Asus ZenFone 2 was announced in January and was sold to the market beginning in May. It is one of the mid-range smartphones in the market today. It has a retail price of only $299 and it already comes equipped with everything a techie user will definitely like at an easy-on-the-pocket budget. It came out with three variants namely ZE551ML, ZE550ML, and the ZE500CL – all running on Android 5.0 Lollipop straight out of the box and features a customized Zen user interface and a Gorilla Glass 3 display.
The flagship model, the ZE551ML, is powered by Intel Atom Moorefield SoCs with up to 4GB of RAM, a first for smartphones. It also features a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, a 3,000 mAH non-removable battery, and dual MicroSIM card slots.
The phone’s internal storage is also one of its best-selling features since it can go as high as 128 GB expandable through the MicroSD card slot. It can also capture great photos with its 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front snapper, great for taking selfies.
According to Tech Times, the phone manufacturer earlier announced that its devices from the ZenFone series such as ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6 have already received the latest OS fix from Google and ZenFone 2 ZE2551ML will be the next one to get the latest version of the software.
To users’ surprise, there is still no official word yet if the other two models — ZenFone 2 ZE500CL and ZE550ML will also be receiving the OS update. However, it is possible that Asus will also bring it to the device once the update to the ZE2551ML becomes a success. Currently, the two smartphones run on Android 5.0 Lollipop.
In addition, Asus has also released another update for its ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6 series. As per the International Business Times, the update brings in the latest over-the-air software v3.23.40.60 to fix bugs and address other issues from the previous release. A word of caution though as once users download the latest update for their smartphones, some pre-installed apps might be removed without notice after the update is complete.
Aside from the Full HD IPS display, ZenFone 2 ZE550ML shares almost the same features with the flagship model, ZE551ML. Even though it sports a plastic body with a metallic finish, it still boasts of great quality of the material. The ZenFone 2 ZE500CL is the low-cost variant among the three. It features a 5-inch HD display, 2 GB RAM, single MicroSIM slot, a 2500 mAH battery, and an Intel Atom Cloverview CPU. The budget smartphone still produces quality images with its 8-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front snapper.
Asus has really done a great job with its continuous development of the ZenFone series. The latest achievement with ZenFone 2 is that the device can also run on the Windows 7 platform. According to Tech Times, a certain senior XDA Developers forum member under the moniker “ycavan” has uploaded a video that shows ZenFone 2 running on the Microsoft operating system.