Asus Zenfone Zoom ZX551ML, a totally camera dedicated smartphone recently launched at the event in Agra, Delhi. According to the company it is the “World’s thinnest 3X Optical-Zoom Smartphone” which captures DSLR-like pictures. Well there are always differences on the paper and reality. This smartphone is priced Rs. 37,999 in India, so lets see if it’s really up to the mark to be the best camera-smartphone!
Well if you don’t know the specifications of Asus Zenfone Zoom lets take a look at the specs.
Asus Zenfone Zoom ZX551ML Specifications
- 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 pixels display
- Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection
- 13MP rear camera with OIS, Laser AF, f/2.7-4.8 aperture, 3X optical zoom, Real Tone flash
- 5MP front-facing camera
- Quad-core Intel Atom Z3590 2.5GHz processor
- PowerVR G6430 GPU
- 4GB LPDDR3 RAM
- 128GB internal memory
- External memory up to 128GB via micro SD
- Android 5.1 Lollipop
- 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, NFC
- 3000mAh battery with ASUS BoostMaster fast charging
Hardware & Build Quality
Asus Zenfone Zoom looks a premium smartphone at first look. The back cover has a hand crafted premium leather finish which gives a good feel while holding the phone. Also the smartphone is made of a single piece of aluminum alloy which gives the ultimate metallic look in this device.
When coming to the Hardware the smartphone has a 5.5-inch Full HD display on the front. On the right edge it has Power button, Volume rocker buttons and dedicated Camera buttons placed. Unlike other Zenfones this device doesn’t have the power button placed on the top which is a good thing. On the back the big round camera is placed and at the below of the back cover, the speakers are placed. And on the top edge of the phone it has 3.5mm Audio port.
At the lower edge a small port is placed to add the premium leather wrist straps provided by Asus. As this is a camera smartphone so the strap sometimes helps to stop accidentally falling from hands. The bezels are little bit bigger than it’s previous models and the phone’s thickness is around 5mm which makes it little heavier. Otherwise this device has a top notch build quality and hardware. Two things this device really lacks is a Fingerprint reader and Dual SIM support which is now a common feature on flagship and most of the premium smartphones.
Display
Asus Zenfone Zoom has a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display with 403ppi pixel density which is powered by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 with anti-fingerprint coating. The display looks very good and the viewing angles are good enough. Again like other Zenfone variants the brightness is not up to the mark. The screen colors contrast and saturation are very good. The display is too reflective and sometimes we found difficulty to use it on the heavy light or sunlight.
Performance & Gaming
The Asus Zenfone Zoom is powered by Quad-core Intel Atom Z3590 2.5GHz processor with PowerVR G6430 GPU and whopping 4GB LPDDR3 RAM. The 4GB RAM ensures the smoothness of this device. The system runs lagfree and multitasking is good.
We have tried some big games like Asphalt 8 Airbone, Modern Combat 5 and it works flawlessly. The 4GB RAM helps to get the smooth performance and even while multitasking between heavy games. We have ran some benchmark tests and the result was very good. On Antutu Benchmark it scores 63023.
Well still we have to review for a week to test the temperature but sometimes we found it heats up well enough even while using some simple apps like Facebook, Messenger. As it was coming just after using the first firmware. Already they have given their first OTA software update which may fix this issue. Otherwise the device works flawlessly.
Camera
Now coming to the main aspect of this smartphone which is it’s Camera. The primary shooter is 13MP with f/2.7 aperture, 10P HOYA lens, 3X optical zoom/12X total zoom, OIS, Dual-color Real tone flash and Laser auto focus. While the front camera is 5MP with f/2.0 aperture with 88-degree wide-angle lens.
When comes to the picture quality the 13MP rear camera produces awesome pictures. Probably one of the best in this business. The image colors, saturation, and contrast are very good and details are clear inside the picture. The laser autofocus helps to focus anything within the 5cm range which is great for macro photography. Asus said that it can produce DSLR like pictures and it is right. The camera app is powered by pixelmaster which is a heavily customized app.
The front-camera also take good pictures and with it’s beautify mode it makes pictures perfect.
So in camera part, Asus Zenfone Zoom is obviously one of the best till now. Check the rear and front camera samples.
Rear Camera Samples:
Front Camera Samples:
OS and Software
Zenfone Zoom is powered by Android 5.0 Lollipop with Zen UI 2.0 on the top which is a drawback at first moment as the most of the new devices are now powered by Android Marshmallow. Hope it will get Android Marshmallow update very soon. The software works very well. Sometimes we found some lags and bugs in Camera app and that was before the update. After updating to new firmware we didn’t found those lags. So many updates are on the way too to fix all the errors. The multitasking is smooth in this device. There is no lag when switching between apps and games.
The internal storage is 128GB which can be extended upto 128GB using MicroSD. So there is no problem regarding to the storage you need. The Zen UI 2.0 is pretty heavy but it is heavily customizable. There are so many stock wallpapers inside the phone, you can use any to make your phone look better. Asus have so many apps loaded in this phone and I found most of them useful.
Watch this video to know more about Zenfone Zoom
Battery and Sound
Zenfone Zoom has 3000mAh non-removable lithium-polymer battery which supports fast charging. With Asus BoostMaster technology the turbo-speed charging takes 39 minutes to charge from 0% to 60%.
The speakers are placed at the bottom of the back cover and it sounds pretty good. The SonicMaster 2.0 which provides louder sound, stronger bass and make the music experience super fine and also same with gaming. The call quality is also good. Dual microphone assures clear and loud calling with no noisy sounds.
Final Verdict
Well Asus Zenfone Zoom is powerful camera smartphone and obviously one of the best in the market right now. It really provides DSLR like pictures and even in low light the camera works like charm. Looking at the other features the phone is nicely built and 4GB of RAM ensures smooth performance. There are good performance smartphones available on the same features but if you are a photographer or you want a smartphone for camera then this is a must go phone but obviously this phone is slightly overpriced.
Buy this smartphone from Flipkart: White Variant, Black Variant
