Asus has seemingly taken the market by storm with the launch of its latest flagship (read: affordable flagship) device Asus Zenfone 6, also referred to as Asus 6Z in the country. In a nutshell, you’re going to get everything in this feature-packed smartphone, but it’s the price tag of $499 that turns out to be its most exciting feature.
This guide takes you through each and every feature of the Asus Zenfone 6 so that you can decide whether this smartphone should be your pick this year or not.
Contents
Unboxing experience
- 18W fast charger
- Soft protective cover
- White coloured USB-A to USB-C cable
- Asus branded earphones
So, apart from the smartphone unit itself, you’re going to find an 18W fast charging brick, a pair of Asus branded earphones, one USB-A to USB-C cable, and a clear protective cover. As expected, the cover has a nicely fitted cutout to support the latest flip camera mechanism. While the bundled pair of earphones have a decent sound quality, you can always upgrade to a better set of earbuds or headphones as this device doesn’t lack an audio jack.
Design
- 190g
- Dual-sim tray
- 159.1×75.44×9.1mm dimension
- Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner
- Flip-up camera
- Dedicated MicroSD card slot
- Quick actions button
- 3.5mm audio jack
- No notch screen
The feel of Gorilla Glass in the body of this device gives you a sturdy look along with having a premium appeal to it. However, you are missing out on wireless charging, which is anyway not seen in this price segment. The robotic-looking camera mechanism steals the show when it comes to standing out in terms of design that has uniqueness and modernness in every part of it. You will find all the necessary ports and button with a slightly more likeable appearance that becomes clear by the matching blue coloured tones. On the left, the Asus Zenfone 6 lacks any physical buttons but houses a dual-SIM tray that comes with a slot for MicroSD card.
On the right, there are volume rockers, a power button having a decent blue tone going hand in hand with the brand logo on the back of the device, and a separate quick actions button. While this button comes integrated with Google Assistant by default, you can customise it to open the camera, launch an application or even take a screenshot. Moreover, there is a USB-C port, a bottom-firing speaker grill, and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom of this smartphone. A rear-mounted fingerprint reader is present at the back of this device along with a rotating dual camera setup. Furthermore, the Asus Zenfone 6 lacks an IP certification because of the presence of moving parts in it, which make water and dust resistance quite difficult to integrate.
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Performance
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
- Octa-core processor
- 6GB or 8GB RAM options
- Adreno 640 GPU
- 64GB or 256GB storage options
- MicroSD card slot
When it comes to the performance, the Asus Zenfone 6 comes out as an ultimate beast as these specifications are definitely of flagship-grade. There shouldn’t be any doubt about getting a lag-free performance because this device has not only a lightweight UI but also enough RAM capability. With 6GB or 8GB RAM variants, you can go ahead with hassle-free multitasking without any application getting forced out of the memory. Be it gaming, photo editing, or switching between heavy apps, the Zenfone 6 isn’t going to disappoint you in providing a seamless experience.
However, one thing that power users have to consider is the heating issue that becomes quite observable when this device remains under heavy load for too long. In our review, we observed that the Asus Zenfone 6 gets way more heated up than most other smartphones having a glass-back design. This makes it quite clear that too long gaming hours aren’t really possible without taking breaks due to overheating. When it comes to the benchmarks scores, this device tends to stand out among the competition with the results showing around 3,70,000 points in AnTuTu and 5,500 points in 3DMark. While this already indicates superior performance abilities, you also have an option to enable AI Boost Mode, which will consume some extra battery usage but will provide you with top-notch performance.
Display
- 19.5:9 aspect ratio
- Gorilla Glass 6
- 6.4-inch IPS LCD screen
- 2,340 x 1,080 resolution, 403ppi
The very first thing you’re going to notice on the display front is the presence of a full-screen design without any notch at all. This means you can enjoy your media experience without having to be hindered by any bezels or an ugly looking notch. However, you can be turned down because of its LCD screen, which doesn’t get too bright and can be a bit problematic in outdoor situations. While OLED panels are making their way to even mid-range smartphones, Asus has chosen an LCD unit for this device, but the good thing is the presence of Gorilla Glass 6.
The Zenfone 6 has a small chin at the bottom, but it shouldn’t really be a huge problem as you are getting a full-display screen in front of you. Moreover, this LCD panel has a 100 percent DCP-13 coverage because of which it is able to display the entire colour space with high accuracy. One thing you need to remain mindful of with this device is that you might have to keep the brightness level at more than half even while using it in the indoor conditions.
Camera
- Flip camera mechanism
- 48MP lens with f/1.79
- Pixel binning technology at 12MP
- 13MP ultra-wide lens
The Zenfone 6 houses a 48MP camera lens with Sony IMX586 sensor in its primary module along with a 13MP lens setup for its wide-camera module. While most of the flagship devices have started using this lens for the primary shooter, here you get an added advantage of using this same setup for your selfie camera too. This clearly results in high-resolution selfies that tend to stand out among the competition that can’t provide such a great front camera. It isn’t uncommon to find punch hole designs or even a pop-up camera mechanism in the market these days; however, Asus has taken this to the next level with their rotating camera module.
