Launch Update: ASUS ZenFone 3, Zenbook 3, ZenWatch 3, ZenPad 3S 10
by Anton Shilov on October 10, 2016 7:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Asus
- Zenbook
- Tablets
- Notebooks
- ZenWatch
- Zenfone
- ZenPad
- Smartwatch
ASUS has introduced a number of new products this summer, but never released their official recommended prices and availability timeframes for the US market. In the recent weeks, the company quietly began to sell some of the new products and this week ASUS published actual configurations, MSRPs and ETAs for its Zenbook 3, ZenFone 3, ZenWatch 3 and ZenPad 3S 10 devices.
ZenFone 3
ASUS formally introduced its ZenFone 3 family of smartphones at the company’s annual press conference ahead of Computex in late May. The new ZenFones are the first handsets from ASUS based on ARM processors and also the first phones from the company to use Super AMOLED display panels (high-end models only). The initial ZenFone 3 lineup included three models (Laser and Deluxe), but eventually ASUS expanded it with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821-based ZenFone 3 Deluxe 5.7” Special Edition as well as the value ZenFone 3 Laser.
Three ZenFone 3 models are already available in the U.S. for $199 (ZF3 Laser ZC551KL), $399 (ZF3 Deluxe 5.5” ZS550KL) and $499 (ZF Deluxe 5.7” ZA570KL), whereas the ZF3 Deluxe 5.7” Special Edition is set to be available in late October exclusively from the ASUS Store for $799. In the meantime, the destiny of the media-consumption focused ZenFone 3 Ultra (ZU680KL) in the U.S. is unknown. The device is available in some countries (e.g., the Philippines), but not in Europe or North America.
ASUS ZenFone 3 at Glance | |||||||
ZenFone 3 Deluxe 5.7" Special Edition |
ZenFone 3 Deluxe 5.7" ZS570KL |
ZenFone 3 Deluxe 5.5" ZS550KL |
ZenFone 3 Laser 5.5" ZC551KL |
||||
Display | Resolution | 1920×1080 | |||||
Type | Super AMOLED | IPS | |||||
SoC | Qualcomm S821 2×Kryo, 2.4GHz 2×Kryo, 2.2GHz Adreno 530 GPU Quad-channel LPDDR4 |
Qualcomm S820 2×Kryo, 2.2GHz 2×Kryo, 1.6GHz Adreno 530 GPU Quad-channel LPDDR4 |
Qualcomm S625 8×A53 @ 2GHz Adreno 506 GPU LPDDR3 |
Qualcomm S430 8×A53 @ 1.4GHz Adreno 505 GPU LPDDR3 |
|||
RAM | 6 GB LPDDR4 | 4 GB LPDDR3 | 2 GB LPDDR3 | ||||
Storage | 256 GB UFS 2.0 |
64 GB UFS 2.0 |
32 GB eMMC |
||||
Camera | 23 MP Sony Exmor IMX318 |
16 MP Sony Exmor IMX298 |
13 MP | ||||
Wi-Fi | 2×2 802.11ac with MIMO | 802.11ac | 802.11n | ||||
Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.2 with EDR and A2DP | ||||||
WWAN | Qualcomm X12 LTE UMTS/WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/LTE/TDD-LTE/FDD-LTE Up to 600 Mbps Cat 12/13 LTE |
Qualcomm X9 LTE 3G/WCDMA: Band: 1/2/5/8 4G/FDD: Band: 1/2/3/5/7/8/20 HSPA+: UL 5.76 / DL 5.76 Mbps DC-HSPA+: UL 5.76 / DL 42 Mbps LTE Cat4: UL 50/ DL 150 Mbps |
Qualcomm X6 LTE WCDMA/LTE/TDD-LTE/FDD-LTE LTE Cat4: UL 50/ DL 150 Mbps |
||||
Sensors | Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass | ||||||
Interface | USB 3.0 Type-C | USB 2.0 Type-C | |||||
Battery | 3000 mAh | ||||||
OS | Android 6.0.1 with ASUS ZenUI 3.0 | ||||||
Colors | Unknown | Glacier Silver Titanium Gray Shimmer Gold |
Glacier Silver Gold |
Glacier Silver Sand Gold |
|||
Colors | Glacier Silver | ||||||
Availability | Late October at ASUS Store | Pre-order at ASUS Store and retailers. ETA 10/12/2016 |
Available at ASUS Store and retailers | ||||
Price | $799 | $499 | $399 | $199 |
It is noteworthy that at present ASUS only offers silver versions of its ZenFone 3 smartphones. It looks like the rest colors will hit the market at a later date.
Zenbook 3
The Zenbook 3 from ASUS seemed like a worthy competitor for Apple’s MacBook back in June thanks to its Core i5 and Core i7 SoCs as well as low weight of 910g. Since the announcement at Computex, ASUS has upgraded the notebooks with Intel’s Kaby Lake processors, making the systems slightly faster and more responsive. At present, ASUS sells two Zenbook 3 models in the US: the premium Core i7-7500U-based UX390UA-XH74-BL equipped with 16 GB of RAM, a 512 GB NVMe SSD and a fingerprint reader for $1599 as well as the mainstream Core i5-7200U-powered UX390UA-DH51-GR with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SATA SSD for $1099.
