Well, we are in 2016 right now, and top smartphone companies are competing within themselves to get the most out of the market. Customers these days are getting smarter just like a smartphone gets smarter day by day. They want more specs in a cheap budget.
Well, companies are working very hard to give the best product to its users. Asus is one of the top company who is able to dominate the smartphone market within 3years of its launch in Smartphone section. They have launched a long series of Asus Mobile aka Zenfones last year and this year they made significant changes in the smartphone. Zenfone 3, their latest smartphone; is it able to compete with the other smartphones in the same price bracket and how much this device is good for daily use? Let’s check out our detailed Review.
Asus Zenfone 3 Specifications
- 5.5-inch Full HD Super IPS+ display
- 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Octa-Core 2GHz Snapdragon 625 14nm processor
- Adreno 506 GPU
- 3GB/4GB RAM
- 32GB/64GB internal storage
- External memory up to 128GB with microSD
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Zen UI 3.0
- Hybrid Dual SIM
- 16-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, f/2.0 aperture, Sony IMX318 sensor, Laser AutoFocus
- 8-megapixel front camera, f/2.0 aperture
- Fingerprint sensor
- 4G LTE with VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, WiFi 802.11ac (2.4 and 5GHz) MU-MIMO, USB Type-C
- 3000mAh battery
Hardware & Build Quality
The previous gen Zenfones were made out of plastic where the Zenfone 3 is completely different in Design and Hardware aspects. The Zenfone 3 is made out of Glass and Metal. Both rear and front panels are protected by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass protection, and that gives a premium feel to the device. The edges are made out of metal.
On the back it has a Square shaped Camera placed and just beside that there’s a dual-tone LED Flash. On the other side of the Camera, you can find the Laser AutoFocus. Just underneath the Camera a rectangle shaped Fingerprint sensor is placed. There’s nothing more on the back except the Asus branding at the bottom.
Unlike previous Zenfone 2 models the Volume rocker buttons are not placed at the back instead buttons are placed on the right edge. Just under the Volume rocker buttons, you can find a Power button. On the front panel, we have a 5.5-inch Display and a front-facing Camera.
Overall Asus have worked really hard on design. Zenfone 3 feels very good in the hand and obviously the premium feel is there like Samsung and Apple.
Display
Asus Zenfone 3 comes with a 5.2-inch or 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) Display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass protection. The brightness is 600nits which help to see everything even under sunlight. We have used the phone under Sunlight and with Full Brightness the visibility was good enough. The bezel is 2.1mm ultra-slim and has a 77.3% screen-to-body ratio. The viewing Angle is very good in Zenfone 3. The 2.5D Glass gives a sleek look to the device.
Performance & Gaming
Asus Zenfone 3 is powered by Octa-Core 2GHz Snapdragon 625 14nm processor with 3GB or 4GB RAM. The GPU is Adreno 506 GPU. We have tested the device in every aspect, and Zenfone 3 didn’t disappoint us. The performance was very good; the multitasking was smooth. Although the ZenUI is bit heavy but the 4GB RAM handles it easily.
We have also tested out some heavy games like Modern Combat 5, Asphalt 8 Airborne, N.O.V.A. 3 and Zenfone 3 runs them smoothly. So far there were no frame drops while playing but while playing Asphalt 8 with high graphics, we have noticed some frame drops. While gaming the device doesn’t heat up much. Overall the device did pretty well and for daily usage and gamers Zenfone 3 will not be any problem.
Camera
Zenfone 3 has a 16-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, f/2.0 aperture, Sony IMX318 sensor and Laser AutoFocus. We have tested out the Camera both in outdoor and indoor conditions. The outdoor pictures came out brilliant while the indoor condition pictures struggled a lot. Even sometimes the Camera is not able to capture properly in low-light condition. The outdoor condition pictures were well composed, and the colors were perfect.
The front-facing camera is an 8-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture, and wide-angle lens. Personally, I feel the Wide angle lens in Zenfone 3 looks weird. Using Low Light mode you can take a good selfie and again in indoor condition and low-light the camera has struggled a bit. But the outdoor condition selfies are really good.
OS and Software
Zenfone 3 is running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Zen UI 3.0 on the top of it. The new Zen UI is much better than the previous ones. But again the device is loaded with Bloatwares which is really annoying. Asus should keep the device clean and give users a choice to use by their own way. Nevermind, you can always uninstall the Apps which you don’t like. The Zen UI is pretty heavy, though, but it performs quite well in daily use. If you don’t like Zen UI, you can install other Launchers too for a better experience. The UI is customizable, and a lot of themes are available in the market so that you can customize in your own way.
Fingerprint Sensor
Zenfone 3 has a rectangular shaped Fingerprint sensor placed on the back. The fingerprint sensor is very fast and can unlock the device within 0.2 secs. We have tested out the sensor, and it responds pretty fast. Most of the times the sensor recognized the fingerprint. There’s some security too with the fingerprint. You can’t unlock the device with fingerprint after rebooting the device.
Battery and Sound
The device is packed with a 3000mAh battery which is Non-removable. Asus has integrated USB Type-C in Zenfone 3, and it supports fast-charging which can quickly charge up the phone. With 5minutes of charging it can give you two hours of Talktime. Although the battery takes up to 2hrs and 6mins to fully charge up. The Battery performance is pretty average; with normal usage the user can get up to 1day backup and with heavy usage it won’t run until the end of the day and probably you have to find your charger to charge the phone.
ZenFone 3 has SonicMaster and High-Res Audio certification. The sound quality is pretty good when you are in the same room. But when you are in the other room you might miss some calls sometimes because the sound is not that loud. There were no issues while calling. The sound was clear and no noisy sounds over VoLTE.
Final Verdict
Zenfone 3 is a very good smartphone with overall good specs and performance. It also has a good Camera. All these you get for ₹27,999 for the 4GB variant. Well well well, it’s obviously an overpriced smartphone. When we compare the device with other smartphones at the same price range, then you have to rethink as for ₹27,999 you can get OnePlus 3 which has Snapdragon 820, whopping 6GB of RAM and also all top notch features you want. A Snapdragon 652 model for Rs. 27,999 is not considerable, but this will be a great smartphone if they give a price cut. Those who are looking for a smartphone with great design in hand they can buy this smartphone.
Buy Zenfone 3 4GB RAM variant from Flipkart.
