Previously introduced in the Consumer Electronic Show 2015, this camera-centric smartphone has been announced almost a year ago without any news for its availability in Malaysia smartphone market. Marching in the year of 2016, Asus has finally brought the Zenfone Zoom, a camera smartphone with 3x optical zoom lens and 10P HOYA lens and let’s have some close up pictures of this smartphone!
The Zenfone Zoom does features the similar design concept as seen on other second generation Zenfone from Asus. However, the premium design and the build material of this smartphone gives us a positive initial impression when we tested it.
Specifications wise, the Zenfone Zoom is powered by Intel Z3590 processor with 4GB RAM and total storage size at 128GB. If 128GB is not sufficient for you, it can be expandable up to 128GB more with microSD. Everything taken from this camera is display into the 5.5 inches Full HD IPS display. Besides, this smartphone should provide a decent Android experience as it is running on Android 5.0 with customized Zen UI 2.0.
The selfie camera is located right beside the big ASUS logo.
The capacitive navigation keys are imprinted on the bottom of the smartphone instead of the display. Unfortunately, it does not comes with backlit LED lightning and the navigation key design does not comply with other Zenfone model.
The polycarbonate rear cover has a burnished-leather like texture that provides improved grip and resistance towards fingerprint staining.
The Asus logo embedded in the cover is not visible nor significant when observed from far.
Here comes the camera! As a camera-centric smartphone, the Zenfone Zoom comes with a 13MP camera with Panasonic SmartFSI sensor and 10 element lens from Hoya. The camera is also able to provide up to 3x optical zoom and the f/2.7 aperture size will be able to take good quality pictures from this smartphone. It also comes with optical image stabilization along with ultra fast autofocus time at 0.03 seconds and varies between different level of zoom.
The super resolution mode also combines 4 images taken from the 13MP camera to a final 52MP high quality detailed image.
Camera shutter on the side.
There goes the power and volume rocker. The volume rocker can act as manual focus when camera app is launched.
3.5mm audio jack on the top.
The Zenfone Zoom has a removable back cover for the insertion of SIM slots and microSD slots. Unfortunately the battery is not removable in this case.
As one of the world thinnest camera smartphone with 3x optical zoom, the Zenfone Zoom has a maximum thickness at 12mm. The design of the camera is fairly simplistic and less gimmicky than some other camera smartphones out there.
Optical Zoom Demonstration
Conclusion
If you are a photography enthusiast or who want to experience a new level of smartphone camera, the Asus Zenfone Zoom is one of the best device you can have. Pricing at RM2099, it sports some of the decent processor out there and offer more advanced control of the camera itself. More importantly, the Asus Zenfone Zoom is the world thinnest camera smartphone with 3x optical zoom lens with tons of adjustable camera feature.