Update 3 Smartphone Deals Review – ASUS Zenfone 3 series was officially announced on May 30, 2016 at Computex Taipei, and since then, ASUS has gradually launched across the region such as Vietnam and Malaysia. There has been no shortage of coverage by major tech sites as ASUS has built a strong brand on the Zenfone series since its first generation models in 2014. Zenfones are some of the best Android smartphones made by a global technology Sort. After Samsung and Xiaomi, ASUS is the next popular Android phone among my peers.
ASUS has made it easy for me to convince people to get a Zenfone with premium features and functions. The high-spec Zenfone 2 running on a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel with all the bells and whistles (including NFC) is priced at just S$429 at launch. The Zenfone Selfie with a 13MP front camera is also less than S$400. The Zenfone Go TV with a built-in TV tuner was only S$259. Even the massive Zenfone Max with a 5000mAh battery is under S$300. Zenfone Zoom has the thinnest 3x optical zoom lens and is just under S$600, which is a steal considering the innovation behind it.
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For 2016, ASUS has refreshed its smartphone series with new designs while retaining product lines. They have the midrange Zenfone 3, the top-tier Deluxe, the big-battery Max, the budget Go, and the new Ultra line with a huge screen.
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ASUS designed the new smartphone series with premium materials and looks – all-glass and metal, no plastic. Personally, I prefer the previous Zenphones because they are more functional and more customizable with a swappable battery cover that eliminates the need for cases to protect the phones.
In this review, I will be writing about the Zenfone 3 that I have owned for the past 4 weeks. This is the ZE552KL 5.5 inch 32GB 4GB RAM model.
In hand, the Zenfone 3 ZE552KL feels premium. It is the only Zenfone model in the 2016 lineup with Gorilla Glass 3 on both the front and back, while the other models are made of metal. The glass is treated with a coating that reduces grease marks, and the sandblasted aluminum alloy frame with rounded corners gives it a silky feel. My hand tells me that it looks similar to the latest Samsung Galaxy series but is more secure in the hand because the Zenfone 3 is larger. I’m someone who prefers a thin smartphone to an ultra-thin one because I get a better grip and it prevents expensive equipment from slipping out of my hands.
Also, because the screen is slightly curved on the sides (2.5D), it is less exposed compared to the Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy Note 7. The practical side definitely favors the Zenfone 3’s more conservative design, and contrary to the Subconscious fear of dropping our S7 edge review unit, it didn’t I absolutely thought about it during my review of the Zenfone 3. I’m noticing hairline scratches on the back of the glass back, and the metal frame will chip and dent not Like the plastic, so I guess you might want to apply protection.
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The Super IPS + Full-HD display is noticeably brighter than previous Zenphones, at 600 nits. Compared to the LG G5 (which has a subtle green tint), the Zenfone 3 is brighter and shows a cleaner color balance.
I wouldn’t care too much about any color cast variables since the human eye is capable of autocorrection, unless you’re among the minority with super sensitive vision. I highly recommend activating the bluelight filter on your Zenfone 3 to make the screen look warmer and definitely more comfortable for your eyes.
The Zenfone 3 has moved from the rear volume buttons trend to the tried and tested side buttons. The power button is located under the volume rocker at a good distance within easy reach of the fingers while holding the phone. The metal buttons are prominent and provide firm clicks, which is a huge improvement over its predecessors.
Replacing the position of the volume button is the fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone. It also has other functions such as activating the camera and the shutter button. The use of a fingerprint sensor is not only for security but for convenience. Instead of hitting the power button or doing the ZenMotion touch gesture, all I have to do is place my finger on the sensor and the phone will instantly unlock and turn on. The sensor is very reliable and sensitive, detecting a finger in any direction, even upside down. When it can’t recognize the finger, the phone vibrates. If everything is in order, the phone screen will turn on. Even when it’s not convenient to unlock with a finger (such as when the phone is flat on a table), I can still use the traditional pattern unlock mode.
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Small disappointment missing NFC. Supporters of e-wallet and Android Pay will have to settle for the flagship Zenfone 3 Deluxe which will retail for S$998 when it launches in September.
Zenfone 3 is the first smartphone powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core 2.0GHz processor, with 4GB of RAM and Adreno 506 GPU. The overall speed is good and responsive for multitasking and loading apps, great balance between performance and battery consumption.
ZenUI has made several changes to improve the user experience even further. It remains my favorite launcher with a huge library of features. You can even install the launcher on non-ASUS phones from the Google Play Store (which I do on some phones where I don’t like the launcher). Although the visuals like the parallax background are attractive, I disable them to save memory and battery.
The new Mobile Manager is the only portal that allows you to manage the performance of your Zenfone 3, from app permissions, app notifications, storage cleanup, data usage control, power management, memory boost and privacy settings. Mobile Manager is a comprehensive website with easy to use screens to let me perform each of these tasks.
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Another improvement is that I can make changes to the connection settings from the notification tray without leaving the page. So when I press and hold the bluetooth icon, the screen pops up the list of bluetooth devices. Likewise for WiFi. Also, when I enable the hotspot, the notification drawer shows the usage summary without opening the hotspot settings page.
In an effort to make the phone user-friendly and oriented to the mass consumer, all pre-installed ZenUI apps have pre-set notifications that the user will receive regularly. Like PhotoCollage to remind you of the photos you took to create collages, ZenTalk to update you with the latest discussions, MiniMovie to create automated movies from your photos, themes in the latest downloads. These apps are useful, and they are a little annoying with notifications, but it is possible to turn them off by opening each app and going into the app settings to remove the check. Make this one of the tasks you must do when you get your new Zenfone.
ZenUI is also the main reason my daughter switched her smartphone from her current phone, as the Zenfone allows me to monitor her app usage. The app data usage list can be easily sorted and I can also review the daily data usage and decide which apps are allowed to connect to mobile data or WiFi. I will also lock apps with app lock if you over use it.
Apart from app lock, Zenfones come with a kids mode where I can activate and choose which specific apps my child can access. This is a simple way to let my child run selected apps (such as Pokémon Go) without fear of accessing the entire contents of the phone.
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The 6-element Largan f/2.0 lens on the Zenfone 3 camera is protected by sapphire glass, one of the hardest metals. The sensor size is 16MP, 1/2.8″ with deep trench isolation to reduce light bleeding into adjacent pixels. Tritech autofocus (laser, phase detection, continuous autofocus) prompts faster focus, 4-axis optical is for photos, and 3-axis electronic is for video. A color correction sensor captures images with more accurate colors, and a 32-second exposure option offers more creative shots.
Despite a lot of the imaging technology, I feel that there are not huge differences from any excellent smartphone camera. Real-time HDR mode is much faster than previous Zenfone models, but the effect is not as obvious as previous Zenfone phones, and it only seems to work in a small dynamic range. HDR Pro shooting mode is slightly better.
Focus is fast but not super fast, and continuous focus isn’t always up to the job, so I sometimes have to tap the focus point to get the camera back in focus. In low-light situations, it still requires a steady hand as the camera opens the slow shutter to let in the light. Suffice it to say, the result is good.
Areas can be overexposed in night photos if the light is too intense. The Zenfone 3 shows the night scene a little too aggressively. HDR doesn’t seem to work under such situations.
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OIS isn’t aggressive either, and it will still be blurry at times because shutter speeds on smartphones aren’t always that fast.
However, what really matters are image details, hue and noise, and the Zenfone 3 manages this very well. The camera startup is also fast which helps to capture the moments.
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