Asus Zenfone Zoom Smartphone Review

Asus is focusing on bringing camera smartphone and launches Zenfone Zoom with a powerful camera. Asus went out of the box and added a 13 MP sensor with real zoom lens enabling 3X optical zoom. We received smartphone review unit and here is our opinion about the world’s thinnest 3X optical zoom smartphone.

Metallic shell with rich leather crafting at the rear

The Zenfone Zoom comes into a 5-mm metallic unibody and burnished leather rear cover. The smartphone looks pretty cool and while holding the device it does offer rich feeling. The phone boasts a 5.5-inch screen, has dedicated buttons to click images and shoot videos with ease, along with traditional power and volume rocker buttons.

The bright 5.5-inch display with Corning Gorilla glass protection

This mobile device hosts a 5.5-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen, with 1080 x 1920 pixels (~403 PPI pixel density) and produces 16M colors. The display includes exclusive ASUS TruVivid technology, which transforms the conventional four-layer design into an innovative two-layer construction with full lamination. Fusing the cover-glass and touch-panel layers eliminate the air gap, bringing everything closer to the user’s touch and the screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4, protecting the phone from scratches and smudges. The screen produces vibrant colors and bright enough to be used even in direct sunlight. We didn't found any issue while reading the text in direct sunlight.

Capture images even from a distance with 3X optical zoom

Asus did something unique this time camera is Coupled with a Panasonic SmartFSI image sensor as well as has a 3X optical zoom with 10-element HOYA lens arrangement that enables close-ups with up to 12X total magnification. While testing the camera, we clicked various images from a distance using the zoom and it did pretty well. Also with close-ups, it did pretty good job.

With a 13MP PixelMaster rear camera also benefited by ZenFone Zoom’s OIS that gives smartphone photographers the confidence to shoot with slower shutter speeds for longer exposures, equivalent to up to four stops. The phone also comes with built-in optical image stabilization (OIS) to eliminate shakes and blurred shots.

The rear camera comes with dual-LED Real Tone flash enabling to capture natural illumination for indoor portraits. ZenFone Zoom’s rear lens also has laser auto-focus to point and shoot with clarity in just 0.03 seconds.

ASUS-exclusive Super Resolution mode applies multi-frame-fusion technology to create incredibly detailed photos. Four high-resolution 13MP shots are fused to create a single image of with clarity that’s four times (4X) greater than a single shot. Night or day, ZenFone Zone captures more detail and less noise — and Super Resolution shots of up to 52MP.

The front 5 MP camera captures beautiful images in both daylight and low light. This is perfect for capturing selfie and groufie. Though both cameras performed well, but we seen a little lag while using the camera UI, must because of various handful features.

Packed with powerful hardware, enabling you to do lot more with a smartphone

Zenfone Zoom is powered by quad-core Intel Atom processor with 4GB of dual-channel LPDDR3 RAM, runs on Android 5.0 and up to 128GB of storage. Featuring LTE Category 4+ for download speeds up to 250Mbps, and a 60ms touch-response time. Using the smartphone during our test, we didn't find any performance lag. We played several high-graphic intensive games such as Asphalt 8 and Fifa, and there was no lag even while switching between apps.

Boasts 3000 mAh battery, but average backup

The smartphone is equipped with a 3000 mAh battery that gives it juice to last longer but not enough to last for the entire day. Even with moderate usage, you need to charge it after 6 hours. Thankfully ZenFone Zoom is benefited from exclusive ASUS BoostMaster technology for turbo-speed charging that takes the battery from zero to 60% in just 39 minutes, which comes useful when you are in a hurry to get some power for the device.

In our battery test, it lasted for 2 hours 22 min, consuming 40 battery on AnTuTu battery bench. In video test, it lasted for 4 hours 45 minutes to consume entire battery, playing video over wi-fi with full brightness and sound.