ASUS ZenFone 3 review: The sexy mid-range phone to get

Note: Article updated on 27th August 12.30pm to reflect the two variants of ZenFone 3 phones available. Review was originally published on 26th August, 1pm.

The path to ZenFone 3

The ASUS mobile division spent a good part of 2015 releasing many variants of the ZenFone 2. While this line-up spawned various commendable alternatives, like the highly-popular ZenFone 2 (4GB RAM variant), the ZenFone Selfie, and the battery performance champ with ZenFone Max, the loyal ASUS fans and Android OS enthusiasts are also interested in seeing the next generation of ZenFones that were launched at Computex 2016. Given the long run for the current ZenFone 2 series, this makes the ASUS ZenFone 3 a long-awaited successor to the series.

What makes the ZenFone 3 slightly more exciting is the use of a brand new Snapdragon 625 SoC. While it’s nowhere as beastly as the flagship Snapdragon 820 SoC, the Snapdragon 625 was made using the 14nm FinFET manufacturing process – the same process that created its flagship brethren. ASUS did not stop at having their new ZenFone 3 being one of the first adopters of the Snapdragon 625. They’ve sweetened the deal with features on their end, such as the ASUS TriTech autofocus technology for their rear camera, and a refined physical design.

Two variants of the ZenFone 3 are available: a 5.2-inch version with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, which retails for $398, and a 5.5-inch version with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage that sells for $498. Other than the display size, RAM and onboard storage capacity, the phones are identical otherwise.

Later in September, ASUS will also be releasing a high-end, premium ZenFone 3 Deluxe. This model has a completely different design, and sports a top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. It's also much more expensive at $1,188. Find out more details on this model and the full ZenFone 3 line-up in our report.

For this review, we'll be looking at the 5.5-inch ZenFone 3.

Design & Handling

The ZenFone series highlights its signature "concentric circle" design, and the ZenFone 3 is no different. The circular design uses hairline spun concentric circles that emulate the appearance of a water droplet rippling on a pond. However, the current iteration is more subtle, since the phone is now encased in Gorilla Glass 3 panels on the front and back. To see the design, you'd need to hold the phone at an angle under the right lighting conditions.

What stood out to us was the overall build quality and material choices found on the ZenFone 3. Its polished glass rear was a huge upgrade to the metallic-looking plastic cover it used before. The mildly chamfered edges are consistent with the buttons – they blend seamlessly into its aluminum chassis that's visible on the sides.

The 7.69mm thin phone feels much lighter than it looks, yet it feels hardy enough whenever we gripped it. The chamfered edges don't add much to its ergonomics, but the button and finger print sensor placement complement the phone well. We were able to rest our fingers naturally on the power key, and having the fingerprint sensor on the back meant it was easy to to start the phone up from a locked state. Yes, the ZenFone 3 has a fingerprint sensor and is the first from the ASUS stable!

It felt like the new ZenFone 3 actually picked up the cool monolithic design language left behind by Sony, but ASUS's interpretation made the ZenFone 3 appear friendly and premium. If you were to judge the phone strictly by appearance and handling, it's easy to mistake it for something costlier than S$498.

Display & Audio

The ASUS ZenFone 3 uses a 5.5-inch, Full HD IPS display (1,920 x 1,080 pixels resolution). It boasts a display brightness of 600nits and a viewing angle of 178 degrees. The combination of an IPS display, wide viewing angle, and above average brightness levels led ASUS to claim that they make the ZenFone 3’s display readable from any direction. While the colors are not as vibrant as the ones seen on AMOLED displays, the ZenFone 3 is truly one of the brighter phones we've sampled as of late. The blacks on the test image are sufficiently deep, while similar colors that are adjacent to each other still manage to stand out separately. It might have a tinge of warm color temperature (evident from the white-colored snow in the background of the above display image), but it's not that obvious in day-to-day use.

For audio, the ZenFone 3 uses a new "5-magnet NXP Amp" powered speaker for volume and frequency distinction. According to ASUS, the decision to use this five-magnet speaker (developed by ASUS’s specialist audio team) with the NXP speaker amp allows them to deliver loud volume with less distortion, while ensuring no damage to the speakers over time.

The ZenFone 3 supports Hi-Res Audio output, which is a nice feature for a S$500 phone. For the uninitiated, Hi-Res audio is a certified standard, and it means that the ZenFone 3 can play back audio files rated at 24-bit/96KHz or 24-bit/192KHz. To experience this audio feature, simply link the ZenFone 3 up with an external speaker or headphones that supports Hi-Res Audio. Audio quality itself was decent and functional – there was distinct separation of bass, treble, and mid-range frequencies on the phone's internal speaker.

UI & Features
 

ASUS ZenUI 3.0

Most of the ZenUI 3.0's latest additions are superficial. You get weather animations for weather related notifications, and they implemented a bokeh effect to its app drawer. Nonetheless, it's worth noting that the current iteration of ZenUI on the ZenFone 3 feels quite clean and intuitive, even if it's not the most visually appealing UI for Android 6.0 OS (Marshmallow).

GameGenie

Remember the Game Launcher found on the Samsung Galaxy S7 series? The GameGenie is just that. This feature automatically launches whenever a game app starts up. Like the Game Launcher, the GameGenie is represented by a little floating icon on the screen.

However, the GameGenie provides a slightly different set of utilities. You can still boost your device via Speed Booster, but what GameGenie offers is the ability to look up game tips and guides with the search button. The Search ability opens up a browser with relevant links without leaving the game, making it really handy to have. You can connect your YouTube and Twitch accounts to GameGenie, which can be helpful when you are using Search to look for video guides on your game of choice.

