- Asus just launched their new flagship device, the
Asus Zenfone 6Z in Spain. - The Asus Zenfone 6Z's camera literally bends over backwards in a bet to beat out its competition.
- Since the camera can turn 180 degrees, it also keeps users from bending at awkward angles to take photographs.
Asus’ new flagship phone launched in Spain today just has two cameras — one with a 48 megapixel camera and another with a 16 megapixel camera. But they’re not what you think.
Both sensors fit onto a single panel allowing the sensors to function as normal cameras. And lo behold, that panel can perform a 180 degree flip! So, yes, users have a pretty decent rear camera and an exceptional front camera as well — all wrapped up into one neat little package called the 'Flip Camera'.
Because of this twisty feature, Asus is also the first smartphone maker to have a front camera with a resolution so high.
Asus’ bid to beat out its competitors has its camera bending over backwards, literally. The phone is not available in India just yet but it’s expected launch before the end of the month.
Last year, the brand reportedly accounted for a mere 1% of smartphone sales in the country but the company is betting on its line up of offbeat phones this year to garner double-digit growth.
Twist, slide and repeat
The Asus Zenfone 6Z’s new flip camera isn’t just a flashy feature or a feature that’s a mere selfie camera. When Business Insider got their hands on the phone, we found that the phone’s unique feature actually has quite a bit of utility.
Imagine not having to twist at weird angles just to get that perfect frame of a building or awkwardly bend to find the right height for a photo. With the rotational camera, it’s the camera that moves instead of you.
Horizontal panoramas — and vertical ones — can also be shot without having to move the phone and align it correctly. Because, again, it’s the camera that moves instead of you.
Even while shooting a video, the phone’s equipped with motion tracking so that once you’ve selected the subject of your video — the camera will follow its movement rather manually having to track it.
Resistant to dust
In an attempt to make screens notchless, most smartphone manufacturers have gone the way of pop-up cameras, leading to questions on durability, and resistance to natural elements.
Dinesh Sharma, Head of Mobile Business at Asus India, claims that a rotational camera is better than a pop-up camera — as seen on the OnePlus 7 Pro, Oppo Find X and Vivo NEX — as it is less vulnerable to dust.
In pop-up cameras, you can’t really get inside the area that holds the camera, but with a rotational camera, the cavity that holds it, allows you to clean it.
And, because it’s only two cameras — instead of three, four or even five — minimal real estate is compromised.
Asus may not be the world’s best known smartphone brands but the Taiwan-based tech company has come up with a truly unique design feature on their latest flagship device, the Asus Zenfone 6Z. It could be a differentiating factor for smartphone weilding amateur photographers.