Teenaesh VijeeMost of you might wonder with all the selfie oriented smartphones these days, is it worth or its just a part of marketing gimmick? Things are pretty impressive with the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie pro as it comes with a far superior and better front camera than any other in terms of hardware specification.
Although this is a full review of the smartphone, I am going to focus mainly on the front camera itself. For this, I have put tests of taking photos in different conditions as well as angles. Most filters will be tested and of course the wide-angle extra front camera lens will be put to test too! Let’s follow the flow of an ordinary review and do keep in mind that my reviews are always based on personal opinion as a daily driver.
If you have missed my unboxing and what comes out of the box for this smartphone, kindly do check it out by clicking here.
Design
Such design language has become common these days. It is pretty identical to many phones out there that I have used or encountered. However, it slightly feels much classier. Maybe due to its better build quality as ASUS has always known well for their quality of workmanship. Although the outlook is identical, it is definitely one of the slimmest in the design measuring at only 7mm in thickness. That’s pretty amazing having said that the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro has 5.5-inch display.
Display
Despite having 5.5-inch Full HD display, the AMOLED colors are really rich to the eyes. It feels really good looking at the phone even at lowlight condition. It can get really bright at full brightness even under direct sunlight, auto-brightness works perfectly.
Performance
The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro has the well-known processor under the hood. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 Octa core processor clocked at 2.0GHz. A handful of 4GB RAM is paired to give an optimum performance boost where you can never notice any lags or stutter. In layman term, Qualcomm Snapdragon processors are considered as the “premium” product compared to any other brands. It is simply because of the reliability and can withstand even at peak situations. You can compare smartphones with 2GB of RAM with a Snapdragon processor and another with other brand. You will be able to notice the tiny bits of differences which will benefit in long term.
Camera
The best part of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is the camera itself! The selfie camera is way impressive compared to the rest I have tried personally. It is packed with Sony’s IMX362 sensor which powers up to 24 Megapixels. The selfie camera can perform really well under low light and night condition, thanks to its f1.8 aperture as well as front Moonlight LED flash. Not to forget, the additional 5MP sensor which works as the 120° wide view selfie angle which helps in taking great “wefie” – group photos.
L-R – Moonlight LED flash =>ambient sensor =>earpiece => Wide angle camera sensor(secondary) =>front camera sensor(primary)
The front camera supports face tracking, HDR, Beautification and as well as Selfie Panorama. Of course, the trending Portrait mode is also available for taking selfies that stands you out of the picture. (It blurs the photo’s background).
A simple way of explaining how the DuoPixel camera technology works. Basically you capture a photo with 12MP resolution twice which ends up with 24MP. It works really well and there’s no noticeable lag when it takes place.
When the selfie camera is set to normal mode – the image resolution will be in full. Meaning that it will be 12MP. If you end up choosing the wide angle (wefie) mode, the resolution will be limited to 5MP (4:3) aspect ratio. If you would prefer a better aspect ratio of 16:9, the resolution will downgrade to 4MP.
The main rear camera which comes with 16MP sensor is decent in terms of image quality. You can take good shots during outdoors, however taking night shots will result in some noticeable noise. It is for you to judge by yourself on the image quality as good photo taking skills are needed regardless of what device you use to capture. Best part of the cameras of this smartphone will be its capability to shoot 4K videos via front as well as the rear camera! That’s definitely a huge plus point and a first as far as I am aware of.
Check out our photo gallery and feel free to rate it by yourself. Some photos are taken using portrait mode, wide angle mode, standard auto mode, beautification mode, flash mode and as well as night mode.
Network & Storage
ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro supports 4G LTE as well as Dual SIM. The call quality is pretty good as we are aware of the network stability on any smartphone by reliable technology by ASUS. Unfortunately there is no VoLTE feature in this smartphone prior to hardware limitations.
With 64GB of internal storage provided, there are decent amount of space for you to exploit without the need of any external storage. Of course, you can expand it up to 256GB with microSD card. You get the usual Hybrid card tray. There are 3 slots dedicated individually but having to sacrifice a slot to choose from either the extra SIM card or microSD card. Both the SIM cards supported are Nano SIMs.
Software Experience
A pretty much revised version of the previous ZenUI. It feels much neater especially the icons. Believe it or not, most bloatware have been removed and it looks pretty clean now. Interfaces have been simplified including the camera software itself. There is also Always On display now, which works as a screensaver on the backend when your smartphone is on idle mode. All these goodies are on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat with my latest Android security patch took place on June 1st.
Always -on Panel keeps your screen on even when it is idle and locked. Doesn’t drain battery too much.
Map your Recent apps key to activate Multi-Window mode
ZenUI Safeguard mode enables you to safeguard almost everything in case of emergency.
Mobile Manager allows you to monitor your Data usage, conserve your battery, boost performance by clearing background apps as well as managing certain permissions.
Battery Endurance
Based on my personal usage which does not involve any gaming, the battery life is pretty decent. I am more towards social messaging and web browsing. There’s a little bit of Waze here and there as well as selfie session in between. It could easily get me through the entire day by starting my day with the device fully charged. I will be left with about 22% by time I reach home, which is after 12 hours of being outside and the device left discharged. However, it does take quite a while to get it fully charged. It took me around 2 hours plus in order for it to get from 2%-100%.
There is now dual screen feature on this smartphone. You can activate it by changing the setting to tap and hold the Recent apps key to activate Multi-Window mode. So now you can multitask in an efficient way.
For those who like to play games and share with their friends, the Game Genie version is still available in this smartphone. It was introduced back then when Zenfone 3 was launched. This application enables you to record your gameplay either online or offline mode. You can livestream to show off your skills via YouTube or Twitch.
Fingerprint scanner works flawlessly. It is super fast compared to the one on the Zenfone 3 which was already fast too! The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro does support OTG feature, just in case if you wonder.
Final Verdict
In the end, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is definitely one of my favorite latest phone as it really feels slim and nice to hold. I have started taking selfies again simply because of the stunning camera that this smartphone has. If you have read my opinions above, you will already be able to conclude as this smartphone is really balanced yet exciting to use.
Retailing at RM1799 including GST, the price point might be slightly high to certain people. But do think and see if you can get any better front camera than this one. There are pros and cons in getting any other similar selfie-orientated smartphone, but to the girls out there – you definitely gotta check this one out!
You can get one for yourself by visiting ASUS Malaysia’s online store via LAZADA by clicking here.