ASUS Philippines brought me back to CEBU CITY just to be able to experience the power their newest phone innovation – ASUS ZENFONE ZOOM. Zooming in to be one of the best camera phone in its price range, ASUS ZENFONE ZOOM finally makes its way to the Philippines World’s thinnest 3X optical zoom smartphone invites Filipinos to see the world up close.
With a 3X Hoya lens in an innovative 10-element lens arrangement for exceptional clarity and close-ups with up to 12X total magnification — ASUS ZOOM allows you to see the world up close by enjoying a DSLR experience in the palm of your hand.
Dubbed ZenFestival2016, we got the chance to roam around the city and capture different scenes see through the ASUS ZenFone Zoom’s superb and one-of-a-kind photography specs.
Stolen shot by Ruth Dela Cruz using Zenfone Zoom
We arrived in Cebu city and went straight at Marriott Hotel, a hall was already setup for the launch of ASUS Zenfone Zoom. Some of the Philippines’ top media, bloggers, and personalities were spotted enjoying first dibs exploring the ZenFone Zoom — making us the first Filipinos to personally experience its features — following an impressive technical walk-through of the smartphone led by ASUS Philippines Country Manager for System Business Group George Su, Product Manager for Smartphone Lenny Lin, and PR Head Eason de Guzman.
After settling down in our rooms, we had the opportunity to put our newly-acquired ZenFone Zoom skills to the test through an outdoor photography challenge by ASUS, where we were challenged in groups to capture some of the signature sights in Cebu City. Check out our feed using hashtags #ZenFoneZoom.
Heres a quick specs of ASUS Zenfone Zoom:
| Display | 5.5-inch Full HD (1920×1080, 403ppi) IPS LCD Corning Gorilla Glass 4 |
| Processor | 64-bit 2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Atom Z3590 CPU |
| Graphics | PowerVR G6430 GPU |
| RAM | 4GB LPDDR3 |
| Internal Storage | 64GB eMCC Flash or 128GB eMCP Flash |
| External Storage | microSD (up to 128GB) |
| Cameras | 13MP rear-facing camera, 10-element Hoya 3x zoom lens 5MP front-facing camera |
| Software | Android 5.1 with ASUS ZenUI |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/b/ac Bluetooth 4.0+ EDR NFC micro-USB |
| Battery | 3000mAh non-removable Li-Polymer |
| Dimensions | 6.26 x 3.1 x 0.47 inches 158.9 x 78.84 x 11.95mm |
| Weight | 6.53 oz 185g |
On the streets of Cebu, we tried picking out cool subjects to shoot testing the Zenfone Zoom’s capability. Here are some of the unprocessed photos I got.
The rear camera benefits from dual-LED Real Tone flash to create the most natural illumination for indoor portraits to capture lifelike colors and skin tons. ZenFone Zoom’s rear lens also has laser auto-focus to point and shoot with total clarity in just 0.2 seconds. Here are some shots which I slightly processed. I adjusted the brightness/contrasts of the photo and putted a little saturation to it as well.
ZenFone Zoom excels at macro photography, enabling extreme close-ups as near as 5cm (2in) to reveal new and unseen worlds of detail, and is ready to turn pro with one tap — with Manual mode allowing instant adjustment of shutter speed, exposure value, white balance, ISO and a host of other professional-grade settings.Here’s some of the macro shots we took.
While everyone was enjoying the parade, Ruth and I was having fun at the pool. And while enjoying, we didn’t forget to take some shots using our Zenfone Zoom. I was a bit lazy getting up on my cosy chair, I decided to use the 10-element Hoya 3x zoom lens to see what Ruth is up to, and she did it as well while spying on me.
Here I am trying the panorama shot. Now who’s legs are those?
In the evening, ASUS set a night party at Blue Elephant which is located just across Marriott Hotel. It was a fun night and of course an opportunity for us to test how Zenfone Zoom stand on low light.
Finally, we will not forget to take some selfies!
We had an amazing time in Cebu City while having an amazing phone at hand. ASUS Zenfone Zoom is truly a phone to keep specially for techy’s who love taking selfies and putting in their photography skills on the next level. Thanks ASUS for the invite.
Check out my ASUS Zenfone Max review here. For more photos check this out.
