Asus Zenfone 3 Laser Complete Review - Best Camera For The Price
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is a great addition to the Zenfone 3 lineup, but is it the phone for you?
Today, we'll delve deeper into Asus's latest camera-centric budget phone.First and foremost we will take a good look at the Zenfone 3 Laser
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser Specs
First of all Zenfone 3 Laser has Snapdragon 430 Octa-Core CPU ticking inside with
- Adreno 505 graphics.
- Memory configuration comes in two options - 2GB RAM and 32GB ROM and 4GB RAM with 64GB ROM with both having a microSD card extension possible, due to the dual Nano-Sim tray.
My review unit is the cheaper 2/32GB model as it compares better to the price point, with the 64GB one priced 70$ higher.
Compared to the competition Asus has a secret weapon - The Camera!
Powered by the 13MP Sony IMX214 with now improved lenses and f/2.0 aperture with assistedlaser-autofocus, PDAF and dual-tone flash, this would have been considered a flagship camera
in 2015. The fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate. Asus have chosen a beautiful and vibrant 5.5-inch FHD Display fitting for great photo viewing.
Here are the complete specs:
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser User Interface
ZenUI looks and feels vibrant and premium, with lots of customization options.
All ZenUI ROMs are multi-language with all the dialects and exotic languages available
for the system, making for a great user experience, wherever you may live.
Most noted, Asus still keep the app-drawer not only present but mandatory.
Asus provide a Theme store with lots of different themes, wallpapers and icons to download.
Unfortunately, some of them are paid.
In comparison to the competition of MIUI, ZenUI offers the ability to choose
which element of a theme you want to apply making for a very fun and rich customization.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser Camera
The crown jewel of this wonderful smartphone is the stunning camera.
Not only is focusing fast and accurate thanks to the laser-assisted focus but photos
look stunning with rich detail and colours, never has a budget camera performed so well.
Even in night shots, as long as you focus manually on the light subject, photos look much more
detailed than what the competition is offering.
Camera interface is rich, but a bit heavy with dozens of different mods available including
depth-of-field, super-resolution, low-light mode and the stunning manual-mode.
Photos uploaded here are with downscaled resolution, so be sure to check the full-size images
Front Camera takes great selfies in good conditions, another winner in the camera department by Asus!
Packing the super-cool selfie panorama mode, you can now fit all your friends in one shot!
Video recording quality is nothing special, however, is very feature-rich and time-lapse and slow-motion are available.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser Performance
With all the good things being said, compared to the competition performance leaves a bit to be desired. Benchmarks scores are good, especially storage speeds, but that doesn't translate to actual
performance.
Thanks to the Snapdragon 430 weaker CPU performance switching between heavy apps and heavier camera features will result in a bit of stutter and lag, that somewhat break the good user experience if you are accustomed to a faster UI, like MIUI.
Light gaming runs great, but heavy games like Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat 5 will lag a bit in the higher settings. This was well indicated by the Epic Citadel benchmark, scoring 35fps in Ultra High Settings mode(should be above 40 to have smooth gameplay on demanding games)
Battery life is great on the Zenfone 3 Laser with 7Hrs of Screen-On-Time on a single charge. For a FHD display this is something truly noteworthy!
GPS speeds are top-notch taking just a few second to lock and position.
I was able to get 4 days with light usage while taking lots of photos and videos along with web-browsing and a bit of gaming.
Charging time is not very quick, due to the phone only supporting 10W charging, however, the
battery is 3000mAh, so a good 2 and half hours will charge it fully from 0 to 100%.
Final Thoughts on Zenfone 3 Laser
Considering the super camera, great built quality and display the Zenfone 3 Laser really stands out
compared to the competition.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is a great buy as it comes with great battery life, GPS and a vibrant FHD IPS display. Noteworthy is the lack of NFC.
It would have been the perfect phone if it had Snapdragon 625 instead, or even 650, but that would
definitely, have pushed the phone way above 200$ price range. As it stands you can get the 4GB RAM+64GB Storage option, but it's not much faster and costs as much as a Xiaomi Mi5.
WATCH MY ZENFONE 3 LASER VIDEO REVIEW HERE:
CHECK OUT THESE GREAT SALES!
