Asus Zenfone 2 Review

UPDATE: You can now read our Asus ZenFone 2 Laser Review!

Introduction

Ever wonder why we’re seeing fewer high-end phones nowadays? Well, when there’s an abundance of high-performing entry-level smartphones permeating the space of late, like the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 for example, there’s no wonder why there’s been a shift in focus of late with manufacturers. One of them in particular, Asus, has tried repeatedly to secure itself in being an established name in the smartphone world, but even through all of it, they’ve yet to make any sort of headway – failing to generate any sort of meaningful interest from consumers. However, it seems as though things are changing with the arrival of the Asus Zenfone 2, a phablet-esque sized smartphone that’s priced aggressively at as low as $199 outright!

The package contains:

• Asus Zenfone 2
• microUSB wall charger
• Users guide

Design

The brushed metallic finish looks sweet, but underneath it all, it’s still a conventional plastic phone.

By just looking at the Zenfone 2, one could presume it’s a premium thing because of the brushed metallic-like finish with its casing. Once it’s actually held in the hand, though, it becomes evidently clear that it’s nothing more than a plastic thing. Certainly, this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering the Zenfone 2 is positioned to be an entry-level thing.

Aesthetically, the design reminds us of the style employed by LG’s flagship G line – where it bears a close similarity to the LG G2. While there are numerous rear covers to choose from, the personalization it offers still isn’t enough to move its design style out of conventionality. Needless to say, it’s a handful to use due to its size, but there’s a substantial feel to it due to the weightiness of the phone. At the end of the day, the Zenfone 2’s design is still typical of past Asus phones – so we don’t find it as enthralling as the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3.

Looking around the phone, it’s almost hard to not say that its design is influenced by LG’s style – mainly because of how the volume control is placed on the backside of the phone. Unlike LG’s smartphones, it’s a long and flush button, which makes it tough to differentiate the two by touch alone. At times, too, we find ourselves hitting the wrong button or smearing the camera lens with our finger. Also, we’re not fans of how the power button is placed squarely on the top edge because it requires some serious stretching from our index finger to access.

Despite that, folks will appreciate that the back cover can be removed to give us access to its dual SIM slots and microSD card slot – albeit, the battery is fixed and cannot be replaced.

Display

Neither great nor abysmal, the display is your run-of-the-mill thing.

Who knows what the reasoning behind it is, but it looks as though many companies are liking the 5.5-inch screen size for their budget phones – and the Zenfone 2 follows suit. Specifically, it’s fashioned with a 5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 IPS-LCD Display with Gorilla Glass 3 layered on top for protection. Much like the other 5.5-inchers with 1080p resolution, it’s more than sound with its detail and sharpness.

Diving deeper into the display’s other characteristics, like its 7622K color temperature and gamma value of 2.8, they indicate that it isn’t necessarily the most pristine screen around. Its color temperature, naturally, means that it exudes a colder tone, which casts a bluish hue on colors. In addition, its 2.8 gamma tells us Asus has gone for a contrasty look, but has ultimately achieved a rather inaccurate image representation.

Even though it doesn’t hit all of the target values in the sRGB color chart, it’s not as saturated as some other displays. And finally, its 442 nit luminance might not be as potent as we’d like, making it sometimes a chore to view under direct sunlight, but it’s not totally unviewable either. After our eyes feasted on the astonishing display of the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3, we find the one here in the Zenfone 2 to be bland.

Interface and Functionality

Don’t be fooled, this latest ZenUI experience is rich with features and offerings to satisfy power users.

Impressively, for something regarded as an entry-level offering, the latest Asus ZenUI experience is rich with features, personalization, and security – it’s definitely a cut above other phones that are of similar caliber, but not to the level of the greats. In that regard, some people might feel a bit overwhelmed trying to get around, just because there’s so much to do and remember. From its rich personalization with downloadable themes, to the various ZenMotion functions, there might be simply too much for people to absorb.

On the opposite side of things, though, it shows that Asus has taken the time to deepen and enhance all aspects of its ZenUI experience. Still, it’s hard to not draw comparisons to what LG has done, seeing that we can turn on/off the screen by just performing a double tap at any time. Even with all the features running on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop, we’re pleasantly surprised to find that Asus has retained the multi-user feature, which many handset makers have omitted with their custom Android experiences.

Incredibly powerful and highly customizable, this latest ZenUI experience is no doubt accompanied with all the bells and whistles to satisfy power users. Although, it’s just lacking in one particular area – multi-tasking, which is handled solely by the usual Recent Apps menu.

Processor and Memory

The trivial stuff are handled well, but of course, it’s missing that high frame rate performance when it comes to gaming.

The Asus Zenfone 2 might be thought of as a small blip in the greater scheme of things, but it’s actually notable for the fact that it’s powered by 64-bit quad-core 2.3GHz Intel Atom Z3580 processor coupled with the PowerVR 6430 GPU. And oh yeah, it’s the first smartphone to offer a whopping 4GB of dual-channel DDR3 RAM!

In this day and age, it’s such a rare occasion to see any phone lag tremendously. Having this shiny new hardware combination, the Zenfone 2 falls into the same category as everything else – where it’s more than capable to handle the simple stuff with ease, but for the more processor intensive operations, such as gaming, it doesn’t have the fluid high frame rates we see in high-end phones. While the benchmark scores put it above the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3, HTC Desire 820, and many other things, there’s no arguing that it can’t match the high-end champions in the space.

The Zenfone 2 is available in two variants: the $199 outright priced one with the less impressive chipset, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage, and the more ‘premium’ $299 model that’s stuffed with a pleasant 64GB of internal storage. Best of all, they both can be supplemented thanks to their available microSD card slots.

