Asus Zenfone 6 16GB

The biggest member of the family, the Zenfone 6 is based on a 6-inch LCD display built using In-Plane Switching technology. The brightness levels offered by the display are good and therefore result in brightly-lit visuals across various lighting conditions making it ideal for use in sunlight as well. The display offers a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels which for a large screen size might sound low, but in real-life usage it's difficult to notice any sort of pixelation or lack of resolution for most application and games.The display offers wide viewing angles as well and sharing content with a number of users would not be a problem Even though the display used has not employed the sue of OGS (One-Glass solution), it offers a viewing experience close to devices built using similar technology.On top of the display, the company has provided Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 protection, which is quite useful, especially considering the size of the device’s display. However, even with Gorilla glass the device is to be used carefully as it is easy to damage even with the smallest of drops, owing to the bigger display size.The touch is quite accurate, and one of the most sensitive we have used on mobile devices so far. The touch sensitivity on the device can be enhanced with the glove mode, which means during colder weather users can keep wearing their gloves.

One of the biggest pain points for the Asus Zenfone is the dated operating system, the Android Jelly Bean 4.3 platform it is still carrying around. Although the company may not really be at fault here, since this Intel processor is yet to get the update for the Android KitKat 4.4. Nevertheless, buyers would have to face the brunt in form of a device that will be running on an older operating system. However, there is some good news as Android KitKat 4.4 upgrade has been made available for the Zenfone 4 and also for the Zenfone 5, so rest assured that within a few days the Zenfone 6 would also be bestowed with the same refresh.ASUS has layered Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with its custom ZenUI user interface, which is quite nice and easy to use. The custom icons take a little while to get used to, but it’s just a matter of a few days before you get used to this device and its user interface completely. However the user interface in quite similar to the smaller Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 4 and to read in-depth about it, you can check out our review of the Zenfone 5 where we have offered detailed review of the user interface and its features.As a nifty little addition, the Zenfone 6 comes with a unique one-handed mode as well. This mode squeezes down the display to one side of the screen, which the user can choose to be either the left or the right side. In addition, users also get to choose which screen size they are more comfortable using the device in one-handed mode, and can choose between 4.3, 4.5 and 4.7-inch display sizes.The quick access bar on top is a nifty addition and along with providing a quick toggle to some of the default Android functions, this custom user interface allows users to customise the quick settings as well as per need.

The ASUS Zenfone 6 comes with a 13-megapixel shooter at the back and gets a 5-megapixel snapper for the front. For a sub-Rs 20,000 device these specs might be quite common but the device makes all the difference with the quality it offers.The Zenfone 6 also flaunts the most powerful camera among its siblings.

The ASUS Zenfone 6 comes powered with the new Intel Atom Z2580 dual-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz. This processor may be dual core, but with Intel’s patented Hyper threading technology, the device can easily perform close to and even better than many quad-core devices.To supplement this processor, ASUS has chosen a meaty 2GB RAM for this device. Although 2GB RAM is nothing out of the ordinary, but for a device bearing a sub Rs 20,000 price tag, it definitely is a good spec to flaunt. In addition, the device gets 16GB of onboard storage along with a microSD card slot that allows the storage to be expanded to an additional 64GB.All in all, the processor gives the device ample headroom for speedy performance making the Zenfone perform well with most apps and games and the bigger RAM memory chunk makes the device perform well even while multitasking. This is clearly evident with all the applications and games that we tried running on this device and it ran them without any glitches or crashes.For cellular connectivity, the device features dual-SIM connectivity with support for 3G GSM networks on the primary SIM while offering 2G connectivity on the secondary SIM. For wireless connectivity the device features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as standard options, while USB 2.0 slot has also been provided for data transfers.The device cleverly makes use of an under-clocked processor for greater stability and while the same processor can be easily clocked at 2GHz Asus has clocked it at 1.6GHz. The result is slightly lowered performance figures, while the temperature has been vastly reduced and at the same time the device works flawlessly and during the course of our review we did not witness a single crash. 

One of the most impressive features of this device is its battery. The device offers a 3,300mAh battery pack, which is a standard for devices with similar screen sizes. In this case however, the device literally sips the juice rather than draining it. As a result, the battery easily lasts between one and a half to two days between recharges and in our battery drain test, it managed to last an impressive seven hours and 42 minutes. For a 6-inch display based device, this is an impressive figure to achieve and even despite the lower resolution, we feel that the Zenfone 6 would be a perfect fit for those who love entertainment on the move.The Zenfone gets a mono loudspeaker at the back, which has ample sound levels to offer and therefore no matter if you are listening to some tunes or sharing your favourite flick with your friends, it won’t disappoint you. Unlike some smartphones, the Zenfone 6 also comes with an integrated FM radio receiver as well. Add it to a very capable audio-video player that the device features,and you get a powerful multimedia device as well. 

All in all, the Zenfone 6 is a good option for this who are looking for a big-screened smartphone in a limited budget. The Zenfone 6 offers good looks, decent hardware specifications, a brilliant camera and a eye-appealing display. At the given price point, this device faces competition from devices such as the Xolo Q3000, Nokia Lumia 1320 and the Sony Xperia T2,which is on the more expensive side. However, the Zenfone 6 is definitely a compelling proposition.For Rs 16,999 (the current price tag of the Zenfone 6), it comes in as a pretty strong contender for those looking for a device that is good as a phone and also as a mini tablet. However, there are some flaws too,  and it includes a low resolution display and above all an older operating system. So if you are okay with these issues then the Zenfone 6 is the device you’ve been waiting for.

Lively displayBrilliant cameraFeature-loaded UISuperb battery life

Older Android versionHD resolution display