PRO’S:
Battery life: I think the best thing about this phone is definitely the battery life. It can last about 2 days without charging with medium to heavy use, the brightness of the screen is usually halfway (YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Viber, Reddit, and Chrome).
Form factor and hardware: The phone is light-weight, has a glossy finish and is very prone to fingerprints. Not a big fan of notches, but it does make the phone look quite fancy, as well as the small to non-existent bezels. The screen has good placement making it look like it curves to the sides of the phone quite seamlessly.
Screen and speakers: This phone has one of the loudest speakers of any previous phone I’ve owned and even though I put it on the loudest setting (which is rarely necessary) it still sounds clear and crisp and doesn’t hurt the ears. The screen is great for watching videos – big display, images are sharp and the colors are vibrant. The night light is useful too if you want to lessen the strain in your eyes.
Back camera (for pictures): Good sharp images if there’s good or enough light. Good enough for mobile photography. For video, it needs better image stabilization. The image stabilization option is on by default in the settings but crops the video a lot. Even with it on, it doesn’t seem to do a good job as videos still end up shaky with little movement (walking with the camera or on a moving vehicle).
OS – Stock Android: Something people might consider as a good thing. I’ve always used a launcher because I have a fixed look and feel I go for. I customized my pages, drawers, and gestures a long time ago and I’m so used to them, I wouldn’t want them to change. But having a very basic, no-nonsense user-friendly OS is always a plus.
Gaming: I don’t really play much on mobile but I’ve tried the pre-installed game on this phone, Garena. It’s a game that involves playing with multiple players over the internet. I didn’t experience any lag or issues with the responsiveness of the on-screen controls. Loading time was pretty good too. And the fact that the screen is big makes playing games on this phone a nice and smooth experience.
Cons :
Touchscreen: I noticed there were times that it wasn’t precise or as responsive as it should be. Nothing that happens too often but it’s just something to be aware of.
Front-Facing Camera: The front-facing camera seems to over-sharpen images and the Beauty Mode does such a bad job of making the picture look natural – too much blurring. It’s probably just the software, the main camera app installed on the phone, and could easily be remedied by using a different app. ASUS did such a great job with their basic camera app (in the older Zenfones I’ve used) but that app isn’t compatible with this model for some reason. I loved that app because you could lessen the sharpness and noise and have way more control with the Beauty Mode. Hopefully, that is something they can make available in the future. Long story short, just use a different camera to take better selfies.
