We reviewed the Asus ZenFone 3 (ZE552KL) a few days ago. And now we’re looking at another phone option for those looking for an alternative to the OnePlus 3 (Review). Recently the company has launched Asus Zenfone 3 Laser (ZC551KL) in India which will be available only online before becoming available on offline retail channels.
Like other Zenfone 3 models, the new Asus Zenfone 3 Laser runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. This phone is made of metal body. An attempt has been made to overcome the shutter problem in this phone with faster autofocus and better camera. Will this phone be able to differentiate itself from the competition and maintain its identity? Today we will know about the merits and shortcomings of this smartphone through review.
Design and look of Asus Zenfone 3 Laser
The ZenFone 3 Laser is a metal body smartphone and has 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass for protection on the front. Its dimensions are 149x76x7.9 millimeters and weight is 150 grams. Despite having a 5.5 inch screen, the Zenfone 3 Laser fits easily in one hand. Whereas the Asus Zenfone 3 (ZE5552KL) with the same screen size was not convenient to use with one hand.
The phone has a 5.5 inch full HD display on the front with a front camera on top. According to Asus, the screen-to-body ratio in the handset is 77 percent. Below the display are capacitive Android navigation buttons. The navigation buttons are not backlit so we did not find the phone easy to use in the dark. Our review unit was in gold color and this phone will also be available in silver color.
The rear of the phone is also made of metal and like Zenfone 3, it comes with glass rear. There are two lines at the top and bottom on the rear, which is like Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. Asus says that this phone also has a fingerprint sensor and such a coating has been done on it which does not leave marks.
The rear camera in the phone is embossed and its design is similar to other smartphones of Zenfone 3 series. There is a dual LED flash and laser autofocus ammeter on the rear near the camera lens. A fingerprint scanner is provided just below the camera. And there is Asus branding at the bottom. The power and volume buttons of the phone are on the right side while there is a hybrid SIM slot on the left side. The phone has a 3.5 mm audio jack at the top, while a standard micro-USB port and speaker grill are provided at the bottom.
One difficulty we encountered during the review process is that the edges of the micro-USB port are a bit sharp. Due to which the hand gets scratched while using the phone.
The 5.5-inch full HD (1080×1920 pixels) IPS display is vibrant and color production is good. The brightness level of the display is also very good. Text and photos look crisp. Users can adjust the color temperature through Asus’s Splendid app. The phone can be read well even in sunlight and we did not face any problem in using the phone in daylight. There was no problem in viewing angles while watching movies, videos and other multimedia content.
We noticed that the display is a fingerprint magnet and we have to clean it from time to time. Like the ZenFone 3 (ZE552KL), the ZenFone 3 Laser has a blue light filter that is claimed to protect the eyes. During our review, we did not see any problem with the touch of the display and the phone can be used even wearing gloves.
Asus ZenFone 3 Laser specifications and software
The ZenFone 3 Laser is powered by an octa-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor clocked at 1.4 GHz. There is Adreno 505 for graphics. There is 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM. This phone has 32 GB inbuilt storage which can be expanded up to 128 GB via microSD card. In collaboration with Google, Asus is also offering up to 100 GB of cloud storage on Google Drive for two years, which you can use to store photos, videos and other documents.
This phone has a 13-megapixel rear camera with aperture F/2.0 and dual-tone LED flash. It supports video recording up to 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second. The phone also has an 8-megapixel camera with aperture F/2.0. Talking about connectivity, Zenfone 3 Laser has features like Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS and 4G. The handset comes with a hybrid SIM slot which means the user has to choose between two SIM cards or one SIM card and a microSD card.
Asus claims that both slots support 3G and 4G networks but only one can be active at a time. ZenFone 3 Laser supports LTE. The handset has a non-removable battery of 3000 mAh.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow on which the company’s ZenUI 3.0 skin is given. The ZenFone 3 Laser runs on the same software as the ZenFone 3 (ZE552KL). More details about Zenfone 3 can be read in our review. Its most notable feature is the real-time animated weather and clock widget.
Asus has made a lot of improvements to the ZenUI interface in recent times. The new version is lighter, clearer and cleaner than before. However, many of Asus’s apps like Themes, Photo Collage, Mini Movie, ZenCircle, ZenSync, Weather, Do It Later, Games, Zen, ZenFone Care and Covers bother us a bit. Apart from this, third party apps like Amazon Shopping, Saavn, TripAdvisor, Instagram, Amazon Kindle and Facebook are also installed in the phone. Many of these can be uninstalled.
asus zenfone 3 laser camera
In this Asus phone, the camera app can be opened quickly even from the lock screen. The interface of the app is easy to understand. Features like User Manual, HDR Pro, Beautification, Super Resolution, Low-Light, QR Code, Night, Depth of Field, Effects, Selfie, GIF Animation, Panorama, Miniature, Time Rewind, Slow Motion and Time Lapse. It is worth noting that all these modes have been given in all the smartphones of Zenfone 3 series.
The most talked about feature of this phone is the laser autofocus technology given in it, which is claimed to lock the focus in 0.03 seconds. During our review, we found this feature to be really fast. Laser autofocus plays a big role when taking close-up shots.
The ZenFone 3 Laser captures stunning photos with rich detail and excellent color reproduction in good lighting conditions. When zooming in on the images, we noticed some noise and blur at the edges. We were particularly impressed with the photos taken in low light.
We recorded video at 1080 pixels with the Zenfone 3 Laser and the results were excellent. The Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) feature comes in handy while recording videos and it records better videos even when the hand is not steady.
The front camera of the phone is also excellent and selfies can be taken quickly. Zenfone 3 Laser automatically opens beautification mode when you open the front camera. However, it can be disabled. We have to say that great photos can be taken with the phone.
asus zenfone 3 laser performance
Multitasking can be done easily with Asus Zenfone 3 Laser but the phone slows down when too many apps are open in the background. Due to the display quality, watching movies on the phone is pleasant. We did not face any kind of heating problem in the phone. However, the phone gets a bit warm while charging, playing games and recording 1080p video. Like other metal devices, the Zenfone 3 Laser also slips, especially if your hands are sweaty. During our review, the Zenfone 3 Laser slipped from our hands several times but the good thing is that there was no damage to the device.
The fingerprint sensor worked well for the most part while using the phone. The fingerprint sensor can unlock the phone even when it is in standby mode, which is very convenient. The absence of USB Type-C in this phone is now a problem. The speakers provided in the phone are loud and the earphones that come with it also produce good sound.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser got decent figures in benchmark tests.
This phone has a non-removable battery of 3000 mAh. The phone’s battery lasted 12 hours and 25 minutes in our video loop test. Whereas the battery of Zenfone 3 lasted for 13 hours and 45 minutes. The Zenfone 3 Laser lasts for more than a day on short calls, internet browsing, photography, watching videos on YouTube and running apps like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. The Zenfone 3 Laser does not support fast charging like other Zenfone 3 smartphones.
our decision
Asus has kept the price of Zenfone 3 at around Rs 20,000. Xiaomi Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime (Review) also have Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor and their price is less than Rs 10,000. The performance of Zenfone 3 Laser is less than other smartphones in this price range.
It is difficult to recommend buying this phone. The phone competes with Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime (Review) and Lenovo Z2 Plus (Review) which perform very well considering the price. The camera of Zenfone 3 Laser is much better but its high price cannot be called justified. With features like metal body, decent screen and software enhancements, the price of this phone would be better to be Rs 15,000 or less.
Those who want to buy Asus Zenfone 3 Laser (ZC551KL) Flipkart But you can buy it. This phone will be available exclusively on Flipkart for the first month.