Asus' ZenFone 6 has first-rate specifications and no notch, thanks to a tilting camera

The Asus ZenFone 6 has been officially announced and, while the ZenFone 5 was actually only a boring clone for the iPhone X, the new model is off the beaten path and eliminates it entirely. the top bezel thanks to a completely crazy rotating camera.

I mean, just look at this thing:

The whole phone also represents a change of course for Asus, who seems determined to carve out a place in the phone space instead of chasing after Apple or Samsung, at least from a design point of view. So, instead of an unsightly black bar or a strange punched hole at the top of your phone, the front of the ZenFone 6 is just a transparent stretch, which is great to watch, though still a small bezel on the bottom.

More importantly, Asus keeps the same price: the base model with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage starts at $ 499, as the least powerful ZenFone 5.

As for the camera, I was able to try it for a few days, and it's actually pretty good. The flipping of the camera may seem strange at first, especially with the wacky sound effects that Asus has set by default (do not worry, you can turn it off, even if the engine itself produces its own hiss), but solution to the problem of the telescope. This is a similar philosophy to the Samsung Galaxy A80: why put a second set of cameras even worse in the front when you already have a much better camera on the back of the phone?

Asus has two lenses: a 48-megapixel main camera and a 13-megapixel wide-angle lens that can be used for both group and wide-angle shots (thanks to this turnaround system). Asus has put a ton of engineering into the camera, which uses a custom stepper motor to rotate the lenses to about 180 degrees, allowing it to work as a front or rear camera if needed . The camera body is made from liquid metal for added durability, though, given the number of moving parts moving, there are still fears that things will go bad. For its part, Asus has an automated system that can rotate the lens if it detects that you have escaped the phone, but you should probably avoid doing so.

There are also some smart additions that involve the rotating camera. You can take panoramic views (vertical or horizontal) by simply holding the phone and letting the camera rotate. A motion tracking mode for video allows the camera to move to keep a subject in the frame. Asus will also allow you to manually adjust the angle of the camera, allowing you to shoot with the lens at any point in the rotating arc (in case you would like to take some pictures of the ceiling, I guess?).

Asus plans to sell three configurations of the ZenFone 6 model, starting with a storage option of 6 GB RAM / 64 GB at a price of € 499 (about $ 557). The company also promises two more sophisticated options, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

But despite the average price, the specifications are identical to those of most of Android's flagship products: a Snapdragon 855 processor, a Gorilla Glass 6 and aluminum case, a huge 5000 mAh battery and the monitor without glasses and cameras inverted above. There is even a 3.5mm headphone jack! The two major absences are wireless charging or resistance to water, which seem to have been reduced to reach this low price level.

In terms of software, Asus has fortunately reduced most of its own customization, for what it calls an "improved" version of Android, which is much better than Asus' attempts over the years. There is also a dedicated "smart key", which is associated with Google Assistant by default, but can be remapped to enable Do Not Disturb mode, take a screen capture, open the camera, and more.

Asus has not yet announced a release date or exact price for the ZenFone 6 in the US, but it is expected to arrive in the coming weeks. And when that happens, between creative design, high-end specifications and low price, this could be a pretty interesting addition to the Android market.