Few months ago I got a chance to do a quick hands on test with the new Asus Zenfone 5 smartphone, thanks to Ted Claudio for lending me his phone, I did a quick hands on to try the new camera, feel and touch the smooth body of the smartphone and also perform a vlog test to see if the Zenfone 5 is a perfect partner for vlogging and to my conclusion, it is a good phone for recording videos and also vlogs.
Last August 2018, I got a chance to use the Zenfone 5 in full glory, thanks to the Asus team for lending me this unit to use it for a month, I reserve the phone to use it in my travel around in Pampanga and Davao. I used the Zenfone 5 dual rear camera in capturing subject with bokeh effect, I noticed that its front camera with only 8MP and F/2.0 aperture, can perform the best selfie photo with bokeh effect. I was surprise to see that the bokeh effect and performance of the camera is much better than other smartphones that can do the same and limitation of the Zenfone 5 with only 1 camera at the front, can perform much better bokeh vs. among other brands.
For the start that I used the Zenfone 5 for testing a bokeh effect, that’s the first that I immediately noticed.
But the Zenfone 5 can do more, scroll down below for my review and also before we proceed for the review, check out the specs of the Zenfone 5.
TECH SPECS
6.2-inch Full HD+ (2246 by 1080) Super IPS+ display
Corning® Gorilla® Glass for best screen protection
Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 636 Mobile Platform with 14nm, 64-bit Octa-core Processor with AI Boost
GPU Qualcomm® Adreno™ 509
Android™ Oreo™ with new ASUS ZenUI 5
4GB LPDDR4X RAM
Rear dual cam- Sony flagship IMX363 12MP dual pixel image sensor and 8MP F1.8
Rear cam can do 120° wide-angle camera / 5x light sensitivity low light photos
Front cam - 8MP F2.0
4K video recording with 3axis IS on rear cam
64 GB internal storage
Dual SIM dual standby
Rear fingerprint sensor
Face recognition
3300mAh with fast charging
body color available: Meteor Silver and Midnight Blue
SRP PHP 19,995
For my initial review and quick hands on few months ago.
UNBOXING
Here’s what’s inside the box of the Zenfone 5
1. Zenfone 5 unit
2. Transparent body protector
3. Charger plug
4. USB Type C cable
5. Extra ear buds
This review unit comes without the manual and the earphones, I think the last person who used it forgot to include the missing items back inside the box.
Here’s what I like in the new Asus Zenfone 5
- The body is very slim and its easy to carry, light weight and since Im using a bigger phone, I realized that my hands didnt get tired when I use a much smaller and compact body like the Zenfone 5
UNBOXING
Here’s what’s inside the box of the Zenfone 5
1. Zenfone 5 unit
2. Transparent body protector
3. Charger plug
4. USB Type C cable
5. Extra ear buds
This review unit comes without the manual and the earphones, I think the last person who used it forgot to include the missing items back inside the box.
Here’s what I like in the new Asus Zenfone 5
- The body is very slim and its easy to carry, light weight and since Im using a bigger phone, I realized that my hands didnt get tired when I use a much smaller and compact body like the Zenfone 5
- It has Corning® Gorilla® Glass protection on the screen, I didnt got any worry when the phone was placed in my bag along with lots of coins or any other gadget item, because I know the other items on my bag wont damage the screen or scratch it
- Sound quality of the phone is good, its louder and it works great when playing games and listening to music
- The face recognition auto unlock works great! Im not a fan of the fingerprint scan at the back of the phone, but the face recognition to auto unlock the phone is fast and its very convenient.
- Photos taken by the camera is good, the rear cam and front cam can do better bokeh effect
- I did a vlog test and I love the video quality and also the mic audio, the mic pick up is louder and crisp, it can record good audio even if you have the plastic protector on the body
- Touch screen is very responsive
- Touch menu for the app activates so fast
- Loading games is fast thanks to its GPU and processor power
- Body is all aluminum metallic body, it has more protection now from falls, bent and accidental drop
- I super like the Game Genie feature on the phone -- you can record games, stream it online and also set a no alert feature while you are playing
- It doesnt over heat when in heavy use
- Fast charging works fine
Here's what I didn't like
- Sound quality of the phone is good, its louder and it works great when playing games and listening to music
- The face recognition auto unlock works great! Im not a fan of the fingerprint scan at the back of the phone, but the face recognition to auto unlock the phone is fast and its very convenient.
