Asus 6Z Review: A Phone That Simply Clicks

OnePlus got there first, but we now have a series of Snapdragon 855 phones retailing in India in the Rs. 30K – 50K price bracket. One of the most interesting is the Asus 6Z that has an uninterrupted display made possible with a unique take on flip camera (Asus 6Z review हिंदी में पढ़िए).

By now the term “flagship killer” has been over abused, so let’s just say that 6Z is a no-nonsense phone that delivers premium features and high-end hardware at a very aggressive price.

Is it better than the OnePlus 7? We have been thoroughly testing the Asus 6Z for around 3 weeks now and will try to answer all you 6Z related questions in this detailed review.

Page Contents:

• Asus Zenfone 6Z Review: Price and Specifications
• Asus 6Z Review: Design and Build
  
• Asus 6Z Review: Flip Camera and Smart Key
• Asus 6Z Review: Display
• Asus Zefone 6Z Review: Performance and Software
• Asus 6Z Review: Camera Performance
• Asus 6Z Review: Battery and Audio
• Asus 6Z Review: Verdict with Pros and Cons

Asus Zenfone 6Z Price in India and Specifications

Asus 6Z Review: Design and Build

Asus has done an absolutely fabulous job with the 6Z design. If you like your phones to be distinct, the flip camera is enough of a head-turner you’d ever need. The zany branding on the back and the full view screen further ensure that the 6Z remains at the top of modern trends.

Once you get past these novelties, you’d appreciate the 6Z even more. That’s because there are no unpleasant surprises here and all basic are well covered. Why the 6Z design works also has a lot to do with the good quality and full view IPS LCD panel that covers most of the front. Once you have lived with and are used to the uninterrupted expanse of the screen, the notch cutouts (all kinds) feel archaic.  

Flagship phones, in general, have gotten bigger and bulkier this year, which is perhaps why wielding Asus 6Z feels rather convenient – even when it weighs a significant 190 grams. The heft is at least well justified considering the massive 5000mAh battery residing within the solid glass-metal casing.

The capacitive fingerprint sensor on the rear is easily accessible, there is a USB Type-C port at the bottom, and the phone retains the 3.5mm audio jack.

Needless to say, Asus has used premium materials to build its new Zenfone flagship. There is metal running along the sides and gorilla glass on front and rear. Retail unit will bundle a hard polycarbonate case.

The 6Z weighs 190 grams and the thickness varies between 8.4mm and 9.1mm – which is pretty reasonable for a 5000mAh battery phone.

ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy M40 Review

Asus 6Z Review: Flip Camera and Smart Key

The most exciting and unique element in the 6Z has to be its flip camera. Now, we have seen flip cameras before in phones like Oppo N1 or more recently on the Galaxy A80, but the Asus’ execution of the concept involves a stepper motor and that makes several interesting applications possible.

1. 1. The most obvious benefit is that you get to shoot selfies from the 48MP Sony IMX586. Besides, you get a 13MP wide-angle camera, hardware-backed for portraits, laser AF and more – all for the front camera.
   2. The stepper motor makes shooting Panoramas a treat! All you need to do is hold the phone straight, and the camera will sweep to capture a broad field of view. This is also true for verticle panoramas. Asus demonstrated an image of Eifel tower shot up close.
   3. Motion tracking is awesome for vloggers. The camera can detect your face and repositions itself just so you are always at the center of the frame.

 

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Also Read: OnePlus 7 Pro review 

The flip camera is great for shooting panoramas and semi-panoramas, and it also makes the 6Z essentially a great have for selfie enthusiasts. After the latest update, the camera retracts and flips as expected. The Flip module doesn’t feel very solid or sturdy, but Asus claims it has been tested for more than 100,000 flips, and after flipping the cameras to our heart’s content through the duration of this review, we are inclined to believe these stats.

The downside is Face unlock on the 6Z is a wee-bit slower than what we are accustomed to by now. The selfie camera takes a bit more time to position itself when compared to a pop-up camera, and the Asus 6Z doesn’t have an option for direct face unlock. You will have to swipe up on the lock screen for the facial recognition to trigger. But really, this isn’t a major peeve point. The fast and reliable rear fingerprint sensor has the biometric unlocking covered.

Asus has also added a smart key, which by default is a google assistant button. You can also map it to a few other predefined actions. The concept of an extra button to quickly trigger frequently used tasks is good in theory, but we still didn’t find ourselves using Smart Key very often. That’s because it’s positioned a little too close to the top and you can’t map apps to it yet.

Asus Zenfone 6Z Review: Display

As mentioned above, a big part of the 6Z charm is its display. In fact, the main attraction of the phone, the flip camera, is more of a means to an end, or rather this end-to-end display.

Asus isn’t using an AMOLED screen, but the IPS LCD screen you’d get is not a compromise but a strength. We are quite pedantic about our phone screens, and we are quite taken by the panel on the 6Z.

