ASUS ZenFone Selfie: The funkiest ZenFone handset yet?

Performance Benchmarks, Imaging and Conclusion

Performance benchmarks

Unlike the ZenFone 2's Intel Atom Z3580 processor, the ZenFone Selfie is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor (four cores at 1.5GHz and the other four running at 1.0GHz) and 3GB RAM. This version of Snapdragon 615 differs from the one found in the Xiaomi Mi 4i where the latter has a second generation chipset with four cores running at 1.7GHz and another four power-saving cores running at 1.1GHz. For this review, we compared the ZenFone Selfie against smartphones such as the ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (4GB RAM), HTC Desire Eye, Sony Xperia M4 Aqua and Xiaomi Mi 4i.

ASUS ZenFone Selfie vs The Competition

	ASUS ZenFone Selfie	ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML (4GB RAM)	HTC Desire Eye	Sony Xperia M4 Aqua	Xiaomi Mi 4i
Launch SRP	From S$399	From S$429	From S$728	From S$498	From S$279
Operating system	ASUS ZenUI based on Android 5.0 Lollipop	Android 5.0 Lollipop with ZenUI	Android 4.4.4 KitKat with HTC Sense 6	Android OS, v5.0 (Lollipop)	Android OS, v5.0.2 (Lollipop) with MIUI 6
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor	Intel Atom Z3580 quad-core 2.3 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.3GHz	Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 (Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core (Quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 1.1 GHz Cortex-A53)
Built-in Memory	3GB RAM	4GB RAM	2GB RAM	2GB RAM	2GB RAM
Display	5.5-inch / 1,920 x 1,080 pixels / IPS	5.5-inch / 1920 x 1080 pixels (403ppi) / IPS	5.2-inch / 1,920 x 1,080 pixels / Super LCD 3	5-inch/ 720 x 1280 pixels/ IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen/ 16M colors	5-inch / 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (441ppi) / IPS
Camera	Rear: 13-megapixel with f/2.0 aperture and dual-LED Real Tone flash Front: 13-megapixel with f/2.2 aperture, wide-angle 88-degree lens with dual-LED Real Tone flash	Rear: 13-megapixel, f/2.0, 5-element lens and PixelMaster technology Front: 5-megapixel, f/2.0	Rear: 13-megapixel with BSI sensor, f/2.0, 28mm wide angle lens and dual-LED flash Front: 13-megapixel with BSI sensor, f/2.2, 22mm wide angle lens and dual-LED flash	Rear: 13 MP Sony Exmor RS sensor, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, f/2.0 aperture Front: 5-megapixel	Rear: 13-megapixel, 1/3.06-inch Sony Exmor RS IMX214 CMOS sensor, five-element lens construction, f/2.0 aperture, Philips dual-LED warm/cold flash Front: 5-megapixel
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, EDR	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, DLNA, GPS + GLONASS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot, Bluetooth	Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot,
Storage Type	32GB internal storage space microSD support up to 128GB	32/64GB internal storage microSD support up to 64GB	16GB internal storage microSD expansion up to 128GB	8GB internal storage microSD, up to 128 GB	16GB internal storage
Battery	3,000mAh	3000 mAh	2,400mAh	Non-removable Li-Ion 2400 mAh battery	3,120 mAh
Dimensions	156.5 x 77.2 x 10.8~3.9mm	152.5 x 77.2 x 10.9 mm	151.7 x 73.8 x 8.5mm	145.5 x 72.6 x 7.3 mm	138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm
Weight	170g	170g	154g	136g	130g

Quadrant

Quadrant evaluates a device's CPU, memory, I/O, and 3D graphics performance. The ZenFone Selfie fared reasonably well against the competition although the second generation chipset helped the Mi 4i maintain a healthy lead.

3DMark (2013)

Originally developed as a PC gaming benchmarking tool, 3DMark now supports multiple platforms including Android. The Ice Storm benchmark is designed for smartphones, mobile devices and ARM architecture computers.

For an in-depth understanding of 3DMark for Android, do head over to our article, "3DMark - Android Device GPU Performance Review." In a nutshell, it is an OpenGL ES 2.0 benchmark test that uses fixed off-screen rendering to run two graphics tests designed to stress the GPU performance of your device and a physics test to stress its CPU performance. The benchmark consists of three test portfolios: Standard (720p resolution rendering), Extreme (1080p resolution rendering with higher quality textures and post-processing effects), and Unlimited (disabled v-sync, display scaling and other OS factors that make it ideal for chipset comparison).

Since all the recent flagship smartphones max out the scores for the Standard and Extreme tests, we will only be looking at the scores for Ice Storm Unlimited.

The ZenFone 2 is on-par with phones of its class, but was left biting the dust by the Intel-powered ZenFone 2 and the Snapdragon 801-powered HTC Desire Eye. This just means that while the phone is capable of playing most mainstream game options on the Play Store, some of the cutting-edge demanding titles may not play as smoothly as the ZenFone 2 counterpart. While it may be a concern for some, to most consumers and its intended audience, this shouldn't really matter much; as we've iterated, the performance is pretty much in-line with most other devices of its class. 

