Battery Life and Conclusion
Battery Life
Smartphone battery life is going to depend greatly on screen brightness (and how the phone is used, of course), so we use a standardized test to compare battery life between devices. The battery test simulates constant use on Wi-Fi, with a realistic screen brightness (approx 180 lux; on the Zenfone 2 I had it set to two positions above middle brightness – auto screen dimming disabled).
The Zenfone 2 managed a very good 6 hr 40 min result here, within minutes of the Nexus 6 result. The Galaxy Note 4 provides a fantastic result here from its 3220 mAh battery, and is clearly better optimized in this area. In actual use I found the Zenfone 2 to provide a full day’s battery life, and didn’t need to charge it any more often than the Nexus 6 (which makes sense given the nearly identical result). This is based on my own usage pattern so your results will vary of course.
Quick Charging
As the $299 version of the Zenfone 2 includes a fast charger I was very interested in seeing just how this would compare to the Quick Charge 2.0 charging performance I’ve grown accustomed to with the Nexus 6.
The power brick is about the same size as Motorola’s quick charger, and offered very similar results as well. With the phone completely drained I was able to get a 100% charge in just under 2 hours (1 hr 55 min). Two hours to a 100% charge from 0% not only matches the performance of my Quick Charge 2.0 accessories for the Snapdragon-powered Nexus 6 and Moto X, but is a fantastic result in general.
The capability of charging so rapidly – especially the significant boost you’ll see from connecting it for just a few minutes – can change the way you use a phone. In my opinion all phones should offer quick charging of some kind going forward, and Intel and ASUS have a great implementation of it here.
Conclusion
I was extremely impressed with the Zenfone 2 overall, and after a couple of weeks of constant use I find that I could easily make this my daily driver. From the snappy processor to the fantastic touchscreen (with an excellent IPS display panel under it), it's a pleasure to use. The phone looks good with its understated style, and the ASUS ZenUI elements were pretty unobtrusive and added some nice functionality. The camera is only average, though it has a very effective low-light option that made a considerable difference in real-world use. Reception and call quality were excellent, and I had no trouble with the device in two weeks of use with my AT&T SIM, with excellent LTE data speeds as well. And finally, the phone was rock solid during testing with no crashes to report, which definately inspires confidence in this platform's stability.
- ASUS ZenFone 2 16GB – $199 (Amazon.com)
- ASUS ZenFone 2 64GB – $299 (Amazon.com)
- Also availabe from Gearbest.com
But as impressed as I was with this Zenfone 2 as a smartphone, I was blown away by the phone as an unlocked, no-contract $199/$299 device. The nicest lower-cost unlocked phones I’d previously experienced were the two prior Nexus phones, with the $299 Nexus 4 and $349 Nexus 5 punching well above their class. But even Google’s Nexus has become a $649 off-contract behemoth (recently on sale for $499) that in some ways isn’t as good as this ASUS phone; the screen digitizer is better on the Zenfone, and the ASUS also doesn’t force device encryption like the latest Nexus, which makes the Nexus feel a little sluggish at times.
I think the sweet spot has to be the $299 version, as it doubles the system memory, quadruples storage, and adds an excellent fast-charging system for $100 more than the base model. But regardless of the version you choose, the ASUS Zenfone 2 is a great phone overall, and an absolute steal for the price.
Oh boy, now I can destroy my
Oh boy, now I can destroy my privacy for only $200! Thanks Pcper for letting me know about this amazing opportunity!
nobody cares about you so
nobody cares about you so your privacy is safe
Hi Sebastian,
thank you for
Hi Sebastian,
thank you for the detailed review! You might want to add that $199 model also supports Quick Charge technology, but doesn’t come with the Quick Charge adapter in the box.
Question, did you have a chance to use lower specs model (2GB/16GB Z5360 CPU)? I understand that it slower then $299 one, but how does it feel/respond during Lollipop normal usage?
Thank you!
Thanks, and the BoostMaster
Thanks, and the BoostMaster compatibilty is an important distinction. I didn't personally test the 16GB version with the Z3560, as the sample I was using was the $299 model. Given the way the SoCs are optimized I don't think there would be a significant UI/UX difference, but there's an obvious performance difference from our benchmarks in certain applications.
The best thing about this SOC
The best thing about this SOC is that it is not using Intel Graphics, so expect much better graphics from a GPU with the execution resources to do the JOB. I just wish that M$ could persuade Intel to use even higher end powerVR graphics and make a surface tablet useful for graphics uses. I hear that Intel is moving away from PowerVR to Mali graphics, but as long as its not Intel’s graphics.
Thank you Sebastian. I
Thank you Sebastian. I ordered $199 model for my dad and it should be here next week. It will be his first Android phone coming from candy-bar Nokia, so we’ll see how it’s going to be. But I didn’t feel he would need the higher spec mode and quick charger and microSDXC 64Gb card is around $40 from Amazon.
If Ryan was testing Z5360 model, could you ask him to chime in the comments with his experience of it?
Too bad that camera seems to be lacking a bit for daylight shots, though it seems that Asus releases firmware updates every couple weeks for this phone, so may be things will get better. If I like what I see, I might get myself a $299 one later this summer.Thanks again for the review!
I used the model with the
I used the model with the lower end processor but I will say that the experience and fluidity of the unit was just as Sebastian described in the review. It was smooth and I didn't know any performance penalties of the lower cost model even when I had both phones in my possession at the same time.
That’s good to know, thank
That’s good to know, thank you Ryan. I enjoy your site a lot and listen to the podcast on weekly basis. That’s actually how I remembered about ZenFone2 (even though I saw CES presentation about it), when Sebastian had as his pick couple weeks ago. Keep up a good work and thanks again!
Any chance you could find out
Any chance you could find out which benchmarks are x86 compiled and which ones are running ARM via translation layer? Or did you mention it and I missed it?
That’s a great question. I
That’s a great question. I need to do some research as I’m not sure off hand. The difference in performance in some of the benchmarks could easily be explained based on native/non-native code, though in the real world I do think it’s fair to judge it as-is considering one does have the option of downloading x86 apps from the Play store (not that devs would offer it at this point anyway).
bad.
bad.
Ryan..I really want to win
Ryan..I really want to win that car! It’s being given away on the next podcast I hear!
It has two 980ti’s installed
It has two 980ti’s installed as well I hear.
I would have guessed a pair
I would have guessed a pair of TITAN Z’s for the car. Gotta have that double precision for better handling