Key Features:
Asus ZenFone 6: the technical sheet

A resolutely premium screen design

A sublime LCD screen

Performance worthy of a high-end device

A monster of autonomy

A smartphone as comfortable in the photo

Asus ZenFone 6: Clubic’s review

Serious things can begin. On May 17, Asus formalized ZenFone 6. But unlike previous iterations, this new model seems to be witnessing a greater ambition for the Taiwanese manufacturer.

I have to confess something to you. A few days ago, Asus was a brand that I looked down on. Not for its computer components or non-laptops; for his smartphones. While they have all been a success of growing esteem over generations, never has anyone caught me in the eye.

Also it is not without a roll of eyes that I unpacked my copy of ZenFone 6 at the beginning of last week. “Yet another umpire smartphone mid-range uninspired,” I thought then. I could not have been further off the plate.

The ZenFone 6 bluffed me, and can easily be seen as a serious competitor of the Xiaomi Mi 9 and OnePlus 7. A successful moult for Asus, and this is an understatement.

The Asus ZenFone 6 is already available from 499 €

1-Asus ZenFone 6: the technical sheet

Unlike the previous mobiles of the brand, the ZenFone 6 displays technical ambitions revised upward. Exit the mid-range SoCs and cold feet innovations. With his new smartphone, Asus shows fangs, and the competition has certainly not seen the shot.

Screen: 6.4 inches (19.5: 9), LCD IPS, definition of 2340 x 1080 pixels (403ppi) covering about 92% of the front panel

SoC: Snapdragon 855 (7 nm)

RAM: 6 or 8 GB

Internal storage: 64, 128 or 256 GB (expandable to 2TB in micro SD) in UFS 2.1

Battery: 5000mAh

Waterproof: Not certified

3.5mm jack: Yes

Rear Cameras: Sony IMX 586 48 MP (f / 1.7) + Ultra Wide Angle 13 MP (f / 2.4) 125 ° Field of View

Front camera: Same as back

Fingerprint sensor: Yes, on the back

Reverse charging: Yes, via USB-C cable

Dual SIM: Yes

OS: Android 9.0 Pie + ZenUI

Colors: Twilight Silver or Midnight Black

Price: 499 € (6 + 64 GB), 559 € (6 + 128 GB) or 599 € (8 + 256 GB)

A very good baggage, you will agree, which shows a significant increase in range compared to ZenFone 5.

In its case, the ZenFone 6 is accompanied by an 18 W power adapter with its USB-C cable, a pair of earphones and a transparent silicone shell. The screen is not protected by a plastic film, but Asus has opted for a Gorilla Glass 6 glass to spare him claws and scratches.

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A resolutely premium screen design

The most notable risk-taking of Asus with its ZenFone 6 is of course in its screen. Gigantic and almost borderless, it offers the user an impressive display area – similar to the OnePlus 7 Pro.

The Asus smartphone, however, has more reasonable dimensions, with 159.1 x 75.4 x 9.2 mm for 190 grams. A beautiful baby anyway, which is also thicker than the majority of smartphones passing under our magnifying glass. The fault with the rotating camera system that Asus chose to integrate with its ZenFone 6 to clear the screen.

If you have not followed the case, a recap is needed. In the big war that opposes the ingenuity of manufacturers to stretch the visible surface of the screen at the front, Asus opted for a two-in-one solution. Rather than camouflage the front camera in a notch, a drop of water or a “pop-up” mechanism, the Taiwanese has opted for a pendulum mechanism, straightening the rear cameras forward when needed.

Several advantages to this: the display surface is enlarged, the quality of self-portraits is improved, and the angle of the shots can be adjusted finely (we will come back to it). But as any medal has its reverse, it must be admitted that the thing is not particularly aesthetic (in addition to being a noisy hair).

Moreover, the back of the device displays a brilliant silvery glass of the most beautiful effect, although fond of fingerprints. The placement of the logo of the mark vertically is judicious and makes it possible to occupy well the space dorsal of the apparatus.

