Asus announces Zenfone 4, Zenefone 5 and Zenfone 6 with Intel inside

Taiwan based Asus has just launched a new series of smartphones under the Zenfone brand at the 2014 CES. The lineup brings a trio of "high-value" smartphones called the Asus Zenfone 4, Asus Zenfone 5, and the Asus Zenfone 6.

First we have the Asus Zenfone 4, a modest member of the Zenfone lineup. The device features a 4 inch display with a 480 by 800 pixel resolution, a 5 megapixel camera, a 1170mAh battery and an Intel Atom Z2520 processor runs at 1.2GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. Color options include Charcoal Black, Pearl White, Cherry Red, Sky Blue, Solar Yellow.

The Asus Zenfone 5 comes with a 5 inch IPS display with a 1280 by 720 pixel resolution and an 8 megapixel camera with PixelMaster technology and digital image stabilization. The device is powered by a 2GHz Intel Atom processor with 1GB of RAM. You can choose between the  Black, Pearl White, Cherry Red, and Champagne Gold variants of the device.

The Asus Zenfone 6 is the most promising of the three, with a large 6 inch IPS touch display. Unfortunately it comes with a rather disappointing 720 by 1280 pixel resolution, instead of a full 1080p display. Luckily it comes with the technology which allows the display to be used with gloves. The internal storage can be expanded through microSD and you have a 13 megapixel camera which promises better photos with the Asus PixelMaster tech. The device is powered by a 2GHz Z2580 CPU with Quad-Thread Hyper-Threading technology and 1GB of RAM.


Software

All of Asus's Zenfone smartphones will ship with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean pre-installed. They will all, however, receive an update to Android 4.4 KitKat at a later time. Asus has customized the Android experience with their own ZenUI, which appears to be centered around rendering the phone easier to use without limiting its functionality. Asus has thrown in a free messaging platform powered by Omlet Chat. Those who do a lot of reading on their device will be pleased to know that a Smart Reader Mode has been implemented, adjusting the screen tone automatically, thus reducing eye strain.

Availability information for the Asus Zenfone series has not been disclosed. In terms of pricing the Zenfone 4 will cost $99, while the Zenfone 5 will cost $149, and the Zenfone 6 will be priced at $199. Would you consider owning one of these handsets ?