- Photos taken by the camera is good, the rear cam and front cam can do better bokeh effect
- I did a vlog test and I love the video quality and also the mic audio, the mic pick up is louder and crisp, it can record good audio even if you have the plastic protector on the body
- Touch screen is very responsive
- Touch menu for the app activates so fast
- Loading games is fast thanks to its GPU and processor power
- Body is all aluminum metallic body, it has more protection now from falls, bent and accidental drop
- I super like the Game Genie feature on the phone -- you can record games, stream it online and also set a no alert feature while you are playing
- It doesnt over heat when in heavy use
- Fast charging works fine
Here's what I didn't like
- The back of the phone is not smudge free, I just hate when the back of the phone acquires a lot of fingerprint and smudges. That's why I used the plastic protector for the body to prevent it to get any smudge
- Battery can last for less than a day, if you are heavily using it, I just hope they install a bigger battery specs --- I know they have the Battery King model, but next time they should not separate the good features for the phone
- Im not sure if the metallic back body is free from scratches, but I was more careful in handling this vs phones without shiny smooth metallic body. I have plastic cover on the phone, but its the only way to protect it
- its using USB Type C!!! You are now required to carry an extra cable, if your powerbank uses the Micro USB to use it to charge the powerbank. We have to adjust, because I think USB Type C is the future.
- Im not sure if the metallic back body is free from scratches, but I was more careful in handling this vs phones without shiny smooth metallic body. I have plastic cover on the phone, but its the only way to protect it
- its using USB Type C!!! You are now required to carry an extra cable, if your powerbank uses the Micro USB to use it to charge the powerbank. We have to adjust, because I think USB Type C is the future.
6.2 inch display screen that covers almost the entire front body of the phone. This features is good for viewing videos or playing games. A wide screen environment will display better visual content. This is one of the best features that I like.
The back body is so shiny and it has this prismatic shine effect when you look at it on different angle. But take note that the back is not smudge free.
The darker version of the body looks more sleek. I prefer this than the silver version.
CAMERA TEST
I snap these photos using the rear and front camera of the Zenfone 5. Im a big fan of bokeh, so I heavily used it for snapping photos for my food blogging, travel blogging and social media posting.
Here are the results
For the rear camera, you can select some setting if you want stronger bokeh feature, For this photo I set the bokeh to full and you’ll see that the background is turned blur, it means more focus on the subject.
For the front camera, even if it has a 8MP F/2.0 specs, it can still perform better bokeh. I super love the front cam of the Zenfone 5. This is perfect for selfie fans.
But sometimes if you over do the bokeh, the subject on the photo will look like that they are glued to another background. So my tip will be: think first the composition and do some trial and error to better understand the behavior of the camera using the bokeh feature.
Selfie without the bokeh, looks great too. In this scene, we are on direct sunlight, but the camera selected its own setting to produce a better photo with the right color. I expect that the photo will produce a much over exposed scene, but the Zenfone 5 camera processor displayed a perfect group selfie
I forgot to mention that Zenfone 5 got its own AI for the camera, it can select and use the right for better photography result.
If many are involved in a group selfie, its better not to use the bokeh effect.
Here’ a sample in low lighting
In this scene -- the place is poorly lighted, but the front camera still captured a good group selfie
One of my fave for using the Zenfone 5 is for food photography, check out my Instagram post for samples:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnD3LBTAnCX/?taken-by=popazrael
GAMING
I did a series of test using the Zenfone 5 for gaming, and Im very happy that this smartphone is also built for gaming. Thanks to its big memory and also powerful GPU for bringing the best performance.
OVER ALL REVIEW
Finally! Asus is back and Im very satisfied for the new specs of their new flagship phone. The Zenfone 5 is built for many users -- for photography, videography, gaming, video entertainment, communication, and many more. Multi taskers will love it because of its very responsive touch screen and fast performance. Although that the battery will not last for a day, but you can still re-power up using a powerbank. Its a custom already for smartphone users to carry their own powerbank, especially for users who heavily use the camera for taking photos and video, and also for mobile gaming.
Asus Zenfone is branded as a gaming phone even before its early Zenfone model, thats why many users are more into gaming instead of the regular users for communication, but new breed of users are loving the camera specs, and this makes Asus Zenfone available for everyone, everyone can be a photographer and gamer at the same time-- and also a selfie pro!
If ever I get a chance to upgrade...then this is my 1st candidate to replace my old smartphone.
