ASUS

ZenFone 2Review in pictures

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Inspired by LG, manufactured by ASUS

Similar to some of LG’s smartphones, the ZenFone 2 sports volume buttons at the rear

The power button is placed up top, which is difficult to reach considering the size of the

device

The brushed metal finish on the plastic back lends the phone a premium appeal

Apart from the display, the front hosts sensors, an earpiece and a camera above along with

a row of hardware keys for navigation below

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Big, but not unwieldy

With a screen-to-body ratio of 72 percent, the device isn’t as big as other phablets of

similar size

Its heft of 170g and thickness of 10.2mm is compensated by the dual curve at the

back

The curved rear also helps in using the smartphone for extended periods

Prying open the back cover exposes the slots for inserting SIM cards and a microSD

card, but the battery is embedded

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The screening

The ZenFone 2 sports a 5.5-inch display, protected by Gorilla Glass 3

It features full HD resolution, resulting in a rich pixel density of 401ppi

The IPS display panel reproduces good colours and sharp text, and offers

good viewing angles

Though the brightness levels seem to be on the lower side, you can use

different modes such as vivid and reading mode to tweak the display

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Offers the latest Android iteration with tons of features…

Comes with the latest build

of Android, i.e., 5.0

Lollipop

Gets a custom skin dubbed

ZenUI, which was also

available on the first-gen

ZenFones

The interface offers tons of

customisations along with

lots of apps

With the Easy Mode, you

can simplify the interface of

the device

Also comes with preloaded

apps such as Amazon

Kindle, Clean Master, etc.

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… but the charm of the Lollipop-based candy gets crushed by ZenUI

With support for gestures,

you can double tap the

device to unlock or draw ‘C’

to access the camera app

directly

To enable one-hand mode,

you can tap the home

button twice

There’s also an option to

change themes, scrolling

effects and icon packs on

the phone

Sadly, the UI subdues the

physical world aspects of

Google’s Material Design

language

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The master of pixels…

Unlike the 8MP shooter in its

predecessor, the phablet

sports a 13-megapixel primary

sensor with f/2.0 aperture,

supported by dual-tone LED

flash

For selfies, the smartphone

comes with a 5MP camera

The custom camera app is fully

loaded and offers a number of

features and modes

You can also enable the

manual mode to access

granular settings or Super

resolution to capture images in

52MP quality

The rear shooter can record

videos in 1080p resolution

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… along with numerous image-enhancing modes

In terms of quality, the images

offer vivid colour and good amount

of details

The handset also promises superb

performance in dimly-lit

environments with its low-light

mode, which shoots in 3MP

resolution

Sadly, the low-light mode as well

as the HDR mode makes the

images seem artificial

The front shooter does a good job

when it comes to selfies

The rear camera can also record

videos at 1080p

Close up

Long shot

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Feel the power

Compared to the ZenFone 5, the internals of the ZenFone 2 have received the

biggest upgrade

It’s the world’s first device to be powered by 4GB of RAM, which makes it a

powerhouse, complemented well by the 64-bit Intel Z3580 quad-core SoC running

at 2.3GHz

The hardware delivers buttery-smooth performance

Combined with the PowerVR G6430 GPU, playing games on the phone is a delight

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Enough room for your apps and multimedia

Comes with 32GB of

eMMC storage. There’s a

64GB storage variant too

After accounting for OS

and preinstalled apps,

you get around 25.5GB to

use

It can be extended further

by making use of a

microSD card of up to

64GB

The phablet also supports

flash drives thanks to its

USB On-the-Go

capability

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Power user by day, thirsty for power by night

The smartphone is fuelled by

a fixed 3,000mAh battery

With moderate usage, it can

last you through the day

But with gaming, internet

browsing on 3G and GPS

navigation, the battery drains

quickly

In our battery drain test, it

played back a 720p video for

eight hours and 30

minutes

You can also enable various

battery-saving modes to

extend the battery life

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At a glance…

Measures 152.5 x 77.2 x 10.9mm

Weighs 170g

5.5-inch display, featuring a

resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels

2.3GHz quad-core processor

4GB RAM

32/64GB internal storage,

expandable up to 64GB

13MP primary camera with dual-tone

LED flash

5MP front-facing camera

Dual-SIM support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,

GPS and NFC

3,000mAh battery

Android 5.0 with ZenUI

Different versions of the ASUS ZenFone 2 compared

Pros and cons

Ergonomic design

Loaded internals

Expandable storage

Dual-SIM support with

compatibility for 4G networks (in

the primary SIM)

Average battery

ZenUI subdues Material Design

Pricing & verdict

Price:Rs 19,999

/ 22,999

“It’s clear that the interest levels in the ASUS ZenFone 2 are high because of its 4 gigs of RAM, but just more amount of RAM compared to its peers (OnePlus One and Xiaomi Mi 4) doesn’t make it a great device. It’s the combination of all aspects, such as the display, build quality and the camera performance, and the phablet scores well in all these areas. Overall, the ASUS ZenFone 2 deserves our recommendation as the device to go for in the mid-range segment.