News & Reviews:   Asus ZenFone 3

With the ASUS Zenvolution Computex reveal happening in just 5 more days, ASUS have been releasing a number of teaser videos for the upcoming ASUS ZenFone 3. This time around the teaser video shows a "Speed Revolution" of a car drifting away in the darkness with the tagline "Ready for an engine that will leave the competition in the dust?". Dramatic, we know, but it also probably points towards a faster low-light autofocus mode with perhaps a dedicated ISP chip, considering that the current ASUS PixelMaster 2.0 already has a low-light mode and laser autofocus features.

Starting out quietly and ending with a bang, this week's Weekly TechNave highlights included the shockingly affordable Malaysia pricing for the Huawei P9 and P9 Lite along with Google I/O 2016 which revealed Android N, Daydream VR and a host of other features. The ASUS ZenFone 3 rumours have started up as well including an official teaser video, benchmarks and more while Lenovo announced their moto G4 series of smartphones.

A picture of what might be the ASUS ZenFone 3 Max has appeared. Confirming the metal frame and flat and thin design, the ZenFone 3 Max looks to have a 5.7-inch display with 720p resolution tech specs and will likely either retain the 5000 mAh battery that gave its predecessor the ZenFone Max a 1 week battery life or exceed it. The blurry picture doesn't help but it seems as if there will be either rear volume controls or a fingerprint sensor on the back.

Technave has covered many of the leaked info of the upcoming ASUS Zenfone 3 here, and the latest leak sees the (almost complete specs of the three variants bared out to the world, thanks to AnTuTu.

As usual per the countdown to their Computex Zenvolution event, ASUS have released a teaser video, this time for their ASUS ZenFone 3. Thanks to previous leaks we know that the ZenFone 3 series will have a metal frame with glass front and back but the video confirms a fingerprint sensor on the back as well, perhaps not for all of the ZenFone 3 models. Other tech specs weren't detailed but so far we know that there will be at least 3 variants (ZenFone 3, Max and Deluxe), they will likely feature Qualcomm or MediaTek processors and be announced on 30 May 2016.

This week Huawei unveiled the honor V8 with dual rear cameras, a 2K display version and the latest Kirin 950 tech specs with their RM60 honor Band A1. Xiaomi went big with their 6.44-inch display Mi Max phablet alongside their Mi Band 2 smartband. On the local side, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End launched at midnight while the Tencent QQ Watch for kids was also released. The folks at honor Malaysia also brought in their more premium honor Band SS complete with brass coloured metal body and Italian leather strap.

While Computex is just around the corner, it will not be ASUS's traditional announcement platform for their upcoming ASUS Zenfone 3 as they have pushed back the announcement event a month away. The next big news is that the upcoming phones will be running Qualcomm chips, rather than Intel.

ASUS have recently put up a countdown page for their upcoming Computex 2016 announcements which they have titled the ASUS Zenvolution. The image doesn't reveal much except that ASUS will be partnering with Intel and that it will happen on 30 May 2016 via live stream.

We assume that there will be new ASUS ZenBook 2-in-1 devices but with Intel's recent announcement on the cancellation of SoFIA and Broxton we don't have very high hopes for an Intel-powered ASUS ZenFone 3 or ASUS ZenPad tablets. We're hoping for a surprise announcement or two then, but only time will tell for sure. Stay tuned to TechNave.com and we'll keep you updated.

Intel was recently reported as cancelling their SoFIA and Broxton lines of processors for both smartphones and tablets. While we expect to still see Intel processors for 2-in-1 devices and larger enterprise tablets, smartphones like the upcoming ASUS ZenFone 3 may well have non-Intel processors. While this spells an end to Intel-powered smartphones and smaller tablets, we expect Intel Curie, Edison, Galileo and other maker-related products to remain as Intel are focusing on 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) for the future.

The folks at Red Dot 21 recently showcased renders of the yet to be released ASUS ZenFone 3 and ZenFone 3 Deluxe. They expect a 2.5D glass on both front and back with a curved metal frame, that looks much like the Samsung Galaxy S6. However, the renders don't seem to agree on there being a front home button, with one having it and the other not. For long-time ASUS ZenFone users, this doesn't look like a ZenFone at all, despite the concentric circle panel on the bottom, as the ZenFone series never had any physical home button on the front. More details in this article.