Asus Zenfone 5 mobile review

The year 2014 is the budget smartphone year and the best time to buy a phone that fulfills all your needs with the price that you can stomach easily. The smartphone market is already flooded with affordable smartphones like Moto G, Lumia 630, Intex Aqua i5, etc and it's a daunting task for a manufacturer to establish itself in this segment. Asus has hit the sweet spot with Zenfone series and Zenfone 5 stands tall against its rivals in mid-segment smartphone category. Asus has introduced 4, 4.5, 5 and 6 inch variants in the latest series. The Taiwanese tech major has a lot to offer and that too with an attractive price point of Rs 5,999 onwards for Indian consumers who loves a pocket friendly feature-rich phone. Here we are giving you a full review of 5 inch version- the Zenfone 5.

Design and Display:
With an aggressive price-point of Rs 9,999 for 8 Gb version, Zenfone 5 comes with a mesmerising design that clearly impresses at the very first glance. Asus has integrated sharp edges and its signature circular rings on the chrome finish metallic bar at the front that certainly adds a premium feel. The power and volume buttons are placed on right and offers good tactile feedback. The matte finish removable back panel makes phone feel good to hold. Even so Zenfone5 has a removable back panel, its battery is packed under a thin layer of plastic which houses Dual-Sim slots.

The phone boasts a 5 inch HD display that is sharp, produces vibrant colours and is good for watching HD videos. It is sensitive and even supports 'Glove Mode' that makes it handy in winters.

Software:
Asus has integrated a new user interface- ZenUI over Android 4.3 Jellybean which is an important aspect of Zenfone series. ZenUI follows flat icons approach and comes loaded with Asus tweaks like Do it later to manage tasks, Asus links for connectivity, reading mode, Power saving mode, Miracast and also an Easy mode that has big icons for senior citizens. The new lock screen displays the upcoming events and other stuff nicely. Swipe down from left to check your recent notifications and from right for quick settings. The UI is refreshing and the best I have seen in a long time on any Android device. Sadly it runs on Android 4.3 Jellybean but Asus has promised that an update of Android 4.4 Kitkat is in the line.

Camera:
Asus has worked hard for the camera technology of Zenfone series. The camera on the Zenfone series is equipped with Pixelmaster technology that improves light sensitivity by combining pixels together which results in better imaging performance even in low light conditions. There is HDR, miniature effect, GIF, time-rewind, low light, smart remove, one touch lightening and all other possible tweaks for camera enthusiasts. You will not feel any desire to install any third party app for camera effects, it's all there. I tested the camera to its limits and in a week's usage it hanged once while extensive usage that includes playing with all available options and I had to switch it off to use it again, but that might be unit specific.

Processor and storage:
Its dual-core Intel Atom processor with 2 GB RAM worked smoothly with day to day stuff, while multitasking and even playing the high end graphic intense games like Asphalt 8 and Fifa 2014 was a treat. Phone performed well and never felt sluggish, which is more than one can ask from a phone at this price. The phone has an inbuilt storage of 8 GB that is expandable up to 64 GB with micro SD card. In terms of the phone's life, its 2110 mAh battery gave us four hours backup during our video playback test on Wi-Fi at full brightness. This usually translates into minimum of 9 hours usage on a single charge.

Price: Rs 9,999

Key Specs: 5 inch HD display, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z2560 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 8 MP rear camera, 2 MP front camera, 2110 mAh battery

Pros: Feature-rich camera, Refreshing UI and stylish looks Smooth Multitasking performance

Cons: Non removable battery, Android 4.3 Mediocre battery back-up