With the launch of Zenfone 3 series, Asus has focused on the premium segment and made it clear that they no longer focus on the budget smartphone market. The newly launched Asus Zenfone 3 Laser cost Rs. 18,999 and features a metal body. The smartphone is specifically launched for shutterbugs and according to Asus, it has quick autofocus and improved camera. Apart from there, there’s a lot more and let’s see how it stands up during our review.
In the box:
- Asus ZenFone 3 Laser
- MicroUSB cable
- AC wall adapter
- SIM tray removal tool
- Safety and warranty information
Look and Feel:
The Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is unibody all-metal smartphone. The smartphone features 5.5-inch Full HD display and protected by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass on the front. The smartphone sports 77 percent screen-to-body ratio and reproduces colours really well. Sunlight legibility and the viewing angle is decent. The smartphone also comes with the blue light filter that claims to protect eyes from glare. Despite having the 5.5-inch display, the smartphone easily fits in one hand.
Above the display, there is a front camera and the capacitive navigation buttons with LED backlit sits below the display.
At the back, there are two lines running across the top & bottom of the rear and has a smudge-resistant oleophobic coating. The rear camera follows the same design language as of Asus Zenfone 3 series and has dual LED flash, laser auto-focus. The fingerprint sensor placed below the camera module and at the bottom, there is Asus branding.
The volume buttons are on the right side while the Hybrid SIM card slot is on the left side.
At the top, there is 3.5mm audio jack white at the bottom there is speaker grille & microUSB slot for charging the device.
The Asus Zenfone 3 Laser measures 149 x 76 x 7.9mm and weighs 150 grams.
Display:
The smartphone features 5.5-inch Full HD IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and the display is protected by 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass. The viewing angles and the sunlight legibility is decent.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser Specifications and software:
The smartphone is powered by 1.4GHz Octa-Core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor which is paired with Adreno 505 GPU & 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM. The smartphone runs on Android Marshmallow operating system with Zen UI on top of it and has 32GB internal storage which can be expanded further up to 128GB via microSD card. Apart from this, in collaboration with Google, Asus also provides 100GB of cloud storage on Google Drive for two years, and you can use this space to store photos, videos, and other documents.
The smartphone features 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual-LED real-tone flash, and supports 1080p video recording at 30fps. On the front, there is an 8-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture for selfie & video-calling.
The smartphone has Hybrid SIM card slot and comes with connectivity features like 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, GPS/A-GPS, Glonass.
The smartphone packs 3000mAh non-removable battery.
The smartphone comes with features like real-time animated weather, and clock widgets, parallax motion effect on the home screen, and Zen motion gestures. There are a lot of bloatware apps like Themes, Photo Collage, Mini Movie, ZenCircle, ZenSync, Weather, Do it Later, Game Genie, Amazon shopping, Saavn, TripAdvisor, Amazon Kindle, and others.
The thing which is noticeable in Zenfone 3 Laser is that, the smartphone packs “Mobile Manager” which gives information on data usage, power saving modes, notifications, and privacy & security. In addition to this, there is “Cleanup” and “Boost” option available.
Performance:
The smartphone is powered by 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor which is paired with Adreno 430 GPU & 4G of LPDDR3 RAM. During our usage, the smartphone lags and somehow able to perform all the tasks simultaneously.
The speakers are loud enough, and the bundled earphones are decent. The call quality and the audio quality of the speaker grille on the bottom side is decent.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser camera:
The camera app on the smartphone can easily launch from the lock screen. The interface is easy and you can choose Manual, HDR Pro, Beautification, Super Resolution, Low-light, QR Code, Night Depth of the field, Effect, Selfie, GIF animation, Panorama, Miniature, Time Rewind, Slow Motion, or Time Lapse.
The main highlight of the smartphone is that it’s laser autofocus technology that claims to focus in just 0.03 seconds. During our usage, this doesn’t happen.
The camera on the smartphone able to take amazing photos during daytime and on zooming, there is slight noise. The low-light images are decent, although there is some noise.
The front camera is decent and able to take selfie quickly. The moment you open the front camera, the Zenfone 3 Laser launched Beautification mode, although you can disable it.
Battery:
The smartphone packs non-removable 3000mAh battery and it lasts for nearly 12 hours in our usage. The usage includes Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, gaming, clicking photos, connected to Wi-Fi all the time, gaming, music, and watching videos on YouTube.
Verdict:
The Asus Zenfone 3 Laser at a price tag of Rs. 18,999 is a decent smartphone but not a wise decision to buy it. At such a price tag, we don’t recommend you to buy the smartphone and if you are Asus fanboy, then it’s better you should wait for it or go for Asus Zenfone 3/Asus Zenfone 3 Max.
Talking about the build quality, it offers a premium and on the software side, the UI is sluggish. At such a price tag, better options are available like Xiaomi Mi Max, Xiaomi Mi 5, Moto G4 Plus, Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime or Lenovo Z2 Plus.