OTTAWA: Asus announced its plans to bring its latest ZenFone 2 smartphone to Canada in April. It combines a large 5.5-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen with 16M colours, 1920 x 1080p resolution and a 403ppi pixel density. The multitouch display gets secured with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating and employs Asus ZenUI for a smooth navigation across the homescreen.
The company made the announcement this week as part of a greater push to make inroads into the North American handset market. Asus has ties with US carrier AT&T, recently releasing its hybrid phone-tablet product, the PadFone 2, but this is the first handset in recent memory to come to Canada.
The ZenFone 2 was announced at CES, and features some high-end specs and software, including a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 2.3Ghz 64-bit Intel quad-core Atom processor, 4GB of RAM, a 3000mAh battery, 4G LTE support, a 13MP rear BSI camera, a 5MP front camera and Android 5.0 Lollipop.
Asus used to lay a pretty hand in Android overlays, but since the release of its recent tablet lineup, which we previewed last August, the company has eased back a bit on the customizations. We haven’t used an Asus smartphone, well, ever, so it will be fun to see how it holds up compared to the latest from Samsung, HTC and LG.
Asus is pushing for a spring launch of the ZenFone 2, which will be sold unlocked, likely through retail partners like Staples or, online, at Amazon. No pricing just yet, but expect the device in the $400-$500 range.
