New ZenFone 6 software update improves speaker quality and more

September 24, 2019 Categories: Firmware Updates, News, Software Updates, ZenFone 6, ZenFone 6 Edition 30, ZS630KL by 0 Comments

ASUS has been taking some heat for not getting enough units out to the people to buy. We hear this sediment on a regular basis. I suppose the bright side of getting your phone later is that some of the software/hardware issues will be fixed in the meantime. With that in mind, ASUS just rolled out their new and seemingly monthly software update.

This new September update bring the following fixes and improvements:

  • Updated 2019 Sep. security patch level. (20190901)
  • Improved speaker quality.
  • Fixed screen flickers at low brightness.
  • Optimized the system stability.

ZenFone 6 ZS630KL_ WW_16.1220.1909.193

Date: 2019/09/24

Version: 16.1220.1909.193

The improved speaker quality sounds tantalizing. If you’ve installed this update, please let us know in the comments below if you’ve seen an appreciable improvement to the speaker quality. It not certain if this improvement would apply to the phone call speaker volume as that has been something ASUS has worked on in previous updates.

We monitor the ASUS forums and the customer feedback regarding issues they are experiencing. A tip of the hat to the apparent communication between the forum moderators and the software team. The messages are getting to the right places and if you post a bug or issue, chances are your voice will be heard and there could in fact be a fix in a future update. The point being, report your issues and they will not be ignored. Go to the new ZenTalk forum where mods will take your concerns and issues seriously.

[source: ASUS]

 

ROG Phone II available to buy in the US right now $899

September 24, 2019 Categories: News, ROG Phone 2, ROG Phone II by 0 Comments

Tired of waiting for the ZenFone 6 availability? We sort of joked a while back that the ROG Phone II might be available before the ZenFone 6. In a sense, that has come to fruition. You can now BUY the ROG Phone II for $899 USD including international orders, ships Oct 28. These ship first-come, first-serve so order now and you will get it on the next shipment date rather than facing more delays by waiting. The initial batch of units sold out so be aware.

Where To Buy Now for US Customers:

Link: $899 – ROG Phone II – 12GB RAM – 512GB Storage – Free shipping – Ships Oct 28 – Sold by Mobile Advance fulfilled by Amazon

Where To Buy For US, Canada and International Customers:

Model: ZS660KL-S855P-12G512G-BK

Part Number: 90AI0011-M00400

No question the ROG Phone II is a beast. Obviously the price is up there, but so are the specs. It goes big on pretty much everything. Sure the ZenFone 6 battery is 5,000mAh but the ROG Phone II goes beyond sanity with 6,000mAh. Aside from the beefy specs you are getting a more premium AMOLED display (2340 x 1080) over the LCD found in the ZenFone 6. There is no notch, but also no flip camera module. You can go up to 120Hz refresh rate which is a big benefit that the ZenFone 6 does not have. A special Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus goes beyond fast.

We are tracking down information about other markets including Canada, but you can buy and get free shipping with the above link.

Design wise it is quite different than the ZenFone 6, but if you’re using a case you should have no worries in that regard.

Live in the US? New ETA. Can you wait until Oct 2 for your ZenFone 6?

September 21, 2019 Categories: Canada, Pre Order, Release Date, Shopping and Deals, US, ZenFone 6, ZS630KL by 4 Comments

It has been a rocky road, this ZenFone 6 release. ASUS has managed to keep customers in the dark regarding shipping dates, release dates, and any other information that might help customers. It would appear the strategy of saying nothing trumps giving people bad news. If you knew the truth would you walk away without buying a ZenFone 6? That is a question ASUS cannot answer because they never disclosed dates in any meaningful way when it comes to retail availability. That said, we have a new date for you all.

How does October 2 grab you? If you live in the US, that appears to be the most solid information right now. And it’s hot off the presses. We haven’t seen a hard date listed anywhere for weeks now, so this Oct 2 date is something to sink your teeth into. That would be a shipping date, so if you’re going to pre-order, now is certainly the time to make that decision so that hopefully your unit will ship out on Oct 2. It’s noteworthy that the hard-to-find Twilight Silver model is also listed as being available on Oct 2.

Click here to see our full US/Canada pre-order and buying guide with dates, models and prices.

We did hear rumors about early October a number of days ago. It didn’t see fathomable, but now that the date has been published it’s a lot more real than we previously thought. It’s also worth considering that the one US retailer selling the North American variant of the ZenFone 6 got tired of fielding customer questions and decided it was best to put up a date just to appease the inquiring customers.

We hope that Oct 2 is a worst case scenario. We are tracking various sources to see if pre-orders from weeks ago may be shipping out prior to this published date.

Regarding this date and how it may affect Canada? It’s unclear. We’ve seen the Canada date being pushed back every three to four days during September. Maybe Canada is getting units before Oct 2, but certainly we can’t say one way or the other unfortunately.

So are you happy or angry about this Oct 2 date? Do you feel it would have been better to know this date earlier? If you knew the date was distant would it have affected your decision to buy or wait or simply go with a different phone all together? Let’s discuss in the comment section!

