ASUS Zenfone Selfie and HTCDesire 728 pass TENAA certification in China

Once a device has passed through a government’s telecommunications regulatory committee, it’s an almost sure-fire bet a release window will open up soon after. China’s TENAA (think FCC) has recently certified two new smartphones, the ASUS Zenfone Selfie which we had taken a look at before, and the relatively lesser known HTCDesire 728.

The ASUS Zenfone Selfie

Announced just over a month ago, the ASUS Zenfone Selfie is visually reminiscent to the ZenFone 2 with a similar design and rear-mounted buttons. Opting for a more soft, friendly approach the device comes in various pastel colors.  It features a 5.5-inch Full HD TFT display and a capable 64-bit Octa-Core Snapdragon 615 SoC. Just as with the Zenfone 2, there is both a 2GB and a 4GB RAM variant of the device, and will be available in 16, 32, or 64GB of on-board storage with microSD support included.

The phone’s name is indeed its claim to fame, as the Selfie comes with 13MP cameras both on the front and back, and both make use of dual-tone LED flashes. Much like LG’s recent flagships, the f 2.0 rear camera is equipped with a laser-assisted auto-focus system. On the front is an f 2.2 lens with an 80-degree viewing angle. The phone includes the obligatory “beautification mode” as well as a panorama selfie mode that tethers multiple pictures to create a larger image.

Regional Differences?

Interestingly enough, the device certified by China’s TENAA has model number Asus_Z00UDA and may in fact, be slightly different than the product ASUS unveiled in Taiwan (mentioned above). Specifically, this device has only 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage, and will apparently be available in Black, Gold, Grey, and Red colors which would essentially give it the same color scheme as the Zenphone 2. It is currently unknown as to if this model is exclusive for China, or if ASUS has decided to rethink the pastel rear covers and go with more solid ones. It is also unclear as to if the Android 5.0.2 Lollipop build running on this certified device will be the same on the international product.

The HTCDesire 728

Also certified by the TENAA is a mid-range HTCproduct, the Desire 728 (model number D728w) is a definitively mid-range phone with a 5.5-inch 720p HD display, 2GB of RAM, a 1.3GHz octa-core CPU (believed to be a MediaTek MT6753), 16GB of internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera.

Rounding out the specs are a 2,800 mAh battery and Android Lollipop 5.1. The phone is just under 150 grams and will be sold in white, black, orange, red, gold and grey color variants. While the Desire line has been around for some time, this will be one of the rare times orange makes the cut, with the company typically sticking with more traditional black/blue/white/red colors.

Given the rather standard-affair specs, as well as our own impressions from the Desire 626, we don’t expect the world from this piece of hardware, nor is it likely to be released outside Asia, where HTCseems content to announce product after product while the remainder of the world receives a scarce few, such as the One M9.

Do either of these products pique your interest? Curious what ASUS’ take on the “selfie phone” craze will pan out to be? Leave a comment below and let us know!