Finally the ASUS Zenfone 7 and Zenfone 7 Pro smartphones are official and despite my list of expectations and rumors, the company finally released its flagship through a tech event in Taiwan.
ASUS continued with the flip camera design with its Zenfone 7 series which was exactly sported on the previous generation Zenfone 6 but this time around with a triple camera setup and most of all, it sports the powerful Snapdragon 865+ chipset which definitely there to enhance the device’s performance.
And speaking of performance, the device comes with a higher refresh rates, better batteries and fast charging support with a uni-body design that has no notch or hole-punch just the flip module handling everything.
Specifications and features of the ASUS ZenFone 7 and 7 Pro
To start off, this is a really cool smartphone. It’s as though ASUS listened to me this time around as the device sports majority of things I wish was on the former version but yeah this is 2020 what device doesn’t have a big FHD+ display.
The ASUS Zenfone 7 sports a big 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a tall aspect ratio of about 20:9 while the screen resolution is 1080 x 2400 pixels while the refresh rate peaks at 90Hz…might not be entirely compelling but it’s still better than 60Hz.
Other fascinating things we saw on the device includes the Delta-E 1Color accuracy with 700nits brightness and DC dimming technology while the display is HDR10+ and protected using the strong Gorilla Glass 6. And as for the Zenfone 7 Pro, these features is on the repeat so there is no difference whatsoever.
Also do note that the device has the flipping camera module which means there is no need for a hole-punch cut out or a tear-drop notch up on the front of the device. The camera module is made up of a Sony IMX686 64-inch primary sensor with 113-degree FOV and f/1.8 aperture while the secondary camera is a 12MP Sony IMX686 ultrawide angle sensor with f/2.2 aperture and the third camera is a smaller 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optcal zoom and 12x digital zoom support.
Basically, this specifications aren’t entirely over the top and definitely stands in the region of mid-tier flagship device which is a good one.
Speaking of the flip module, it sports a dual LED flash and the camera system is able to record a 120FPS slow-motion video and up to 8K video recording at 30FPS which is also a good thing for those who wants to use this device for vlogging since the same good camera you get at the back is the same you get at the front, this is the best smartphone for vlogging if you think about.
The camera module design on both the Zenfone 7 and Zenfone 7 Pro looks pretty similar with the noticeable difference being that the 64MP primary sensor of the Zenfone 7 has a 4-axis OIS while the main lens and the telephoto camera do not have this technology.
There is also a liquid metal housing on the flip camera module and the motor module is built tough to withstand really tough scenarios. There is an angle sensor that can make the flip-up stay at pre-defined angles while shooting photos.
Other notable features of the Zenfone 7 is the processor which is the Snapdragon 865 SoC and comes with a 6/8GB LPDDR5 RAM while the storage space is a 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The high-end model, the Zenfone 7 Pro has a bigger chipset, Snapdragon 865+ with an 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM as well as a much larger 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. ASUS is also kind enbough to include microSD slot on both devices for memory space expansion.
As for the software part, the device comes with the ZenUI 7 built on top of the Android 10 OS and the device gets its power from a 5,000mAh battery with 30W HyperCharge technology and 27W Quick Charge 4.0 by Qualcomm. It also supports 18W USB Power Delivery.
Other cool features of the Zenfone 7 and 7 Pro includes nice stereo speakers, triple microphone system, side-facing fingerprint sensors, face recognition technology, dual SIM support, 5G support, Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 5.1 support and dual-frequency GPS, NFC, and lastly USB Type-C support but there is something missing….the 3.5mm headphone jack didn’t make it to the Zenfone 7 series.
ASUS ZenFone 7 series pricing and availability
There will be two color variants of the Zenfone 7 series which are Aurora Black and Pastel White and the device will come in both 6GB and 8GB of RAM versions.
The base model, the Zenfone 7 will be sold at about US$749 (for 6GB RAM version) and US$817 (for the 8GB RAM version) while the Zenfone 7 Pro version will be in the high-price range of US$1,020 and sales has begun n Taiwan.
The retail package of the ZenFone 7 series includes a ruggedized Active Case that helps in protecting the camera bump. There is no word on the international availability of the ZenFone 7 series.
While the pricing might seems too outrageous (at least that’s how I feel right now about the pricing) the device has some really cool features that makes it interesting but the pricing might be it’s barrier to ever getting any traction or attention from the global market of smartphone enthusiasts.