SunSpider JavaScript

SunSpider JavaScript helps measure the browsing performance of a device when processing Javascript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience. Unfortunately, the ZenFone Selfie scored the worst in this benchmark and was again no match for the ZenFone 2.

Synthetic benchmarks aside, we found the user experience on the ZenFone Selfie to be a pleasant one. It was generally smooth and we did not encounter any hiccups. 

Camera performance

As a selfie-centric phone, it is only natural that ASUS crams the best imaging technologies in the ZenFone Selfie and it should be no surprise that the company's PixelMaster makes an appearance in both the front and rear cameras. If you want a quick recap of what PixelMaster is all about, do check out our article: Five things you need to know about ASUS's PixelMaster camera technology. Here's the rundown on its imaging specs: 

• Front facing camera: 13-megapixel sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 5-element lens, 88 degrees wide-angle, blue glass filter, real tone LED flash
• Rear facing camera: 13-megapixel sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 5-element lens, 0.2s laser autofocus, blue glass filter, real tone LED flash

While Samsung has simplified its camera interface on this year's smartphones, ASUS continues to throw everything but the kitchen sink in the ZenFone Selfie. For consumers who love to play around with the different camera modes, this could come in handy. On the flip side, some users may just want to fire up the camera and take the shot without having to sort through the different modes. Some of the camera modes (low light, HDR, Manual) were explored in our review of the ZenFone 2, so do check them out if you are interested. Here, we shall take a look at the star feature - Selfie Panorama. 

The ZenFone Selfie allows you to take wider selfies through hardware and software means. You have a 88-degree wide-angle lens (hardware) and a panorama feature (software) to capture up to 270 degrees of scenery. The concept for selfie panorama is not new; we've seen similar implementations in the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and other Android phones. Here's how you take a selfie panorama on the ZenFone Selfie:-

1. Switch to the front-facing camera
2. Select Selfie Panorama
3. Either tap the camera icon in the middle of the screen or press the volume button on the rear 
4. Move the phone slowly to the left or right
5. Align the white box with the blue frame on the left or right

The key to taking good selfie panoramas is practice and steady hands. During our initial attempts with the feature, we could not achieve well-stitched selfie panoramas as our frame of shot kept shifting up or down, which is inevitable while trying to level free-handed. Below is a short video summary of the special selfie features as showcased by ASUS at Computex Taiwan earlier this year:

Battery performance

Our standard battery test for mobile phones includes the following parameters:

• Looping a 800 x 480-pixel video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

In our standard video battery test, the ZenFone Selfie lasted the longest with an uptime of 9 hours and 35 minutes. That translates to an estimated 40% more battery mileage than the Mi 4i even though the latter has a smaller screen and bigger 3,120mAh battery. The battery longevity of the ZenFone Selfie is attributed to its low power consumption (1.21watts) with the ZenFone 2 coming in second place at 1.74watts. We suspect part of the power savings is due to the choice of processor SKU used on the ZenFone Selfie such as a much lower clocked processor than the ZenFone 2 and the Xiaomi Mi 4i. However, there's definitely more going for the ZenFone Selfie like well optimized software and hardware since the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua using the same processor doesn't exhibit the same level of power draw.

Portability

We measure the portability of a device by calculating its battery life to (weight x volume) ratio. Even though the ZenFone Selfie has the largest footprint among the phones compared, its superior battery life helped to push up its standing in the Portability Index. 

Like the ZenFone 2, the ZenFone Selfie boasts fast charging technology. This is also made possible by the 5V/2A 10W charger which is included in the retail package. We charged a flat battery for 15 minutes and it attained 38%! 

Conclusion

Available in three colors (pure white, baby pink and tiffany blue) with a retail price of S$399 (without line contract) from 26^th September , the ZenFone Selfie is priced quite decently for a mid-range smartphone. You can get a promotional price of S$379 with the free Lolliflash accessory worth S$17.90 if you purchase the phone from 26^th September to 31^st October.

While it retains the basic DNA of the ZenFone 2, the ZenFone Selfie does comes with some differentiating features such as the 13-megapixel front-facing camera (the ZenFone 2 has a 5-megapixel sensor), a removable battery, Corning Gorilla Glass 4 (enhanced resistance to scratches) and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor.

Even though the Snapdragon 615 chipset lags slightly behind the Intel chipset of the ZenFone 2 in the performance benchmarks, it still offers better battery mileage. Moreover, Qualcomm allows you to optimize the battery longevity on the ZenFone Selfie through Battery Guru, an app developed specifically for Snapdragon-powered devices. At the end of the day, the decision to purchase the ZenFone Selfie or the ZenFone 2 depends on how much you value hardcore mobile gaming + benchmark performance, and if you can live with the ZenFone Selfie's more feminine colors. If mobile gaming is the most important factor for you, or if the only color you recognize is some shade of black or gunmetal gray, get the ZenFone 2, otherwise, the ZenFone Selfie is as good or better in all other areas.