Asus, as we expected, showed off the new ZenFone 5 family at MWC. Unlike years past, the Taiwanese company is keeping in step with modern smartphone trends, in some cases to the point of plain copying the iPhone X. Regardless, some of the new devices look fantastic and our initial impressions are relatively positive.

Besides the familiar design on two of the devices, Asus went all out with its talk of what it calls "ZeniMoji." I kid you not — pulled straight from one of the press releases: "ZeniMoji is a fun new ZenFone 5 feature that lets users animate cute avatars using their own voice, facial expressions and head movements. Uniquely, ZeniMoji avatars can be used in video chats or live-streaming, as well as in text chats, to make them more entertaining." Yeah, I had a good laugh, too.

Like most of these types of posts, I'll break this down by device so that you can easily reference what you want to know. Let's get started.

ZenFone 5Z

SPECS

Display

6.2" 2246x1080 IPS LCD

Software

Android 8.0 Oreo; ZenUI 5.0

CPU

Snapdragon 845

RAM

6/8GB

Storage

64/128/256GB

Cameras

Rear - 12MP IMX363 (1.4µm pixels, f/1.8)+120° secondary; Front - 8MP

Battery

3,300mAh

Misc

USB-C, fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm headphone jack, NFC

Price

$499

The flagship of the group, the ZenFone 5Z (yes, I say it "zed" in my head) sports the fancy design, complete with a notch at the top of the slim, bezel-less 6.2" screen. Those specs are all top-tier, especially the Snapdragon 845 and camera. The latter is notable with its extra large pixels on the main sensor, which worked out decently well in testing. We'll have to get the phone in for a full review to put it through its paces, though.

Another amazing thing is that the ZenFone 5Z will start at $499, according to Asus. That's incredible, since it ticks all of the boxes for a flagship. On paper, it looks like companies who typically compete in this price bracket, like OnePlus, will really have to wow us later this year.

PRESS RELEASE

ZenFone 5

SPECS

Display

6.2" 2246x1080 IPS LCD

Software

Android 8.0 Oreo; ZenUI 5.0

CPU

Snapdragon 636

RAM

4/6GB

Storage

64GB

Cameras

Rear - 12MP IMX363 (1.4µm pixels, f/1.8)+120° secondary; Front - 8MP

Battery

3,300mAh

Misc

USB-C, fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm headphone jack, NFC

Other than a few differences, the ZenFone 5 is almost exactly the same as the ZenFone 5Z. It takes a step down to a Snapdragon 636 and one variant has less RAM, but that's basically it. I'm told that the software experience also differs slightly between the two phones, but I'm sure we'll get more information at some point.

Pricing was not included in the press release for this phone, but I'm going to guess that it will be very competitive.

PRESS RELEASE

ZenFone 5Q

SPECS

Display

6" 2160x1080 IPS LCD

Software

Android 8.0 Oreo; ZenUI 5.0

CPU

Snapdragon 630

RAM

4GB

Storage

64GB

Cameras

Rear - 16MP+120° wide-angle; Front - 20MP+120° wide-angle

Battery

3,300mAh

Misc

microUSB, fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm headphone jack, NFC

Finally, the baby of the bunch, the ZenFone 5Q (also called the ZenFone 5 Lite) takes a step away from its nicer brethren while keeping the small bezels and dual cameras. The biggest downside to it is, of course, the inclusion of microUSB instead of USB-C, but I imagine this decision was made to keep the price down. On that note, however, pricing is not specified in the press release.

PRESS RELEASE

And there you have it. Asus looks like it has some good stuff for us in 2018 and I look forward to seeing how these three phones perform. For now, you can expect a more detailed hands-on post to come soon and we'll hopefully get a shot to review the ZenFone 5 series in the next few months.

Source: Asus