Games on smartphones fall within a broad range of difficulties, ranging from the casual enslaving of Pokémon to knowledge-heavy strategy games, so GameGenie doesn't really help for every app. Plus, if you're not the sort who plays games on a phone, this option won't come up in your day-to-day use at all.

Benchmark Performance

The ASUS ZenFone 3 uses the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz – it's the first 600 series processor that uses the same 14mn FinFET manufacturing process that created the flagship Snapdragon 820 processor, thus providing massive power savings and performance enhancements over the previous generation 600-series mid-range processor. In our benchmark tests, we sample from a range of other mid-range offerings with similar processor or price tags. It's worth noting that we got the 64GB version, which costs S$498 and it comes with 4GB RAM.

Sunspider

SunSpider JavaScript measures 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. The ZenFone 3 may not have the sexiest score of the lot, but the phone works fast for web-browsing purposes. It's also notably better than the ZenFone Selfie that uses the Snapdragon 615 processor. The ZenFone 2's Intel Atom was unusually adept in this test.

Quadrant

Quadrant benchmarks a device’s CPU, I/O, and GPU performance. ZenFone 3 leads the pack, hands down. In fact, the results are actually flagship device level performance.

3DMark’s Ice Storm Unlimited

3DMark’s Ice Storm Unlimited test uses a mix of graphics and physics tests to measure hardware performance. The first test measures the GPU’s ability to process lots of vertices, while the second does the same thing with lots of pixels and post-processing effects. Finally, the physics test switches the load to the CPU to test its ability to process physics simulations, while keeping GPU load low. The ZenFone 3 is average on paper, but it handles games just fine. While the smartphone doesn't have remarkable scores, you would be glad to note that it's miles ahead of the previous ZenFone flagship like the ZenFone Selfie and its Snapdragon 615 processor.

Camera Performance

This phone uses a 16-megapixel rear camera that's helped along with ASUS TriTech Autofocus. Their autofocus system combines their laser, phase detection, and contrast detection abilities to focus on the subject in 0.03 seconds. According to ASUS, this should result in properly-focused images “in any condition”. There's also 4-axis Optical Image Stabilization for images (video recordings get 3-axis Electronic Image Stabilization).

The camera quality is decent for a low-cost phone. It's able to focus very quickly (as promised), and the colors are distinct and relatively vibrant, as it leans towards a warmer color temperature on a whole. As seen in our test image, it captures the creases of the wine bottle's foil very well, even if it struggles with the spooling on the threads (most smartphone cameras can't capture the sewing thread's details anyway).

Battery Life

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

The ZenFone 3 has a 3,000mAh battery capacity, which is quite average for this class of phones. However, battery performance is anything but average. As seen in the results below, the new ASUS ZenFone 3 rectified its predecessor's short battery life, and it's only eclipsed by a Samsung device. That's an impressive showing considering that Samsung devices often benefit from their AMOLED screen and Exynos processors. Part of the reason could be attributed to the much more efficient new Snapdragon 625 processor used that Qualcomm claims is up to 35% more power efficient than its predecessor. Further to this, we should also point out that the ZenFone 3 uses a newer speaker system that is far louder than its competitors, but it also means it consumes more power than traditional phone speakers; despite this distinction, the battery performance turned out to be excellent.

If you go out for long periods without getting a chance to charge your phone, the ZenFone 3 would be ideal for you. While our test scenario is non-stop video playback, your actual mileage may vary if you're using the phone for other purposes, such as Pokémon Go hunting.

Conclusion
 

The ASUS ZenFone 3 is an excellent all-round successor to the ZenFone 2 series. It has a highly attractive physical design for its price point, and it runs well for a sub S$500 smartphone. We also liked it because of how much the ZenFone has progressed over time and we usually don't expect smartphones of this class to get everything right, while looking good at the same time. The ZenFone 3 offers decent camera quality, functional processing power, and a clean enough UI, finished off with mindful consideration for its handling and looks. Without a doubt, it's a good all-rounder and a great mid-range phone for just S$498 (or S$398 if you opt for the smaller display size). 

But wait, isn't the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 a reasonably powerful mid-range device that's a lot cheaper at only S$299? Well, it is and we don't deny that. However, the ZenFone 3 is a more refined product that offers enough extras to justify its price. For starters, it's obviously a more handsome looking device, has more RAM (4GB as opposed to 3GB on Redmi Note 3), more storage (64GB vs. 32GB on Redmi Note 3), runs on a faster and more efficient octa-core processor (Redmi Note 3 uses a slower and older hex-core processor), has better battery performance, optical image stabilization for photography and electronic stabilization for video shooting, offers high-res audio support, uses a newer Android OS and so on. That's a rather long list of enhancements that you get for the new ZenFone 3 and we're quite sure that makes up for its asking price.

What about if you're thinking about spending a bit more and upgrading to a Xiaomi Mi5 (S$619) or OnePlus 3 (currently S$649 on Lazada)? While both of those phones have more powerful Snapdragon 820 processors, surprisingly, the actual difference in benchmark performance isn't huge. Additionally, unlike the ZenFone 3, neither the Mi5 nor the OnePlus 3 offer expandable storage. If you don't need the extra power of a Snapdragon 820 processor save the money and go for the ZenFone 3, the rest of its feature-set compares favourably to both the Mi5 and OnePlus 3.

At $398 or S$498, there's not much to challenge either size ZenFone 3. Both are vastly superior to all of the entry-level S$300 phones out there, and they compete quite well with higher-priced upper-mid range phones too. If you've got S$400-S$500 to spend on your next phone, the ZenFone 3 is a no-brainer.

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