Asus Zenfone 2 Coming to the USA! Good Specs for Cheap.

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Roland00Address

Platinum Member
Dec 17, 2008
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At least according to Asus's United State division Twitter Feed (it is a verified twitter account so we know the user is trustworthy)

ASUS North America ‏@ASUSUSA Jan 5
Introducing: the ASUS Zenfone

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Jim Giannavola ‏@jayvola Jan 5
@ASUSUSA this is coming to the USA? If so, when? What network(s)?

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ASUS North AmericaVerified account
‏@ASUSUSA
@jayvola Hi Jim, it is, but no announced networks at this time. Please refer to the press release for updates: http://bit.ly/14qBr69
Link to the tweet
Click to expand...
The Asus Zenfone 2 ze551ml will start at $199 for the cheapest model with the base options with cpu, ram, and storage, with prices going up from there for better specs

ze551ml will be the 1.83 ghz atom z3560 mooresfield or 2.33 ghz atom z3580 moorefield with a 1080p 5.5 inch screen with 2gb or 4gb of ram, and 16, 32, or 64gb storage

ze550ml will be a budget model sold in select countries (aka probably not the US) with a 1.33 ghz z3530 moorefield or 1.83 z3560 atom mooresfield, 720p 5.5 inch screen with 1gb or 2gb of ram and 8gb, 16gb, or 32gb storage

The pricing for $199 is the ze551ml 1.83ghz atom, 2gb ram model according to ASUS’s press release and not the more basic ze550ml

vrg_0379.jpg

Youtube Video with much better quality than Anandtech Pictures due to lighting
Press release and specs
Product Page for ze551ml
Anandtech ASUS CES 2015 Liveblog
 
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Roland00Address

Platinum Member
Dec 17, 2008
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Carriers and LTE Bands
ASUS website lists a lot of bands for the zenfone 2. Which bands your phone will support will vary per sku according to ASUS.

It looks like it will not be released on sprint or verizon. They have the lte bands that make sense for AT&T and asus currently sells the padfone x today with AT&T.

It supports the lte bands T-Mobile is mainly using, but it does not support 700mhz lte band 12 that T-Mobile bought from Verizon and this frequency is superior for building penetration.

ASUS released frequencies
LTE speed:
Category 4 maximum:150Mbit/s/DL:50Mbit/s
4G band:
FDD LTE: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/9/17/18/19/20/28/29
TDD LTE: 38/39/40/41

UMTS speed:
HSPA+ UL:5.76Mbit/s/DL:42Mbit/s
DC-HSPA+ UL:5.76Mbit/s/DL:42Mbit/s
3G:
WCDMA:
850/900/1900/2100
TD-SCDMA:
1900/2100

2G:
EDGE/GPRS/GSM: 850/900/1800/1900
(Network support varies by country)

What LTE Bands each carrier uses
Verizon Band 2, 4, 13
Sprint- Band 25, 26, 41
AT&T- Band 2, 4, 5, 12, 17
T-Mobile- Band 2, 4, 12



Benchmarks from the video
They did not list clock speed for the comparable parts. That said they mention MSM8974 which is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 chip (no clue on clockspeed)

Mobile XPRT
Z3580 Quad Core at 2.2 ghz - 300
Krait 400 Quad Core - 159
A53 Octo Core - 143
A7 Octo Core - 125
A7 Quad Core - 95

webXERT
Z3580 Quad Core at 2.2 ghz - 581
Krait 400 Quad Core - 382
A53 Octo Core - 173
A7 Octo Core - 165
A7 Quad Core - 132

GFX Bench
T-Rex Offscreen
Z3580 Quad Core at 2.2 ghz - 31
Krait 400 Quad Core - 26.7
A53 Octo Core - 14.9
A7 Octo Core - 10.3
A7 Quad Core - 3.8

3d Mark Ice Storm Unlimited
Z3580 Quad Core at 2.2 ghz - 20790
Krait 400 Quad Core - 16179
A53 Octo Core - 9363
A7 Octo Core - 5385
A7 Quad Core - 2898

For Comparison Snapdragon 805 numbers
2.7 Ghz Snapdragon 805 reference platform tablet, numbers from anandtech Link
Snapdragon 805 MDP/T (Snapdragon 805 at 2.7 ghz with Krait 450 cores)
3D Mark 1.2 Unlimited Overall-19698
3D Mark 1.2 Unlimited Graphics-20238
T-rex Offscreen-40.7

GS5 LTE-A (Snapdragon 805 at 2.5 ghz with Krait 450 cores) an improved cpu, modem, and screen Galaxy S5 numbers from anandtech ”http://www.anandtech.com/show/8314/galaxy-s5-ltea-battery-life-performance”
3D Mark 1.2 Unlimited Overall-19929
3D Mark 1.2 Unlimited Graphics-21392
T-rex Offscreen-42.6
 
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Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
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Looks sweet, wish it were on Verizon but no chance in hell of that.


Also how is it worth it to Asus (or any other company) to develop something like this? How many are they realistically going to sell with competition like Apple, Samsung, LG etc?
 
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Ertaz

Senior member
Jul 26, 2004
599
25
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Insomniator said:
Looks sweet, wish it were on Verizon but no chance in hell of that.


