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The Asus ZenFone 2 Laser offers high-end specs on a budget

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If you’re in the market for a new smartphone, but don’t want to empty your wallet, the Asus ZenFone 2 Laser might be the one for you. It’s coming to the U.S. this month for only $199, and it’s surprising that Asus has this one so cheap when you consider the specs.

To start with, the ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE551KL) is comfortable to hold thanks to its rounded back and super thin 3.9mm edges. Although the body is plastic, the precision machining finish gives it a premium look and feel. The controls at the back, reminiscent of LG phones, make it easy to change the volume whether you’re right or left handed.

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Moving on to the specs, we think you will be pleasantly surprised. The ZenFone 2 Laser features a Gorilla Glass 4 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1,080p (1,920 x 1,080). It’s powered by a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor and has 3GB of RAM along with 16 or 32GB of internal storage. If you need more storage, you can add an additional 128GB with the microSD slot. Plus you get 5GB of free Asus Webstorage.

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The rear camera is 13 megapixels and features an aperture of f/2.0, as well as laser autofocus and dual LED red-tone flash. The front-facing lens comes in at 5 megapixels and has an 85-degree wide angle lens. It also has an aperture of f/2.0, so it should perform well in low light.

The rest of the specs include Dual Micro SIM-card support, LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n, 3,000mAh removable battery, and Android 5.0 Lollipop.

This phone should not be confused with either the ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE500KL) or the ZenFone 2, which were released earlier this year. The ZE500KL has a larger 6.0-inch display and the ZenFone 2 has higher-end specs for $100 more.

The ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE551KL) will be available in the Asus Store as well as Newegg this month. The 16GB version goes for $199, while the 32GB version goes for $249.

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Robert Nazarian
Robert Nazarian
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Robert Nazarian became a technology enthusiast when his parents bought him a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color. Now his biggest…
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