Asus Zenfone 5 - Zenfone X

Although Asus has been releasing smartphones for a while, the Taiwanese company now wants to gain serious market share with the Asus Zenfone 5, releasing a good device at a competitive price... and blatantly copying the design of another popular smartphone.

Asus Zenfone 5

Colors silver, blue

OS Android 8.0 (Oreo)

Screen 6.2 inch LCD (2246x1080)

Processor 1.8GHz octa-core (Snapdragon 636)

RAM 6GB

Storage 64 GB (expandable with memory card)

Battery 3,300mAh

Camera 12 and 8 megapixel dualcam (rear), 8 megapixel (front)

Connectivity 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, GPS

Format 15.3 x 7.6 x 0.8 cm

Weight 165 grams

Other fingerprint scanner, dualsim, usb-c, headphone port, waterproof

Website www.asus.com/en 7 Score 70

• Pros
• Build quality
• Price quality
• Camera

• Negatives
• Copied design
• bloatware
• Battery life

Smartphone makers are making themselves known in 2018. Because despite the fact that iPhones do not have the largest market share and Apple has not been at the forefront for years in terms of innovation and specifications, other manufacturers almost slavishly follow Apple. Smartphones are popping up everywhere this year with screen notches, the same design and often even without a headphone port. And let's not beat around the bush: except for the headphone port (which fortunately does exist), the Asus Zenfone 5 is a shameless copy of the iPhone X. Worse than, for example, the Huawei P20, OnePlus 6 or LG G7 that we have tested before. It overshadows the low price and the other extras that the Zenfone 5 offers. That is a shame and it contradicts Asus' ambitions to become a noteworthy smartphone maker in the Netherlands. For that you really have to dare to come out of the shadow of Apple.

heavy middle class

The most important, however, is whether the Asus Zenfone 5 is worth buying. In terms of price, it probably promises a lot: the smartphone costs 400 euros. However, Asus has to come up with a lot, as the competition is tough in this price range. For example, the Nokia 7 Plus recently scored very well, Motorola offers the Moto G6 Plus for 100 euros less and the OnePlus 6 only costs 100 euros more. All very good choices if you are looking for a smartphone with a good price-quality ratio.

Thanks to the build quality with high-quality materials, the clear screen, dualcam and (again) the design, the Zenfone 5 gives you the feeling of having a much more expensive smartphone in your hands. The specifications also look neat: a Snapdragon 636 processor and 4GB of RAM, Android 8, fingerprint scanner and 64GB of storage space, which you can expand with a memory card if desired... Or a second SIM card.

Asus' marketing department is trying to promote the Zenfone 5 mainly on the dual camera and smart functions (AI), which is used for things like object and scene recognition in the camera app or to switch between battery-optimized mode and a more powerful one. heavy apps or games mode.

Camera

Like the Zenfone 4, Asus is investing heavily in the dual camera of the Zenfone 5. The big question is whether that is justified. It certainly impresses on paper: the dual camera on the back consists of a regular 12-megapixel lens and an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera. The wide-angle camera can capture a lot in one fell swoop, which is extremely nice when you take a group or landscape photo. However, the regular lens is capable of capturing sharper photos with more detail, even in dark conditions. In addition, scene and object recognition ensures that the correct camera settings are automatically applied.

That's all in theory. In practice, the camera is just fine, but no more than that. On the other hand, it is the best smartphone camera you can get in its price range. In difficult conditions, such as low light, photos come out better than the Nokia 7 Plus. But when you compare the photos that the Zenfone 5 takes with more expensive devices, you will of course notice a difference. For example, the dynamic range is already a lot less than the cameras of the slightly more expensive OnePlus 6. If you compare the object and scene recognition with, for example, the Huawei P20, you will notice that both devices are neatly able to recognize what the cameras see, but Huawei can identify many more scenes and objects. The post-processing that Huawei applies to this is also more impressive.

For the 400 euros that you pay for the Zenfone 5, you cannot find a better camera. The dualcam makes the difference, especially in low light. The wide-angle lens is also really of added value, although this lens fails more quickly with backlight or low light.

Lots of image

To get the most out of the photos you take with the Zenfone 5, you naturally need a good screen panel. Asus goes with the trend to place a nice large screen in a regular housing, by keeping the screen edges as small as possible, by applying the aforementioned notch and an alternative aspect ratio of 19 by 9. So, on paper, the Zenfone 5 has the huge screen size of 6.2 inches (that's a diagonal of 15.8 centimeters).

The Zenfone 5 has a full-HD display, which looks clear. Color reproduction and details are not very impressive and white areas are also a bit gray. But the LCD screen panel is good enough for this price range. Fortunately, you can also tinker somewhat with the color temperature in the settings.

Android with ZenUI

Where the Zenfone mainly differs, compared to the best devices that cost about the same, is the software. Like the Moto G6 (Plus), OnePlus 6 and Nokia 7 Plus, the Zenfone 5 runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. The difference with devices that I mentioned is mainly in the skin that is placed over Android. The competitors use a minimal skin or a 'pure' Android version (Android One) in order to allow the device to perform optimally and to be able to support it with new Android versions. The skin of Asus (called ZenUI) is more drastic and Asus does not reveal anything about the update policy. In terms of appearance: the bright colors really hit your face. In terms of bloatware: unsolicited you get all Facebook apps, a selfie app, an Asus cloud app and a mobile manager app that makes your device more unstable than more efficient and safer. Fortunately, you can uninstall these unsolicited apps. Another plus is that you are allocated 100GB of Google Drive storage for free for a year.

But it must be said: compared to the previous generations of Asus' smartphones (the Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 4), the ZenUI shell has become a lot better. Everything works pretty smoothly, despite the Snapdragon 636 processor being by no means the fastest. Only with very heavy applications do you start to notice the difference.

In terms of extras, it is mainly the AI ​​parts that stand out in the Zenfone 5. Based on your behavior and the applications, the device must perform optimally. The smartphone should also work smarter in terms of charging, for example by charging slowly at night because a lot of charging time is still expected. That improves the battery life. It's hard to say whether it's marketing gimmick or what it really means. You cannot accurately say that in a relatively short test period and in benchmarks. It can be said that the battery life is generally a bit disappointing. The capacity of the battery is average: 3,300 mAh. With a charged battery you can get through a day with normal use, with heavy use you just manage. That's not very impressive.

Alternatives

Love all those experiences and judgments. But which smartphone is better to buy? The Zenfone 5 cannot compete with the Galaxy S9+, iPhone X and the other most expensive smartphones. That is not strange, because this smartphone is half as expensive. For the same money you have the Nokia 7 Plus, which, thanks to Android One, simply does much better in terms of software and battery life. In addition, the Nokia is equipped with a more powerful chipset and a more original design, although that is personal of course. The Zenfone 5 in turn has a much better camera and a slightly better screen. It is also worth saving for the OnePlus 6, which costs 519 euros in contrast to the price tag of 400 euros for the Zenfone 5. That device is a lot better in almost all areas, only the OnePlus 6 does not have a memory card slot. .

Conclusion

The Asus Zenfone 5 (ZE620KL) is a good smartphone for a very good price. Definitely an excellent choice. That said, the smartphone falls away a bit compared to the tough competition such as the Nokia 7 Plus, which score better especially in terms of software and battery life. For its reasonable price you get a great camera and nice screen. The build quality is also high, you just have to learn to live with the fact that the design is pure copy work.