ASUS has launched very good smartphones in the past. E.g. Zenfone Zoom is my favorite smartphone that I have been using for the last few months. However, ASUS is working hard to continuously improve its UI and smartphones. Zenfone 3 has attracted me because of its premium golden look and affordable price with a fingerprint sensor.
Look & Feel of ZenFone 3
ASUS has recently launched zenfone 3 smartphones that have a rugged-looking plastic body for a premium glass body. It’s packed with 2.5D corning Gorilla glass on both the front and back sides. The feeling of holding the device was so smooth that we were afraid of getting it dropped from our hands.
Unfortunately, it was also dropped one time from my hands but luckily device is still working without any issue. The device is so sturdy and Gorilla glass protection helps it to get scratch-free.
Its weight was only 155 Grams with a 6.16 mm metal frame around the phone. It comes with a 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution. On the front end side, there is a speaker, proximity sensor, and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture.
On the back side, it spots the ASUS logo at the bottom. On the top, there is a 16 MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, 6P Largan lens, and dual-LED real tone flash. In the camera sensor, AUS has used Sony’s IMX298 camera sensor to make it perfect. This camera uses TriTech auto-focus technology to capture photos. Tritech auto-focus makes use of laser, phase detection, and continuous auto-focus modes in it.
Just below the camera buttons, there is a fingerprint sensor in this device which helps you to unlock your device at any time with your fingertips. We have tried it with wet fingers and dry fingers to check its fingerprint sensor. During testing, it worked very accurately as expected without any issues.
Also, there is a USB Type-C port for charging and a microphone at the bottom. While a 3.5mm audio jack is located at the top of this device.Zenfone 3 sports a 5-magnet speaker top right bottom, which can deliver 40% better performance than other zenfone models to ASUS.
Zenfone 3 sports a 5-magnet speaker top right bottom, which can deliver 40% better performance than other zenfone models to ASUS.
Volume buttons and the power button are on the right-hand side. Zenfone 3 comes with preinstalled apps like PhotoCollage, Share Link, Do It Later(Task organizer), ZenFone Care, ZenTalk, Laser Ruler, Quick Memo, Splendid, Puffin, ZenCircle, ZenFlash camera, and MyAsus Service Centre.
Specification
The Asus ZenFone 3 comes with a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor clocked at 2GHz with integrated Adreno 506 graphics. For high performance, it comes with 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Also, you will get 32GB of internal storage along with microSD card support up to 2TB. Also, you will get 100GB of cloud storage space for 2 years with your Google Drive account.
There is a hybrid SIM slot in which you can insert one Nano-SIM and one micro SIM/microSD card in it. You don’t need to remove back cover to insert SIM card. You can insert SIM cards and MicroSD cards from a side. ASUS notes that both SIM card supports 3G/4G networks but only one SIM card will be able to connect to one network at a time.
Camera
ASUS has used the camera sensor of Sony IMX298 with the Zenfone 3 device. There is an 8 MP selfie camera on the front end side and the back, is packed with a 12 MP primary camera with Tritech autofocus tech. You can explore the full detailed specifications of zenfone 3 cameras from here.
There are a few other very good features of ASUS zenfone 3 cameras such as Optical image stabilization(OIS), and electronic image stabilization for better shots. You can even change the default camera megapixel from the camera setting. We have also tried to disable the camera shutter sound of zenfone 3. As they have a built-in option in their default camera. Even after disabling this feature from the camera setting, the camera was still making a click sound on capturing images. We think this might be a bug maybe it will get resolved in the OTA update.
There is a dual-LED real-tone flash on the back side to capture good clear photos in a dark situation. One of the biggest features that we liked is zenfone 3 supports recording 4K videos in it. You can also record full-HD and HD resolution videos by using ASUS zenfone 3 devices.
Performance
This zenfone 3 is packed with an octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor that can handle multitasking. Apps launched very smoothly and also we were able to play need for speed game smoothly without any legs.
Also, a fingerprint sensor responds to finger touch very quickly. We have tried both wet and dry fingers to test its sensor but it worked as expected and it can identify the finger very quickly.
Battery
The battery of this phone is non-removable and 3000mAh capacity and supports fast charging. We have tested using this device and the battery lasts for 2 days with normal usage. With heavy and moderate usage, still, we got a one-day battery backup with this device.
Verdict
This zenfone 3 costs under 30,000 and we think directly competes with the Oneplus 3 smartphone. There is a lot more competition to go for this device but this phone scored a lot in terms of design and display quality.
