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Why Asus Zenfone 5Z's price tag makes it a winner

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Sushant Talwar
Sushant TalwarJul 04, 2018 | 20:05

Why Asus Zenfone 5Z's price tag makes it a winner

At an event in New Delhi on Wednesday, Taiwanese smartphone maker, Asus, announced its flagship smartphone for the year, the Zenfone 5Z. The device, which first made an appearance at the Mobile World Congress earlier in February, will go on sale in India next week on July 9.

Equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC that's hidden neatly inside a metal and glass frame, the Zenfone 5Z isn't just one of the most powerful phones on the planet, but is also one of the most beautiful devices that you can get your hands on right now. 

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The device is available in three different variants, all of which have been priced quite aggressively. Though the 5Z has a lot going for it, it's the aggressive pricing – starting at Rs 29,999 and going all the way up to Rs 36,999 – which is bound to win it most battles.

But before we talk more about the price of the device, let's see what the Asus Zenfone 5Z brings to the table. 

Design and display

First things first, the design of the phone is heavily inspired by the iPhone X. Unlike other Android devices in the market that attempt to simply copy the iPhone X notch, the Asus Zenfone 5Z, at least on the front, tries to imitate the look and feel of the iPhone X.

Though we are not great fans of notched displays, it cannot be denied that this notch along with the slim bezels around the 6.2-inch FullHD+ panel helps the phone achieve a screen to body ratio of 83.6 per cent, making the Zenfone 5Z look really sleek. 

At the back, the device uses glass, affording the Zenfone 5Z a really premium feel. 

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What's under the hood?

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In terms of the hardware it packs in, the Asus Zenfone 5Z is one of the best out there. 

Running the show here is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core SoC which Asus has paired with upto 8GB of RAM and 256GB onboard storage which can be upgraded using a microSD card.

Though on paper, the hardware will seem to be more than enough for any and every task you throw at it – but in reality, the Android Oreo-based ZenUI 5 skin installed on the Zenfone 5Z could well slow the phone down in day-to-day usage. Apart from possibly being slower, the UI, unlike stock Android, is also a little cluttered and hence could be a big turn-off for many.

Having said that, Asus using its own skin also enables the phone to use some sophisticated tricks, such as AI Boost which can dynamically manage background processes to improve the performance of the phone. 

Keeping the lights on here is a 3,300mAh battery pack that Asus claims should provide the best battery performance in the segment. The phone also supports fast charging with the included adapter. There is also an AI-based feature for the battery that helps the phone battery better manage its charge cycles.

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Camera

With the Zenfone 5Z, Asus is also making a push to become the best cameraphone in the price segment. 

At the back, the phone features a 12-megapixel primary sensor (f/1.8 aperture lens), and an 8-megapixel secondary sensor (f/2.2 aperture wide-angle lens) with a field of view of 120 degrees. Up front, you have an 8-megapixel sensor for selfies and video calling.

Pretty standard stuff? Not, really. 

Though the hardware may be in line with what competing phones in the segment offer, the Zenfone 5Z because of its artificial intelligence (AI) based features sets itself apart from the rest. The phone supports 16 types of AI scene detection modes that make adjustments to aperture, focus, filters, and other settings in order to take the best shot for that scene.

The interesting thing is that these modes also evolve over time as they are programmed to learn from your photos and your preferences.

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Shows promise

To be honest, the Asus Zenfone 5Z is not the complete package.

It's far from it actually. Though it fares well against the competition in terms of the internals it packs, there still remain a few problems with it.

Case in point, the user interface (UI). While competing phones like the OnePlus 6 offer a stock Android experience, the Zenfone 5Z's decision to stick with its own clunky UI could be a decision that ends up working against the phone. The iPhone X like design is also something that may not go down well with some people. 

However, to its credit, the phone makes up for all these issues with its really aggressive price tag.

For a market like ours, and especially the segment the Zenfone 5Z is fighting in, its Rs 29,999 price for the 6GB+64GB, Rs 32,999 for the 6GB+128GB and 36,999 for 8GB+256GB RAM plus storage variants gives it a huge advantage over the likes of OnePlus 6 which come at a substantially expensive price point. 

Then there's also the many deals that Asus is bundling with the phone. One such deal is where users get a straight discount of Rs 3,000 if they choose to pay for the phone using an ICICI debit or credit card. With the particular deal in effect, the pricing of the Zenfone 5Z essentially comes down to 26,999 for the lowest storage variant while the top end one comes down to Rs 33,999. 

Compare the latter to the 256GB storage variant of the OnePlus 6 which retails for Rs 44,999, or just simply dangle the promise of a Snapdragon 845 powered phone for less than Rs 27k to a mid-segment buyer, and it is easy to understand why Asus looks to have a winner on their hands with the Zenfone 5Z.

Last updated: July 04, 2018 | 20:05
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