Our personal view, based on all the feedback we received, it would have been more respectful just to give people the bad news rather than keeping people in the dark. Full disclosure on delays, ETA, may have lost some sales, but given no other 5,000mAh phones with headphone jack and no notch are on the market, ASUS should not fear a mass exodus. To us, we wish this was handled differently.

ZenFone 6 User Group – Share Advice, Tips, Troubles with other owners

August 28, 2019 Categories: FAQ, Q&A, Tips, ZenFone 6, ZenFone 6 Edition 30, ZS630KL by 11 Comments

We are grateful to have a strong group of visitors to our website who are keen on the ZenFone 6. In years past, we’ve covered ASUS tablets and had some excellent user group articles that were very helpful to the community.

Given the wide ranging success of the ZenFone 6, this seems like the perfect time to try the same with the ZenFone 6. We didn’t consider this up until now because in all honesty, most of the other generations of ZenFone models didn’t sell well enough to generation much of a user group community.

Can we make this work together? A lot of you are starting to receive your orders and will be looking for advice or tips when it comes to your new device. Whether that’s accessories, best settings, troubleshooting, we hope that you can make use of the comment section here and create some Q&A’s or general tips that you think people should know about.

I’ll offer one. This is not so much exclusive to the ZenFone 6, but it’s a tip for using Google’s Gboard. Some of you know about this, but for those of you who don’t? You’re going to love it and use this feature every day.

The Gboard spacebar is like a trackpad. In other words, when you need to move the cursor around, you simply use the spacebar to move the cursor. No need to try and be precise with the finger in hopes of inserting a letter that you might have left out of a word. You can edit your text messages in a snap!

So who’s first? Go ahead and start in the comment section and let’s see what the community can build. I’m hoping that people who received their ZenFone 6 will still consider coming back to the site, but that’s not a sure thing. Have a question? Post it below and see who will answer it!

ZenFone 6 Canada Price Revealed – We have all the details! [Updated]

August 24, 2019 Categories: Canada by 5 Comments

Updated Oct 26, 2019: Finally Canada has some in-stock units! MSRP prices are $799 CAD (6GB/64GB) or $899 CAD (6GB/128GB) in Midnight Black or Twilight Silver colors. Here is a direct link to the product page on Amazon.ca. And no, there are no other Canadian retailers selling the ZenFone 6 at this moment. Strange? Yes. But if you want this phone, pull the trigger now rather than waiting even longer. The Canadian launch has been impossible to figure out.

Updated Oct 10, 2019: There are in-stock units in Canada really for the first time. North American variant which is the one you want! The listing we’ve found is for the 6GB/64GB, Midnight Black, $859 CAD with free shipping. [removed link] That’s slight more than the expected $799 CAD price, but no other retailers are selling yet and that still may be a while. There are only 8 of these left as of 9PM ET. Given the delays it might be worth getting this while you have the change just to end the agony of checking daily for stock at other retailers like Best Buy or Staples.

[Updated August 29, 2019: We have some breaking news here. Two configurations will be coming to Canada. The 6GB/64GB is $799 and the 6GB/128GB is $899 in either Midnight Black or Twilight Silver. Sources indicate that pre-orders are going up any day now. In addition, it’s possible that there could be a $50 discount at launch. One of our readers has advised that ordering out of the US can actually be a cheaper option if these prices stick as the release prices in Canada.]

We have found the daily ritual of tracking the ZenFone 6 to be tiring in recent days. That is especially true as of late. Now that we’ve hit late August, the days are starting to pile up since the announcement and initial European availability. Hang on though, what’s happening now? It seems that “when it rains it pours” is playing out as suddenly the ZenFone 6 has showed up in two more markets in as many days. Yesterday it was UK, now today it’s Canada’s turn. Well, it’s almost Canada’s turn.

Initial Launch Details:

ZenFone 6 Price in Canada: $799.99 CAD and $899.99 CAD

ZenFone 6 Canada Network Bands:

Price Comparables:

  • OnePlus 7 Pro (128GB Storage): $899.00 CAD
  • Pixel 3 (On Sale): $599 CAD
  • Pixel 3 XL (On Sale): $729 CAD
  • iPhone 8 Plus: $949 CAD
  • Samsung A50 (On Sale): $399 CAD

Model Available in Canada: 6GB RAM / 64GB Storage of 6GB / 128GB

Color: Black or Silver

Release Date: Any Day Now

We expect availability any day now. A placeholder product page is good enough for us to call this. With the limited retailers in the US, we don’t expect Canada to see many more retailers initially. Limit stock levels means a different launch strategy. We say this because typically there will be more retailers leaking information just prior to availability but this time around, we’re only

If ASUS employs the same strategy with the 6 as they did with the 5z, then there will be the one configuration in two different colors. We only see Midnight Black listed so far and it would be a miracle to see Twilight Silver as available any time soon. If there are more configurations brought to Canada it’s likely very much dependent on initial demand. With price cuts to some more well-known mobile phones, it may affect the ZenFone 6 sales in Canada.

Don’t worry. When the opportunity comes for pre-orders in Canada, we will let you know! With UK and Canada moving forward this is proof that other markets are not far off. Hang in there if you’re still holding out in your market for the ZenFone 6.

 

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