Having a dual-camera setup that physically rotates to act as a selfie shooter allows users to click some amazing pictures from the front. Kudos to Asus for coming up with an out of the box design that is definitely turning some heads towards this modern camera mechanism. Having a rotating camera module enables the users to have some cool features like automatic panorama mode, which doesn’t need you to move your device physically. Furthermore, you get an object-tracking mode that can be used to follow a subject and keep it in focus throughout a shoot. These features can turn out to be handy when you want to take some highly creative shots from this rotating dual camera.
Battery
- 5,000mAh capacity
- 18W Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0
- No wireless charging
While Asus has managed to pack a significantly large-sized battery in this smartphone, the screen-on time doesn’t turn out to be surprising at all. The Asus Zenfone 6 packs in a 5,000mAh battery which can get you through the day quite easily without having to run for a charger. In our review unit, we expected at least two days of usage because of the massive battery size, but the phone didn’t end up lasting more than six and a half hours with the screen on. This can be partly blamed to the draining issues that this smartphone has, causing it to lose battery percentage even when kept on standby.
Moreover, you’ll find wireless charging absent from this device, which shouldn’t really be a disappointment as most of the smartphones in this particular price segment don’t have this feature. The 18W fast charger bundled with the Zenfone 6 does struggle with the charging time because of a battery that huge. Asus should be fixing this draining issue quite soon because this can really be a deal-breaker for some users. While this problem can be fixed by an expected software update, Asus should also be working on a dedicated fast charge technology like other brands so that such a massive battery can be juiced up without having to take ages.
Software experience
- Android 9 Pie
- ZenUI 6
Asus smartphones have been previously criticised due to their terrible software experience that contained a ton of bloatware. However, the Zenfone 6 comes up with a totally fresh take on the software front as it runs ZenUI 6, having a close resemblance to Android 9 Pie “stock” experience. This skin not only has a fairly simple interface but also seems to be quite lightweight in its usage. It turns out to be a decent and much-needed upgrade in the software department that is not going to be left unnoticed when you’re using this device.
Talking about the extra set of functionalities, you get a dedicated screen recorder that is not yet present in the stock Android devices. Moreover, Asus has added an AI Boost mode that allows you some performance hike during heavy usage. All in all, software experience of the Zenfone 6 appears to be greatly improved over previous Asus devices as it provides you with a cleaner and simpler interface.
Audio
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Dual speakers
- NXP TFA9874 smart amp
This device houses a dual-speaker module with one speaker grill at the bottom and another one integrated into the earpiece setup in the top. We observed a decent sound output in our unit, but the audio clearly seems to lack in terms of bass, but that shouldn’t be a disappointment if you’re going to use a pair of headphones. The presence of a smart amplifier allows this device to keep the audio output from facing any distortion even at high volume levels. However, you might notice some rattling while using your device at more than half volume levels if it is placed upside down. This is why you should fire its speakers while keeping the phone face up.
Sound output from the headphone is of premium quality with the availability of analog audio option present in the device. When paired with a high-quality headphone setup, the Asus Zenfone 6 manages to provide an amazing media experience. Moreover, you get Bluetooth 5 for wireless audio options along with the presence of several codecs like LDAC, aptX HD, and HWA.
Value for money
- (6GB RAM, 64GB ROM variant) —$499 / 31,999 rupees
- (6GB RAM, 128GB ROM variant) — 34,999 rupees
- (8GB RAM, 256GB ROM variant) — 39,999 rupees
Having a highly competitive price tag, this device sits firms between the Pixel 3a and OnePlus 7 Pro. If you’re more inclined towards having a wide-angle selfie setup, a separate quick actions button, storage expansion option, headphone jack for wired audio, the Zenfone 6 turns out to be a great choice. When compared to the OnePlus 7 pro, it lacks in terms of a telephoto lens, faster storage option, larger and essentially better display, and also a seemingly better UI. But you can’t ignore the fact that you’re paying around 15,000 rupees less when compared to the OnePlus 7 Pro and still getting fairly competitive and flagship-grade specs.
On the flip side, the Google Pixel 3a is price a little lower than this device, but there’s a lot of improvement you’re going to notice, particularly in terms of performance, build and battery. Along with these 3 models, the Asus Zenfone 6 has also introduced a special 30th-anniversary edition that comes with 12GB RAM option and 512GB of storage, topped with a 30-month warranty. All in all, the value you’re getting out of the regular versions of this device depends majorly on your usage scenario.
Asus Zenfone 6 review: Our final verdict
There is no perfect smartphone, but you can surely grab a decent deal without having to spend a thousand dollars for features that are available for half of that price. The Asus Zenfone 6 is indeed feature-packed and hardly lacks on any front when compared to most of the smartphones available in this price segment.
You might miss out on wireless charging or a certified IP rating, but that can’t overshadow a lot of added features you get exclusively with this device. The new and improved software interface makes this device truly emerge out a thoughtful pick when you’re about a spend about 30,000 rupees.
To sum it all, powerful Snapdragon 855 chipset, ample RAM availability, expandable storage, quick action button, dedicated notification LED, and of course, rotating camera mechanism make the Zenfone 6 a hard to miss device. You should definitely give this smartphone a thought if you’re in the market for a not-so-boring design and a great value for money.
