Asus Zen Fone 2 Review

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The ASUS ZenFone 2 is truly the best performance vs. price bargain on the market with a Quad-Core Intel® Atom™ processor and 2GB of RAM at a price of $199 off-contract. There really is nothing on the market that can match it. The model with the 64-bit 2.3GHz Super Quad-Core Intel® Atom™ Z3580 processor and 4GB of RAM – yes 4GB of RAM, is in a league of its own and is priced at $299. I tested this model globally as I traveled to China to the CES Asia conference in Shanghai and visited Hong Kong and Shenzhen along the way. I traveled with an iPhone and a Samsung phone but the ZenFone 2 was the easiest to use globally. In Hong Kong, I was able to get a SIM card at the airport and easily use it in port 1 for data which turned out to be a lifesaver. Once I got to Shenzhen in Mainland China, I was able to get a SIM card from a street vendor and it was easy for him to remove the back, pop in the Mainland-China-ready SIM and get me both voice and data. Use of social apps like WeChat was great and I was able to take great selfies. During my trip, including my breathtaking experience aboard a Maglev train in Shanghai that went 429 km/h, the 64GB of on board storage was great and even greater was the ability to add more storage via a microSD card. 200GB cards are now commercially available and deals can be had for 128GB cards for under $80.

The power of the ZenFone 2 shouldn’t be underestimated. To give perspective on the processor, I built a PC for my son recently with an Intel® Celeron® processor, the J1900 with a Quad-Core and I added 4GB of RAM. The Zenfone 2 is more powerful and has been optimized to take advantage of the Android 64-bit software in Lollipop. Gaming is also great as I was able to play mobile Madden and enjoy other games when I attended E3. The ZenFone 2 pushes the boundaries of what mobile games can do and you can actually sync to your PC via the ASUS PC Link app. I haven’t been able to put the ZenFone 2 down since I got it and in fact, it has replaced my iPhone 5s as my secondary phone. The 4GB of RAM and the Intel® inside is really transformative and at a starting price of $199 with global support, it is a no-brainer to acquire. My colleague, in fact, got one for his recent trip to China and loves the phone. It is not hard to be converted and experience the Zen. For more info, visit www.ASUS.com.

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