Buzz
ASUS recently unveiled the new generation ZenFone 5 in Vietnam with significant design changes. The device boasts an appealing design with a concentric circle back, featuring dual cameras similar to Xiaomi Redmi A1 32GB, serving both background blur and a 120-degree wide-angle, complemented by the notch display design.
Elegant Design, Glossy with a Metal Frame and Beautiful Concentric Circle Back
Asus ZenFone 5 possesses an elegant, glossy design, continuing from the Zenfone 3 series. The device has a metal frame combined with two toughened glass panels, and its rounded edges and corners give it a distinctly masculine appearance.
ASUS claims that the metal casing on the ZenFone 5 mobile phone is crafted based on the material used to design spacecraft metal frames, ensuring greater durability compared to its predecessor ZenFone models.
Additionally, the concentric circle design combined with reflective light on the back creates a visually impressive effect.
The highlight of the ZenFone 5's rear is the highly sensitive one-touch fingerprint sensor and the dual-camera setup protruding vertically, resembling the iPhoneX.
'Top-notch' display with an optimized notch design, measuring 6.2 inches.
Zenfone 5 2018 undergoes a complete transformation compared to its predecessors like Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 4, as well as its competitors. The Asus ZenFone 5 features a large 6.2-inch display with ultra-thin side bezels, and the top and bottom portions are minimized, providing a comfortable, lightweight feel despite its large size.
The ZenFone 5 sports a notch display similar to the iPhoneX and some flagship Android devices this year.
In this design, the space beside the front sensors and camera not only shows more information, such as battery life and signal strength but also includes automatic notification hiding if they become too frequent, replaced by ellipses.
Swiping left reveals notifications, while swiping right provides quick access to the settings menu.
In terms of aspect ratio, Asus adopts the unusual 19:9 ratio, ensuring that the notch at the top of the screen does not affect the display space.
When users view images or videos in FullScreen mode, this notch automatically gets covered with a black strip, allowing uninterrupted viewing.
FullHD+ Display with DCI-P3 Support
The ZenFone 5 features a 6.2-inch display with a resolution of 2,246 x 1,080 pixels (Full HD+), IPS+ panel, 500nits brightness, 95.4% NTSC color gamut, and DCI-P3 support.
From real-world experience, I observed that the displayed images are vivid, sharp, with colors that are not too intense but rather authentic, and a wide viewing angle. Despite the brightness reaching 500 nits, in my opinion, it remains relatively moderate and struggles in bright sunlight conditions.
Asus has integrated intelligent screen technology (also known as AI), utilizing sensors to automatically adjust color temperature in real-time and adapt to surrounding light sources (warm light, cool light, indoor, or outdoor) for the most user-friendly experience.
The Smart Screen ON feature ensures the screen stays active when users are engaged and turns off when not in use.
Powerful performance with Snapdragon 636 chip, 4GB/6GB RAM, 3300mAh Battery
Asus Zenfone 5 2018 employs the Snapdragon 636 chip to ensure optimal performance and energy efficiency. Paired with 4/6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage.
Zenfone 5 is infused with various artificial intelligences in every aspect, such as AI Camera, AI Boost (automatically maximizes performance during gaming), AI Display (remains active when users look at it and adjusts color temperature according to the environment), and even AI Ringtone (automatically adjusts speaker volume based on ambient noise levels). AI Charging enables the device to autonomously regulate charging time.
The quick experience of Asus Zenfone 5 2018 is stable, with fast task response, smooth multitasking even with multiple applications open simultaneously.
Asus Zenfone 5 2018 comes pre-installed with Android 8.0 Oreo, featuring a simple, modern ZenUI 5 interface with interesting features like facial recognition or fingerprint sensor unlocking for users.
Additionally, Asus Zenfone 5 is equipped with a 3300mAh battery supporting Boostmaster fast charging. A plus point is the device having 2 SIM slots, along with 1 slot for expandable memory.
Dual-camera setup featuring a portrait lens and a 120-degree wide-angle lens
The camera system of Zenfone 5 includes a 12MP lens using the Sony IMX363 sensor with a pixel size of 1.4μm, f/1.8 aperture, and a second 8MP lens with f/2.2 aperture and a 120-degree wide-angle, integrated with 4-axis optical image stabilization (OIS) and AI capabilities.
Especially in professional mode, ZenFone 5 allows users to customize ISO levels from 25 to 32000 and shutter speed from 1/10000 to 32 seconds, impressively applicable to both the regular and wide-angle lenses.
Moreover, the camera of the device can recognize 16 different scenes and apply real-time AI-based beautification.
Meanwhile, the front camera boasts an 8MP resolution and f/2.0 aperture, integrating various fun shooting modes such as Auto (with Night HDR), AI Beautification, Selfie Panorama, GIF Animation, and Real-time Portrait background blur.
Photos captured by ZenFone 5 exhibit excellent quality, with minimal distortion at the edges in wide-angle shots, distinguishing it from some other wide-angle cameras.
Pricing
Asus ZenFone 5 is available in the Vietnamese market at an enticing price of 7.99 million VND for the mineral black and quartz gray variants.
