Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe (ZS570KL) review
Today we will review a top-end deluxe smartphone. This phone has 256 GB storage and Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. Priced at Rs 62,999, the Zenfone Deluxe competes with the likes of Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S7 series. Is the Zenfone 3 Deluxe a package that will live up to our expectations? Let us know.
Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe (ZS570KL) design and build
Many things attract us when we see Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe for the first time, but what caught our attention is its invisible antenna design. This is quite an achievement for a unibody metal smartphone. Because in other expensive flagships like iPhone 7 and Pixel, the antenna bands are clearly visible on the rear. It seems that Asus has found a way to hide the antenna band in the smartphone without compromising on the signal quality. You can still see the radio-friendly materials used in the phone’s chamfered bezel, but these are rarely visible.
The curved edges and slightly curved rear of the phone make it easy to use the phone with one hand. The phone feels quite light and due to the matte finish, fingerprints fall on the rear. The front part has Asus’ trademark ‘spun metal’ design on the top and bottom.
Asus has given a 5.7 inch Super AMOLED display in this phone which has a full HD resolution display. The density of the screen is 386 PPI. But we feel that a quad HD display would have been better for a phone of this caliber. However, we liked the thin bezels of the phone and it is slightly wider than the Google Pixel XL. The colors are well saturated and the brightness level of the screen is also quite good. You have many options to change the color and can also set the color temperature in the Settings app.
This phone has a USB Type-C port and a speaker grill at the bottom. Whereas a 3.5 mm headphone jack is provided on the top side. Zenfone 3 Deluxe has a hybrid SIM slot with 4G support. The camera on the rear is slightly protruding and there is a square fingerprint sensor cut-out. Talking about the fingerprint sensor, this sensor works quite well but if you have not placed the finger properly then it does not work due to its strange shape.
The Zenfone 3 Deluxe comes with a Quick Charge 3.0 capable power adapter, Type-C cable, ZenEars S headset, SIM ejector tool, and warranty card. The packing of the phone is premium and the quality of the accessories that come with it is also quite good. Overall, the Deluxe is a stylish phone that’s extremely well built. The special thing is that a phone of this size is so light. Our only complaint is the size of the fingerprint of the phone.
Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe (Z5S570KL) specifications and features
Asus has provided 256 GB storage in the ZS570KL variant. It has Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and 6 GB RAM. At the same time, the 64 GB variant ZS570KL has the old Snapdragon 820 chipset. But all other specifications are same in both the variants. Other connectivity features include Wi-Fi AC, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC, USB OTG and FM radio. Currently, VoLTE support is not available so you will not be able to make voice calls from Jio network. However, Asus says that this problem will be fixed in the upcoming updates.
The phone got good results in benchmarking tests, although OnePlus 3T was better in almost every test.
Talking about the software, this phone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow on which ZenUI 3.0 skin has been given. The same changes have been made in the software as in Zenfone 3 Ultra and Zenfone 3 Max (Review). As we have said every time that ZenUI does not seem very clear and people using Asus phones for the first time may face some trouble. Although the UI is customizable, we find it redundant. Apps like Puffin, Truecaller, Amazon Kindle, SimCity and Need for Speed: No Limits come pre-installed on the phone. This phone has many Asus apps like Photocollage, MiniMovie, Zencircle etc. which cannot be installed from the phone.
The Settings app has some additional features like OptiFlex, which can increase the launch performance of up to 10 apps. However, we did not notice any significant difference with this feature enabled. You can set touch and motion gestures with ZenMotion. Apart from this, you can also set a quick toggle for one handed mode by double tapping the home button. The Deluxe comes with an ‘Always On Display’ feature that lets you lock the analog or digital clock as a screensaver. You can view information about missed calls, messages, battery status and date from the panel. However, it is not like the always-on panel of the Samsung Galaxy S7.
Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe (ZS570KL) Performance
The experience here is similar to other high-end variants with Snapdragon 821 processor. The performance of the phone is very good for everyday work. We didn’t like the stock ZenUI keyboard very much due to the lag in typing. When the camera is used for a long time, the phone gets hot but not to such an extent that the phone cannot be used.
Zenfone 3 Deluxe provides a good experience in all types of multimedia. All Full HD and 4K video files play without any glitch. Due to the good display, watching movies gives a fun experience. The audio quality is particularly good. The phone has only one speaker but the sound from it is much better than your average smartphone. Audio settings can be changed from Asus’ AudioWizard app.
The deluxe smartphone also supports high-resolution audio through headphones and the accompanying ZenEars S headset provides very good audio quality.
The ZenFone 3 Deluxe sports a 23-megapixel rear sensor that comes with four-axis OIS and electronic stabilization. Apart from this, laser autofocus is also provided to lock the subject faster. The camera works well in daylight as well as low light and we did not face any problems. Autofocus means that the device changes focus between subjects if you change the frame. The quality of photos in daylight is very good and due to this both landscape and macro shots come with a lot of detailing. The ‘Auto HDR’ feature didn’t work very well during our time and we had to switch to HDR mode manually most of the time.
Many shooting modes are provided in the camera app. These include Super Resolution, Manual and Panorama. Photography is very good in low light and along with good detailing, noise is also controlled. While the quality isn’t quite the same as the Pixel XL and Galaxy S7, it’s pretty close. The front camera takes very good and detailed selfies in indoor lighting. 4K video recording can be done at 30 frames per second. But you will also have the option of 1080 pixels, 60 frames per second and slow-motion. The quality of the recorded video is quite good and the frame also remains stable.
This phone has a 3400 mAh battery which lasts for one and a half days during normal use. The phone’s battery lasted 12 hours and 33 minutes in our HD video loop test in ‘Normal’ mode. When switched to ‘Performance’ mode, the battery lasted only 8 hours and 13 minutes. In this mode, we did not see any significant improvement in the app nor did the benchmarks reveal any benefits. The phone supports Quick Charge 3.0 and we were able to charge the battery up to 65 percent in just 30 minutes.
our decision
The ZenFone 3 Deluxe Special Edition is priced at Rs 62,999 and can be considered a good flagship for the price. Apart from this, this is the only smartphone to come with so much storage (expandable support too). Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video come with offline viewing support.
The Zenfone 3 Deluxe is a very good flagship smartphone. We feel that Asus could have improved the customization of Android. Apart from this, the design of the fingerprint could have been further improved. We feel that a quad-HD display could have been a better option in a phone with such a high price tag.
If you are looking for a good camera phone then we would suggest you to go for Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy S7 series which is better than this phone from Asus. But if you are looking for an all-rounder phone without spending a lot of money, then the OnePlus 3T is for you.
