The latest mid-range Android smartphone created by ASUS is called ASUS ZenFone 4 (ZE554KL) and, compared to the previous generation, it introduces a dual-camera system and some other interesting novelties like support for Bluetooth 5. We were very curious to take it for a spin and test it in detail. After using it for more than a week, this is what we have learned about ASUS ZenFone 4:
What is the ASUS ZenFone 4 smartphone good at?
The ASUS ZenFone 4 is a good smartphone for:
- People who want a mid-range Android smartphone that looks good
- Users who want a smartphone with a dual camera system that costs less than traditional flagships
- People who want a good Android smartphone but do not want to pay the money required for owning a flagship
Pros and cons
Here are the positive aspects of the ASUS ZenFone 4:
- This smartphone has a good build quality and feels well made
- The design is not innovative but the Gorilla Glass found on both of its sides makes it look elegant
- It has a dual camera system on its back that takes good-looking photos and has optical image stabilization
- The hardware inside ASUS ZenFone 4 is more than enough to help it perform any smartphone activity, fast and fluent
- It bundles less bloatware than previous ASUS smartphones
The less positive aspects that we identified are the following:
- Having glass on both sides means that the smartphone is prone to break more easily than other devices with bodies made of metal or polycarbonate
- Low-light photography is a weak point of ASUS ZenFone 4
- At launch, its price tag is a bit high. At similar prices, other smartphones have slightly better hardware. However, most of them don't have a dual-camera system, so you need to pick what matters most to you
Verdict
The ASUS ZenFone 4 is a good Android smartphone. We like the way it looks, the way it works and multitasks, and we like the quality of the photos and videos it shoots. The dual rear cameras are interesting but, as far as we are concerned, the main camera of the two is the one that deserves your attention, as it offers the best results. The secondary dual camera is there for wide angle photos or videos, but its resolution is rather small and it is not usable in low light conditions. We must also point out the fact that the battery is good enough to keep you away from the power socket for a day or even more, if you use the smartphone lightly. Overall, the ASUS ZenFone 4 feels like a well made smartphone that does not disappoint its owners. It is one of the best mid-range Android smartphones we tested this year but, we feel that, at launch, it is a bit overpriced. The dual-camera system is a differentiator in the mid-range segment but some users will want slightly more hardware power for the same budget. In the end, the choice is yours and you decide what matters most to you: the processor you get or the dual-camera system.
Hardware specifications and packaging
The ASUS ZenFone 4 (ZE554KL) smartphone comes in a silky black box made of cardboard. On its top side, you see printed the name of the smartphone - Zenfone 4 - and an illustration of two rectangles and two dots, which alludes to the two rear cameras found on this phone.
On the bottom of the package, you can find more details about the smartphone, including some of its hardware specifications, its factory name - ASUS ZE554KL - and its serial and IMEI numbers.
Open the box and you will meet the ASUS ZenFone 4, as well as everything that is bundled with it: the power charger, a USB Type-C cable, a pair of wired headphones, a pin for ejecting the SIM tray from the smartphone's body, the user manual and a warranty card. Also, depending on where you buy it, the ASUS ZenFone 4 can also come with a clear soft bumper for protection.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 is available in two color variations: Moonlight White and Midnight Black. The model we tested was the Midnight Black one.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 features a 5.5 inches Super IPS+ display with Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at 401 ppi pixel density. The display is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 against scratches, dust, and occasional drops. The smartphone is powered by a mid-range octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor running at up to 2.20 GHz and an Adreno 508 graphics processing unit. The ASUS ZenFone 4 comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage space. The smartphone also supports a microSD card, which you can add if you want to expand the storage capacity by up to 2TB. The autonomy of the ASUS ZenFone 4 is provided by a non-removable 3300 mAh battery.
On its back, the ASUS ZenFone 4 has two main cameras: one of them has 12 megapixels and the other has 8 megapixels. The smartphone uses a Sony IMX362 image sensor and the first camera has an aperture of f/1.8, a 6-element lens, a field of view of 83 degrees, PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus), 4-axis optical image stabilization, and an LED flash.
The second camera has a field of view of 120 degrees. The smartphone can record videos in 4K, at a resolution of 3840 by 2160 pixels and 30 frames per second (fps). It also has 3-axis electronic image stabilization, can record in wide angle at 120 degrees, and in slow motion (1080p at 120fps / 720p at 240fps). The front camera has 8 megapixels, an aperture of f/2.0 and an 84 degrees field of view.
