Asus have been pretty aggressive in their campaign to sell affordable android smartphones and I have to say they've been very successful so far, all that is due to their zenfone line of smartphones which had been recieving great reviews from all over the world, the zenfone 4 is the smaller sibling of the zenfone 5 and zenfone 6 also the cheapest of the bunch at 3,995 pesos you're probably wondering what can we get from that price? to know more about the zenfone 4 please read my full review.
AESTHETICS:
The design of the zenfone 4 isn't much of a looker it's a bit thick and has large bezels on top where the earpiece is located, it's the same story at the bottom part of the phone where the non-lit capacitive touch panel rests, only bigger, in fact the design cue looks more like it came from 2010, to make things worst the zenfone 4 looks cheap in general, however, it feels sturdy enough to take on a serious drop, twice or even more.
Making up for that ugly design is its size, at 4 inches (screen size) the zenfone 4 will fit snugly in your pockets regardless of how tight your jeans are, pocket friendly is the right word to describe it and it's quite helpful especially if you're the type who carry multiple gadgets on the go and on a daily basis.
DISPLAY:
It's hard to believe that a phone this cheap is equipped with gorilla glass 3, having it on board gives the zenfone 4 an almost indestructible screen so putting a scratch on it is the least thing you'll have to worry about and guess what? we haven't break the surface yet, because along with its tough screen is a 4 inch display with 480x800 resolution, 233ppi (non-IPS) surprisingly, colors are vibrant and sharp, even the smallest text can be read with ease and more often than not, looked perfect and pixel free. At 4 inches it's kinda hard to recommend it as an e-reader, however, after some few trials with it using Aldiko, a couple of pages later I realized it doesn't look that bad after all, the sharp screen really made a statement that the zenfone 4 can also serve that purpose despite its small real estate.
A native app called splendid lets you manage your screen output, adjust the color temperature from cool to warm depending on your preference, it also comes with vivid mode to further boost the screen's color depth. Nonetheless, I find it an excellent tool for watching movies and playing games.
PERFORMANCE:
At the heart of the zenfone 4 you'll find an intel proccessor Z2520 (saltwell), clocked at 1.2 ghz (dual core), it's been a while since intel entered the mobile world and has been recieving great feedbacks from users all around the globe, the zenfone 4 is currently the cheapest intel powered device in the Philippine market, and thus far, one of the best performers in this price range. I was quickly drawn to how well the zenfone 4 works, just a few swipe from the homesceen is all it takes to convince me that it's a fast phone. I've managed to customized all my homescreens with multiple live widgets cramming one another and surprisingly, no lags has ever come forth to nug me, if there are any it's hardly visible, in addition apps opens fairly fast and closes almost instantaneously.
"Shadowgun works well and looks good on the zenfone 4 despite of its small screen"
The 4 inch screen won't provide you with a pleasant web browsing experience, although the zenfone 4's fast web browsing speed, responsive screen and the excellent flash support will still deliver a joyous internet experience, easily forgetting that your browsing on a 4 inch display.
USER INTERFACE:
The improved zen UI looks great and it's a far cry from the stock android experience, I haven't got a single gripe though, Asus has done a good job in making it as user friendly as possible, for instance if you swipe the notification window on the right side you'll get your quick settings or the togggle buttons, swipe it fom the left side then you'll have your notifications, even the app drawer is easy to use, on the uppper right side you got your options, with it, you can hide, uninstall, disable or even lock an app directly from the app drawer, more importantly, UI stability is one of the zenfone 4's strongpoint, in my two months of using this phone I haven't got any experiences regarding UI glithes, crashes and the like, I also do love what asus has done to their app icons it's large, easy to read and look good as well.
The zenfone 4 comes with 4.3 jellybean but a kitkat update is readily available upon purchase.
CAMERA:
The zenfone 4 is equipped with a 5mp rear camera(no flash) and a VGA on front, I've been using entry level smartphones for a considerable amount of time now, based on that experience a good camera is always hard to come by, the zenfone 4 is somewhat a break in that tradition, equipped with asus pixel master technology along with HDR capability the zenfone 4 can take really good pictures with accurate colors and vibrant details. Surprisingly, all those goodies doesn't stop there as the zenfone 4's camera has features aplenty, such, is the selfie and smart remove mode, a set of features you'll most likely get on high-end smartphones, if that wasn't enough, the zenfone 4 can also record full HD video at 1080p with great results and yes, its still at 3,995 pesos.
"Sample photo zenfone 4's 5mp camera"
PROS: cheap, good overall performance, dual SIM, good camera with HDR
CONS: 4 inch screen, short battery life
SPECIIFICATIONS:
NETWORK: GSM/HSPA
DISPLAY: 4" TFT capacitive, 480x800 233ppi, Gorilla glass 3
OS: android 4.3 jellybean upgradable to kitkat 4.4.2
CHIPSET: Intel atom Z2520(saltwell)
CPU: dual-core 1.2 Ghz
GPU: PowerVR SGX544MP2
MEMORY: 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM expandable micro SD upto 32GB
CAMERA: 5MP autofocus (pixel master technology) VGA front
BATTERY: Li-Po 1600Mah
OTHERS: GPS, bluetooth, wifi (b,g,n) dual SIM