Since this is an IPS LCD panel, the full HD resolution is sharper than analogous AMOLED phones. The display has high contrast, wide dynamic range, offers options to choose between different color profiles (we prefer standard), and is quite light on eyes.

Asus also adds a system-wide dark theme (for some reasons blacks aren’t as dark as 6Z can go in many places), and a useful blue light filter (Night light). And yes, the screen has an excellent oleophobic coating and is protected by Gorilla Glass 6 on top.

One minor peeve point is auto-brightness. It’s mostly responsive but every now and then our phone went either too bright or too dim.

Also Read: Asus TUF Gaming FX705DY Review

Asus 6Z Review: Performance and Software

Asus isn’t skimping on performance hardware with the 6Z and it now has a very capable software to go along. Powered by Snapdragon 855, the 6Z is tailored for power users. Depending on the variant you choose, you’ll get up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage.

Long story short, the 6Z is a snappy and dependable phone. Apps open quickly, multi-tasking is smooth, and all heavy-duty games run smooth. PUBG runs in high and Ultra.

In the new Zen UI, Asus hasn’t meddled with the essence of stock Android and all default feature we appreciated (the look and feel, play store in-app search, digital wellbeing, Google autofill, etc.) have been retained. Asus has also added a lot many custom optimizations because without them the stock Android could be bland and even crippling at times. The resulting interface is clean, intuitive, and very pleasant to live with.  

HD streaming works out of the box on apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

All relevant sensors and connectivity options including Dual VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 are present on the phone. Call quality in our area was excellent.

ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy M40 Review

Similar to most other competent mid-range phones these days, the 6Z employs Sony’s 48MP IMX586 as the primary sensor (for both front and rear). There’s also a 13MP wide-angle (125-Degrees) shooter as its sidekick. The camera modus has laser AF, but is missing OIS.

The movable camera can further be used to shoot a wider canvas (you can stop the sweep in panoramas anytime). The camera app is well designed, and everything except the control to mobilize camera module are easy to find.

Auto HDR is turned on by default and the camera shoots remarkable images with wide dynamic range and accurate colors in proper daylighting.

In low light and dark scene, the images are quite noisy and you’d notice details are missing when you zoom in. The phone has a night mode that works well, especially for shots with light sources in them.

We managed to capture decent details in close-up shots too.

The wide-angle camera on the 6Z works better than it does on most other phones in this class. Edge distortion is nicely corrected and images shot with a wider view aren’t soft or unusable, even when the quality falls behind the ones you will shoot from the main sensor.

The portrait mode works surprisingly well too, especially when your subject is a human. But it’s not perfect and imperfections are more apparent when you shoot in low light. The 2X zoom toggle is for digital zoom, but that too comes in handy at times.

We were initially quite excited by the unique capability of shooting panoramas without moving the phone, but this didn’t last. The panoramas are still better than what you’d get from other phones, but you will need ideal settings for perfect execution.

And since the entire camera setup doubles as the front camera, the selfie experience is fantastic in proper lighting.

Overall, we would say that the camera performance is perfectly apt for the price.

Asus 6Z Review: Battery and Audio

The 5000mAh battery on the Asus 6Z can last really long. We are consistently getting a screen on time of more than 8 hours, which perhaps makes 6Z the best in this regards.

Asus says that it hasn’t resorted to high Wattage fast charging just so it could ensure more battery capacity within the same phone casing, and also ensure that the battery health isn’t deteriorated after a period of usage.

After having lived with the 6Z for more than two weeks, we can’t agree with these decisions anymore. Ultra-fast charging is still a convenience that we miss at times, but the excellent battery mileage makes up for the loss.

It must be mentioned, that the charging isn’t slow either. Asus bundles an 18W quick charge 2.0 charger in the box that can top-up up to 60% capacity in an hour. And if you are in a mood for some generosity, there is reverse charging support as well (up to 10W). 

Another impressive aspect is the audio quality. The Zenfone 6Z has very loud stereo speakers and audio via headphones is really impressive too. There’s also a “smart volume” feature which is to sound what Auto-brightness is to display. This can be really annoying at times when it doesn’t work, and we ended up turning it off. 

Asus 6Z Review Verdict: Should You Buy It?

Simply put, the Asus 6Z is a phone that works. Its key highlight is a flashy flip camera module, but that’s kind of ironic because overall, the 6Z strikes as a very sensible and sober no-nonsense phone that employs the best available hardware and yet retains the old school reliability that led us to gradually ease into the experience.

The battery backup is awesome, Asus has used a remarkable IPS LCD screen (and the fact that it’s uninterrupted counts big time), the phone is snappy as hell, and is running an excellent software.

Moreover, it undercuts the competition and is currently the cheapest Snapdragon 855 phone around (at least till the Redmi K20 Pro comes around). There is no area where the phone particularly disappoints and it really makes for an easy recommendation.