Asus ZenFone 5Z: 5 things to know before you buy

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Asus has launched the high-end flagship ZenFone 5Z phone in India at a starting price of Rs 29,999. The ZenFone 5Z is a lot different from Asus' past flagship phones. It's a lot more subdued. Not in terms of hardware specs, but in terms of hype and pricing. Although the ZenFone 5Z will have some tough competition, its pricing pits it straight up against the OnePlus 6. It is, in fact, even cheaper than the OnePlus 6 and brings more or less the same high-end hardware specs to the masses.

1. The ZenFone 5Z looks a lot like the iPhone X. From every perceivable angle. It is carved out of glass -- Corning Gorilla Glass 3 -- and metal, and boasts of an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 90 per cent. The phone is almost border-less, barring a notch up-top and a chin portion at the bottom. Asus says its notch is smaller than Apple's. But that's (also) probably because the notch on-board the ZenFone 5Z doesn't get to house as much camera gimmickry inside, as Apple's. There's just the front camera -- which is an 8-megapixel with f/2.0 aperture -- and a couple of odd sensors, and the earpiece. Asus' new phone also comes with face unlock -- minus the sophisticated machinery inside the iPhone X -- which is probably why it still retains a fingerprint scanner, on the back. The phone has a 6.2-inch 1080p+ screen and stereo speakers.

2. The ZenFone 5Z is the cheapest phone in India to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The ZenFone 5Z is also the cheapest phone in India to come with a whopping 256GB internal storage. Both these tags were previously honed by the OnePlus 6. It will be available in three versions: 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, and 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. All the versions support expandable storage of up to 2TB via a micro-SD card slot.

3. Asus says it's using artificial intelligence and machine learning in its cameras that can help take better photos in varying light and scenes. The ZenFone 5Z comes with what Asus is calling, AI Scene Detection, that can apparently identify 16 different scenes and objects, and then accordingly its cameras can adjust the saturation, white balance, exposure, brightness, and post-processing algorithm, to make your photos look better. Then there's AI Photo Learning, that will apparently learn from the way you edit and process your photos and, over time, the phone will start suggesting similar edits to your other photos as well. More specifically, the ZenFone 5Z comes with a vertically aligned dual camera system on the rear. This dual camera system consists of a primary 12-megapixel sensor -- a Sony IMX363 -- with large 1.4um pixels, and large f/1.8 aperture, with dual-pixel phase detection autofocus, four-axis optical image stabilisation, and electronic image stabilisation for videos. The secondary camera, meanwhile, consists of an 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor that assists in portrait photography or photos with shallow depth of field as well as for taking wide-angle shots.

4. Asus is incorporating AI in other walks of the ZenFone 5Z as well. AI, is in fact, one of the driving forces behind its new ZenFone, it says. The ZenFone 5Z comes with AI boost that, as the name suggests, helps boost specific apps like games when enabled so you're likely to get even better frame-rates while playing, and AI charging, that much like Sony's adaptive charging, can top your phone to 80 per cent at night and charge the remaining slot closer to when you're likely to wake up. Then there's AI Display, that apparently keeps the screen on while you're looking at it.

ALSO READ: Asus ZenFone 5Z is cheapest phone in India with Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 but software is its main USP

5. The ZenFone 5Z will be available in three versions: 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, and 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. While the base version will be available for Rs 29,999, the top-end version will sell for Rs 36,999. The mid version will, meanwhile, be available for Rs 32,999. The ZenFone 5Z will be available for buying from Flipkart in two colours: Meteor Silver and Midnight Blue.