Asus Zenfone Zoom is the new sensation in Android Smartphone market now. This smartphone was announced by Asus at CES 2015, which is almost a year back. After one year of time in development, now it came to market. If you don’t know the hype for this phone, Zenfone Zoom is praised by Asus for “a DSLR quality Camera in Smartphone” and “PC grade performance“. Both of these claims are not something ordinary, that we can simply pass over. Now the phone released into market and smartphone community is in hunger to test the “DSLR level Camera”.
As the name suggests, it got a 3X optical zoom and a 9X digital zoom. Optical zoom is better than digital zoom though having both in high range is a good option for users. As a camera-centric smartphone, it got many features in addition to the Zoom, to boost the camera performance.
Asus Zenfone Zoom’s extra features are not ended only with the camera, it extends to the hardware and storage too. Read the detailed review below.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Review: Design
Zenfone Zoom has got a firm build quality. A solid metal frame with a shiny silver looks build over the sides. Back panel is a plastic made texture that looks like leather type texture (In some countries, back panel is different and Non-removable). The front side is flat with the 5.5inch screen and the backside is curvy in look. That looks good too with the leather type texture.
On the rear, the big round shape camera module is located. It gives the feel that this Smartphone is thick and bulgy. Otherwise, the design is good in the rear. The camera module is surrounded by a silver bezel outline to make it feel good.
This phone weighs 185 grams and has a thickness of 12 mm. Both of this shows the phone is bigger than many other phones out in the market. We think the camera is the reason for this big size body. Believe it or not !! This is the world’s thinnest phone with 3X Optical zoom. The phone doesn’t give a feel of such thickness to the eyes. The curvy body does the trick to minimize the thickness for our eyes.
On the top, 3.5mm Audio jack and secondary mic presents, while the bottom takes the place for micro USB port and primary mic. On the right side volume, rocker buttons placed. This can be used for Zooming in and out while using the camera. Also, there are two more buttons to operate the camera.
Back Panel is removable, where we can place the SIM card and the micro-SD card inside. There is an option for using one SIM only in some editions. This may be a disadvantage as many people now are using Dual SIM phones. This reduces the chance for people exchange their old Dual SIM phone to Zenfone Zoom.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Review: Display
A 5.5-inch screen and FHD display quality with 1920 x 1080 pixels is looking excellent in Zenfone Zoom. Touch response is so good. No touch glitches experienced while using so far. Corning Gorilla Glass is protecting the screen. Initially, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is announced in the specs, but the delay in release upgraded it to Gorilla Glass 4.
Display quality is fantastic with 441 pixels of screen density. But, the black bars on the sides are the little old style in the smartphone industry. Many brands started producing smartphone screens with trendy edges and borderless design. There is no trend-following from Asus in the screen edge. Zenfone Zoom just has another ordinary smartphone edge. Check the availability for dual SIM before you buy.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Review: Hardware and OS – Performance
Zenfone Zoom powered by Intel Atom CPU Z3590 with the clock speed frequency up to 2.5GHz. This is backed by the PowerVR Rouge G6430 GPU. 4GB RAM boosts the multitasks performance to the maximum. Don’t forget the fact that Asus introduced the world’s first 4GB RAM smartphone in the past.
Internal storage got many variants based on different countries. We expect the available variants maybe 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB. We know the accurate available variants only after the release in major countries.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Benchmarks Video
Speaking about the performance, this device plays a 4K video smoothly, allows us to play high-end video games like Dead trigger2, Asphalt 8 etc. without any glitch. Also, there is no battery heat up the issue. Battery heat is as normal like other good phones in the industry.
Android 5.0 is loaded with the skin of Zen UI. That works well in Zenfone Zoom. There is no trouble in using this skin. but, we slightly feel for using Android 6.0 Marshmallow in this device. There is no news so far yet about the Marshmallow in Zen UI.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Review: Camera
Zenfone Zoom sports a 13Mp camera in the rear which is said to have the DSLR-level quality. It is supported by the dual tone flashlight which is also located near the lens in the rear. The lens is designed by Hoya which is a specially made 10P lens. The sensor is made of Panasonic called as SmartFSI sensor.
Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) in this camera helps in taking the steady photo with clear images. Auto Focus ability in this camera can go to the maximum of 0.03 seconds. You can also focus a 2-inch nearby object. Other than this, there are a lot of camera optimizations available in Zenfone Zoom.
Some people asking why this 13MP camera is too much praised. But, with the 10P lens, SmartFSI sensor, OIS, aperture and many other options, this never can be compared with other smartphones having 13MP camera. Experts have told that using this options the 13MP camera can produce photos like a 52MP camera. But, either you should be well versed in using this camera or must learn it along with using this camera to produce high-quality photos.
While the rear got a lot of features, front one stays with the regular 5MP camera and it carries the same features of other branded smartphones. It is producing good photos to value the 5MP count.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Review: Battery
The battery has the fueling capacity of 3000mAh, which is pretty decent considering the other specs of Zenfone Zoom. Battery backup stands up to 4-5 hours on heavy usage. This is definitely not enough and not meet the requirement of so many users. With the moderate usage, it stands up to 10 hours or more.
A quick charger is provided with the package, which fills the battery in 2 hours from zero to 100%. With 30 minutes of charging, it charged more than 50%.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Review: Connectivity
Zenfone Zoom supports 4G LTE, which is the most required feature these days. Other than this we see all the usual connectivity options such as WiFi, Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and USB host. All of them are working good in the tests. It comes with Accelerometer, proximity, ambient light, gyroscopic, digital compass sensors.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Review: Price
Price range is medium for some countries and top range in others. But, mostly it comes under high range overall the world. Here, we providing the confirmed prices of certain countries.
US – $399 (128GB variant)
India – Rs.37,999 (128GB variant)
It is advised to check the variant and dual SIM option before you buy.
Asus Zenfone Zoom Pros and Cons
Pros
- Super featured Camera
- 4GB RAM and 128GB Internal Storage
- Smooth performance in all sections
Cons
- Battery, which is average for this super-powered phone.
Conclusion
Should I buy the Asus Zenfone Zoom? If your need is for photography on the go with decent hardware package, then, without a doubt, the Asus Zenfone Zoom is the best package phone you get. It has good performance, powerful photography features and battery life.