Dual-camera smartphones are not surprising anymore. Any more or less popular smartphone makers has at least one device with two camera modules. Probably the best affordable option is the Xiaomi Redmi Pro. But it belongs to the category of mid-range smartphones. In this sense, the latest device with high–end features is the Huawei P10. We can recall too many smartphones with dual-camera, but it’s not the goal we have gathered here for. Asus has introduced the next-gen ZenFone 3 Zoom smartphone at CES 2017 back in January. This handset is known for its two camera lenses placed on the back and a list of interesting features related to it. So we decided to take a closer look at the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom in order to explore what devices it is competing with and whether it is a better option or not.
I can’t remember what smartphone was the first to come in with a dual-camera, but this has become a trend once the Apple iPhone 7 Plus was launched. Later Huawei and Xiaomi join the race. The same was done by Korean LG. As you see, almost all popular smartphone brands have designed such phones. So why the Taiwanese manufacturer, Asus should fall behind.
Many smartphone makers do not waste much time on creating anything new. That’s why they get a lot of criticism. In this sense, probably the most protected Chinese brand is Xiaomi. Asus launches handset with original design as well, but the ZenFone 3 Zoom is not the case. It looks identical to the Huawei P10, but this doesn’t mean it’s ugly. Vice versa, the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom sport an attractive design that should be at taste of many customers.
The front side carries a 5.5-inch capacitive touchscreen at a resolution of Full HD. Thanks to the AMOLED matrix, all the colors look pretty juicy and even a little bit poisonous. The maximum brightness is sufficient both indoors and outdoors. However, the viewing angle was disappointing. The display is protected with a Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The front camera with a standard set of sensors are located above the screen, while the touchable traditional Android buttons are below it.
As you can guess, the back panel comes with two camera lenses accompanied with a LED flash as well as lasers for better focusing. The fingerprint scanner is located a bit lower. The most part of rear is made of aluminum, while the upper and lower parts are made of plastic covering antennas.
The SIM card slot is placed on the left hand side. The volume rocker and the power button are on the right side. The USB Type-C along with the 3.5mm audio jack and speaker are on the bottom.
The processor inside the phone considers its category. The Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom is a regular mid-range smartphone packed with a Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor clocked at 2GHz. There is also a 4GB RAM as well as 64/128GB ROM. they work under the control of Asus ZenUI 3.0 based on Android 6.0.
When testing it via benchmarks, the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom scored over 60.000 points at AnTuTu. In comparison to other models, this handset is behind the old good iPhone 5S. As for GeekBench, our hero lays behind the LG Nexus 5. However, this is not the case when the benchmark results can showcase the actual picture. The ZenFone 3 Zoom works smoothly and there are no slowdowns at all.
Once the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom was unveiled at CES 2017 90% of all praises referred to the dual-camera, and the rest 10% went to the battery. The phone is equipped with a 5000mAh large battery. Thanks to it the device will provide up to 3 days of normal use. As the manufacturer claims, it can provide up to 42 days at standby mode.
Plus, the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom can be used as a power bank to charge other smartphones.
The Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom supports FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 26, 28), TD-LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40, 41), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, and GPS. Though both SIM cards support 4G, only one of them can connect to that network at a time. Voice calls are not a problem as well thanks to the dual internal mic with ASUS Noise Reduction Technology.
The phone sports a camera featuring two sensors at 12MP resolution. The first wide-angle-camera comes with a Sony IMX362 sensor with 1.4 micro size and aperture of f/1.7 found on the Moto G5 Plus. The second one comes with a Samsung 3M3 sensor at f/2.6 aperture and it can boast an optical 2.3x zoom as well as the ability to zoom the image up to 12 times. The camera provides a 59mm focal length and uses a Contrast Detect AF. It works with exclusive ASUS technology named SuperPixel. According to the company, the camera has an increased photosensitivity. Therefore, you can take great photos even in low-light conditions. It takes telescopic photos, bokeh-rich Portrait Mode photos and records 4K video. Finally, the camera comes with hybrid 4-axis OIS and 3-axis EIS.
However, I guess all the aforementioned specs may sound unfamiliar to many readers. Let’s find out whether the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom is as good as the manufacturer claims. First, switching between cameras is very fast. The sharpening speed is gladsome as well. Thanks to TriTech+ technology the camera determines one of three focusing systems: Dual Pixel PDAF, 2nd-gen Laser AF, and Contrast Detect AF.
In Auto mode, the Zenfone 3 Zoom doesn’t automatically switch to the Samsung zoom camera when you tap on the 2.3x zoom. If the camera app determines the Sony camera is more apt for the scene, it will just use a 2.3x digital zoom. But if the app recognizes that you’re shooting something from a distance, it will use the 2.3x optical zoom using the Samsung camera. So when you want to make sure you’re using the 2.3x optical zoom, you have to use Manual mode then tap on the 2.3x zoom manually. You can also zoom up further to 12x by using the pinch-to-zoom gesture.
As for the capturing quality, not everything is straightforward as we’d like. Though this handset can take amazing photos outdoor and in direct sunlight, you can reach better results if digging in the settings a bit longer. However, even all those setups won’t save the phone from periodically black color drops.
Indoor shooting experience is the worst part of the review. The quality drops quite noticeably. The samples show too much noise on the sides. Many may miss this shortcoming when looking at the photos on smartphone’s screen. But when you view it on a computer display, they become obvious. So when comparing to the newly launched Huawei P10, the latter is a head higher than the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom.
Fortunately, the 13MP front camera takes better photos. There is a special features for improving the selfie quality if you need to smooth out wrinkles or spread acne. Plus, it has 140 degree panorama mode for wide selfies, just like Samsung does it on its phones.
Like many other Chinese smartphones, the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom’s display can become a flash light when taking selfies in low-light conditions. Other than that, the phone can make animations without a third-party app. Finally, if ‘Kids’ function is activated, the phone will capture your kid when he/she turns his face into the lens.
Modern processor providing smooth performance
Dual-camera with a lot of great features
Good front camera offering a myriad of selfie modes
Large memory combination
4G LTE support
Too large battery providing a few days of use at a single charge
Full HD AMOLED screen protected with Gorilla Glass 5
The phones heats up when using camera for a long time
Huawei-iPhone-like design
Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner
No Android 7.0 update yet
The Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom has been launched to compete with mid-range dual-camera phones such as the Xiaomi Redmi Pro, Umidigi Z Pro, and Huawei Honor 8. But its design and a decent specs list allow the phone to challenge high-end models such as the Huawei P10 and Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus. In terms of camera, the ZenFone 3 Zoom can compete with any handset, but there are many works to be done for better performance. So let’s think about this phone as a power-ful mid-range handset that is capable of providing great shooting experience. Its higher variant packed with a 128GB built-in memory was initially priced at 3699 yuan ($537). The phone is set to be launched sometime in Q2. As you guess its price is the way higher at the moment, but I guess you’re ready to pay a fortune in order to acquire this amazing handset.
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