Review Of Asus Zenfone 5

For a while, our automatic recommendation to anyone asking for a sub-15,000 smartphone was always the Motorola Moto G. But were now looking at a capable new competitor from Asus. And this one may just have what it takes to dethrone the current budget champion.

Premium plastic

Its a bit much to expect anything more than a plastic build at this price, and the Asus is exactly that. But it does have a solid and suitably premium feel to it, thanks to the Nexus 5-like matte finish on the back. The front has a lot of quality too, with distinctive Asus styling right below the soft keys. There's no mistaking this for anything but an Asus, and it does really feel like a better phone than the price suggests.

Display pros and cons

The 5in 720p IPS display sounds good on paper, but we often found it a bit dull for our liking, even at full brightness. Auto mode almost always gets it wrong, too. On the few occasions where we get it at ideal brightness, the screen is impressively clean and capable for the price, with no outwardly evident flaws in display performance.

The inside store

Unlike the vast majority of MediaTek powered Androids you find at this price point, the Asus Zenfone 5 features the new dual-core Intel Atom chipset. Although benchmark tests might suggest otherwise, we generally found performance to be far better than MediaTek chipsets, but not quite up to the standards of even the Snapdragon 400 on the Moto G. There is occasional lag in the UI and some apps, though it isn't a dealbreaker.

So, Moto G or Zenfone 5?

The Moto G wins over the Zenfone 5 thanks to its better screen, better UI, more convenient size and superb Android update schedule. There's also the reassurance that it was conceptualized by Motorola when it was still run by Google. The Zenfone wins over the G thanks to expandable memory, dual-sim capability, a helpful 2 gigs of RAM, a slightly better camera, and better looks and build quality. And of course, its a fair bit cheaper. So its really a matter of what you need from your phone and which phone is providing it. If you do go the Asus way, rest assured you've picked a good product.

What We Think About Zenfone 5?

Great looks, quality build and a decent spec sheet make this a safe purchase.