The Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom is a smartphone with a 5.5 inch full HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. But the most interesting feature is the camera system: as the name suggests, the Zenfone 3 Zoom has an optical zoom feature thanks to the dual cameras on the back of the phone.
Like the iPhone 7 Plus, the Zenfone 3 Zoom has one telephoto lens and one “normal” lens, that allows you to snap a regular picture or one that features 2.3 x optical zoom.
First announced in January, the Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom is now up for pre-order from B&H for $330 or from Newegg for $329.
The rear cameras have 59mm and 25mm lenses, and in addition to using them for optical zoom functionality, you can also use the two cameras for bokeh-style depth effects (where the background of an image is blurred to better accentuate items on the foreground).
Other features include a USB 2.0 Type-C port, a microSDXC card slot, dual SIM support, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The phone has a 5,000 mAh battery and supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2, has a 13MP front-facing camera, and should support AT&T or T-Mobile’s wireless networks in the US.
The $330 list price for a factory unlocked phone makes the Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom quite a bit more affordable than Apple’s dual-camera phone. But Apple isn’t the only competition: there’s a growing number of dual-camera smartphones on the market, and one strike against the Asus model? It ships with Android 6.0 software instead of Google’s newer Android 7.0.
Of course there is a cheaper way to get a smartphone with optical zoom: the original Asus Zenfone Zoom with a 3X optical zoom lens, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and an Intel Atom Z3580 processor is selling for just $199… but despite the 3X zoom, the phone’s camera gets mediocre reviews for actual image quality.
via Zenfone.org
TL;DR: Don’t pay DOUBLE the price for what amounts to a little bit of optical camera zoom.
In Jakarta you get roughly the same phone COMPLETELY UNLOCKED for $150 street-price before tax ($165 or Rp 2.186M after 10% sales tax). That’s less than half the $330 MSRP for the already outdated Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom. Remember, ASUS just introduced the Zenfone 4 line! The Zenfone 3 line has been out in Asia for a long time already.
The $150 challenger – Xiaomi Redmi Note 4:
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 with a Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 (there is a MediaTek 6797 Helio X20 version), 3/32GB (there is a 4/64GB version), 5.5″ 1920x1080p IPS, 13mp/5mp optical/phase focus, 2xSIM or 1xSIM+1XSD in-tray, LTE, 4100mAh Li-Poly, Android 6.0.1 (7.1+ coming), 3.5″ Jack, 24-BIT/192KHz audio, BT 4.1/A2DP/LE, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi-Direct/Hotspot, Rear Fingerprint, A-GPS/GLONASS/BDS, FM Radio, IR Port, Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity Sensor, Compass, Speakers/Mic/Hands-Free, Vibration.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 build quality is pretty good, it feels like it has a metal backshell. I picked one up a couple of weeks ago and have been banging on it pretty hard ever since. No complaints.
The big hardware differences between the Snapdragon 625 versions of the $150 Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 and the $330 Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom are: USB/OTG 2.0 on the Note 4 not USB C, and no optical zoom. The Note 4’s battery is bigger capacity-wise, but at around 8.5mm the device is still pretty thin. The Redmi Note 4 doesn’t have quick charge, but the 4100mAhr does charge in a little more than 2hrs with the included charger. I’m not sure if the Zenfone 3 Zoom has quick charge; I doubt it.
The Xiaomi suffers from the MIUI 8+ software overlay; but the Zenfone is a mess too because of the crappy ZenUI stuff. Both drag around unwanted undeletable bloatware. The Xiaomi can be rooted/modded without much difficulty. Google: “Redmi Note 4 LineageOS”.
You can’t buy Xiaomi phones over the counter in the U.S. yet, but it’s only a matter of time before Xiaomi imports Chinese robots into the U.S. to build them along with a handful of Chinese H-1B visa workers to maintain the robots. It seems that’s kind-of what they did here in Indonesia. So yeah – Xiaomi “Made in America” (Not) – coming soon.
Correction: “The Note 4’s battery is bigger capacity-wise…” > “The Note 4’s battery is 18% SMALLER capacity-wise…”
Alas Asus’ Android software is bad enough that I wouldn’t use their products if someone gave them to me for free 🙁 I keep hoping they will improve that but they never do.
Seriously? With respect, you sound completely ignorant on the subject. I would suspect you know next to nothing about the new ZenUI and what can or cannot be removed, disabled or made as a default. I only post this to counter ignorant comments. I tried it myself. A Zenfone 3 can be stripped of every app outside of the Google apps in a few minutes time. I also recreated my Nexus 5 environment/apps on that same Zenfone 3. So go ahead and live in ignorance, but please don’t post about it because you’re only misleading the public.
Wow, the battery life on this should destroy the moto z play and that has gotten 7-10 hrs SOT. This has same processor but larger battery. Though I don’t think the screen is amoled so that might make a difference.
How so will the AMOLED make a difference?
On an LCD screen the backlight covers the entire screen, while an AMOLED screen lights up on a pixel-per-pixel basis. So any pure black pixel on an AMOLED screen is simply off and (at least in theory) using no power. You can lower power usage by increasing the amount of black on your AMOLED screen, most commonly through using a black wallpaper and black lock screen. This means that all else being equal (and all else is never equal), the phone with an AMOLED screen should use less energy than a phone with an LCD screen.
Fantastic explanation. Greatly appreciated. I’m using a Zenfone 3 Deluxe right now and the AMOLED to me is orgasmic. I really do appreciate your expertise on the difference and how that would affect battery usage.