Asus ZenFone 3 Laser (ZC551KL) review: Camera focused powerful mid-ranger with premium design

NEW DELHI: Asus has launched several variants in its Zenfone 3 series in India. From the premium flagship model Zenfone 3 Deluxe to budget smartphone Zenfone 3 Max, it introduced devices in almost every price range. With the camera focused Asus Zenfone 3 Laser, which is a huge upgrade in terms of build quality and overall design in comparison to its predecessor Zenfone 2 Laser, Taiwanese smartphone maker is focusing to penetrate more of the market share. Now lets see what the smartphone, priced at 18,999, has to offer and whether it can survive the stiff competition in the mid-range budget smartphones. Design: The smartphone sports a metal unibody design and features a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The display gets 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass which slightly curves on the edges and compliments the overall design of the smartphone. The device is slim at 7.9 mm and the build quality makes the it sit nicely in hand and also offers better grip. The Navigation buttons are located below the display and are not backlit. The volume rocker and power button on the right hand side, while the hybrid SIM tray is placed on the left. At the bottom edge, there is a micro USB port, bottom-firing speaker and the microphone. The headphone jack, front camera and proximity sensor is located above the display. The display is vibrant with good viewing angles and color reproduction is also decent. ASUS Splendid app gives the users option to adjust the display temperature according to their requirements. The ‘Bue Light Filter’ feature filters out blue light to protect vision and prevents eye strain. At the back there’s the camera sensor with a laser AF module and a dual-tone LED flash. The Camera bump is evident as it does not let the device rest flat on its back. There are two antenna lines running on the top and bottom on the back. The fingerprint scanner is very responsive and works as it is intended for. The phone also allows you to take pictures with this scanner. Swipe your fingertip down across the sensor to summon the selfie camera, and then tap with your tip to take a picture. It allows you to answer incoming calls with a double- tap, or launch favorite apps with specific fingerprints that you can store up to five. Performance The ZenFone 3 laser is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430 chipset, with a octa-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz. It houses 4GB RAM paired with Adreno 505GPU and 32GB internal storage which can be further expanded up to 128GB using the Hybrid SIM card slot with microSD card. ZenFone 3 Laser boots on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 out of the box along with the custom ZenUI 3.0 on the top of the OS. The phone runs pretty smoothly for general tasks and even multitasking but don’t expect exceptional performance from this device considering the price bracket. We didn’t face any lag or overheating issues playing games or using camera. Camera: One of the highlights of the Zenfone Laser 3 is the 13 MP f/2.0 laser auto focus dual-tone flash setup at the back, where rounded square camera is placed. The camera quality is top notch in taking daylit images. We captured pictures in all kinds of lighting conditions and it clicked some great pictures just about every time. Camera modes include Manual, HDR Pro, Beautification, Super Resolution, QR Code, Night, Depth of Field, GIF Animation, Panorama, Miniature, Slow motion, Time Rewind, and Time Lapse. We were impressed with device's low-light photo capturing ability. The laser feature did not disappoint us and we managed to click some shots with remarkable detailing. The feature lived up to its reputation. The handset comes with an 8-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture, 89-degree wide angle lens, HDR and low-light selfie mode, which clicked pretty good photos/selfies in a well-lit environment. Battery: As for battery, the Asus ZenFone 3 Laser features a non-removable 3000mAh battery. The phone was easily able to last for a day with normal use which includes being connected to Wi-Fi round the clock, taking pictures and watching videos on YouTube on certain times of the day, making calls and using WhatsApp. Verdict: Asus Zenfone 3 Laser, priced at 18,999, looks premium, packs a good camera and decent processor but it finds the going tough against the likes of the Lenovo Z2 Plus and other devices in price point. However, if you love Asus for its camera phones, you may go ahead and buy Zenfone 3 Laser for you.