ASUS ZenFone 5 – A Captivating Flagship Killer with a Knockdown Price

ASUS current generation ZenFone and they claim the device as having an artificial intelligence (AI). And instead of being a Smartphone, they considered the ZenFone 5 as an Intelligent Phone.

Body and Build

The ASUS ZenFone 5 looks very familiar as its look like an iPhone X. It has a simple and clean design with rounded edges. The phone is covered with glass which can be easily covered with fingerprints smudges. Positioned below the screen is the touch-sensitive buttons. It has a removable back cover where you can access the dual SIM-card and microSD card slots. Located at the phone's back are the 8MP camera and the audio speaker. There's a flash located below the camera sensors and in the middle sits a fingerprint scanner. The USB-C port and the 3.5mm audio jack is positioned at the bottom edge. You can find the power key on the right spine along with the volume rocker above it. Being reduced in pricing, there's no dust and waterproofing rating on this model as well as the wireless charging feature. The phone's dimension is 153 x 75.65 x 7.7mm and it is available in Meteor Silver and Midnight Blue colors.

Display

The ZenFone 5 comes with a 6.2-inch Full HD + IPS Display with 2246 x 1080 resolution and a 19:9 aspect ratio, giving a screen-to-body ratio of 90 percent. And because it has an IPS display, it comes with a wide color range with a nice viewing angle and an excellent color saturation and 550 nits of brightness too which makes it an awesome device to use even on outdoors. The device has a similar notch like the Apple's flagship at the top but has slightly thicker bezel at the bottom.

Camera

The ASUS ZenFone 5 sports a dual camera with a 12MP primary camera at an aperture of f/1.8 armed with Sony IMX363 sensor. It also has an RGB sensor and phase detection autofocus added with OIS and EIS as well. The phone's second main camera has an 8MP with a 120-degree field of view and can view wider up to 200 percent for a larger frame. As for the selfie camera, it is rated at 8MP with 84-degree field of view and has a Portrait mode that allows shooting selfies with blurred background.

OS and Software

The ZenFone 5 runs ASUS own ZenUI 5.0 on top of Android Oreo and the good thing is it doesn't have loads of annoying bloatware that can get in. And the only third-party apps that come preinstalled are Instagram and Facebook.

Memory and Storage Specs

The ASUS Zenfone 5 is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 mobile platform with 14nm, 64-bit Octa-core processor with AI Boost. The Snapdragon 636 is the Qualcomm's product for mid-range phones. ZenFone 5 offers two variants, a 4GB of RAM or an ample 6GB of RAM and both devices have 64GB of built-in storage which can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD.

Battery

The device is powered by a 3300mAh battery with BoostMaster and Smart Charging. It also comes with AI and scheduled charging for battery protection.

Pros: Modern design, Stunning display, Slim bezels.
Cons: Looks like an iPhone X clone.

Popularity in the Philippines
ASUS is one of the respected brands of smartphone in the country. With different models of smartphone the company is offering to the consumers, they have garnered a lot of fans as their devices are priced lesser compared to other branded smartphones with the same features.