About two years ago, Samsung also launched the Zoom of Galaxy ‘last time with this technique. The 10X optical zoom was the most special feature of this phone, but in appearance it was more digital camera than a smartphone.
Asus is often used with her hybrid device and now the new name is Zenfone Zoom in this episode. This smartphone has an optical zoom and the matter of relief is that it has not been compromised due to its large smartphone. Will Zenfone Zoom be able to give a new life to this ‘new’ smartphone segment? What is Asus Zenfone to buy? Today we will review this smartphone of Asus.
Look and design
Asus Zenfone Zoom has been introduced at the price of a premium smartphone and its look also gives the same feel. The phone’s unibody aluminum frame looks good and also gives a good grip to the phone. Apart from this, its round edges also make it convenient to catch it. Overall, the phone looks good.
The 5.5 -inch full HD IPS display is surrounded by quite thick bezel. Capacitive navigation button is not backlit and notification LED is given.
The phone has a standard micro-USB 2.0 port at the bottom. On the right side is a two-step camera button and a separate button for video recording. The camera app will open on pressing any one a little bit. Volume and power buttons are given at the top which is easy to use.
The rear cover made of real leather is removable, although it can be easily deemed to be made of Fox leather. There is a large disc in place of the camera where Asus has fixed the zoom lens very beautifully. Which means that like Samsung and other phones, it is not a protruding lens. For this reason, Zenfone zoom is very light and some good pictures can be taken from it.
This phone of Asus comes with single micro-sim and expandable storage (through microSD card) support. The phone’s battery is non-removable. The Zenfone Zoom comes with a Lenayard, Data Cable, Charger and In-Aer headset. According to the price of the phone, the quality of accessory coming with Zenfone Zoom is quite good.
Overall, the phone looks different from the other phone due to the camera placement on the rear. But apart from this, it is similar to another Zenfone smartphone. The texture and look of the phone is quite good and asus should be praised for making a smartphone of just 11.9 millimeters with optical zoom lenses.
Specification and software
Asus is probably the only smartphone maker company that is constantly giving Intel processor in its smartphone. The Zenfone Zoom has a quad-core Intel Atom Z 3590 processor. The phone has 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM and 128 GB internal storage. The inbuilt storage given in the phone is very good and if you want more storage, it can be increased by 128 GB. The phone has features like Wi-Fi B/G/N/AC, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, USB OTG, FM Radio, GPS and GLONASS for connectivity to the phone.
The phone comes with a little old Android Lollipop while now Marshmallow has started coming. The ZenuI 2.0 skin has been given above Android 5.0 and like the previous phone of Asus, you will get many Asus app pre-install in this phone too.
Audiovised app has been given to adjust the color temperature to adjust the color temperature and togue blue light filters and an audiovicard app for the sound profile of movie, music, game and voice calls. App has apps like ‘Do It Letter’ to save battery according to their use, mobile manager to get rid of the app to control the app during the boot, as a task manager to save the battery according to their use. Apart from this, some third-party apps also get installed in this phone, which can also be removed according to their needs.
Gallery apps like some default Android apps will always show you photos and videos from cloud service. Asus apps like Photo Kolaj and Minimuvi are given with gallery to share and customize photos and videos. Apart from this, you can also customize the interface through theme, animation and icon packs.
Performance
Talk about performance, Zenfone is similar to another smartphone with zenfone zoom premium feature. Apps in the phone are due to any trouble and heavy games can also be played easily. However, while playing the game, the phone is slightly hot and it also costs the phone battery soon. 4G works well on Band 40 and we did not see any problem in its use. Along with a software update, we got to see a new feature called Quick Find which can be seen by swiping down on the home screen. This is a universal search tool so that not only you can access your phone files but can also easily search web and app.
The benchmark figures of Zenfone Zoom were also fantastic. However, it lagged far behind today’s top hardware phones.
Although 4K videos cannot be recorded from the phone, 4K videos can be played. The default video player is fine but the music player is better. You can assemble the songs in the folder, change the theme of the player and set the audio through the asus audio wisdom. The headset that comes with the phone provides good quality audio.
Camera
Now we have come on the most special feature of the phone i.e. on the camera of the phone. The phone has a 13-megapixel camera and comes with a 10-element Hoya lens. The lens has been arranged in such a way that you can enjoy 3X optical zoom without taking out the lens. The camera has features like laser autofocus and optical image stabilization to take excellent pictures.
Landscape and macro photos appear with details on the phone’s screen in daylight. Colors come well, although the colors also become more saturated than auto optimization. Lens blur-free shot can be taken even if there is a 3X zoom. A lack of slight sharpness can be seen in the object when there is maximum optical zoom, but this only appears to be zoomed.
Photos taken in artificial lights in the indoor also come without noise. But in low light, photos come with low details. The focus speed of the camera is also very good, but it takes some time to go to the zoom level while zoom in the viewfinder. A great selfie can be taken from a 5 megapixel camera in good light.
Asus’s camera app is well designed. Some shooting mode and manual mode are given at all above the software shutter button. The physical button also works quite well. Video recording of good quality up to 1080 pixels can also be done. The camera also has the option of slow-motion video. However, 4K video recording cannot be done. Dual LED flash also works quite well but only for short distances.
battery life
The 3000 mAh battery given in the phone supported us for 6 hours and 58 minutes in our video loop test which is less than average. During general use, we were able to run a lot of shooting and Zenfone zoom on 4G without charging 18-20 hours. The good thing is that the phone supports fast charging and within half an hour the battery is charged up to 40 percent.
Our decision
Asus Zenfone Zoom is the only phone available in the market with a premium and optical zoom from all sides. It is competed with Samsung Galaxy S6 range and Nexus 6P with a price of Rs 37,999. Both these smartphones have cameras equipped with magnificent features. Talk about new discovery, Zenfone zoom is really better than others, but if we talk about image quality, then it falls behind these two smartphones. Apart from this, lack of low-regulation display, old Android version, weak battery life and 4 is also the shortcomings of Zenfone zoom.
The high price of the phone can also be a hindrance in its sales, but if the company reduces the price, then it is not harm to buy a new phone. Asus has done a good job with the design and texture of the phone. Due to the optical zoom, a lot of compromises have to be made in the phone and that is why such phones have never become popular.
Certainly this camera is a good idea but we think that big sensors and a camera with better image quality is better than it. Whose Zenfone Zoom is not a flagship smartphone of Asus. It seems that the company has tried to give something new to customers before the company’s next generation phone arrives.