Sunday, June 5, 2016

New phones of the week: LG, Asus, Sony, ZUK and Jolla!

Wow, this was a long week! In the span of just 7 days an impressive number of new phones were unveiled - here's what you might have missed.

LG

LG is building up the X-series and co-opted the new X-Men movie to promote them. This week welcomed two new additions, doubling the number X phones, but the X-Men promos show there are two more on the way.
The LG X Power (the alter ego of Professor X) has a huge 4,100mAh battery, a 5.3" 720p screen and a MediaTek chipset. It has an 8MP selfie cam and a 13MP main camera. The LG X Style (Mystique) bets on looks rather than power. It has a smaller 5" 720p screen and a Snapdragon 410 chipset.
LG X power LG X style 
LG X power • LG X style
Prices in Ukraine for these two are UAH 5,000 ($200/€180) for the LG X Max and UAH 4,500 ($180/€160) for the LG X Style.
Things got bigger with the LG Stylus 2 Plus. The 5.7" 1080p screen is paired with a stylus (hence the name) and a new, beefier Snapdragon 430 (double the CPU cores of the 410 and a next-gen GPU). The Stylus 2 Plus is launching in late June for TWD 10,990 ($340) in Taiwan.
LG Stylus 2 Plus 
LG Stylus 2 Plus
LG also snuck in a tablet - the LG G Pad X 8.0 for T-Mobile. An 8" tablet with a 1080p screen and a $240 price tag.
LG G Pad X 8.0 
LG G Pad X 8.0

Asus

The awaited 3rd generation of Zenfone was unveiled this week. The base Asus Zenfone 3 has a 5.5" 1080p screen (with slim bezels), a Snapdragon 625 chipset with 4GB of RAM and a 16MP camera with Asus TriTech AF (a combo of laser, phase and contrast focusing).
The Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe upgrades the screen to a 5.7" AMOLED, the chipset to Snapdragon 820 and the camera to a 23MP Sony IMX318 with 4-axis OIS and 4K video.
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe ZS570KL Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra ZU680KL 
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL • Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe ZS570KL • Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra ZU680KL
A juggernaut rounds off the trio, the Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra has a massive 6.8" screen (1080p). It keeps the 23MP camera from the Deluxe but uses the mid-range chipset of the small Zenfone 3. The 4,600mAh battery will run for ages.
Prices start at $249 for the ZenFone 3, $499 for the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, and $479 for the ZenFone 3 Ultra.

Sony

The rumors that Sony will only make Xperia X phones from now were proven in the best way - a new entry-level phone, the Sony Xperia E5. It has been a while before Sony touched this segment, focusing on flagships and the mid-range instead.
This Xperia XA-lookalike has a 5" 720p screen, a MediaTek chipset (quad-core, 1.5GB RAM), a 13MP camera plus 5MP selfie cam, both have LED flash. It's a dual-SIM phone that promises up to two days of use from its 2,700mAh battery.
Sony Xperia E5 
Sony Xperia E5
The Sony Xperia E5 is coming soon for €200.

ZUK

The Lenovo sub-brand launched the Z2 Pro a while back, now we get the base version. The ZUK Z2 is smaller than the original with its 5" 1080p screen, but it brings a modern, powerful Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB of RAM and an impressively big 3,500mAh battery (not bad for a 5-incher, huh?).
The main camera is a 13MP Samsung ISOCELL with 4K video and 960fps slow-mo and the selfie camera is an 8MP shooter with large pixels.
Lenovo ZUK Z2 
Lenovo ZUK Z2
The ZUK Z2 is launching in China next week for CNY 1,800 ($275/€245).

Jolla

Yes, Jolla. The spiritual successor of Nokia's Linux efforts has had a rocky ride, riddled with financial issues. It's still going though and as a token of appreciation for its community, it's making 1,000 Jolla C phones available to members of the Sailfish Community Device Program.
Jolla Jolla C 
Jolla Jolla C

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