAh battery. In the end, the second option was chosen. Why not the last one, which looks like a dream option? The point is in the design features that need to be taken into account when adding ultra-fast charging technology - the layer between the cathode and anode in this case dramatically increases the thickness of the battery, and it would reach the dimensions characteristic of a 6000 mAh battery.
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As a result, Zenfone 6 does not set any records in charging speed (Quick Charge 4.0 standard with an adapter out of the box), but it tries to take its toll due to rarer recharging and a longer battery life cycle (less recharging - less degradation). Putting the smartphone on charge every night or twice a day is exactly the choice that will be made in reality, although ASUS claims that the device can work two full days on a single charge. To be honest, I don't believe it anymore. Despite this, yes, officially the Zenfone 6 has the most capacious battery among all modern flagship smartphones. And with a break.
The hardware platform of ASUS Zenfone 6 is, as expected, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855. RAM is up to 8 GB LPDDR4X and a UFS 2.1 drive with a capacity of up to 256 GB. It is possible to expand the memory using a microSD card, and you don’t need to sacrifice a second SIM card for this, there is a triple slot. Yes, this is a flagship with a lot of nice little things that have moved from "people's" smartphones.
The operating system is Android 9.0 Pie with a ZenUI 6 shell. There is already an agreement with Google to add Zenfone 6 first to upgrade to Android Q and even to the distant Android R. The manufacturer claims that it has carefully worked on optimizing Android frameworks for a smoother and faster system, and compares the experience with what you get using Google Pixel. To do this, among other things, and (where now without them!) Neural networks, as well as a proprietary system for working with OptiFlex RAM are involved. There is an additional "smart" key that responds to a single, double and long press - you can customize the functions it calls.
The entire experience of using Zenfone 6 is already in full review, while all these “miracles” can only be conveyed from the words of the developers.
The smartphone will be available for pre-order on May 23 in the company store at a price of 42 rubles for the version with 990 GB of RAM and 6 flash memory; for the first buyers who pre-order, there is a gift, an ASUS VivoWatch BP watch. Prices for other configurations: 128 rubles for 39/64 GB, 49 rubles for 990/8 GB, 256 rubles for 69/990 GB.
Source: 3dnews.ru