The indomitable selfie wave keeps soaring higher and higher and naturally, manufacturers see it as an opportunity. It’s not as if Asus is new to the selfie game. In fact, it pretty much wrote the rules long back with the original Zenfone Selfie. Today, the Taiwanese manufacturer unleashed its 4th generation Selfie phones – The Asus Zenfone Selfie Pro and the Zenfone Selfie (2 variants) in India. We went up close with the new Zenfones and have jotted down our initial findings below.
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Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro vs Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Specifications
| Model | Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro | Zenfone 4 Selfie (Dual Camera Version) | Zenfone 4 Selfie (Single front camera) |
| Display | 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD, AMOLED display, 2.5D curved glass display | 5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD, IPS LCD, 2.5D curved glass display | 5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD, IPS LCD, 2.5D curved glass display |
| Processor | 2.0GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 | 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 430 | 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 430 |
| RAM | 4GB | 4GB | 3GB |
| Internal Storage | 64GB, expandable up to 256GB (dedicated slot) | 64GB, expandable up to 128GB | 32GB, expandable up to 128GB |
| Software | Android Nougat with Zen 4.0 UI on top | Android Nougat with Zen 4.0 UI on top | Android Nougat with Zen 4.0 UI on top |
| Primary Camera | 16MP, dual tone flash, PDAF | 16MP, dual tone flash, PDAF | 13MP, dual tone flash, PDAF |
| Secondary Camera | 24MP+5MP front camera, LED flash, f/1.8 aperture | 20MP +8MP front-facing camera, F/2.0 aperture | 13MP, LED flash |
| Battery | 3000 mAh | 3000 mAh | 3000 mAh |
| Dimensions and weight | 154.02 x 74.83 x 7mm; 145 grams | 155.66 x 76.2 x 7.85 mm; 144 grams | 155.66 x 76.2 x 7.85 mm; 144 grams |
| Others | 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS / GLONASS, Fingerprint sensor | 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS / GLONASS, Fingerprint sensor | 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS / GLONASS, Fingerprint sensor |
| Price | Rs. 23,990 | Rs 14,999 | Rs 9,999 |
Key Highlights
- The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro has full metal design and is more premium, slimmer and compact than other two Zenfone 4 Selfie models.
- The Zenfone 4 Selfie isn’t a bad looking phone by either. The slim and light profile helps.
- Both phones have front mounted fingerprint sensor with haptic feedback and that’s in agreement with what we personally prefer.
- The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro has all the bells and whistles for a selfie camera phone – 4K selfie videos, soft flash, large megapixel count, HDR selfies, extra camera sensor for wide angle shots (120-degrees), Bokeh mode, and Live beautify for videos.
- Most of these selfie features are also present on the dual camera Zenfone 4 Selfie.
- The biggest improvement for the current generation Zenfones remains the new Zen UI 4.0. Asus has cut back on the pre-loaded clutter rather aggressively. The 35 pre-installed apps have now been reduced to 13. The notification panel, quick settings, and settings menu also get a desperately needed refresh.
- Moreover, Asus promises Android Oreo upgrade for the entire series.
Design and Build
Both the Zenfone 4 Seflie and Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro have 5.5-inch displays but the Pro model is slimmer and more compact of the two. This is a full metal body phone and looks extremely premium.The Zenfone 4 Selfie, on the other hand, has a metal back with plastic caps on top and bottom.
Both phones have two cameras with flash, 2.5D glass, and fingerprint sensors integrated home buttons (with haptic feedback) on the front. Only the pro model gets backlight navigation keys, though. The Pro model is obviously what’s more attractive, but the regular Zenfone 4 Selfie shouldn’t be a deal breaker either. It still looks better than most hackneyed semi metal-unibody phones under 15,000 INR, and that’s probably because of its slim and light profile.
The Pro model is obviously what’s more attractive, but the regular Zenfone 4 Selfie variants (Which are both same save for the different number of selfie cameras) shouldn’t be a deal breaker either. It still looks better than most hackneyed semi metal-unibody phones that constitute the majority under 15,000 INR, and that’s probably because of their slim and light profile.
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Display
The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro has a full HD AMOLED display while the other Zenfone 4 Selfie variants include the same size but lower HD resolution IPS LCD panels. Viewing angles are great on both phones, but of course, the sharper AMOLED panel felt more palatable in our initial experience.
Performance and Software
The new Selfie Pro is powered by Snapdragon 625 processor paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. It has a hybrid SIM slot, though. The regular Zenfone 4 selfie models have dedicated card slots and are powered by Snapdragon 430 mobile platform. Now the Snapdragon 430 for the base Zenfone 4 Selfie
Now, the Snapdragon 430 for the base Zenfone 4 Selfie model that costs 9,999 INR and the Snapdragon 625 on the Pro model that costs 23,999 seem well justified. Consumers, however, wouldn’t be out of place demanding something more powerful than the Snapdragon 430 (or the Snapdragon 625) for the middle-positioned Zenfone 4 selfie dual camera version priced at 14,999.
The significant change this year is the Zen UI 4.0. It’s not half as cluttered or shabby as the Zen UI 3.0. Asus has reduced pre-installed apps from 35 to 13 (there was only one page in the app drawer!) and the quick settings menu, notification shade and settings menu too see refreshing changes.
And the icing on the cake is that Asus guarantees to update the entire Zenfone 4 family (and also Zenfone 3 Family) to Android Oreo.
Camera Expectations
The two front cameras on the Zefone 4 Seflie series are used for 120-degree wide angle capture or for groupies. In our opinion, this is the most sensible dual camera implementation for selfies when compared to existing options so far.
The camera interface Asus has designed is very intuitive. You can switch to the wide screen mode from the viewfinder and in the Wide angle mode, you will also find the option for Portrait mode (or background blur) selfies as well.
Asus isn’t holding back on selfie features. All the selfie bells and whistles that you’d expect on a Selfie-centric phone are present on the new Zenfones. You can shoot 4K selfie videos, use live beautify while video calling or while going live on social media apps, shoot HDR selfies, use flash to compensate for low light or even shoot GIFs.
The selfie quality on the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro felt quite good on the phone’s display. Resolved details and metering were decent. We didn’t get to test selfie camera performance on other models at the launch today.
Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro and Zenfone Selfie Quick Review:
Asus is once again back to aggressive pricing. Undoubtedly Selfie takes the center stage here, but the change that we are most excited about is the new Software. The Zen UI has been a major peeve point for Asus phone and the software refresh could go a long way in increasing acceptability of Zenfone models in India.
- The base variant is the most aggressively priced one at 9,999 INR and should prove to be a good option for selfie-enthusiasts looking for an under 10,000 INR phone. At the above-mentioned price, its flaws seem acceptable.
- The Selfie Pro (top model) feels like a good option for anyone who needs to have the best possible selfie hardware. It should be able to take on selfie experts from Vivo and Oppo that aren’t aggressively priced either.
- The Zenfone 4 Selfie dual camera version positioned in the middle will face stiff competition from other existing lucrative online alternatives like Mi A1 and Moto G5s Plus. The dual selfie cameras will still give it an advantage. As far as selfie-centric phones go, it will directly compete with Oppo F3, which is the only other dual selfie camera phone in this range and still costs a few thousand bucks more.
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