Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro – A solid Selfie mobile (Review)
Asus Zenfone is back with a new series of their 4th generation mobiles and I have the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro ZD552KL for review. Well, that quite a mouthful for a mobile model name. Zenfone 3rd Generation mobile was generally low on specs and high on price. Asus realized this and they want to turn around that image with their 4th Generation mobiles. At the launch event, when I first held the mobile, I realized how serious was Asus with that statement. The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is indeed a powerful mobile at an economical price point. Let me elaborate.
Design
The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is a slim and lightweight mobile. With is premium metal body design, rounded corners, and curved edges, it is very comfortable to hold in the hand. At the back of the mobile, you would find a 16MP camera with dual tone LED flash. At the bottom is the micro USB port, speaker grill, mic and 3.5 mm audio jack. The noise-canceling mic is on the top while the hybrid SIM tray is on the left and volume/power buttons on the right. Above the 5.5 inch AMOLED display is a dual camera setup with flash and the fingerprint sensor below it. The metal rims, chrome highlights, and 2.5D curved glass adds to the aesthetics of this mobile. Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro has an impressive design.
Display
Powering up the mobile, the first thing that would strike you is the brilliant display. The display is AMOLED supporting full HD resolution and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. This is one of the pleasing display I have used on a mobile in this price range. The colors are vibrant and the brightness is brilliant. It is crisp and clear under all light conditions. It has good viewing angles. A full HD AMOLED screen is not something we usually see in this price range. The display gives a very good experience in using this mobile.
Hardware and Performance
Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual is powered by Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 with Adreno 506 GPU. It has 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB storage. The memory can be expanded up to 2TB, however, I am sure the cost of a 2 TB SD card would be higher than the cost of this mobile today. It supports USB OTG. In terms of performance, though the processor is one of the most successful mobile chipsets out there. The performance is buttery smooth and Asus has toned down the UI and optimised it for this hardware specs. Gameplay is smooth and even 30 minutes of continuous gaming increases the temperature by just 8 degrees. The graphics quality is average which is common for Adreno 506. Though this mobile is not meant for high performance, it is a decent gamer and a smooth performing mobile.
Camera
The mobile has 16 MP sensor at the rear and a dual 12MP + 8MP setup on the front. The rear camera is fast in focusing. It produces images with good color accuracy. The images are sharp and detailed under good light conditions. Under low light conditions, the pixel master algorithm helps to get a better-processed image is reduced noise and enhanced exposure. The UI is same as what we see in the Zenfone, but it has a few improvements. Camera app UI is fast and has no lags.
The front camera lets you switch between wide angle lens and a normal lens. The wide-angle lens is a 12 mm lens while the 12 MP lens is a 25 mm lens. It has a single LED flash on the front. But both these modes have portrait mode to blur the background. Background blur is smooth and natural. Edge detection algorithm also does a good job most of the times. The quality of selfies is sharp and pleasing on daylight. It is noisy and the edges are blurred when the light drops. The performance of this selfie camera is much better than Vivo V7 plus or Oppo F3 in this price range.
It can record videos in resolution up to FHD at 60 FPS. The mic does a good job and noise reduction is great. Under good light conditions, the focus locking and tracking is good, but under challenging light conditions, it starts focus hunting. I recorded a video for my Tamil youtube channel with this mobile’s rear camera and you can check it here.
Software
Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro runs on Android Nougat with ZenUI 4.0 skin on top. ZenUI has now discarded most of its bloatware. It comes pre-loaded with a minimal set of apps. The UI is also optimized and feels zippy. It has a selected few sensible features and I have nothing to complain about the UI. Overall, the UI gives you a smooth and snappy experience.
Battery
The mobile has 3000 mAh battery, and it comes with a 5v 2A fast charger. This charger charges the mobile from 0 to 100% in less than 2 hours. Once charged, the mobile gives me 4-5 hours of SOT. On a single charge, it lasts for more than a day of moderate usage.
Verdict
Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is available on Flipkart and other retailers for an MRP of Rs 23999. While there are many mobiles available in the market with similar specifications for Rs 11000, Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro may sound expensive with double the price tag. But when you pay Rs 24k, you get a premium design, bright and brilliant AMOLED display, great camera on the front and rear and a smooth user experience. Being a selfie-centric mobile it directly competes with Vivo V5 plus and Oppo F1s or F3 plus in this price bracket. In terms of sheer performance and camera quality, Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro edges the competition to come out as a clear choice.