Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL is a higher mid range Android smartphone with premium look and decent performance. Though the price looks bit on the higher side, it does manages to get most of the things right. Here is the Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL review based on my last 10 days of usage.
The biggest change in Zenfone 3 compared to its predecessor is the design and build quality. At a time when market is flooded with all metal unibody design smartphones, a smartphone with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass both on the front and rear which are held by metal frame gives a refreshing feel. The concentric-circle pattern at the rear which is called “Zen design” makes this device more beautiful. The Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL is available in Shimmer Gold, Moonlight White, Aqua Blue, and Sapphire Black color variants. The one which I bought is Aqua Blue variant.
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Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL sports 16 megapixel primary camera with f/2.0 aperture and 6P Largan lens. This is supported by Dual LED flash,TriTech auto-focus technology, optical image stabilisation (OIS) and electronic image stabilisation (EIS) . TriTech auto-focus technology combines laser, phase detection and continuous autofocus. The pictures taken using the Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL came out really good in outdoor and indoor conditions. The low light shots were decent but not great for the price. It supports 4K video recording. For 4K video recording, video stabilisation does not works. For selfie lovers this smartphone features 8MP front facing camera. Below are the some of the images taken using the Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL and video sample.
Video Sample
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL sports 5.2 inch full HD IPS display screen. The display is vibrant and offers rich colours. The viewing angles and sunlight legibility are also good. Using the Spledid app, you have the option to change the colour temperature.
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL is powered by octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor clocked at 2GHz with 3GB RAM and Adreno 506 graphics. It has 32GB of internal storage in which 8GB is system reserved. Out of the box, there are lot of bloatware. Some of the third party apps can be uninstalled. However, Asus Apps cannot be uninstalled.
5.2 inch variant of Asus Zenfone 3 comes with hybrid sim card slot. You can use either 1 nano sim card and micro sim card or one sim card with microSD card. It supports upto 2TB of microSD card. I have not used micro SD card throughout my usage in these days as I use both slots for sim cards. The connectivity features of the device includes 4G, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac, GPS/A-GPS, and Glonass.
Coming to performance, I have not faced any lagging or stuttering on regular usage. Gaming performance was also decent. It played games like Asphalt 8, Nova 3, Modern Combat X without any issue. However, it takes a while to open heavy games. The call quality and signal reception was excellant. The output via speakers as well as via headphone is good. The fingerprint scanner is accurate and fast. It recognises even the wet finger and supports 360 degree recognition.
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL houses 2650 mAh battery with fast charging. It takes around 1 hour 15 minutes to fully charge the battery. Battery life is decent and managed to cover a complete day with regular usage.
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL Review : Advantages and Disadvantages
Pros of Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL
- Premium Design.
- Good camera performance in outdoor and artificial lighting conditions.
- 4K video recording capability.
- Excellent call quality and signal reception.
- Fast and Accurate fingerprint scanner.
- Good display panel.
Cons of Zenfone 3 ZE520KL
- No backlit navigation keys.
- Hybrid sim card slot.
- Glass back feels bit slippery. Also, there is a huge possibility of breaking of these glass even if you drop it from 3 to 4 feets.
- Priced little on the higher side.
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