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Setting the Standard for Low-Cost Smart Phones — New ASUS ZenFone 2

posted by martyb on Thursday May 28 2015, @07:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the laptop-in-your-pocket dept.

Anonymous Coward writes:

The recently released ASUS smartphone zenfone 2 has hit a new price/perf benchmark point with an MSRP of $199 but mid-high range specs:

-4G LTE
-Quadcore x86 processor
-5.5 inch IPS 1080P screen with gorilla glass
-2GB of RAM
-16GB storage
-3000 mAh battery

The low price is in part because Intel has been desperately trying to get a foothold in the mobile market and likely playing contra-revenue games. Unlike past low-cost options like the oneplus phone, this phone has wide release being sold at online retailers like Amazon.

Is this setting a new standard in low-cost, high-performance phones, or is this a temporary ploy until Intel starts charging for their SoCs? Will this lead to a price war between Mediatek, Qualcomm, and Intel? All of which have already released phones this year for the North American marketplace supporting the 4G spectrum. How low-priced can these smartphones with laptop-like specs go?

Reviewed here: http://anandtech.com/show/9251/the-asus-zenfone-2-review

[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @08:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @08:40PM (#189313)

    It's a nice looking phone but it's a dealbreaker for me that it includes an Intel processor. They've built backdoors into their desktop and server products so one can easily assume they've done the same this time as well. Any self respecting privacy inclined geek can't in good conscience give Intel their well earned money even if phones these days are privacy destoying devices that we accept in order to remain gainfully employed.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @09:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @09:47PM (#189347)

    Identify the backdoors

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by khedoros on Friday May 29 2015, @05:18AM

      by khedoros (2921) on Friday May 29 2015, @05:18AM (#189507)
      Well...there is a set of features called "vPro", which is an umbrella term for a set of features on some Intel systems. It includes "Active Management Technology", which runs its own OS as a monitoring system for the OS that's visible to the user. It has access to the input devices and framebuffer of the machine through an out-of-band network connection. The purpose is OS-indepedent remote management of the system in something like a corporate environment, but of course some people assume that all Intel hardware includes these capabilities, even when they're not advertised, and that since it has full access to the computer, Intel and/or the government must have the ability to access your computer at a level deeper than the OS. At least, that's what I assume they're referring to.