ASUS Zenfone Lite or Zenfone 5 A502CG which was earlier launched in Philippines is now available in India for 8,999 INR. Like other smartphones in Zenfone portfolio, this one too will retail exclusively on Flipkart.

As the name suggest, Asus Zenfone 5 Lite is a trimmed down variant of Asus Zenfone 5. The display is still 5 inches in size but the resolution has been reduced to one fourth. It now sports 960 x 540 pixels instead of 720p HD resolution. The IPS LCD display comes with Anti-fingerprint coating on top.

The processor has been downgraded to dual core Intel Atom Z2520 clocked at 1.2 GHz (same one which is used in Zenfone 4), instead of 1.6 GHz dual core Z2560 in Zenfone 5. The RAM capacity has also been reduced to 1 GB. Internal storage remains same at 8 GB and can be further expanded by another 64 GB using MicroSD card slot.

For Photography, there is an 8 MP shooter at the rear side and a VGA front camera for selfies and video calling. Battery capacity has however been increased to 2500 mAh. The new phone will run Android 4.4 Kitkat out of the box. Other features include 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and GLONASS.

Zenfone 5 lite in India is a surprise as Zenfone already had a successful portfolio in budget price range. More option for consumers is never a bad thing. Zenfone 5 lite makes several compromises for a marginal 1,000 INR decrease in price. But will it offer inferior experience to already existing Zenfone 5? It’s too soon to judge that as of now.

Key Specs