ASUS ZenFone 2 / Zoom

[lsd]

Sure, if he buys the higher-end model and his killer app is running benchmarks.

Exactly, as long as its faster than my gs4 i could care less about performance specs.

 

[MtSeldon]

then you could buy a slower phone for the same price , and be happy with it Yes this makes sense

Even if the performance wasn't an issue , i would still buy the faster one . Zenfone 2 is a hot debate on lots of tech sites , and there isn't much news about alcate , and its for a reason.

Only advantage of Alcatel seems to be the battery life , buy if battery life is the most important spec for you , then OnePlus One is a better alternative.

 

[VenomXTF]

Have to wait until Tuesday for mine to arrive. Wish Newegg shipped from the NJ and not CA warehouse

 

[Obsy]

Those benchmarks are done for a reason. They reflect the overall performance of a device. If the user likes playing games r than the difference between these two phones is huge. They are not even in the same league.

They can indicate performance if that much power is required. Clash of Clans does not feel any faster on my ZF2 than my Nexus 7 despite having a much faster GPU. There are definitely graphics intensive games out there that can leverage the PowerVR G6430, but I can simply lower the graphics settings and not care.

Only advantage of Alcatel seems to be the battery life

Again, false. That is the only advantage to you. I'll just leave you with the fact that the Idol 3 has consistently scored higher than the ZF2 on review sites that have done both of them:

Idol 3
Tom's Guide: 4.0 / 5
Android Authority: 8.8 / 10
CNET: 7.6 / 10

ZenFone 2
Tom's Guide: 3.5 / 5
Android Authority: 8.5 / 10
CNET: 7.0 / 10

You're obviously going disapprove of these ratings because the ZF2 is spec'ed well for what you want to do with your phone, but to say that it is the superior option is blatantly false and biased.

 

[soccerballtux]

I trust neither CNET nor Tom's. Is Android Authority any good?

 

[SAWYER]

I dont give a shit about benchmarks, phones have been good enough the past few years for my uses. I want to know real life battery stats

 

[MtSeldon]

There are definitely graphics intensive games out there that can leverage the PowerVR G6430, but I can simply lower the graphics settings and not care.

When you say , you can lower the settings and not care, the discussion losses all its base. Since any advantage of the phone , you simple may not care.

imho, there is a better discussion (at least depending on the country you live),
to buy Zf2 , or to pay a bit extra and buy the previous generation flagship of a premium brand. For example, ZF2 and LG G3 maybe closely priced . It may make more sense to go with G3.

 

[senseamp]

Are there =< 5" phones that are similar spec and price? I am using a GNex, not sure I want to swing for a bigger phone. I use it while biking for Strava and Pandora on my BT speaker, so one handed use is important to me.

 

[KeithP]

Again, false. That is the only advantage to you. I'll just leave you with the fact that the Idol 3 has consistently scored higher than the ZF2 on review sites that have done both of them:

Idol 3
Tom's Guide: 4.0 / 5
Android Authority: 8.8 / 10
CNET: 7.6 / 10

ZenFone 2
Tom's Guide: 3.5 / 5
Android Authority: 8.5 / 10
CNET: 7.0 / 10

You're obviously going disapprove of these ratings because the ZF2 is spec'ed well for what you want to do with your phone, but to say that it is the superior option is blatantly false and biased.

You seemed to miss the fact that in every case you listed, the phones were reviewed by different people at the respective websites, therefore the reviews aren't comparable.

I take no position of which phone is better, Idol 3 vs ZenFone 2. I just wanted to point out that drawing conclusions the way you are trying to makes little sense. The only way this can be done is with a comparative review where both phones are judged at the same time, with the same standards by the same person(s) for the specific purpose of determining which is better.

-KeithP

 

[Obsy]

You seemed to miss the fact that in every case you listed, the phones were reviewed by different people at the respective websites, therefore the reviews aren't comparable.

I take no position of which phone is better, Idol 3 vs ZenFone 2. I just wanted to point out that drawing conclusions the way you are trying to makes little sense. The only way this can be done is with a comparative review where both phones are judged at the same time, with the same standards by the same person(s) for the specific purpose of determining which is better.

-KeithP

You're misunderstanding me - I'm not saying that either phone is better than the other. I was pointing out to MtSeldon that the ZF2 isn't a blanket superior option. I know the reviews were done by different people, but your suggested method of having one person reviewing both phones is also faulty because of the fact that the one person will have their own unintentional biases. You can see that happening right in this very thread.

When you say , you can lower the settings and not care, the discussion losses all its base. Since any advantage of the phone , you simple may not care

Exactly, I agree with you. That's the point I'm trying to convey: you tossed out every other advantage the Idol 3 had as well. To say that the Idol 3's only advantage over the ZF2 is its battery life would be very misleading for readers that are viewing this thread to help them make a purchasing decision.

 

[MtSeldon]

Actually i m not biased . I don't care either. Just for a geek , intel's push into the smartphone market is interesting to watch . At this moment, only objective data we have are the performance benchmarks. Other specs (display , camera ) maybe better on Alcatel, we just don't know.