Regarding connectivity, the ASUS ZenFone 4 uses a two nano-SIM cards and can connect to 3G WCDMA and 4G LTE mobile networks. However, only one card can connect to 3G/4G networks at a time. The smartphone works in a Dual SIM Dual Standby implementation, which means that even if both SIM cards are active when you are not using them, once you take a call on one of them, the other becomes inactive. Also, if you want to add a microSD card to expand the storage space, you must know that it takes the place of the secondary SIM card, so you can no longer use the smartphone as a Dual SIM phone.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 a USB Type-C port with USB 3.1 support, Bluetooth v5.0, NFC, and dual-band wireless support for the 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 GHz and 5GHz networks.
The smartphone gets information from a variety of built-in sensors: accelerator, ecompass, gyroscope, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, hall sensor, and fingerprint reader. The fingerprint reader is mounted on the front of the device, beneath the display, and has a rectangular shape with rounded corners.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 is a large phone but also a thin and light device: it has 6.11 inches in length (155.4 mm), 2.96 inches in width (75.2 mm), 0.29 inches in thickness (7.5 mm), and weighs 5.82 ounces (165 grams).
For more details about the hardware specifications of this smartphone, visit its official webpage: ASUS ZenFone 4 Tech Specs.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 looks like a solid midrange Android smartphone with enough power to accomplish any task well. It has a mid-range processor, enough RAM and internal flash storage space. The battery also feels adequate and the dual cameras on its back are quite intriguing.
Design and build quality
The ASUS ZenFone 4 is a good looking Android smartphone but, like most smartphones today, it does not have anything spectacular regarding its design. We have reached the age of maturity when it comes to smartphones design and it is difficult to come up with anything new. The ASUS ZenFone 4 follows the trend set by its older brother, the ZenFone 3. Both the display and the back of the smartphone are covered in 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass. That means that the smartphone looks good, but it also means that it is somewhat less robust than a device with an all-metal body. Sure, Gorilla Glass is tough and does not break or crack easily, compared to other types of glass. However, nobody can argue about it being less robust than metal or polycarbonate. In the end, this design choice has proven popular in the past, so ASUS probably made a good decision by using it. The glass is also 2.5D which means that its edges are fading gradually into the smartphone's body, so holding it in your hand is a pleasant experience.
On the front of the ASUS ZenFone 4, besides the display, you can find the front camera and the earpiece to the top, and the fingerprint reader to the bottom. On the right edge of the smartphone, there is the power button and the volume rocker, all placed towards the top.
On the left edge, you can find the SIM cards tray, which can be ejected out of the body of the smartphone with the help of the bundled needle.
On the top edge, there is nothing, while the bottom edge of the smartphone holds the 3.5 mm audio jack, the USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grille.
The back side of the ASUS ZenFone 4 is more interesting than its front or edges, at least when the smartphone is turned off. On the back, towards the top left corner (as you look at it), there are the two main cameras and their LED flash, each of them in their own round module. They look rather small but it is always impressive to see two cameras side by side, on a smartphone. It lifts your expectations about its photography features.
The only other thing on the back of the smartphone is the ASUS logo printed in the center top area.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 Android smartphone is a good looking piece of technology. The glass that covers it on both sides makes it look beautiful, but it also means that you must be careful not to drop it, as it can break more easily than other materials. The dual cameras on the back also give you the feeling that you are holding a device with impressive photography powers.
If you would like to read more about the smartphone experience offered by ASUS ZenFone 4, its camera, bundled apps, and performance in benchmarks, read the second page of this review.
The smartphone experience on the ASUS ZenFone 4
The ASUS ZenFone 4 performs admirably when it comes to phone calls. The sound in conversations is crisp and has a high level of clarity, both when connected to 4G networks and when connected to 2G or 3G. We did not have issues in understanding the people we were talking with and they had no problem understanding us. Also, the signal reception is good: we did not see the phone lose connection during the time we had it in testing, even though we are in a mountainous region with not so great mobile coverage.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 is a good device for watching movies or listening to music. The loudspeaker is not powerful but the sound you get from it is clear and there are no distortions even at maximum volume. The audio experience is, of course, at another level if you connect and use a pair of headphones. The ones that are bundled with the smartphone are of good quality too. Also, when you use headphones, the ASUS ZenFone 4 can be configured to use DTS (Digital Theater System), a technology that transforms the sound into a surround system experience. It is especially nice to use when watching movies on your smartphone.
The display found on the ASUS ZenFone 4 is bright and its colors are vivid and punchy. We did not have any issues in understanding what was displayed on it even when we used the smartphone outdoors, in sunlight. The resolution and the size of the display are also well balanced, and the 410 ppi is a high value, enough to make fonts and lines look smooth and beautiful.
The octa-core processor and the 4 gigabytes of RAM are more than enough to give the operating system and the apps you use the power they need. Everything runs fine and opens fast on the ASUS ZenFone 4, and multitasking is easy on it. It is also a good smartphone for gaming, if you want some entertainment. The graphics chip is strong enough to give you good framerates at normal or even high quality settings, in all the games that you play.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 smartphone draws its autonomy from a non-removable 3300 mAh battery which is enough to get you through a whole day of use. If you use the smartphone lightly, you might even get to a day and a half between charges. If you use it extensively though, you might have to charge the ASUS ZenFone 4 twice a day. Gaming usually leads to this issue of twice-a-day charging.
