Asus ZenFone Selfie: Ready for a Close-Up

Asus ZenFone Selfie: Ready for a Close-Up

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REPORTING FROM TAIPEI: Your selfies are about to get a whole lot sharper, thanks to Asus.

The company on Monday showed off a new smartphone, dubbed the ZenFone Selfie, which features a 13-megapixel front-facing camera with a flash, along with a new “beatification mode” to help enhance your mug with “digital cosmetics.” Yes, there’s now a whole phone specifically designed to help you take flattering photos of yourself.

Unveiled at Computex in Taiwan alongside a slew of other “Zen”-themed products including tablets, all-in-one PCs, and a smartwatch, the new ZenFone Selfie also features a 13-megapixel camera on the back, should you ever decide you want to take a photo of something other than yourself. The rear camera has a large f/2.0 aperture lens and laser auto-focus technology for clear photos even in low-light conditions.

But back to what’s really important about this phone — its selfie features. The new ZenUI beautification mode will let you digitally contour your face and remove imperfections — without any makeup.

“A few taps is all that’s needed to soften facial features, slim cheeks, and enhance skin tone to add vibrancy, and all in real time — injecting instant verve into any composition,” Asus said.

The phone also has a “selfie panorama mode,” which leverages the f/2.2-aperture front lens and 88-degree field of view to let you capture yourself and the area around you, up to 140 degrees. This should be useful when you’re trying to take a selfie with a big group of people, or capture a scenic background.

Other than that, the phone doesn’t appear to be a huge departure from the recently released ZenFone 2. It features a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel, 5.5-inch display, which has a sharp 401 pixels per inch and durable Corning Gorilla Glass 4 cover for protection against scratches and drops. On the inside, it’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 octa-core, 64-bit processor.

The ZenFone Selfie comes in a few fun colors — white, pastel pink, and pastel blue. At this point, there’s no word as to how much it will cost.