Asus Zenfone 3

The ASUS ZenFone 3 is one of the best looking phones in its segment, rivalling even more premium options. Gone is the plasticky exterior of previous ZenFones, and in its place is a sleek metal and glass combo that oozes sex appeal. The lightweight metal frame measures 7.7mm in thickness, and is sandwiched between two layers of 2.5D glass. Both the front and rear feature Gorilla Glass protection to withstand against scratches and minor knocks. Our review unit was black, but you can also pick it up in gold, white and blue hues. The phone features ASUS’ trademark concentric circle design at the rear, making it stand out from other smartphones with similar designs. We should also mention that one of the key features of the ZenFone 3 (and the ZenFone 3 series as a whole) is that it doesn’t feature any antenna lines at the back. Instead, ASUS has been able to hide them from sight almost entirely, barring two strips at the top and bottom edges. The polished metal chamfers on the front and rear are a nice touch too. While the back panel is completely flat, the rounded edges make it comfortable to hold. The flip-side of the design is that the phone is slippery – we were terrified of dropping it, and we would recommend a case, which unfortunately would take away from the looks. While a glass rear panel does make phone’s more susceptible to smudges, on the ZenFone 3 they weren’t as visible as we’d expect.  

With a full HD resolution, the ZenFone 3’s 5.2-inch display offers crisp visuals and good clarity. It features high brightness levels of 600 nits, making it easy to view under bright sunlight. The viewing angles are also great, and watching videos and gaming on this phone was a treat.

 The ASUS ZenFone 3 features a 16MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, a 6P lens and a tri-tech autofocus system which uses a combination of laser, phase detection and continuous autofocus. The smartphone also features four-axis OIS (optical image stabilisation), and adds EIS (electronic image stabilisation) for videos, which it can record in up to 4K resolution. The front camera on the other hand, hides an 8MP sensor that comes with f/2.0 aperture and views the world through an 85-degree wide-angle lens.

The ASUS ZenFone 3 runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with ZenUI 3.0 on top. ZenUI has come a long way since the ZenFone 5 days, and overall, the look is much closer to stock Android. The similarities end there though, because ZenUI 3.0 is packed with extra features, and unfortunately, a fair bit of bloatware too.

The ASUS ZenFone 3 is powered by a Snapdragon 625 processor, a 64-bit octa-core chipset clocked at 2.0 GHz. Now the Snapdragon 625 isn’t a flagship processor, but it’s the first mid-range chipset to be manufactured using the 14nm FitFET process, the same used on the flagship Snapdragon 820 chipset. This allows the processor to offer up to 35 percent less power consumption compared to previous gen chipsets.