Using the ASUS ZenFone 4 smartphone is a pleasant experience. Phone calls are of good quality, the operating system and the apps are snappy, multitasking is fast, and gaming is satisfying. Overall, we believe you will like this smartphone in daily use.
The camera experience on the ASUS ZenFone 4
A thing that sets the ASUS ZenFone 4 apart from many other mid-range smartphones, is the fact that it has a set of dual cameras on its back. The primary camera of the two has 12 megapixels, while the secondary camera has 8 megapixels. The smartphone uses a Sony IMX362 image sensor and the first camera has an aperture of f/1.8, 6-element lens, a field of view of 83 degrees, PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus), 4-axis optical image stabilization, and an LED flash. The secondary rear camera has a wider field of view, of 120 degrees, and can be useful for when you want to shoot large groups of people, for instance.
We generally liked how the main cameras take photos. The smartphone is fast when focusing and shooting photos. The results you get are generally of good quality. Photos have nice colors, good brightness, and contrast, and are not oversaturated or noisy. The only small complaint we have is the same as for most smartphones: the ASUS ZenFone 4 is not that great when the surrounding environment has low light. In dim light, like during the night, the main camera sometimes focuses wrongly, and the photos it takes can be excessively noisy. Also, the secondary main camera, the wide-angle one, is not usable in low light. If you want to use it in dim light, the smartphone tells you to switch to the main camera.
However, overall, the photos you take with the ASUS ZenFone 4 are pretty good, and are generally better than those we shot with the Motorola Moto Z2 Play for instance, which is a smartphone with a similar price tag.
The front camera has 8 megapixels, an aperture of f/2.0 and a field of view of 84 degrees. It shoots good selfies if the light is good and it does a great job if you like beautification effects.
In the gallery below you can see a couple of pictures that we have taken with the ASUS ZenFone 4. There are photos shot outdoors as well as indoors; photos taken in natural light and photos taken in the dark, a few selfies and also some close-ups.
The smartphone can record videos in 4K, at a maximum resolution of 3840 by 2160 pixels and 30 fps. It also offers 3-axis electronic image stabilization. If you want to see how good the ASUS ZenFone 4 is at recording videos with movement, here is a sample:
We also used the ASUS ZenFone 4 to record a panorama. This video gives you an idea of how good it is at recording static videos, with little or no movement involved.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 shoots beautiful photos when there is enough light around you. The photos have nice colors and good contrast. They do not feel like they are over processed. The secondary dual camera is good for capturing wide photos like when you want to take a picture of everyone at the table, for example. ASUS ZenFone 4 only has problems when it comes to taking photos in low light, that suffer from excessive noise. But, the smartphone also does a good job when it comes to recording videos, and the electronic stabilization engine helps with keeping the image steady. Overall, the photo and video performance you get from the ASUS ZenFone 4 is good, above the average you get with mid-range smartphones.
Android 7 Nougat, ASUS ZenUI and bundled apps
The operating system running on the ASUS ZenFone 4 is Android 7.1.1 Nougat. On top of the default user interface offered by Android, ASUS added their own ASUS ZenUI user interface, which now has reached version number 4. The user interface looks good and the main changes it adds to the default Android experience are related to the way settings are organized and to the additional customization options you get. The best thing about it is the theming system which allows you to change the way your interface looks, wallpapers, fonts, icons and others, with just a few taps. Most themes are free but some of them are also paid.
One thing that impressed us about the ASUS ZenFone 4 is the fact that this looks like it is the first ASUS smartphone that does not bundle a lot of bloatware, and this is a great positive. Here is the list of apps that come preinstalled on the ASUS ZenFone 4, besides the default Android ones:
- File Manager - an app which you can use to see and manage the files found on your ASUS ZenFone 4. Everybody has to have a file manager on their smartphone, so this is a good a choice as any other.
- Gallery - an app that lets you browse and open the photos and videos you take with your ASUS ZenFone 4. We prefer Google Photos.
- Instagram - the mobile app of the popular photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service.
- Messenger - the mobile app from Facebook that allows you to connect and talk with your Facebook friends.
- Mobile Manager - an app that acts as a central point for various system maintenance tasks. It gives you a quick overview of your battery and memory use, as well as quick access to the power saver battery modes, to the details of your data usage, the apps that are allowed to show push notifications and so on.
- Selfie Master - lets you shoot selfie photos and add beautification effects over them, as well as create collages or slideshows using your photos.
- Sound Recorder - a simple app that uses the smartphone's microphone to record sound.
