Asus has announced a new member to its ZenFone family in the ZenFone Zoom, featuring optical zoom.

The Asus ZenFone Zoom features a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display making it as a direct competitor to the might Apple iPhone 6 Plus.

As the name suggests this smartphone is all about the camera. It resembles the Nokia Lumia 1020 on the rear with that large lens which allows up to 3x optical zoom for a total 12x zoom with stability thanks to stabilisation.

On the rear is a 13-megapixel camera while on the front there is an impressive selfie camera thanks to the 5-megapixel sensor.

The camera comes with OIS and laser auto-focus for sharp photos and shake-free videos. It is also capable of quality macro photos as close as 5cm from the subject. Then there is Manual Mode for those wishing to use professional level options to vary their photos. There is also a Low-Light Mode for up to 400 per cent brighter shots in the dark.

The handset ships with New Zen UI with Android 5.0.

The ZenFone Zoom will start ay $399 which is about £262 and will launch in Q2 later this year.

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