Asus is back after a small gap. This time they have inaugurated their 4th generation Zenfones by launching 3 selfie centric mobiles in India. We have the Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera (ZD553KL) for review and lets us check out if the mobile is worth buying.
In the box
- Zenfone 4 Selfie Mobile
- Warranty card and Manual
- Micro USB Cable
- Charger 5.2V/1.35A
- SIM ejector Pin
Design
Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual is a thin and light mobile. It has a smooth flat design which feels premium in the hand. The weight distribution is even. The front camera is a dual setup with a flash. The fingerprint sensor is placed below the display and it acts as the home screen. The navigation keys are not backlit. The design of the Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual may be familiar, but the good quality material gives the Zenfone series a much-wanted refresh.
Display
Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual has a 5.5 inch IPS LCD panel. It supports 720p resolution and has a 2.5D curved edge on its display. The display has good color reproduction. It feels bright and vivid. The display is responsive and smooth to interact. It has good viewing angles and also has good visibility under direct sunlight. It is the year 2017 and I wish manufacturers stop making 720p displays. Other than the low resolution, there is not to find fault in the display performance.
Hardware and Performance
Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual is powered by Snapdragon 430 with Adreno 505 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 old, software optimization gives this mobile a smooth performance. Asus as toned down the UI and optimised it for this low hardware specs. Gameplay is smooth and even 30 minutes of continuous gaming increases the temperature by just 8 degrees. The graphics quality is average owing to the low-powered GPU and HD display. But this mobile is not meant for high performance. It is for the selfie junta, so let’s move on.
Camera
The mobile has 16 MP sensor with f/2.0 lens at the rear and 20 MP sensor with f/2.0 and 8 MP sensor with a wide lens and f/2.4 aperture. The rear camera is fast in focusing. It produces images with good color accuracy, but not quite sharp. The UI is same as what we see in the Zenfone, but it has a few improvements. The manual mode is a boon to this camera. Images shot on manual mode are better than one with Auto mode. 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 can accommodate just 10 to 20% more in the frame. 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 Y69 or Oppo A57 in this price range.
Software
Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual 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, but it comes with a 1.35 A charger. This charge is very slow and it takes about 3 hours to charge the mobile from 0 to 100%. But 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
The Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual is priced at Rs 14999 and during the Flipkart Big Billion day, it is available for Rs 13999. I have heard about some of our readers who have got this mobile for less than 13k from retailers. At this price, this mobile is better than Oppo A57. It equals the performance of Vivo Y69 in terms of selfie camera, but again it wins in price and specification. For the price you pay, you would get a good selfie mobile with sensible design and features. If selfie is a very important criterion for choosing a mobile and if you are in a tightrope budget, then you can go for the Zenfone 4 Selfie with the Dual camera.
Link to buy from Flipkart