Home » ASUS Zenfone 2 Deluxe Review

ASUS Zenfone 2 Deluxe Review

Written By Kevin Bruce Francisco
Published • October 6th, 2015
Gadget ReviewsMobile
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We’ve had our takes on the latest Zenfone 2s namely the Selfie and Laser. Now we have the high-end variant among the series which is the Deluxe. It’s basically the Zenfone 2 (ZE551ML) model that we reviewed except that it has 128GB of internal storage plus a unique and fresh-looking back cover to boast.

Display and Multimedia

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Just like the Selfie, the Deluxe flaunts a 5.5-inch display that fits 1080p resolution. It is then protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 that should protect it from light scratches. As usual, three capacitive buttons are present and don’t light up.

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One of the things that make this device stand out in the crowd is its special back cover that touts the company’s design language for this device. The company describes this pattern tessellated triangles that show off a crystalline look.

Truly, it’s not something usual that you see on smartphones so it will most likely make you give a second look when you see it. We’ve had it only for a while and people who’ve seen it expressed their curiosity on the phone.

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The device is equipped with a 13-megapixel PixelMaster rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and real-tone dual flash right above it. It’s different from the Selfie or Laser since both of those have the flash on the side, rather than up top. Below the sensor, we still have the volume rocker layered with the company’s concentric circle design.

What’s interesting about these triangles is that they change color depending on how the light bounces off of them. Check out the different angles of the Deluxe:

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Just like the other Zenfones, the back cover could be pried open via the small gap on the lower edge.

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Once popped open, you would be greeted with its unremovable battery with a capacity of 3000mAh. Also hidden here are the dual-SIM slots and memory expansion via microSD.

Display and Multimedia

The display used is similar to its selfie-centric sibling with Full HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) fitted inside a 5.5-inch screen. They both sport In-Plane Switching panels that give wider viewing angles, but the Deluxe only has Gorilla Glass 3 while Selfie has the Gorilla Glass 4 built-in.

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Images were saturated enough, although not as vibrant as the Lenovo A7000 Plus that we recently reviewed. There’s still some degree of outdoor visibility but the screen is also very reflective especially under direct sunlight. When indoors, cranking up the brightness at the lowest level is still comfortable and ideal brightness level would be around 70%. This means the display is still very usable even at lower brightness settings allowing you to conserve more battery life.

The display is also protected by a very tough Corning Gorilla Glass 3 in order to avoid the usual hairline scratches on the glass panel. Nevertheless, we think a lot of new owners would still put an additional tempered glass or protective film once they open their units out of the box.

The large screen is just about right when surfing the web, watching movies or playing games for a couple of hours. The screen color mode allows you to change the color temperature of the display to your liking. There are also color presets like Balance, Reading, Vivid and a custom one you can save.

Asus claims a screen-to-body ratio of 72% which is right around the alley of the OnePlus One (71.9%), Lenovo Vibe Z ( 72.7%), OPPO Find 7 (72.9%) while the LG G3 is at 76.3%.

The loudspeakers at the back sounded good, has decent volume range but did not have bass in it. The four rows of pinholes for the loudspeaker is just for symmetry since opening the back cover will reveal the speakers to be smaller and flushed to the left side. The earphones that came with it are good too but nothing really spectacular about them.

Hit the next page to continue reading.

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Kevin Bruce Francisco

Kevin Bruce Francisco is the Senior Editor and Video Producer for YugaTech. He's a Digital Filmmaking graduate who's always either daydreaming of traveling or actually going places on his bike. Follow him on Twitter for more tech updates @kevincofrancis.