Asus Zenfone 3 Laser (ZC551KL) is the latest flagship smartphone released by the company. Asus has a history of introducing the handsets with the great features within the lower pricing segment. Earlier, Asus has come up with the Zenfone 2 Laser, and it seems the company is looking forward to implementing the same tradition, for releasing the next line-up Zenfone 3 Laser. When compared with the pricing segment, this phone gives the competition to Xiaomi’s Mi5 and other smartphones. Check out the complete review of Asus Zenfone 3 Laser.
Design
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser comes in the 5.5-inch display with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Zenfone 3 Laser’s body is designed with the mix of glass and metal. This handset goes with the simpler design rather than going with the fashionable design. Although the complete body of the phone is metallic built, you don’t feel heavy when you hold it. There is the Asus branding on the back of the phone at the bottom. There are two strips on the bottom and top of the device.
On the up front of the device, you can notice the standard sensors along with the 8 MP front-facing camera. There are capacitive buttons right below the display. These buttons arrive with the backlit, and we feel easy and comfortable to use.
On the right side of the device, you can notice the volume rockers along with the power button. These buttons are well placed and handy to use. The left side of the phone comes with sim tray. The headphone jack is placed on the top of the phone, which is more convenient. But it is not placed at the center; it is placed left side on the top. The fingerprint sensor can be observed on rear-end and right below the camera of the phone. The micro USB is placed at the bottom of the phone which is common for the smartphones these days.
Display
The Zenfone 3 Laser has remarkable 5.5-inch Full HD display. As we can say, smartphones these days are with 5.5-inch size, which is common and people are used to it. The resolution comes with 1920 x 1080 pixels and great viewing angles. The screen to body ration is 77% on the phone. With good and wide screen size the display is packed with the details along with decent brightness.
As mentioned earlier, it comes with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display. It helps the display screen of your phone from scratches. On having the Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the device has enhanced scratch resistance power and also reduced scratch visibility and better strength.
Processor
Heading to the Processor segment, Zenfone 3 Laser is having 64-bit Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 on the board. This Octa-Cores distinguished as 4 Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz and rested 4 Cortex cores are A53 clocked at 1.5 GHz. With the perfect balancing of these cores, performance and battery of the phone is enhanced. For effective working of the phone, it is arrived with Adreno 505 GPU.
The RAM of this phone is with 4GB on the board which is equivalent to the processor. With the given RAM, it lets the users perform multi-tasking. You can experience smooth operations when you access multiple applications. Switching between the apps is convenient, and lag is not observed on using it. When you play, go with high-end gaming, the phone gets heated. For example when you play the games like Asphalt, Modern Combat, and more you can feel the heat at a panel of the phone. So normal gaming is good, and continuous gaming leads to the heating. The benchmark statistics of this phone are impressive according to the performance and all.
But when considering the pricing segment, under 20K you can expect not better than this. Asus Zenfone 3 Laser has given the decent performance scores within the given price range, and it is acceptable with the results.
Camera
As you all know, this phone is the Zenfone 3 Laser successor of the Zenfone 2 Laser. The particular thing about this phone is laser autofocus camera. The primary camera of the phone comes with a 13-megapixel camera with different technologies. This handset is included with the EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization) for the video recording and super-fast focus speed.
Focusing the subjects on a mobile phone is the toughest thing, but you can focus quickly on the subjects using the Zenfone 3 Laser. The images captured on this phone are decent, and the details of the subjects are good. But having the device with the built-in laser focus, the image quality is just good which should not to be faced. The focus time and the shutter speed are good when the user captures the pictures which worked well in this segment.
The secondary camera or the front facing camera is with 8 Megapixel with the f/2.0 aperture. The photos captured with this camera gives the good results which are good for taking the selfies. It supports up to 84-degree field of view not only selfies, capturing groupies are made easy with this.
Some of the features on this camera are Selfie Panorama, Beautification mode which is the default, Auto, Night mode, GIF Animation, HDR Pro and Low Light capturing.
OS and Software
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is pre-installed and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with the Asus ZenUI 3.0 which is the brand new interface added with the intelligence. The best hardware needs the best software for effective and efficient performance.
The features that can be experienced with the ZenUI are Real-time animated weather and clock widgets, Tailor your phone to your liking, see your world in motion, ZenMotion-Tap and swipe just the way you liked and optimized your mobile experience. The home screen, app launcher, icon packs, themes are completely customizable. This OS is the Brand new interface with added the intelligence.
Apart from the operating system, the phone is pre-installed with few applications. Only some of the apps are useful, and yes you can uninstall those apps.
Features
Zenfone 3 Laser is having the features like fingerprint sensor, Dual Sim support and more. The fingerprint sensor is perfectly positioned on the phone at rear-end. Unlocking the phone with a fingerprint sensor is done in a fraction of seconds’, i.e., 0.3S is the unlock time which is very responsive. It supports five fingers and 360-degree recognition. Another thing to be noticed is, it has the app integration support for the fingerprint sensor.
You can swipe down your fingertip on the sensor to initiate the selfie camera and tap your fingertip to capture the image. This acts as the secondary shutter button on your phone which is very helpful. You can even answer the incoming calls with the double tip tap. By registering the fingerprints up to 5, you can quickly launch the apps.
Battery & Connectivity
The battery on this phone is equipped with non-removable 3,000 mAh capacity and life of the battery is decent. This phone doesn’t support the fast charging which is the major back drop for the given price range. But when compared to the Snapdragon 617 processor, the power efficiency has increased 35%.
Asus Zenfone 3 Laser comes with the 4G LTE support, and other connectivity options are Wi-Fi with the version number 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.1 and GPS. The phone is sported with the hybrid Sim slot which is quite uncomfortable, but it is becoming the standard. You will be confused when you have to choose between Storage expansion and Dual sim capability.
Pros
- Stylish and Premium Design with Slim and light weight.
- Front Camera Quality is good and Rear camera is decent.
- Less Heating issues (Not on Heavy Gaming)
- Decent Battery Backup over 4G Usage.
Cons
- Hybrid SIM
- The processor could have increased.
- Lack of Fast Charging
Verdict
As per the price range of Rs. 19,999.00 these are the best features any company can include and Asus did it with the decent price segment. The camera, design, fingerprint sensor and battery are the assets of this smartphone. But after considering lag of some common features within the price range like Fast Charging and more, you have to consider the pricing. So it’s better to wait for the price drop. Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is now available on Flipkart for the discount price, and you can even avail the bank cashback offer for this phone.