- Themes - a portal where you can see, download, install and apply various system themes for the ZenUI user interface. As we already said earlier, we really like these themes and, from a beautification perspective, they are totally worth it.
- Weather - an app that shows you weather forecasts.
- WebStorage - is a cloud service from ASUS that offers you 5GB of free storage space.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 comes with Android 7 Nougat and ASUS ZenUI 4. The user interface looks good and the customization options you get from ZenUI 4 are useful. We especially appreciate the fact that ASUS has finally decided to stop preloading so much bloatware on their smartphones. There are few bundled apps on the ZenFone 4, and some of them are truly useful for their users.
Performance in benchmarks
Are hardware specifications and personal impressions enough to get an idea of how fast a device is at doing its job? Most probably not and that's why it is always better to also have some objective speed measurements. Here are the results we got when running benchmarks on the ASUS ZenFone 4:
The first thing we tested was the performance of the 2.2 GHz octa-core processor found inside this smartphone. To do that, we ran a few tests with a benchmarking app called Vellamo.
The first test we ran is Vellamo Multicore, which measures the speed of the processor when running multiple tasks simultaneously. The ASUS ZenFone 4 obtained 2285 points, a score that is, unfortunately, not that impressive. It is slightly less than the score of its predecessor, the ASUS ZenFone 3, and less than the score of a more affordable Huawei P10 lite for example. However, it is also a bit higher than what you get from a Motorola Moto Z2 Play for instance.
The next benchmark tests we ran are also designed to assess the processor's performance, but this time they measure its speed in single tasks, when only one core is used. The ASUS ZenFone 4 obtained 1563 points. Once more, it is not an impressive result, but is a good score anyway. It is an almost identical score to that of its older brother, the ASUS ZenFone 3. The Motorola Moto Z2 Play and the more affordable Huawei P10 lite also get similar scores in this benchmark.
Next came the gaming benchmarks and for them we used an app that is named GFXBench GL Benchmark. We recorded the results measured in the 1080p Car Chase Offscreen, 1080p Manhattan 3.1 Offscreen and 1080p T-Rex Offscreen tests. We only use the standardized 1080p tests because the resolution is always 1080p and it gives us results that we can compare with those from other smartphones, even if their native screen resolutions differ.
ASUS ZenFone 4 rendered 315.8 frames in the 1080p Car Chase Offscreen test. It is a better score than that we have seen on the ASUS ZenFone 3, Motorola Moto Z2 Play or Huawei P10 lite. It also shows that the ASUS ZenFone 4 is a good smartphone if you want to play new games on it.
In the 1080p Manhattan 3.1 Offscreen test, the ASUS ZenFone 4 rendered 600 frames, which is a much better result than that of a Motorola Moto Z2 Play or an ASUS ZenFone 3. It is also more than double what you get on a Huawei P10 lite.
The third and final gaming test we ran was 1080p T-Rex Offscreen, a test which shows you how the smartphone fares in older games with fewer visual details. ASUS ZenFone 4 rendered 1672 frames, which is more than what you get from the ASUS ZenFone 3 and Motorola Moto Z2 Play, and double what you get from a Huawei P10 lite.
Now we have an idea about the performance in games offered by the ASUS ZenFone 4. Now let's see what we should expect in terms of performance in a more common activity: web browsing. To get an idea on that, we turned back to Vellamo and ran its Browser tests. The ASUS ZenFone 4 got a score of 2944 points. It is a good result, in line with that of the Motorola Moto Z2 Play and Huawei P10 lite but, oddly, it is less than what we got on the ASUS ZenFone 3.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 can connect and use 4G networks, so we wanted to test its speed in and reliability in this matter too. To measure data transfer speeds, we used Speedtest. The results we got were not impressive, but they could not be, as our mobile operator does not have a great coverage in our area and the data speed is not great. However, the data connections seem to be reliable and without drops.
Another important feature of any smartphone is how long it lasts on a full battery charge. To measure that, we usually run the "Work battery life" test from PCMark, which measures the autonomy of the battery when the device is running the normal day to day activities like browsing the web, working with documents, or editing photos. However, ASUS ZenFone 4 had troubles running this benchmark, so we had no choice but to use AnTuTu. Using its battery tests, the ASUS ZenFone 4 got a score of 11074 points, which is a good result. It shows that this smartphone can stay on for a day, on a charge, if you do not use it extensively.
The ASUS ZenFone 4 is a good mid-range smartphone: it can run any app fast and without lags, it can multitask, and it can run games at good quality settings and framerates above average.
What is your opinion about the ASUS ZenFone 4?
Now you know what our opinion is about the ASUS ZenFone 4. Also, you have seen its results in benchmarks and you know what it looks like. Before closing this review, share your opinion about this smartphone and whether you are interested in buying it or not. Comment below and let's discuss.
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