Hooped in aluminum, the ZenFone 6 weighs its small weight – which contributes to bring a feeling of solidity, and to give it a small high-end side which is not displeasing. To be honest, the whole thing makes us think furiously about Mi Mix 3 of Xiaomi. That said, we would have some reservations to issue ergonomics issue. Asus has opted for a placement of the buttons on the only right edge of the device. Nothing unusual will you say to me. Except that in addition to the ignition buttons and the volume slider there is a reconfigurable Smart Key which, by default, is used to invoke Google Assistant. I give you a thousand: it takes a little time to adapt to stop confusing this button with the one for feeding.

The audio part of the device is provided by two speakers (one at the top of the screen, the other on the lower edge), as well as via a jack. We recommend the use of the latter, as the stereo sound provided by the two grids barely restore a quality sound.

The recharge, finally, is via USB-C.

A sublime LCD screen

This is perhaps what keeps this Asus ZenFone 6 from its fiercest competitors: its screen. Unlike many of its mid-range counterparts, the new Asus flagship opts for an IPS-type LCD instead of an AMOLED panel.

You know the song: it is especially at the level of the contrast that the difference will be played here; with blacks away from being as deep as on an OLED screen. Moreover, the ZenFone 6’s display has other arguments to seduce.

Its brightness first. Reaching according to the Taiwan manufacturer 600 nits (or cd / m2 if you prefer), the screen ZenFone 6 remains perfectly legible in the sun. Small setback to this medal however: its minimum brightness is often too important, and will not fail to burn the retina for use under the comforter. You have been warned. Covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, the ZenFone 6’s screen perfectly reproduces the different hues. Both reading and observing photos are particularly valuable tasks.

The most cinephile of you will not find anything to complain about the quality of the 6.4-inch screen available to them. The absence of notch or punch maximizing all the display area; nothing will bother you when watching your favorite show.

It’s more the software side that makes us feel a bit bored. Several times during our test, we were confronted with an automatic brightness adjustment completely picking it up, obscuring the screen while we were outdoors, and the opposite when we were in a darker environment.

And what about ZenUI?

Who says new smartphone says new interface. And once again Asus has decided to make a clean sweep of the past. If the Android overlay of the house retains its name – ZenUI – it is now inspired more by the stock version of Android Pie, for a browsing experience similar to that of Google’s Pixel smartphones.

Among the good sides of the software, there is the absence of bloatware and “Genie du jeu” mode, which, when a game is launched, allows you to stream your games and quickly access advanced features to “do not disturb.

On the reserve side, it should be noted that our test copy has restarted twice during a video capture, before the deployment of the update WW_16.1210.1904.113. Since then, R.A.S, although some (minor) bugs remain. For example, the screen time displayed in the battery menu was stuck on “2h48” in our case.

Performance worthy of a high-end device

Received in its 8GB version of RAM, our copy of ZenFone 6 has been extremely effective on our test protocol. Better: it even stands at the top of the fastest Android smartphones tested by Clubic and passes the OnePlus 7 Pro on two of the three benchmarks used.

Let’s start with AnTuTu. By default, and like a smartphone with a chip Kirin, ZenFone 6 did not give us everything he had in a first test. Our application granted him 361,071 points; what remains a score quite exceptional for a smartphone sold 500 €.

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But in ZenFone settings is an option (poorly dubbed in our opinion) titled “Boost AI”. In doing so, a good dose of coal is added to the furnace of Snapdragon 855, which this time gets the impressive score of 380,372 points on AnTuTu.

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The same goes for Geekbench, where the results ranged between 3,525 in single-core / 10,753 in multi-core, and 3,525 / 11,210 when the “AI Boost” is activated.

A boost that does not affect the performance of the storage medium – which is quite reputable rates for a mid-range. Androbench calculates at ZenFone, 6250.35 Mb / s sequential and 854.39 Mb / s sequential read. Much less than the OnePlus 7 and its chip in UFS 3.0, but also about 10% better than the Xiaomi Mi 9, sold at the same price.

