Back at CES, Asus showed off a follow-up to the not-so-old Zenfone 4 Max, which was a phone that ultimately disappointed me. Attempting to capitalize on the love for big batteries, the Taiwanese company decided to spin off the Zenfone Max line into its own device family. These phones will offer large batteries and many of the latest smartphone trends for budget prices.
So here we are with the first, the Zenfone Max Plus M1.
April Fools' day is almost upon us, but each year at least a few companies are unable to restrain themselves, pushing out their pranks early. Google's various divisions do a decent job each year. Last year's Google Gnome was a pretty good one, and the Maps team's 2014 Pokemon prank was a memorable one. OnePlus even does a good job.
It can be tough keeping track, though, so let us handle the work while you enjoy the jokes.
Back in September, Qualcomm announced that devices armed with their new generation of processors – flag-shipped by the Snapdragon 820 – would be capable of even faster and more efficient charging speeds with Quick Charge 3.0. After the announcement, Rita wrote a great summary of the advantages of QC 3.0 over QC 2.0 that you can read if you want specific details about the upgraded charging standard.
Fast forward seven months and the first QC 3.0 Android devices are finally starting to trickle out to consumers.
I've never been a fan of buying expensive laptops, even once I could actually afford them. Just like with smartphones, there's a certain point where the added features can't justify the $1,000+ prices, unless you are doing heavy productivity or gaming. My first laptop was the ASUS Eee PC 1001PXD netbook, which I was pretty happy with at the time (now the 1024x600 screen sounds atrocious), but the casing eventually started to crack apart.
The ASUS ZenFone 3.0 Deluxe is getting Android 8.0 Oreo starting today, ASUS confirmed in a forum post. One of our tipsters gave us the heads-up that his device was downloading the update earlier this morning. The post specifically calls out model number ZS550KL, which is the 5.5-inch variant available from ASUS's US store.
ASUS announced on Twitter last week that this was coming (in addition to updates for the ZenFone 3 Laser and ZenFone 3 Zoom) by the end of the month, and it seems they're right on schedule.
The ASUS ZenFone 3.0 Deluxe is getting Android 8.0 Oreo starting today, ASUS confirmed in a forum post. One of our tipsters gave us the heads-up that his device was downloading the update earlier this morning. The post specifically calls out model number ZS550KL, which is the 5.5-inch variant available from ASUS's US store.
ASUS announced on Twitter last week that this was coming (in addition to updates for the ZenFone 3 Laser and ZenFone 3 Zoom) by the end of the month, and it seems they're right on schedule.
The ZenFone AR was a peculiar device when it launched. Just looking at the specs, it seems rather beefy for the time—few phones with the Snapdragon 821 had 6/8GB RAM options. This was all intended for use with Google's Project Tango augmented reality platform, but that was unceremoniously killed last December. As a result, the ZenFone AR is getting a $200 price cut.
This brings the 6GB RAM / 64GB storage SKU to $399, and the 8GB/128GB SKU to $499.
ASUS' Android phones might slide under the radar for most, but the company's new ZenFone 5 series probably won't. The company has had some trouble historically trying to penetrate the US phone market to any great depth—perhaps a result of its crowded, sometimes confusing product portfolio—but nonetheless it persists. Some of its phones have even been pretty good. But now that the wraps have been taken off its latest line of phones, it seems like ASUS has found a successful way to attract the attention it wanted: by copying the iPhone X's notch.
ASUS formally announced the three new phones at its event in Barcelona just a couple of days ago, and though we had a bit of an idea what the ZenFone 5Q/Lite would look like, the 5 and 5Z were a bit more surprising.
ASUS announced the ZenFone Max Plus early last month at CES, saying that the phone would become available in February. Well, it's the second-last day of February, and ASUS has technically lived up to its word; the ZenFone Max Plus is now available for purchase at a variety of retailers stateside.
The phone is officially called "ZenFone Max Plus (M1)," but the PR refers to it as "ZenFone Max Plus M1" and retail listings simply call it "ZenFone Max Plus." The M1 appended at the end seems a little useless for a long-enough name, but I digress.
