Long live the camera bump, said no one ever. Although if you’re going to have one at least make it a great camera with lots of features. The Asus Zenfone Zoom’s bump is reminiscent of the Nokia Lumia’s 1020. It’s big claim to fame and biggest reason we’d give it a pass on it’s gargantuan bump, is that it offers a 3x optical zoom. Something which is pretty much unheard of in cellphone cameras.

Typically your only option is a digital zoom. Which is essentially just zooming in on the photo and cropping it. It makes the photo resolution smaller and the picture quality goes down. With an optical zoom you are actually moving the lens and getting a true zoom. Plus it even includes optical image stabilization and manual camera controls. It appears the Zoom is going to be a photography powerhouse. This is big news for all of you cellphone snappers out there.

Of course it comes at a price by enlarging that unsightly camera bump that all phones seem to have these days. However if you really care about photography and want true zoom on your phone, you’ll learn to embrace the bump. For an example they compared the Zoom to the iPhone 6+ and Samsung Galaxy S6. As you can see the text is much more visible using optical zoom than digital zoom on the other 2 phones.

Besides it’s still the slimmest camera with 3x optical zoom that you can find. To accomplish this they teamed up with Hoya “to create magnification through a unique double-prism layout and mechanism, much like a periscope.” To show it’s even more camera focused it comes with laser focus and dedicated camera and record buttons. As well as a loop for a strap like you’d find in most point and shoot cameras. Not only that but it’s built with premium materials like an aluminum frame and real leather back.

The Asus Zenfone Zoom also comes with some very decent specs. Minus the fact that it’s launching with Lollipop.

  • Android 5.0 Lollipop
  • Intel Atom Z3590 Processor 2.5GHz
  • 4GB RAM, 64GB Storage w/ microSD card support up to 128GB
  • 5.5” FHD IPS (1920×1080) display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4
  • 3,000 mAh battery (non-removable)
  • 13MP Camera with f/2.7-f/4.8, dual flash, laser auto-focus with 3x Optical Zoom and Optical Image Stabilization
  • Single SIM with 2G/3G/4G support
  • Dimensions: 158.9 x 78.84 x 5 ~ 11.95mm
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, BT 4.0, and NFC

Look out for the Asus Zenfone Zoom when it launches February 1st exclusively at B&H Photo for $399.

Source: Android Police & My Zen