Taiwanese phone maker Asus has launched its latest flagship, the Zenfone 6. The successor to the highly popular Zenfone 5Z, this new flagship does borrow a few elements from its predecessor. However, as we found out in our brief interaction with the phone, the similarities are minimal as the Zenfone 6 re-writes last year's script in essentially all areas.
As such, the Zenfone 6 does not feel like a simple incremental update over its predecessor. From software to design, it not only tries to improve on last year's Zenfone 5Z but rather brings an all-new feature set to differentiate itself from the previous flagship. While this does help the Zenfone 6 establish its identity in the Zenfone line-up, more importantly, it gives the device an advantage over competing phones such as the OnePlus 7 which offer incremental updates over their predecessors from 2018.
Eventhough we are yet to put the Zenfone 6 through the paces -- something we look forward to doing in our full review of the device -- we've spent enough time with it to report on our first impressions about it. Read on to find what we think about it.
Design and display
One of the more impressive things about the Zenfone 6 -- and something that stood out when we interacted with the device -- is the phone's design. In a departure from the sleek and simple design we saw on last year's 5Z, the new design scheme features more curves and increased heft that surprisingly feels pleasant in the hand.
While the Zenfone 5Z was one of the lightest mid-segment flagships launched last year, the Zenfone 6, on the other hand, feels heavier in the palm. However, the increased weight only makes the phone feel premium -- arguably beyond even its price range. There are curved edges at the back that merge with the device's frame, improving not only the user's grip on it but also making it quite beautiful to look at.
The device is available in a single colour -- black -- which in the glossy avatar that Asus has decided to launch the phone in, helps the device feel rooted in Asus' DNA. However, if you still fail to figure out that link, the company has also added its branding at the back to make matters more clear.
Overall, the phone looks and feels quite premium, and the biggest testament to this is the fact that when we laid our hands on it, it reminded us of Asus' gaming flagship, the ROG Phone -- a smartphone several thousand rupees more expensive than the Zenfone 6's actual predecessor, the 5Z.
With the device's mechanical fingerprint scanner and selfie camera moved to the back -- we'll explain how that happened in a bit -- we now have a completely clean profile on the front. The device's screen to body ratio is also quite high and as a result, there are close to no bezels at the front with very little chin at the bottom of the panel.
In our time using the device, we found the display to be quite impressive to look at. Images pop and because of the high dynamic range and size of the display, watching videos was an immersive experience on Zenfone 6. Which to be honest did not come as a surprise to us considering that Asus has used a 6.4-inch NanoEdge display with a maximum of 600nits brightness on the phone.
While not a deal breaker, the only thing that you could fault the Zenfone 6's display for is its rather average resolution, as the panel used is capable of churning out up to Full HD+ resolutions.
Specifications, performance and battery
In terms of performance, the Zenfone 6 brings everything -- and then a some more -- that you'd expect from a flagship in 2019.
Asus' new flagship comes hiding beneath the hood a powerful Snapdragon 855 SoC that has been built by Qualcomm using the latest 7nm architecture. The chipset has been paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage -- further expandable by using a MicroSD card.
Although we haven't yet had the chance to put the hardware through our usual battery of tests, yet from the time we did spend with it, the Zenfone 6 appeared quite snappy. Jumping between apps and multitasking felt like a breeze, which to be honest did not come as a surprise as the phone does pack seriously impressive hardware within its frame.
However, what did surprise us was the fact that with the Zenfone 6, Asus has finally decided to move closer to a stock Android solution. While on paper the phone still comes running the company's custom Zen UI, the reality is that this new software appears to be just a slightly tweaked version of Android 9 Pie.
This not only makes the Zenfone 6 look and feel more familiar to other popular phones in the Android ecosystem but also helps it become quite a joy to use. With the new OS, the focus appears to be firmly on speed and ease of use, as such, the new Zen UI 6 also brings with it AI-based battery and display tweaks along with a redesigned custom caller app, which Asus claims is faster at placing and ending calls than anything else in the market.
The device also comes with a massive battery which at 5000mAh in size is one of the biggest in the segment. Considering that it's paired to a Full HD+ panel and a rather clean copy of Android OS, we expect it to perform well when we put it through or battery loop test.
However, one thing that's not so great about the battery is that it only brings with it support for Quick Charge 4.0 backed 18W fast charging over USB Type-C -- as opposed to faster solutions on some of the Zenfone 6's competitors.
For cameras, the Zenfone 6 gets a dual IMX586 48-megapixel f/1.79 lens paired with a 13-megapixel 125-degree Wide angle shooter sat on a rather interesting flip mechanism. While the lenses in itself are quite promising and appeared to click well-detailed images in decently lit surroundings, what intrigued us more was the mechanism housing it.
As mentioned above, the two lenses sit on a mechanism that's capable of flipping open and click equally impressive selfies as well as regular shots while the camera rests on the back panel. However, what makes it more interesting is the fact that the movement of this mechanism is completely user controlled up to 180 degrees which gives the user the ability to click pictures from never before thought of angles. It also makes the phone the first phone capable of clicking 4k selfie videos at 60 FPS with electronic image stablisation enabled.
The movement of the mechanism felt quite smooth and sturdy, thus giving us little reason to believe that it could develop faults as a result of prolonged usage. Asus claims that it's made out of special liquid metal that makes it more solid and gives it a lifespan of 100,000 flips or 28 selfies per day over a period of 16.5 years.
Well, the claimed numbers are impressive, however, we'll still like to reserve our judgment on it till we actually get the chance to play with it for a few days -- and possibly weeks.
While we haven't yet had the chance to use the device for a long duration of time, or run it through our battery of tests, our initial impressions of it are quite positive. For a mid-segment flagship, the Zenfone 6 looks and feels quite premium. It also brings with it powerful specs and the promise of solid performance based on the backbone of close to stock Android Zen UI 6.
The wow factor's there too because of the presence of the flip camera set-up and the notchless display at the front. Overall it has the makings of a device that could easily win the segment. And as such, we're quite excited about extensively testing the device and finding out if it actually manages to fulfill the expectations.
However, to find the answer to these questions, you won't have to wait too long. We'll soon be putting out our review of the Zenfone 6 and answer these questions and then some more. So keep following this space.