ASUS has been very aggressive in the smartphone market for a while and after offering its Zenfone series in the budget segment since the last two years, this time they have taken a different turn. Yes, the new Zenfone 3 is now set to take on its rivals with design and performance, albeit with a higher price this time.
ASUS announced its new platter of Zenfone 3 series last month which comprised of expensive and premium smartphones from mid-range to high-end. An ASUS ZenFone 3 5.2-inch ZenFone 3 (ZE520KL) priced at Rs 21,999, a 5.5-inch model (ZE552KL) for Rs 27,999, a ZenFone 3 Ultra (ZU680KL) for Rs 49,999 and a ZenFone 3 Laser (ZC551KL) for Rs 18,999. A high-end ZenFone 3 Deluxe Special Edition variant is also on the shelves with a massive price tag of Rs 62,999. Well, we had the 5.5-incher ZE55KL with us for a while and we must say that though the device is a tad expensive when compared to the hardware specifications, the camera, display and design do help to justify the price tag.
The device is definitely a good looker—it sports a completely different design as compared to previous generation Zenfones. The one we received was a Gold colour variant, but ASUS has White, Blue and Black variants also on offer. The Zenfone 3 sports refreshing looks with an all glass front and rear panel—a 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass protects both the sides. However, the rounded chassis that flushes well with two glass panels make up for one slippery Android in your hands. As for ASUS’s signature concentric-circle design, it’s not lost completely—ASUS has beautifully taken care of it on the front and rear panel, a little differently. The metal frame is sturdy and feels solid, making the Zenfone 3 a rugged device. The rear panel being all-glass is a massive fingerprint magnet and along with the slippery surface, you should very well opt for a silicone case.
The front panel sports a large 5.5-inch full HD LCD display with capacitive buttons for home, back and recent. The rear panel sandwiches the primary camera between the two-tone LED flash and the laser focussing module. Below the camera is a fingerprint sensor with a high-gloss mirror finish, which is a dust and fingerprint magnet too. The power and volume buttons take their place on the right side, a USB Type-C on the bottom replaces the standard micro USB port with a mono speaker grill on its right and the headphone jack is placed on the top. The left side sports the hybrid SIM slot where you can place two SIM cards or one SIM and one micro SD card, as per your choice. Weighing 155g, the Zenfone 3 is 7.69mm thick.
Coming down to the specifications, the ZE552KL is built on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 64-bit octa-core SoC clocked at 2GHz. Coupled with an Adreno 506 GPU and 4GB of RAM, the Zenfone boasts of better performance as compared to other rivals. An onboard 64GB of storage will definitely give you plenty of room for apps and media, but you can expand the storage to a whopping 2TB. The display is a full HD 1080p LCD panel which sports 480ppi and 600-nit brightness. In the imaging department, the ZE552KL is supplied with a 16MP Sony IMX298 sensor with a 6P Largan lens setup and an aperture of f/2.0 with OIS and the front camera sports an 8MP sensor. Apart from the main hardware, the smartphone sports a 5-magnet speaker for better audio, along with Wi-Fi ac, GLONASS and dual SIM 4G VoLTE support. Lastly, the phone is powered by a decent 3000mAh battery that can serve you well for a complete working day with enough juice to keep you going for a few hours more.
As for the software onboard the Zenfone, ASUS has its own UI, the ZenUI3.0, which is based on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 out of the box. Though the custom user interface is great and has loads of features, there is sufficient amount of bloatware too that can be a put off. Nevertheless, the ZenUI does offer great features, such as one-hand operation mode, gestures, intelligent functionality on the navigation buttons, RAM management, battery management, and a lot more.
Coming down to the performance, we did not find any reason to complain. Though the device is priced at par OnePlus’ flagship offering, the latter will definitely outsmart the Zenfone with a superior SoC and 6GB of RAM. With 4GB of RAM and an advanced SD 6xx chipset, the Zenfone does have a good performance along with RAM and battery management to make the user happy. We did play around with the device for long hours, including gaming, and found no lags or heating issues, whatsoever.
In the photography section, the ASUS Zenfone 3 did manage to impress us. The camera is fast, easy to use and holds a lot of features that can help you get most out of the camera. Clubbed with a laser focussing module, the camera does perform faster than usual and also in low-light areas. With OIS (optical image stabilisation) and EIS (electronic image stabilisation) support built into the primary camera, the Zenfone 3 can help you a lot when recording videos or if you have shaky hands. However, don’t expect it to do too much this feature only helps with minor stabilisations only.
As for the quality of the captured images, the Zenfone 3 does an impressive above average job. Shots in bright daylight are great, with excellent colour and contrast reproductions. Details and sharpness are good too. With a manual mode option, you can tweak your camera’s settings further to capture some excellent shots too. Photos taken in the shade and indoors too were above average, but you will find them a bit grainy—which is usual for most smartphone cameras out there. Low-light photography may be the highlight of most high-end cameras these days, but we must say that low-light photography reduces the quality of the image (about to 4MP) and you will definitely see it very grainy. Though the images are captured well, the overall picture is not as promising as there is immense loss of detail. We leave you judge the camera’s performance with a few too many photos that we managed to click with the Zenfone 3.
The ASUS Zenfone 3 ZE552KL is definitely a good choice for those looking for a smartphone with a blend of performance and style. For a price tag of Rs 27,999, we do feel it a little pricey, but based on the overall performance and new design, we would say it is a worthy device.
