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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]
(Score: 3, Informative) by gman003 on Thursday May 28 2015, @08:43PM
http://anandtech.com/show/9251/the-asus-zenfone-2-review/3 [anandtech.com]
7.3 hours browsing web on Wifi, 6.3 hours on 4G, 3.2 hours running graphics benchmarks. None of those are exceptional, but it's not really that bad. (Anandtech chalks it up more to the display than the CPU as well).
They also support an extremely fast charger, which should help alleviate the limited battery life. As long as it can go a full day (9 hours) between charges with regular use, most people will be fine, and I suspect this can manage that as long as the screen-off idle usage isn't horrible.