ASUS isn't always the best with updates. The company often releases phones with already-outdated software, like the ZenFone 3 Zoom that came with Marshmallow. In a similar vein, the ZenWatch 2 and 3 were some of the last watches to get Android Wear 2.0. But at the ZenFone 4 launch event, ASUS promised that the entire ZenFone 3 and 4 lineup would get Android O.
Read MoreASUS finally updates the ZenFone 2 (ZE550ML, ZE551ML) to Marshmallow
One week after Google officially released Android 7.0 Nougat, ASUS has finally upgraded the ZE551ML model of the ZenFone 2 to 6.0 Marshmallow. ASUS had originally promised that the ZenFone 2 would receive Marshmallow before the end of Q2 2016, but that deadline was clearly ignored.
Read More[Deal Alert] Asus ZenFone 2 Deluxe Special Edition On Sale For $269 ($130 Off) In Today's Amazon Goldbox
Asus just announced new ZenFones, but the ZenFone 2 isn't a bad device—especially if you're talking about the ZenFone 2 Deluxe Special Edition. It has the most storage, RAM, and the fastest hardware of any ZF2 variant, and it's on sale today as part of Amazon's Goldbox deal. It usually costs $399, which is not an amount you should pay, but right now it can be yours for just $269.
Read MoreCyanogenMod 13 (Android 6.0) Nightlies Come To The Zenfone 2, SHIELD Portable, And AT&T, T-Mobile, And Sprint Versions Of The Galaxy S III
The Galaxy S III, first released back in 2012, only has official software support up to Android 4.3. No matter: the folks at the CyanogenMod development team are keeping the device alive long after Samsung threw in the towel. Today the AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint variants of the GSIII all get their very first nightly ROM builds for CyanogenMod 13, which is based on Android 6.0. You can find them at the d2att, d2tmo, and d2spr listings on the CM download page, respectively.
In contrast, Asus has already promised a Marshmallow build for the Zenfone 2, which is less than a year old at this point.
Read MorePopular
A Nasty Zenfone 2 Bug Is Gobbling Up Gigabytes Of Storage With Giant Log Files
A number of Zenfone 2 owners have been making oddly similar complaints about a lack of storage space, and it looks like this isn't a case of poor management on their part. There may be a bug in the device that clogs the internal storage with multiple gigabytes of log files. What's worse, you can't do anything about it without root.
Read More[Deal Alert] Asus Knocks $30 Off The Price Of The 64GB Zenfone 2 ($269 Total)
Still looking for that perfect gift? Well, I don't know about perfect, but the Zenfone 2 is pretty cool and it's on sale right now for $30 off the usual $299 price. You can get this deal at most retailers including Amazon, B&H, and the Asus shop.
Read MoreThe Asus ZenFone 2 Will Get Marshmallow Eventually, And It's Not Alone
Think of a smartphone manufacturer. Did you think Asus? Okay, maybe you did, but only because you just read the headline. The company makes phones, but they're hardly the best selling. That said, it attracted a lot of eyeballs this year with the release of the ZenFone 2, an affordable phone offering up to 4GB of RAM. And now Asus has announced that said device will get Android 6.0.
Read MoreAsus Launches Zenfone 2 Variant With 4GB Of RAM And 16GB Of Storage For $229
The Asus Zenfone 2 is one of the better mid-range unlocked phones out there thanks to the robust Intel Atom SoC lurking within. Now it looks like there's a new version of this device that ships with 16GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. It's selling for $229, which is a pretty good price for what you get.
Read MoreEditorial: The Rise Of The "Cheap" Smartphone Is Finally Here - And That Makes Me Happy
As I sit here in a hip Los Angeles coffee shop across from the seemingly never-ending whooshes and rumbles of LA traffic on a busy boulevard just outside the door, I wonder if $4 is a reasonable price for the latte now sitting in front of me. It does have one of those latte art fern-shaped things on it. Or, at least it looks like a fern to me.
While not a tiny amount of money, it doesn't seem totally unreasonable. (And trust me: $4 for a latte is a respectable price in Los Angeles.) After all, I am availing myself the use of said business's counter, its rather lovely interior inspired by the owner's Taiwanese heritage (well, supposedly), a nice ceramic cup for my beverage, and the generally relaxed atmosphere the place provides.
Read MoreBrazil Gets A Special Edition Of The ASUS Zenfone 2 With A Massive 256GB Storage And A Unique Back
64GB? Kid's stuff. 128GB? Paltry. Real smartphone spec-hounds will settle for nothing less than 256GB of local onboard storage (which, incidentally, is more than many laptops these days). At least they'd settle for nothing less if any of those phones were actually available. There will be one soon, in at least one location: the ASUS Zenfone 2 Deluxe Special Edition. It's coming to Brazil sometime in the future for an unspecified price, though "quite a lot" would be a safe bet. The model was shown off on the official ASUS Brazil blog.
The Zenfone 2 Deluxe Special Edition is identical to the high-end version of the original Zenfone 2, with 4GB of RAM and a faster Atom Z3580 processor, with the obvious exception of the greater storage capacity.
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