ASUS UNVEILS SMALLER ZENFONE 8, PHONE WITH ROTATING CAMERA

At a time when smartphones are increasingly bigger and heavier, Asus' new flagship Zenfone 9 is remarkably small with a screen size of 5.9 inches and a weight of 169 grams, Till Simon Nagel reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

This time, the Taiwanese manufacturer has focused on good usability with one hand. Despite being smaller, the hardware inside is largely the same as in larger rivals. The starting price is also relatively small at 599 euros (around $725.)

Asus is using the Snapdragon 888 5G as the main chip, the current top dog from Qualcomm. It allows you to use two SIM cards at the same time. Meanwhile, 128 and 256 GB of storage space and up to 16 GB of RAM are available.

To save battery while keeping animations smooth, the 5.0-inch AMOLED display (1080 x 2400 pixels) can regulate the screen's refresh rate between 60, 90 and 120 hertz as required.

The battery's 4,000 mAh keep the Zenfone 8 running for a good two days. Wireless charging is not available, but fast charging with 30 watts is. Two cameras are enough. Contrary to the trend towards more and more cameras, Asus relies on "only" two cameras developed with Sony for the Zenfone 9: a main camera with 64 MP and an ultra-wide-angle camera with 12 MP and optical stabilization.

Concentrating on the essentials is good for the Zenfone 9: The camera shoots quickly and delivers impressive pictures. The phone comes with Android 11 and Asus adds a number of practical features in its own launcher. For example, dual user accounts for popular messengers, gesture control, or a game mode. Asus promises at least two major system updates.

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