ASUS ZenFone 4

ASUS has been pegged as a manufacturer of smartphones with great specs and excellent photo-taking capabilities. It is also known for its great value for money. With the launch of the ZenFone 4, ASUS went a different route and decided to give their latest flagship model a price bump. Let’s see if the price increase is warranted for the device.

- Robby Vaflor

DESIGN

What’s great about the ZenFone 4 is that it looks and feels like a flagship. Nothing too flashy—just a slate of metal married to glass. The back has the trademark ASUS logo with beams of reflective light radiating from it, while the sides have a nice brushed texture with bevels going along the top and bottom, giving dimension and depth to the design. The grip on the phone is not bad either, and feels great even when operating it single handedly.

The large 5.5-inch display is surrounded by a very miniscule bezel running along the edges of the phone. The solid-state fingerprint scanner serves as the smartphone’s home button, while the lock button and volume rocker are unobtrusively placed at the side of the phone.

As far as minimalist designs go, the ZenFone 4 is a tux in a fancy dress party: timeless, neat, and subtle. And if you want a little more character, it’s also available in moonlight white and mint green colors apart from the standard midnight black.

HARDWARE