ASUS ZenFone 5Z specs: A lot of bang for your buck

ASUS surprised us today with the announcement of not two but three new ZenFone 5 models. The ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 5 Lite we were expecting. But we also have the ASUS ZenFone 5Z, which we weren’t expecting at all.

The ZenFone 5Z looks to be an affordable powerhouse, packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, an all-screen Full HD+ 6.2-inch display, 6 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage space all for under $500. This places the ZenFone 5Z in competition with the likes of the OnePlus 5T as far as pricing and specs go.

You’ll quickly notice that the all-screen display features a notch at the top, similar to the Apple iPhone X. The Essential Phone has a much smaller notch, but ASUS appears to have taken design elements from the iPhone X more than from its Android predecessor.

Honestly though, for $499 you’d be hard-pressed to find a device that beats these specs. It’s got dual-cameras at the rear, a 3,300 mAh battery, dual-SIM, a microSD card expansion slot that gives you up to 2 TB of more storage, Bluetooth 5.0, and 4K video recording. It’s all packaged in the beautiful presentation we’ve become accustomed to when talking about the ASUS ZenFone line. You have two choices of colors as well: Midnight Blue and Meteor Silver, both pictured at the top of this article.

ASUS did not give specific details for when the phone would be available to buy. Below you’ll find the full list of ASUS ZenFone 5Z specs:

	ASUS ZenFone 5Z (ZS620KL)
Display	All-screen 19:9 aspect ratio 6.2" Full HD+ IPS display, supports DCI-P3 color space Capacitive touch panel with 10-point multitouch (supports Glove Touch) Blue-light eye care filter
Processor	10 nm, 64-bit, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine (AIE)
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 630
RAM	6 GB
Storage	64 GB microSD expansion up to 2 TB
Cameras	Main Rear: 12MP Sony IMX363 image sensor with f/1.8 aperture Second Rear: 120° wide-angle camera with 6p lens Front: 8 MP AF sensor, f/2.0 aperture with 84° field of view
Battery	3300mAh capacity with ASUS BoostMaster & AI Charging Non-removable
Network	Slot 1: 3G/4G Nano SIM card Slot 2: 3G/4G Nano SIM card Both Nano SIM card slots support GSM/GPRS/ EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+, FDD-LTE, and TD-LTE DSDS network bands. Both Nano SIM cards can connect to VoLTE 4G calling service. But only one can connect to FDD-LTE, and TD-LTE data service at a time.
Connectivity	WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 5.0 Wi-Fi Direct NFC with Google Pay USB Type-C GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDSS
Authentication	Rear fingerprint sensor, 0.3-second fingerprint unlock, supports 5 fingers, 360° recognition, damp fingerprint recognition
Audio	Dual 5-magnet speakers with dual NXP smart amplifiers PMIC internal dual amplifier Triple internal microphones with ASUS Noise Reduction Hi-Res Audio 192kHz/24-bit standard output with HRA-certified earbuds DTS Headphone:X support Audio CODEC integrated into PMIC FM radio AudioWizard+ with listening profile
Video	4K UHD (3840 by 2160) video recording at 60fps for main rear camera 1080p Full HD video recording at 30 / 60fps 3-axis electronic image stabilization for front and rear camera shakefree videos Take still photos while recording video
Software	Android Oreo with new ASUS ZenUI 5.0
Weight	163 g
Colors	Midnight Blue, Meteor Silver