No techie needs an introduction to the ZenFone series of Asus. They came to Indian smartphone market a couple of years ago. The first generation ZenFones were the mixture of elegance, features and budget-friendliness.
Later, they keep on following the same design profile. I know most of you are disappointed with this trait. Don't worry! Let's talk about one of my most favorite Asus gadget Zenfone 3 review on Computergeekblog now.
Here it comes! ZenFone 3 Review.I am going to review the third generation of ZenFones in this article. Yeah, Asus finally did it. They changed the design.
ZenFone 3 Review
Unlike the previous years, Asus has launched multiple variants of Zenfone this time. The price starts from INR 21999 to 62999. With a single device, they aim to be a strong competition to both midlevel and high range smartphones including OnePlus, iPhone and now, Pixel as well.
What I am going to review here is the model with 5.5 inch screen priced at INR 27999 (ZE552KL).
Read more- Asus Zenfone Max Review (16GB)Design
What should I say about the design of Zenfone 3? I really welcome the change and adore it.
Most of the manufacturers are stepping into unibody metal design. But Asus here went with 2.5 D Curved Gorilla Glass on both front and back. Due to the same change, the device looks classy and feels premium in the hand.
Around the 5.5 inches display, you can find the front camera (8 MP), sensors and capacitive buttons as well. Unfortunately, the buttons aren't backlit and for the same reason, you may find issues in dealing with it in the dark.
Of course, there are charging port (Type C) and audio jack.
On the right, you get the volume rockers and power button whereas the hybrid slim slot sits on the left.
The back camera (16 MP) with an LED flash is present on the back beneath which you see the fingerprint scanner.
The full HD display with 401 PPI pixel density is a decent performer, I would say.
Read More- Asus Zenfone 2 Laser ZE550KLFeatures
Zenfone 3 boasts a 64 bits octacore SoC. Still I am disappointed by their chip selection. What you get here is a Snapdragon 625 clocked at 2 GHz. Remember, for the same price you will get SD 820 out of the box with OnePlus 3.
Adreno 506 is the GPU, and it coupled with the 4 GB RAM is sturdy enough to give the decent performance.
The device offers 64 GB of internal storage and, you can add SD cards up to 1 TB. Yeah, you read it right!
Moreover, ZenFone provides you with another 100 GB as cloud storage.
The hybrid slim slot is a slight letdown. Still 64 GB of internal storage balances it. Both the SIMs support 3G and 4G. You can only connect to 3G/4G on one SIM at a time.
The front camera is 8 MP whereas back is 16. The sensor used in the real camera is Sony's IMX298. Both the cameras have an f/2.0 aperture. Asus has implemented their own brand-new TriTech technology, which is an effective combo of phase detection, laser auto focus and continuous auto focus.
Read More - 10 Reasons to Buy Asus #Zenfone2There are many unique specifications on Zenfone 3, one of which is ZenMotion. With ZenMotion, you can enable a set of various touch gestures. One hand mode is a great addition provided it has a large 5.5 inch screen (once considered as phablet).
Just like the previous versions of ZenFone, this one also has an inbuilt ram cleaner. Right from the ZenFone 5, I find it has amazing effect in boosting the performance.
The ZenUI looks clean and you get a bunch of various elegant apps like Splendid, Quick Memo etc.
Camera
I already gave you the overview of the camera. The back camera is 16 MP whereas the back is 8 MP.
The pictures shot with the rear camera came out great. My initial impressions justified the fast auto focus as claimed by the company itself.
The phone has both OIS (optical image stabilization) and EIS (electronic image stabilization). You can't find the same on OnePlus 3, though.
Zenfone 3 managed to capture good images. The outdoor images came out great with good and vibrant colors. Nonetheless, it struggled a bit as I moved to indoor and artificial lighting conditions. Don't get me wrong! The images were decent but there was noise.
It is also capable of shooting 4K videos as well.
The front camera is decent enough to capture good selfie images.
The camera interface is good enough and, doesn't confuse you with cluttered organization. Yeah! There is legendary night mode.
You can find a lot more modes.
Performance
SD 625 is more than enough for daily usage scenarios. It performed well with every app I throw at it (not games). When it comes to gaming, you may face some frame drops with heavy titles.
Again, I am not saying it is terrible in handling games. When the situation becomes intense, it may stutter a bit, not much.
The fingerprint scanner responded well. And, you can unlock the device within a flash of the second using it.
I don't believe in benchmark scores. So, I am not sharing it here. Of course, it is way less than the competitor devices simply due to the chipset inside.
Battery
It packs a 3000mAh battery, which is enough for daily usage. But when it comes to 4K video shooting, 4G usage and gaming, it can't give you much battery life.
You can charge the device from zero to hundred in about one and half hour.
Final Verdict
You know with which Zenfone 3 competes, don't you? Yeah, it is with OnePlus 3.
Of course, OP3 is way ahead of Zenfone 3. Still, it has got some advantages like camera with OIS. And, you can buy it both online and offline. Still, OnePlus 3 is exclusively available on Amazon.
Zenfone 3 is really a good device to go for. You get a stunning device both in terms of looks and performance.
Savita Singh is the author of computergeekblog, She has a superlative knowledge of Graphic and Web designing. She is a part time and award winning tech blogger who loves to write about latest technology, social media and web design. Her blog focuses on creative things of designing and tech, providing professional opinions on designing products, performances and a variety of business.
