Review – ASUS ZenFone 4: The Ambitious One
8 min read
ASUS ZenFone 4
RM 2099
Pros
- Great built quality
- Fast fingerprint scanner
- Excellent 5.5-inch Super IPS+ display
- Wide-angle + Standard angle dual camera setup
- Great performance
- Excellent battery life
Cons
- Slippery glass back
- No IP-rated water and dust resistance
- Mushy power button
Build Quality & Design
Glass Sandwich Design
The ASUS ZenFone 4 has a glass sandwich design. Not the first as we have seen quite a number of other phones employing the same slippery and easy to break combination. Still, the glass back has an ultra-slippery surface which I have no idea whether is it caused by the glass coating or what. Hence the included soft TPU case is a godsend.
The buttons are terrible, or specifically the Power button. It is mushy and there is no distinct “click” feedback after pressing, rendering it as one of the worst power buttons we ever used. We have tested quite a number of ASUS ZenFone including the entry-level Max series and Selfie series, none of them had this issue.
On the bright side, the phone has good ergonomics with the rounded metal rings surrounding the phone body and the thickness is just right for easy grips.
Good news, we’re getting USB-C instead of the micro USB found in the Selfie and Max series.
The hybrid SIM tray either takes 2 SIM cards or 1 SIM card + 1 micro SD card.
Full HD Super IPS+
When the phone was announced in 2017 Q2, 16:9 aspect ratio display is still relevant but as expected, the time when ZenFone 4 reaches the Malaysian shore, the market is already flooded with Chinese phones with the modern 18:9 displays. That is quite a bad news for the ZenFone 4 considering that the other brands are now selling their newer phones way below RM 1500.
Nonetheless, you are guaranteed to a high-quality IPS display with crispy 1080P Full HD resolution. Colour reproduction is spectacular, unlike the other phone with sub-par display quality.
Price, Quality, Design
Pick 2.
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