Asus also has disadvantages too. being x86 -it seems - makes the updates harder . ZF5 , android 5.0 update has been delayed many times.

 

[zCypher]

Interesting phone and great pricing. A friend just ordered one. As a OnePlus owner, I can't wait to see how the Zenphone2 pans out. It's great to be seeing more and more lower priced phones with good specs. I'm not likely to upgrade from my OnePlus until I see something equivalent in price/specs but with a camera that is way better and fast. The 1+ takes pretty damn good pics, but the initial load speed and autofocus speed is pretty lackluster.

Benefits of having x86 for the zenphone2?

 

[MtSeldon]

Benefits of having x86 for the zenphone2?

Specs wise, the phone is similar (slightly better maybe) than other phones in the midrange. But cpu+gpu performance is way better, up there with the flagship phones.

This is possible probably by intel subsidizing the SOC .

i dont see an advantage of x86 beside this yet .

 

[SAWYER]

I saw a review yesterday and they said the screen was pretty bad, not bright at all. There was a pic next to an iphone and it was laughable how bad it was. I would like to see how it compares to other cheap phones though

 

[SAWYER]

This is supposed to be on full brightness

I never use full, I stay around 20-25%

 

[VenomXTF]

That "review" was a joke, and that screen looks like it has a broken back-light.

Here is a photo vs Note 4:

And another vs HTC One

 

[SAWYER]

That site should be ashamed

 

[mmntech]

The Anandtech review is up and covers the brightness issue.

Both above pictures are correct. The ZF2 is dimmer than the iPhone 6 but brighter than the Note 4. However, it's about on par with the Moto G and Lumina 930.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9251/the-asus-zenfone-2-review/2

Brandon Chester suspects the display might be the reason for the battery issues. That it's less efficient and thus drawing more power. Which explains the terrible performance while web browsing.

I don't think there's anything surprising in the review. Mainly targets bad camera and battery life. Middling performance everywhere else. It's $200 though, so I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[VenomXTF]

No issues with the brightness/screen on the one that I just received. The screen is very good in general. If anyone has any specific questions I'll be glad to check/answer.

 

[MtSeldon]

I don't think there's anything surprising in the review. Mainly targets bad camera and battery life. Middling performance everywhere else. It's $200 though, so I guess you get what you pay for.

CPU performance is way above the price leage. Other than this , some of the problems of the camera maybe solved with software updates. But screen is lacking.

Also aesthetically phone is quite big , heavy.

It comes to the price at the end.

 

[joejoe666]

is the camera better than a iphone 4s?

 

[elitejp]

coming from a galaxy s4 to the 4g ram 2.3ghz 64grom

My s4 was going on the fritz but was still very snappy it would just sometimes lock up for no apparent reason so i finally got a new phone.
So far here are my impressions. The camera appears to be worse than my s4 which is quite a let down. The speed of the zen2 is fine. im guessing that once you get to this point the phones speed just cant be measured by perception. Anyways everything opens quickly including the camera. There is a bit of a lag between pressing the shutter and actually taking a pic. Nothing serious but noticeable. So far when using the internet it doesnt seem to need to ever reload a window which the s4 did constantly. nor do i ever need to close an app because nothing ever slows down. Battery life for me is fantastic. maybe my s4 just got too old but ive already had my phone on for 8hrs and useing it like any person would use a new phone and im still around 85% battery. So it is a non issue with me. I also have less mistyped words most likely due to the increase in phone size. Overall its not a bad phone, but just depends what your needs are.

 

[amdhunter]

Here's what you can disable:


And here's what I do want to disable but can't:


I like to keep the Google apps, so for me the ratio of bloat vs 'removable' apps is 3:1. I'm a picky Nexus user at heart, though, so most people won't find this phone as bloated as I do.

I'll have mine tomorrow. Are there any ROMs out yet? I've quickly browsed XDA and come up short.

Can this thing be restored easily in case I brick it?

 

[elitejp]

Exactly, as long as its faster than my gs4 i could care less about performance specs.

Its faster than my s4 but the picture quality isnt as good. But I am glad to see that asus has done some updates and the flash doesnt have a yellow tint anymore and the pictures are looking better.

 

[StrangerGuy]

The Anandtech review is up and covers the brightness issue.

Both above pictures are correct. The ZF2 is dimmer than the iPhone 6 but brighter than the Note 4. However, it's about on par with the Moto G and Lumina 930.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9251/the-asus-zenfone-2-review/2

Brandon Chester suspects the display might be the reason for the battery issues. That it's less efficient and thus drawing more power. Which explains the terrible performance while web browsing.

I don't think there's anything surprising in the review. Mainly targets bad camera and battery life. Middling performance everywhere else. It's $200 though, so I guess you get what you pay for.

What "middling performance?" Compared to the Moto G this is stellar at the asking price even when factoring in the mediocre (read: perfectly adequate for anybody who is not a serious photographer) camera and the slightly below average battery life.