The ASUS Zenfone 2 is a mid-range smartphone and although it cannot be considered a flagship model, it has many aces up its sleeve.
The model that we are going to review is the one with a 5.5-inch screen, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
Design
Zenfone 2 features a plastic case with a brushed metal finish, smooth rounded corners, and glossy bezels. At first glance, the phone may seem premium, but after a second look and after holding it in your hand, the case feels a bit cheap.
The Zenfone 2 is a bit bulky, measuring 6.0×3.0x0.4 inches and weighing 6 ounces, but overall the build quality is solid, it doesn’t retain fingerprints, the grip is reasonably good, but we found another design flaw .
Like the LG G4, ASUS opted for the buttons to be on the back, but while LG got it right, ASUS seems to have missed the mark, the power button is oddly placed at the top of the case, and the volume controller it is too thin and uncomfortable. .
The back of the phone can be removed to access the dual SIM and MicroSD slots.
Note: Zenfone 2 integrates dual microSD cards into the interface, making it easy to travel between SIM cards.
Audio is provided by a single tiny speaker below a large grille at the bottom of the phone’s back.
to show
The Zenfone 2 features a 5.5-inch IPS LED-backlit display with a resolution of 1920x1080p and a pixel density of 403ppi. Also, the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and has great viewing angles.
The Zenfone 2 will do fine with gaming or internet video, but there is an issue with brightness, as trying to view the screen in direct sunlight is quite difficult.
Still, images look sharp, it has almost full sRGB gamut, colors are balanced enough if a little undersaturated (blacks could have been darker), it’s reasonably accurate with primary color saturation and considering that it is mid range. phone, the screen serves its purpose.
Performance
The Zenfone 2 features a 64-bit 2.3GHz Intel Atom Z3580 quad-core processor, backed by a PowerVR 6 Series G6430 GPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM (a cheaper phone version comes with just 2GB of RAM), 32 GB of native storage memory and a possible addition of up to 64 GB through the microSD slot.
Surprisingly to some, Intel is just as capable as Qualcomm and the 4GB RAM is a great feature that helps a lot and you can definitely see the power of the phone while multitasking or playing resource-heavy games.
Overall, we felt the Zenfone 2’s performance was on par with any other high-end phone (Samsung Galaxy S6 or iPhone 6), apps launched quickly, we played a wide variety of games (from basic to those that require lots of resources) smoothly and without any hiccups, watching Netflix was smooth and, as said before, multitasking was handled incredibly well.
Software
ASUS Zenfone features the latest Android Lollipop 5.0 but it is heavily modified in the more complicated and intriguing ASUS Zen UI.
Zen UI’s interface has a minimalist look, runs smoothly, and has a lot of customization available, from theme packs to icon style to title font size, leaving you with a truly unique and truly user-friendly interface. to your liking
ASUS has included some cool apps that will definitely help make it easier to explore and use your phone. Some worth mentioning are File Manager, Do It Later app (integrated task list), Autowizard, Power Saver and more.
Unfortunately, most “native” apps can’t be uninstalled (and there are a lot), which leads to some bloatware, so be prepared to spend a few hours disabling the app.
In terms of connectivity, the Zenfone 2 has Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, WiFi 802.11ac and LTE.
Camera
The main camera has a 13-megapixel sensor and f/2.0 aperture, which means that it is a fairly basic camera that manages to capture quality photos.
Note: Unfortunately there is no optical image stabilization.
Some minor drawbacks we noticed are that in bright settings colors appeared a bit oversaturated and in low light you can brighten the image but it will cost you 3 megapixels.
The camera has 17 shooting modes and some interesting features are HDR option and super resolution mode.
One great thing about the Zenfone 2’s camera is that it’s fast and there’s no lag between shots.
Both the front and rear cameras can record 1080p video at 30 frames per second.
Battery duration
The Zenfone 2 features a 3,000 mAh non-removable battery. Because it has a reasonably powerful CPU, the power consumption is quite high.
Still, when it matters, the phone has a smart saving mode that balances performance with power consumption (when the battery is running low).
With medium to light use, the phone will see you through the day.
The Zenfone 2 charges relatively quickly and like the LG G4 it goes from 0 to 100 in about an hour and a half.
conclusion
For costing $300 the ASUS Zenfone 2 cut a lot of shortcuts, the design is not that great, the camera is good but could have been better, but looking at how well it works, the great software and the 5.5″ screen, the Zenfone 2 is definitely a bargain.
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