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| ASUS ZenFone Selfie Review, Front Act |
INTRODUCTION:
The ZenFone line of the Taiwanese manufacturing giant has been popular since it was first launched a few years ago and as the number of variants grow, each device must have a unique identifier so that consumers can identify each model from the rest. Meet the ASUS ZenFone Selfie, it is the first ZenFone wherein one of its the main selling points is the front camera.
The ASUS ZenFone Selfie features a 13MP front camera made by Toshiba with an f/2.2 aperture and accompanied by a dual-LED Real Tone flash. It also boasts an 88-degree wide angle lens and Selfie Panorama mode that allows users to shoot selfies or groupies with up to 140 degrees outlook.
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| CPU-Z Info |
Like the ZenFone Laser, the ZenFone Selfie is also powered by Qualcomm processor, but this time, it has a more powerful chipset, an octa core Snapdragon 615, which has 4 Cortex-A53 CPU cores clocked at 1.5GHz each plus another 4 Cortex-A53 CPU cores clocked at 1.1GHz each combined with Adreno 405 GPU.
UNBOXING:
ASUS ZenFone Selfie Unboxing and Hands-on Video
The ZenFone Selfie has a strong physical appearance and similarities with most, if not all, recent ZenFone device, except for its big front camera module. It has capacitive keys directly below the screen followed by a shiny black bezel, which is the only part in the device's facade that is not covered with glass. Above the display at the rightmost part, you will find the notification light and hidden sensors while the 13MP selfie shooter is in the middle flanked by the LED flash and earpiece grill. The top of the phone holds the 3.5mm audio jack, the power button and the secondary microphone while the bottom part has the micro USB port and the primary microphone.
See Also: ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser Review, Focus At Will
Going at the back on the lower portion, you will see the ZenFone logo directly above the loudspeaker grill while at the upper part you will find the main camera in between the laser sensor and the dual-tone flash. Below the camera module is the volume keys that also double as shutter keys when taking selfies. For a more clear understanding of its design and physical attribute, you can watch the unboxing and hands-on video above.
DISPLAY:
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| Display |
The ASUS ZenFone Selfie sports a 5.5-inch display with full HD resolution and IPS technology for better viewing angles. The colors and images produced are sharp, accurate and well-detailed, it is also quite bright and has good sunlight legibility. The screen is also covered with scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 4 plus additional coating that resists fingerprints and smudges.
SENSORS:
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| Sensors |
The phone is loaded with sensors, on top of the usual ambient light, proximity and accelerometer, it is also equipped with gyroscope, magnetic compass and hall sensors. All of them are working properly both on app testing and real-life usage.
BENCHMARKS:
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| Benchmarks |
The ZenFone Selfie draws its power from the Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 chipset that has an octa core 64-bit processor with frequencies of up to 1.5GHz integrated with Adreno 405 graphics processing unit. In terms of benchmarks, this particular system on chip scored more than 37K in Antutu, about 24K in Quadrant, around 3K in PC Mark, 59.8fps in NenaMark and 2122, 1397, 989 in Vellamo Browser, Multicore and Metal respectively.
Also Read: ASUS ZenPad 7.0 Review, State of Focus
SOFTWARE:
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| Sensors |
Like the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser, it runs on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with the proprietary ZenUI on top. This is consistent across most, if not all ZenFone devices, it is an intuitive and stylish launcher wherein you can customize almost everything for the best possible experience. To learn more about it, just head on to http://www.asus.com/ZenUI/
CAMERA:
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| Camera Interface |
The camera interface is practically the same with that of the ZenPad 7.0 and ZenFone 2 Laser, it offers tons of modes and features, such as Beatification, Manual, Super Resolution, GIF Animation, Miniature, Time Rewind and Smart Remove.
Sample Photos:
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| Gloomy afternoon without HDR |
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| Gloomy afternoon without HDR |
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| Without HDR |
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| With HDR |
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| Original image of below |
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| 100% Crop of Above |
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| Comparison (click to enlarge) - Auto Image (left) & Super Resolution (Right) |
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| Miniature |
The main camera is equipped with 13MP Toshiba sensor with f/2.0 five-prism Largan lens coupled with dual-LED Real Tone flash and backed with laser sensor for faster focusing ability. In real life scenario, this laser auto-focus mechanism really gets the job done, able to target the object of desire in almost an instant.
Related: ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML Unboxing and Initial Impression
As expected, the image quality produced is superb in daylight situation or when there is ample lighting. The details are great considering its price offering, colors are vivid and contrast is quite good too. However, dynmic range processing is not that effective, more often than not, the shadows are darker than usual, overpowering highlights and other important details. Thankfully, HDR mode usually solves this sentiment.
Meanwhile, the selfie-centric front camera is also equipped with 13MP sensor with similar characteristics as the main one, except for its aperture of f/2.2.
GAMING:
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| Gangstar City |
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| Overkill 3 |
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| Modern Combat 5 |
The Snapdragon 615 combined with 3GB of RAM can handle most, if not all, casual and mid-graphics heavy games with ease, such Criminal Case, Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Temple Run 2, Subway Surfers, Despicable Me and Gangstart City to name a few. Playing resources hungry games like Overkill 3 and Modern Combat 5 tells us a different story, it is quite smooth on scenarios with less characters on the screen, however, when there are about 5 or more enemies, it chokes, frame-rate drops and lags are noticeable. On the other hand, mobile gamers will be delighted that the ZenFone Selfie does not heat up that much.
BATTERY STATS:
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| Battery Stats |
The Selfie has 3,000mAh battery, the same capacity with that of the ZenFone 2 Laser. In PC Mark work battery life test, it managed to last one minute shy to 9 hours. We also used the phone as our backup unit, there were two SIM cards inserted and WiFi always on, but no calls or texts were made, with this kind of usage, it lasted for almost five days.
CONCLUSION:
The ASUS ZenFone Selfie is one of the great devices you can find in the mid-range smartphone segment. It offers solid build quality, good performance, nice sets of cameras and above average battery life.
PROS:
Sharp and vivid display
Decent overall performance
Great battery life
Laser auto-focus and dual-tone LED flash
CONS:
Lags in some games
Only 25GB out of 32GB is available to the user
Plenty of pre-installed non-removable apps
ASUS ZenFone Selfie (ZE551KL) Specifications:
- GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
- 3G/WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz
- LTE: 800/850/900/1800/1900/2100/2600MHz
- Dual micro SIM, dual standby
- 5.5-inch IPS capacitive Full HD (1920x1080) touchscreen display, Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection
- Dimensions: 156.5mm x 77.2mm x 3.9-10.8mm
- Weight: 170 grams
- Android 5.0 Lollipop with ZenUI
- 64-bit 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 CPU + 1.1GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 405 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 chipset
- 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM
- 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via micro SD card
- 13MP auto focus main camera with dual-color Real Tone flash, Laser Auto Focus technology
- 13MP secondary camera with dual-color Real Tone flash
- Multimedia player
- 3.5mm audio jack
- GPS with A-GPS & GLONASS
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac
- Micro USB 2.0 with OTG support
- Bluetooth v4.0
- NFC
- Sensors: accelerometer, light, proximity, gyroscope, magnetic, hall
- Battery: 3000mAh Li-Po, removable
- Price: Php11,995