ASUS Zenbook 3 at Glance | |||||
UX390UA-XH74-BL | UX390UA-DH51-GR | ||||
Display | Resolution | 1920×1080 | |||
Panel | 12.5" IPS with 178° viewing angles | ||||
SoC | Intel Core i7-7500U 2C/4T, 2.7-3.5 GHz, 15W, Intel HD 620 |
Intel Core i5-7200U 2C/4T, 2.5-3.1 GHz, 15W, Intel HD 620 |
|||
RAM | 16 GB LPDDR3-2133 | 8 GB LPDDR3 | |||
Storage | 512 GB NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD | 256 GB SATA SSD | |||
Camera | VGA web cam | ||||
Wi-Fi | 802.11ac | ||||
I/O ports | USB 3.0 Type-C | ||||
Dimensions | 296 × 191.2 × 11.9 mm | ||||
Weight | 910 grams | ||||
Battery | 40 Wh | ||||
OS | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit | ||||
Fingerprint Sensor | Yes | No | |||
Finish | Royal Blue | Silver Gray | |||
Availability | Available at ASUS Store and retailers | ||||
Price | $1599 | $1099 |
The top-of-the-range model with 1 TB SSD and rose gold finish for $1999 is yet to come. We mentioned earlier this year that the price difference of $500 between the Core i7-based ZB3 models is a significant jump for 500 GB of additional PCIe SSD capacity.
ZenPad 3S 10
It is rather hard to make a breakthrough affordable tablet these days, but the new ASUS ZenPad 3S 10 looks rather impressive. For $299, the slate offers a retina-class 9.7” display with 2048×1536 resolution, a six-core MediaTek MT8176 SoC (two Cortex A72, four Cortex-A53 cores, PowerVR GX6250 graphics, etc.), 4 GB of LPDDR3 RAM, up to 64 GB of storage, 802.11ac WiFi and a fingerprint reader.
ASUS ZenPad 3S 10 at Glance | ||||
Z500M | ||||
Display | Resolution | 2048×1536 | ||
Panel | 9.7" IPS | |||
SoC | MediaTek MT8176 2×ARM Cortex-A72 at 2.1 GHz 4×ARM Cortex-A53 at 1.6 GHz 2×PowerVR GX6250 graphics at 650MHz dual-channel LPDDR3 memory controller |
|||
RAM | 4 GB LPDDR3 | |||
Storage | 32 or 64 GB eMMC + microSDXC card reader | |||
Camera | 8 MP rear camera 5 MP front camera |
|||
Wi-Fi | 802.11ac | |||
Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.2 with EDR and A2DP | |||
Interfaces | USB 2.0 Type-C TRRS connector microSDXC |
|||
Sensors | Fingerprint, gyroscope, proximity, compass | |||
Battery | 22 Wh | |||
OS | Android 6.0 | |||
Dimensions | 240.5 × 163.7 × 5.8 ~ 7.15 mm | |||
Weight | 430 grams | |||
Availability | Early November at ASUS Store and retailers | |||
Price | $299 |
The ASUS Z500M tablet looks like a rival for Apple’s iPad Air 2, which price starts at $399. The Wi-Fi-only ZenPad 3S 10 slate will be available in early November, but there has been no mention if ASUS intends to release a version with 4G/LTE.
ZenWatch 3
The ASUS ZenWatch 3 (WI503Q) got a lot of attention earlier this year because this is the first smartwatch from the company featuring a round display and because it is one of the first devices to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC (APQ8009w). Just like in other countries, the ZenWatch 3 will be available in the U.S. in November for $229.
ASUS ZenWatch 3 at Glance | |||
WI503Q | |||
Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 4×ARM Cortex-A7 Adreno 304 GPU 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, etc. |
||
RAM | 512 MB LDDR3 | ||
Storage | 4GB eMMC NAND flash | ||
Display | 1.39" AMOLED 400×400 resolution 287 PPI pixel density 2-point touch 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
||
Wireless | Bluetooth 4.1 Wi-Fi |
||
Sensors | 6-axis (G+A), ambient light sensor | ||
Battery | 340mAh with quick-charge (15 mins for 60% battery) Battery life: 1–2 days Battery pack: 200mA (optional) Magnetic charging cable |
||
Water Resistance | IP67 | ||
Color | Silver, Gunmetal, Rose Gold | ||
Strap | Rubber or leather | ||
Dimensions | Diameter: ≦ 45mm Height: 9.95-10.75mm |
||
Inputs | Three buttons, touchscreen | ||
Availability | Early November at ASUS Store and retailers | ||
Price | $229 |
What remains to be seen is whether the manufacturer plans to start selling all three versions of the device at the same time (in silver, gunmetal and rose gold finish), or intends to roll them out one after another like it does with the ZenFone 3.
Source: ASUS
21 Comments
View All Comments
CoreyWat - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Where's the Asus transformer Pro?ajp_anton - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Really? A quad core CPU in a watch?damianrobertjones - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
You'd think that they'd start with dual core then MILK people out of their cash with a quad. Odd.matthewsage - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Please rectify. The Zenfone 3 Deluxe that is sold in USA is not ZE552KL, it is ZS550KL: http://www.asus.com/Phone/ZenFone-3-Deluxe-ZS550KL... Same innards (even same screen) but different outer shell (basically a smaller Zenfone 3 Deluxe shell) and Quick Charge 3.0Fullmetaldwarf - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Hey,Anton Shilov you could change the first image,ASUS has a different massage under the logo,now is "in search of incredible".jsntech - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Looking forward to Zenbook 3 review.sjael - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
"The new ZenFones are the first handsets from ASUS based on ARM processors and also the first phones from the company to use Super AMOLED display panels"Sure, apart from the padfone which had both...
milkod2001 - Tuesday, October 11, 2016 - link
Nice selection of products there Anton ShillovRo_Ja - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
ZenUI is just crap.fanofanand - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
That Zenpad looks sweet, I really hope they release an 8" for $199 or less.