Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie: Perfect buy for click-ready selfie fanatics

Priced at Rs 9,999, smartphone brings a host of camera-centric features in a form factor that looks premium

Taiwanese smartphone maker Asus recently launched three models under its Zenfone 4 series – Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro, Zenfone 4 Selfie (dual camera version) and Zenfone 4 Selfie. The Zenfone 4 Selfie is the most affordable of the lot and is the only variant in Zenfone 4 Selfie series without dual selfie cameras.

Priced at Rs 9,999, the smartphone brings a host of camera-centric features in a form factor that looks premium. Business Standard reviewed the device and here are the observations:

Camera

The selfie-centric phone is serious in its efforts to appeal to the click-ready masses of our generation as it packs a host of features to provide its users the best photo/image experience in the give range. Among the most attractive ones is the portrait mode that allows users to click selfies with the bokeh effect, which means that camera blurs the background to increase focus on the person in frame.  Other selfie enhancement features include eight image filters or tints -- greyscale, warm, hipster, retro, faded, nostalgic, vibrant and blush – and a soft-light LED flash that is helpful in clicking selfies in low light conditions. The automatic light sensor installed in the front is also aimed at ensuring a great selfie-clicking experience to its users. Users can also take panorama snapshots, besides creating GIFs using the selfie camera.

The 13-megapixel rear camera is equally impressive. The use of advanced technology to ensure quick autofocus and stable and shake-free recording/clicks while using the HD mode or filter is indeed a huge bonus. Apart from this, there is another LED flash located next to the rear camera that comes handy during low light conditions.

The phone also uses artificial intelligence to sort clicked images using facial recognition. Do not forget the Super Resolution Mode that allows users to create ultra-high resolution images of up to 52 megapixels through the use of special image-processing technique, involving the capturing and combining of four 13-MP resolution images. The Zenfone 4 Selfie- Pro Mode allows amateurs to learn the basics of photography allowing manual control of camera settings. Users can make changes to the shutter speed, ISO sensitivitiy, exposure value and white balance and see what effect these have on the images clicked.

Performance & battery

In terms of performance, the Asus phone, running on Android Nougat 7.1 version, provides a smooth touch experience and sails through despite heavy use of applications. For game lovers too, the phone comes through with no major glitches in terms of experiencing sluggishness in using multiple applications, following the installation of a heavy app. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa-core SoC, coupled with a 3 GB RAM, ensures a glitch-free user experience.

In terms of space, the phone offers its user 32 GB internal storage, which can be expandable up to 2 TB- the highest capacity offered through a micro SD slot till date.

The dual-SIM phone offers VoLTE capabilities on both SIM cards and has a decent battery life as well with a full-charged handset lasting an entire day. Charging is not Flash-like but it is not at a snail’s pace either.

Design

The handset comes with a 5.5 inch HD IPS screen and sports a sleek-and-slim look with a thickness of 7.85 mm and a net weight of only 144 grams.

Verdict

The Taiwanese phone maker has made sure it offers features that are more attuned to today’s shoot-and-click ready smartphone users. The positioning of this particular model is perhaps the most attractive aspect. Unlike the high-end versions that face competition from market favourites such as Apple (Apple’s iPhone SE is priced at Rs 19,999), Motorola (Moto G5 Plus at Rs 15,690) and Vivo (Vivo V7+ at Rs 21,990), among a dozen other extremely attractive deals, the Zenfone 4 Selfie stands out against existing models falling in the mid-range segment of smartphones.  The Redmi Note 4 phones are priced at Rs 10,999 (32 GB version) and Rs 12, 999 (64 GB model) at Flipkart and come with a 13 MP rear camera and 5 MP front camera,  unlike Asus’ Zenfone 4 Selfie phone that offers a 13 MP front and back camera.