The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.

Perhaps the most interesting representative of the budget line of smartphones from the Taiwanese company

The world community has known about the upcoming Asus Zenfone smartphones for quite some time now - the Taiwanese company launched a new line at the very beginning of the year, during the CES 2014 exhibition in Las Vegas. In the Asian region, sales of these devices have already begun, but smartphones have only just reached our market. Today the Russian premiere will take place in Moscow, during which the head of the company, Jonney Shih, who specially came to the capital for this purpose, will personally present his new smartphones in Russia.

We, thanks to the efficiency of the Russian Asus office, already now, directly on the day of the premiere, have the opportunity to talk in detail about, perhaps, the most interesting representative new series- the “central” smartphone in the line, the five-inch Asus Zenfone 5. Even before it went on sale, many people liked this smartphone - this is evidenced by numerous responses on the Internet, people are discussing the model with interest and are waiting for the start of sales. In principle, it is not surprising that it is the “five” in this series that arouses the greatest interest among users: perhaps this is the most balanced device of the entire trio in every sense.

Zenfone 5 does not belong to the category of top-end smartphones, like its entire line, however, the device has several qualities that attract buyers. First of all, this is the ratio of good declared hardware characteristics with a low price for such characteristics. And, of course, the popularity of the brand makes itself felt. At this point, it is worth immediately noting that model “number five” itself is represented by a whole series of smartphones, because in nature there are simultaneously several completely different modifications of the device called Asus Zenfone 5. In particular, the developers have repeatedly mentioned that the model can be equipped with not only one, but also two gigabytes of RAM, and this is a quite noticeable difference. Not to mention the fact that the hardware platform itself may be different: while most official presentations feature SoC Intel Atom The Z2580, the smartphone we tested, runs on a different Intel SoC model - the Atom Z2560, with a lower frequency of processor cores (1.6 GHz versus 2.0 GHz for the Atom Z2580). However, that's not all. It is also reported that a modification of the Asus Zenfone 5 will be made with support for LTE networks, and that device will not be built on the Intel Atom platform, but on the Qualcomm SoC, since Intel systems have still not made friends with 4G networks. However, little is known about this modification of Asus Zenfone 5, and it was presented much later - during the Computex 2014 exhibition in Taiwan.

Be that as it may, one of basic versions The Asus Zenfone 5 smartphone has arrived at our editorial office and has already undergone proper testing in our laboratory. So today, readers will be able to evaluate for themselves whether the new product, so loudly praised by the Taiwanese, is really interesting, or whether their hopes were in vain - we present to your attention one of the first detailed test reviews of a smartphone called Asus Zenfone 5 in Russia.

Main characteristics of Asus Zenfone 5 (model T00J)

• SoC Intel Atom Z2560, 1.6 GHz, 2 cores
• GPU PowerVR SGX 544MP
• Operating system Android 4.3
• Touch display IPS, 5″, 1280×720, 294 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 1 GB*, inner memory 16 GB
• Map support microSD memory up to 64 GB
• Communication GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Communication 3G WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz
• HSPA+ data transfer speed up to 42 Mbps
• Supports two SIM cards in Micro-SIM format
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS/Glonass
• Camera 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash
• Camera 2 MP (front)
• Battery 2110 mAh
• Dimensions 148.2×72.8×10.3 mm
• Weight 145 g

*It should be noted that the retail version of the Asus Zenfone 5 is available with the same model number T00J, but with 2 GB random access memory.

Contents of delivery

Asus Zenfone 5 goes on sale in a small package of classic dimensions, sufficient to accommodate only one smartphone and a small set of necessary accessories. The box is made of hard smooth cardboard, the packaging is neat and of high quality. The cover is a cover made of thin cardboard stretched over the box, in which several holes are cut, matching the pictures on the box itself. Everything looks quite fresh and stylish together.

In the internal compartments, of which there are three, there is a sparse set of accessories: a large charger (output current 1.35 A), headphones with a thin round wire and vacuum-type gel ear pads, as well as a USB connecting cable and a user manual. , made in the form of a thin paper book.

Appearance and ease of use

In design and shape, the Asus Zenfone 5 smartphone surprisingly resembles smartphones from Taiwanese HTC - with the exception that the materials used here are simpler. If the body of the smartphone were made of aluminum, it would be difficult to distinguish it from the smartphones in the series HTC One, both front and rear. At the same time, the creators themselves believe that they gave their new smartphones a fresh and unconventional design, and even gave it their own name: Zen Design. Although, if you look at it objectively, the appearance of the smartphones of the new Zenphone series does not show any general parallels with the company’s previous products, including those belonging to the Zen family. True, the developers added a small metal strip with concentric “Zen circles” printed on it to the front panel, but that’s all. It’s surprising that for this generally secondary design, in which there is nothing special, the Zenfone line managed to receive one of the most prestigious awards in the field of design - reddot award 2014.

The entire body, except for the front glass, is entirely covered with a solid plastic casing that fits not only the back panel, but also all the side edges. The lid has a sloping back and rounded corners and edges - it is streamlined on all sides and very simple in shape. The cover is traditionally attached to plastic latches and can be removed with great difficulty - you have to put in a lot of effort, and sometimes even use additional tools. All side buttons are mounted directly on the cover, so it is impossible to control the smartphone when the cover is removed.

