Asus after launching budget and Mid-range smartphones in the Zenfone series finally launched their first Flagship smartphone ZenFone Zoom which was announced at CES 2015. ASUS Zenfone Zoom is the world’s thinnest-ever smartphone to come with 3x Optical Zoom and is an alternative option for those who want a pocket-sized DSLR. It comes with 13 MP rear camera with 3x Optical Zoom powered by an Intel processor and 4GB of RAM. Let’s Find out how good is Zenfone Zoom in our full review
Design & Display
Asus ZenFone Zoom is a photographic centric phone and from the back looks like a camera. you can’t make out much that it is a phone also and when you turn it to the front, this phone gives the appearance of a phone.
Zoom is made of metal and plastic and metal gives it elegant look The design of the Zenfone Zoom is similar to other Zenfone smartphones On the front It has 5.5-inch Display front-facing camera with 88-degree wide-angle lens. earpiece, Asus branding, notification LED. below the display, we have touch capacitive buttons.ASUS has given diamond cutting edges with an aluminum unibody frame and with 5mm ultra-thin edges.
The volume rockers, power button The camera shutter key and a video key is also present on the Right side of the phone.There is nothing on the left side of the phone It has a volume controller that can be used to Zoom or un-Zoom the object.The micro USB slot, primary microphone, nd strap hole are present on the bottom. 3.5mm Audio jack is located on top of the phone.
On the back, we have a 13-megapixel camera and 3X optical zoom,10-element lenses with optical image stabilization (OIS), laser auto-focus and dual-color Real Tone flash below that Asus branding and a speaker grill. It has a leather cover which gives a premium look to the device. under the back, there is a nonremovable battery, single SIM and microSD slot. The smartphone measures 158.9 x 78.84 x 11.95 mm and weighs 185 grams, mainly due to the huge zoom lens. leather on back gives good grip to handle the device in one hand.
ASUS Zenfone Zoom comes with a 5.5-inch full HD screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection and supports 1080×1920 pixels resolution with a pixel density of 403PPI. It has a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on top of it. The display offers vibrant colors, good brightness levels, and viewing angles, even in bright sunlight.
Performance
Asus ZenFone Zoom is powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3590 processor with PowerVR G6430 GPU with 4GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage out of which 112GB is available to the user and further expandable up to 128GB with microSD card. Asus also provides 10storage storage will not be an issue for many users.we played some games like Candy Crush Saga and Subway Surfers , Asphalt 8 Airborne and Modern Combat games run well without any heating or lag issue. with PowerVR G6430 GPU High-end graphics also works fine without any frame drop or lag. while using multiple app device we did not face any lag or slow down of the device. we tried running some benchmark apps on AnTuTu Benchmark phone scores 55716 points . GeekBench 3 scores 964 points on single core and 2957 on multi-core. Quadrant standard scores 22802. The performance of Zenfone zoom is smooth and fast.
Software
Asus Zenfone Zoom runs on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with Asus own ZenUI on top of it. which is similar to other Zenfone phones available in the market. There are a lot of bloatware. Overall, the interface makes the phone easy to use and even gives a large number of customization options. There are more than 10 preloaded apps and most of them are useless. Also, Asus has broken down many features that you’d expect in one app into multiple apps which make things more complicated. It also comes with a theme engine so you can customize the look and feel of Android on the phone. Despite the heavy customization, the interface feels very very responsive, which is a great thing. You don’t ever get the feeling that the heavily customized interface is bogging down the performance of the phone. Yes, you can uninstall unwanted apps and also move apps to microSD card. We didn’t notice lag while using the smartphone.
There are also options to change the themes. Double tap to wake up. The phone has an Easy Mode, which removes most of the UI elements and makes the phone easier to use with the help of big icons and simple layout. You can choose which apps and widgets to add on the home screen. Asus also lets you select the home screen options, the menu layout, wallpapers, scroll effects, and icon packs when you long-press the home screen. The phone comes with an Auto switch to Ultra saving mode. there is an app call ZenUI Movie app using which you can create Mini movie from the photos or videos available in the gallery. One-hand mode which enables to use phone in one mode
Now coming most important part of the device rear of the smartphone – the 13-megapixel rear camera with 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. If you are a photography enthusiast, you get to enjoy a lot of freedom with the device’s camera featuring a manual mode, which allows you to control options such as white balance, exposure, ISO, shutter speed and focal point. camera comes with f/2.7 to f/4.8-aperture, 10-element lenses with 3X optical zoom, OIS laser auto-focus, and dual-color Real Tone flash. The 10-element lens of Hoyo which allows up to 12x digital zoom. The ZenFone Zoom is capable of creating shots of up to 52MP with the help of super resolution mode. It provides 16 times longer exposure duration to ensure the image to be stabilized, sharp and clear every time even when moving and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with 88-degree wide-angle lens which can capture good selfies in both daylight light as well as low light.
Both rear and front camera supports 1080P videos which can shoot some pretty good videos in both low light and day light also supports the slow motion. but lacks 4K video which is one the drawback at the price it is available, images captured using rear camera were far up to mark with good color production. 3X optical zoom works well most of the time was able to capture good images which had good details and color there was an issue while focusing sometimes using a 3x optical zoom. The physical camera button works very well. light press lets you focus and long press captures the shot. The volume rocker doubles up as a controller for zooming in/out that comes real handy when taking zoomed shots in landscape mode.
The camera app comes with a number of shooting modes, like Beautification, Auto, Manual, Night, Low Light, and even HDR and Depth of Field. standard automatic mode, a detailed manual mode, HDR, panorama, smart remove, GIF animation and time lapse. Beautification mode lets you set a timer of up to 5 seconds while capturing photos; shots were taken in this mode remove all imperfections from your face, and like Beauty modes in other phones, give a glazed look to the photo. However, under low light conditions, photos touched up by Beautification mode will be the best for Facebook, Instagram. Check Out some camera samples below
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Connectivity & Battery
Connectivity options include 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC. Data and WiFi work fine without any issue. The signals and Audio Quality of call and speaker output was loud and clear . we didn’t notice any issue while on Phone calls. asus has provided in-ear headphones that provide good sound quality . Zenfone zoom comes with a single SIM which supports 4G LTE. Device supports OTG. Zenfone Zoom comes with a NFC Technology. which allows the exchange of information with other NFC-equipped smartphones with a simple tap or wave. NFC also work as a payments types for your devices.
Asus ZenFone Zoom is packed by a 3000mAh battery which supports fast charging.It was able to deliver One full day of battery on normal use like on data, music , some gaming etc . while playing high end games and using camera we got a battery backup of 12-15 hours of battery life. 50% battery charges in 25min with the supplied 2A fast charger. Zenfone zoom also comes with a power saving mode which disables the network when not in use there is also a super power mode which disables all networks when in use. smartphone comes with full HD Display,4G RAM still battery life on device is quite impressive
Asus Zenfone Zoom is priced at Rs at Rs 37.999 comes in in Meteorite black and Glacier white colors. Zenfone Zoom and Tripod bundle is priced at Rs. 39,999. Design, Display, and performance of the device is good. the camera lacks 4K support, camera apps needs some improvements, Still running on Android 5.0 when other smartphone makers launching with latest OS. at this price zoom is Overpriced, some one looking for a smartphone with storage, performance, design, the camera then this will be option .well done Asus for thinking of something innovative and launching thinnest ever smartphone with 3X optical zoom.
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