Needless to say, with so much power under the boot, you’ll spin absolutely anything you want. Multitasking applications, gourmet 3D games or retouching applications. The Snapdragon 855 is full of power and often gives the impression of never showing its limits.

Corollary to this debauch of power: the ZenFone 6 will sometimes tend to heat during heavy use. All glass and aluminum, the heat dissipation does not seem to be very optimized, and we were surprised to have a recoil by wanting to seize the phone that had been forgotten for five minutes on a table in the sun as its cabin being hot. So be careful.

Update :

Since the release of firmware 116, several issues have been fixed by Asus. All the heat problems have not disappeared, but this point has been greatly improved.

Concerned the sensor of luminosity, this one does more than its head and follows a relentless logic with the ambient luminosity.

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A monster of autonomy

Autonomy issue, the heel of ZenFone 6 has several apparent weaknesses. First, its huge 6.4 inch screen is powered by an LCD panel and not OLED – more economical. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 855 is not necessarily the most economical SoC, focusing more on raw power.

Aware of these potential problems, Asus has planned, and offered his ZenFone 6 a huge battery of 5000 mAh to ensure endurance worthy of the name. A successful bet, since the manufacturer’s new flagship is simply the most autonomous smartphone in its class.

Unplugged on Friday at 8am, our ZenFone 6 was turned off only on Sunday at 12h50 – almost 53h standby in total. It was said above: due to a bug in the software, our active screen time was stuck at 2:48 in the smartphone settings. But according to our estimates, we could use the ZenFone 6 screen for 5:30 or even 6 hours before it goes out.

A real gem of autonomy, which comes to confirm that its slight weight (9.2 mm thick is recalled) serves a noble purpose.

On the charging side, the Asus ZenFone 6 has the QuickCharge 4.0 at 18 W (charger supplied). But you will understand: charging a battery of 5000 mAh takes more time than one of 3500 mAh. Therefore, sometimes it will be necessary to be a little patient.

In 30 minutes, the ZenFone 6 had recovered 37% of its energy. Count two hours all round to reach 100%.

A smartphone as comfortable in the photo

The ZenFone 6 from Asus has managed to convince us on almost all points so far. Will it transform the essay on photography? You are blown the answer: yes, and a thousand times yes.

Once again, I must admit that I did not expect the Taiwanese manufacturer in this niche. Already very beautiful to watch, with a sublime screen and a monster autonomy, there had to be a shadow on the board. It is finally nothing, and the ZenFone 6 is also very comfortable shooting with its two very versatile sensors.

You will understand: by its pendulum mechanism, the two objectives present on the back of the smartphone are also those that can be found in the front. But even better: thanks to the said mechanism, it is possible to adjust the angle of view, and to position the photo module as desired.

Finally, the electronic stabilization allows budding videographers to find their account, even if it will avoid too abrupt movements. The ZenFone 6 is also capable of shooting in 4K at 60 fps.

Asus ZenFone 6: Clubic’s review

I did not expect it, and yet I can not do without it. With the ZenFone 6, Asus hits a huge blow on the table and commands respect. A move upmarket that nobody has seen coming, and which offers the Taiwanese almost guaranteed place on our end of year podium.

Displayed from just € 499, the ZenFone 6 combines flattering adjectives. Fun to take in hand as much as it is pleasant to watch, its LCD is probably one of the most captivating that we have seen in recent months. Power bomb and monster of autonomy, the ZenFone is also very comfortable in the photo – an area on which we did not necessarily expect Asus.

Now on the same level as a Xiaomi or OnePlus, Asus is posing as a magnificent challenger in the mid-range segment. Very, very well played.

Asus ZenFone 6
Merits:

• Very well designed; robust and pleasant to look at
• The swivel camera, original
• A beautiful screen without edges
• Crazy performances
• High level autonomy
• Very comfortable in the photo
  De-mertits
• Menus ergonomics concerns
• Pivoting camera a bit noisy
• Some software bugs (ZenUI)
• Little tendency to heat