Also how is it worth it to Asus (or any other company) to develop something like this? How many are they realistically going to sell with competition like Apple, Samsung, LG etc?
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It's prices are without a contract. My phone on Vzw costs me 25$ less per month than it would with one. Intel is supposedly subsidizing these atom phones.
 
kpkp

kpkp

Senior member
Oct 11, 2012
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Insomniator said:
Also how is it worth it to Asus (or any other company) to develop something like this? How many are they realistically going to sell with competition like Apple, Samsung, LG etc?
Click to expand...

ASUS is doing quite well in Asia. With this kind of price/HW ratio they will be doing good in Europe (specially if the rumors about a 5" version are true) too. On the other hand, I don't see it doing much in the USA, the subsidy models and brand/ecosystem loyalty don't really make it a vibrant market for the mid/low end devices.
 
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Ertaz

Senior member
Jul 26, 2004
599
25
81
kpkp said:
ASUS is doing quite well in Asia. With this kind of price/HW ratio they will be doing good in Europe (specially if the rumors about a 5" version are true) too. On the other hand, I don't see it doing much in the USA, the subsidy models and brand/ecosystem loyalty don't really make it a vibrant market for the mid/low end devices.
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If I were to buy these 4 of these phones(for my fam) unsubsidized for $200 each, I'm looking at $800 out of pocket Vs The same cost for a entry level Iphone/Android flagship model under contract at VZW. I would receive a $100 per month discount for being unsubsidized. So the TCO for a 4 person family is $2400 less over two years. This processor is in the Asus Tablet I bought for my father at Christmas. It's pretty darn snappy.
 
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Ertaz

Senior member
Jul 26, 2004
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kpkp

kpkp

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Oct 11, 2012
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I don't know if I am the only one who can or can't read, but I don't see any official price there, I see a reseller trying to make some money....
 
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darkswordsman17

Lifer
Mar 11, 2004
23,444
5,850
146
SAWYER said:
Moto G better bring it. I use the G and love it but I am watching this phone
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I hope the next iteration is a lot better than the 2nd one. I was really disappointed with it and the new Nokias. They're not bad but they really basically didn't improve much if at all while the prices actually seem to be trending up on them. I also think the newer Nokias are looking ugly with stuff like silver borders and some of the other weird stuff they're doing to eschew the lauded designs they had.

kpkp said:
ASUS is doing quite well in Asia. With this kind of price/HW ratio they will be doing good in Europe (specially if the rumors about a 5" version are true) too. On the other hand, I don't see it doing much in the USA, the subsidy models and brand/ecosystem loyalty don't really make it a vibrant market for the mid/low end devices.
Click to expand...

The reason that model still rules in the US is we still don't have many mid-range options. Plus Nokia and Motorola both half-assed their new budget phones which was really disappointing. I'm hoping they'll overhaul them more this year.

But we need stuff like this ASUS, the OnePlusOne, the Moto X (which needs to not keep creeping up and up in price or else they need to make the G the mid-range but a lot better phone than it is, and then make the E be the ~$150 phone) and even more options.

That paired with how T-Mobile is shaking things up will hopefully ween people in the US away from the subsidy model.

Actually I know it is changing some. Around here a lot of people are switching to Straight Talk and buying the junk phones they sell for $50-150. The Galaxy SIII is still really popular because it's a major brand and sells for like $99 (might be higher but get there with a gift card or something, can't remember exactly). If a company wanted to make a splash, sell an unlocked solid, new phone through Straight Talk for $200-300 and it'd be really popular. And if you can do a budget one for $100 it'll sell about as fast as you can make it. The Moto E (I think the old Moto E) sells for $100, so you should be able to easily outdo that.
 
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D

Darknite39

Senior member
May 18, 2004
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I vowed to avoid ASUS due to their horrible customer service (based on many reviews), but this might justify the risk.

Edit: Assuming this is allowed on V at some point (LOL)
 
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Bman123

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2008
3,221
1
81
These phones are on ebay right now, the bad thing is they offer no warranty and all ship from taiwan so lord only knows how long it will take to get one. The 2gb 5.5inch 1080p model is $250 shipped on there.

I'm looking forward to the actual usa release, come on and take my money already.
 
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eksine

Junior Member
Aug 11, 2013
4
0
0
Insomniator said:
Looks sweet, wish it were on Verizon but no chance in hell of that.


Also how is it worth it to Asus (or any other company) to develop something like this? How many are they realistically going to sell with competition like Apple, Samsung, LG etc?
Click to expand...

because its half the price with better specs? is this a trick question? its likely they may not make any money off the hardware. sony and xbox dont make money off their consoles, but they do make money off the games, so it might be something like that, how that would work and where the profit comes from i dont even have a clue. the phone is just too low cost to make any profit in my opinion
 
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Bman123

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2008
3,221
1
81
We'll see if it releases on time or not, the cheaper model will do really good here
 
sweenish

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
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eksine said:
because its half the price with better specs? is this a trick question? its likely they may not make any money off the hardware. sony and xbox dont make money off their consoles, but they do make money off the games, so it might be something like that, how that would work and where the profit comes from i dont even have a clue. the phone is just too low cost to make any profit in my opinion
Click to expand...

Name some phones that cost twice as much with worse specs.
 
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