Internet and Connectivity

Blessed with a generous amount of real estate, along with LTE support on 9 bands and its smooth performance, it delivers that tasteful experience we all know and love by now. Even complex pages load quickly and properly, while navigational controls such as pinch zooming and kinetic scrolling are handled effortlessly.

A world phone that’s compatible with the myriad of GSM-based networks sprinkled around the world, the Zenfone 2 features LTE Category 4+ that allows for download speeds up to 250 Mbit/s. Adding to that, it’s armed with a 5 satellite system GPS for better location precision, 802.11 ac Super Fast Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and NFC. Did we mention it’s a dual-SIM phone too?

Camera

Playing around with the modes and settings can result in some slick looking shots with its 13-MP camera.

The camera is always one hotly sought out feature for anyone, so with that, Asus intends on not disappointing us by outfitting the Zenfone 2 with a 13-megapixel PixelMaster rear camera, which features a Toshiba sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 5-element Largan lens, and a dual-LED Real Tone Flash. If that’s not enough, the front camera receives its share of the love because it’s a wide-angle 5-megapixel snapper with an f/2.0 aperture lens.

We’ve liked Asus’ camera app on its other devices, but for the Zenfone 2, they’ve taken it up a notch by including a deep set of shooting modes and a full manual mode as well. With the latter, we’re even able to set the shutter speed to as long as ½. Other notable things about the camera app include its low light mode that can capture brightly exposed details under low light, a beautification mode that adds those Photoshop-like effects to faces, depth of field that isolates the focus to a certain spot, and much more. Hardcore shutterbugs will no doubt be impressed by the vast options and controls!

We spent a long time using the camera intimately. While its quality under the automatic setting isn’t a home run, it’s nonetheless still effective to handle ideal shooting conditions with enough detail, sharpness, and natural colors. However, the camera tends to favor an over-sharpened composition – while under low light, it’s prone to blurring and the usual softer details (thankfully noise isn’t too distracting).

Indeed, its low light mode is able to brighten up the final image, but the downsize to a 3-megapixel image means that fine details are compromised. Out of everything, though, we’re most impressed by its HDR mode, since highlights and shadows are balanced properly to give the photo a pleasant contrast. Overall, it’s a camera we like, thanks in part to its rich features and decent performance.




Its 1080p video recording performance falls into pretty much the same boat, seeing that it’s reasonable looking when the conditions are ideal – such as outdoor scenery that’s brightly lit. Still, details are a bit more subdued looking. Under low light, the biggest problem is the slower frame rate capture of the camera.

Multimedia

A standard fanfare with the multimedia experience.

The Gallery app might look and operate like anything else on the surface, but it’s been revamped to include a wider array of editing tools for photos and a ‘MiniMovie’ feature that compiles a short clip using captured content.

Likewise, the new ZenUI music player doesn’t have much of a commanding presence, especially when it’s pretty ordinary with its presentation and function. Lining most of the bottom section of the rear casing, the handset’s internal speaker emits an output of 72.7 dB, which is decent, but its quality sounds extremely thin and light. However, that can be enhanced by enabling any of the AudioWizard options.

There’s no complaints about its video watching experience, considering it has an ample sized screen and smooth performance to go along with it. As we’ve said previously, it’s lacking in the multi-tasking department, so don’t expect to be watching a video and doing something else simultaneously.

Call Quality

Surely, it has its challenges at times, but at least the volume in plentiful.

Sure, the earpiece is loud enough to make out voices in noisy conditions, but there’s a little bit of a robotic tone that accompanies voices – while on the other end of the line, our callers can still make us out audible, but they mention it’s a little on the subdued side. It’s not perfect, obviously, so there are still times when we’re asked to repeat ourselves.

Battery

Above average with its battery life, we’re more astounded by its lightning fast 59 minutes of charging time.

No shortage of attention, the Asus Zenfone 2’s 3000 mAh battery continues to earn good marks from us. That’s partly because it’s above average in regards to other phones in its caliber, giving us well over a full day of normal usage from a full charge – it’s roughly at the 35% on most nights before bed. Putting it through its paces in our battery benchmark test, it achieves a respectable mark of 7 hours and 34 minutes. Despite being a bit short of the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3’s mark of 8 hours and 29 minutes, we’re almost at a loss for words with its 58 minutes of charging time to get it juiced back to 100%. That’s insanely fast for the bundled charger.

Conclusion

Asus is smart for attacking the entry-level segment of the market, as opposed to breaking into the high-end, which means tangling against some of the juggernauts floating about right now. Spending an intimate amount of time with the Zenfone 2, we’re confident that this is the kind of phone that grows on you over time. Initially, the design didn’t particularly win us over, but the more we use the phone and absorb all of its rich features, that’s when we truly realize its potential.

Factoring its $199/$299 outright pricing, that’s undoubtedly a competitive offering that’s taking it straight to the hearts of its competitors – a cautious, yet necessary move for them to garner interest from consumers. Great savings can be enjoyed by picking up the 16GB variant, but the 64GB one is particularly alluring, as it also boasts a better processor and double the RAM. Comparing it to the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3, the Zenfone 2 can’t compete in the areas of design and display, but Asus certainly takes the cake in the software experience.

Software version of the review unit:
Android Version: 5.0
Build Number: MR6-LRX21V.WW
Kernel Version: 3.10.20-x86_64_moor_g9f2abf6



UPDATE: You can now read our Asus ZenFone 2 Laser Review!