There are practically no fingerprints left on the matte surface of the plastic, so the body of the Asus Zenfone 5, due to the lack of gloss, is non-marking and non-slip. The smartphone is quite large in size, and there is nothing you can do about it - such a device will hardly fit in a trouser pocket or breast pocket of a shirt. In general, the issue of saving space, apparently, did not bother the developers at all in this case, because with such a large screen with a diagonal of five inches, the frames around it were made very thick. On the sides, the thickness of the frames is no less than 5 mm, but in reality it looks even worse. And this is at a time when all manufacturers are striving to minimize these figures as much as possible. Everything is completely different here, and Asus Zenfone 5 cannot boast of thin frames or elegant dimensions in general.

On the back of the smartphone, all the elements are arranged in the usual order. Here you can find a round camera window without any frame, a single LED flash peephole, as well as a ring speaker grille made in the form of an array of small round holes. The speaker grille partially fits the bevel of the back surface, so the sound is not too noticeably muffled by the table surface. The flash, controlled by preinstalled software, can function as a flashlight, including in alarm mode with blinking.

Under the cover you can find three card slots: two for SIM cards and one for a microSD memory card. Both SIM cards here are used in the “Micro” format; All cards are easily inserted and removed from their slots due to spring-loaded grip mechanisms. The slots for SIM cards are equivalent in their capabilities; you just need to remember that two cards will not work in 3G mode at the same time - one of them will have to be switched to 2G.

The SIM card slots are located in an unusual way, stretched in one line along the vertical, and the battery under them is tightly closed with an additional protective casing and is inaccessible for user manipulation. The memory card slot is embedded in the side end on the right side of the device.

Not the entire front panel is covered protective glass Gorilla Glass 3 - there is quite a lot of free space left under it, and it is not occupied by anything. This sector is covered with a thin metal plate with “Zen” concentric circles, traditional for Asus mobile products, applied to it. Why this extra space is left here is not entirely clear: there are no elements on it - the touch buttons are located higher, and they also take up a lot of space on the front panel. It is very sad that these buttons do not have any backlighting and in the twilight they become completely invisible.

But in the upper part above the screen, in addition to the usual sensor eyes and front camera, as well as the recessed speaker grille, one can observe the following useful element, like LED event indicator. This is a fairly large and noticeable round dot, constantly shining with a dim light while the smartphone is charging.

There are only two mechanical hardware keys on the sides of the device, and both of them are located next to each other on the same right side. It is not very convenient that the lock key is located above the volume key: it is pressed much more often, and reaching for it is not so convenient. For most manufacturers, with this arrangement, the lock key is in the middle, and the volume key is raised higher.

The buttons are metallized and quite large, but they do not protrude too noticeably beyond the body to make them easy to feel blindly. In addition, they are perhaps too stiff, but this may be a problem with a particular test sample. In any case, such things must be checked individually at the time of purchase - someone may not attach any importance to this at all.

The Micro-USB connector here has a standard location at the bottom, but why were Asus engineers greedy to add support for the mode of connecting external devices to USB port(OTG), remains a mystery - all Padfone series smartphones, for example, have such support. The headphone jack (3.5 mm) is located opposite - on the top end, next to the second, additional microphone.

There are no plugs or additional covers on the device’s connectors, since the Asus Zenfone 5 smartphone is not protected from moisture and dust. There is no strap mount on its body either.

The product goes on sale in several color options at once, and this is one of the most noticeable moments when positioning the new line. The color palette of the Asus Zenfone series is full of variety, and here everyone can choose a color to their liking. Zenfone 5 alone has been released as many as five options: as interpreted by the creators themselves, these are charcoal black, pearl white, cherry red, gloomy purple, and creamy gold.

Screen

The Asus Zenfone 5 smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix. The physical dimensions of the display are 62x110 mm, diagonal - 5 inches. The screen resolution in pixels is 1280x720, the dots per inch density reaches 294 ppi.

The display brightness has both manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches.

The smartphone screen is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which is scratch-resistant. In the special settings section, you can enable the mode of working with the screen while wearing gloves (GloveTouch), then the display becomes more sensitive to touch and actually responds to gloved fingers. However, the screen, contrary to expectations, does not respond to touches of other objects, such as the tip of a lead pencil.

We will present the results of a detailed examination of the Asus Zenfone 5 display using measuring instruments a little later, when our specialist Alexey Kudryavtsev returns from vacation.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Asus Zenfone 5, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Asus Zenfone 5 is even a little darker (brightness according to photographs is 106 versus 108 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Asus Zenfone 5 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, even better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 320 cd/m², the minimum was 19 cd/m². The maximum brightness is not very high, but given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors will be quite good. At the same time, with the help third party utilities the maximum brightness can be increased to 395 cd/m², which improves the situation somewhat. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (located to the left of the front speaker slot). IN automatic mode When external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the automatic brightness adjustment function reduces the brightness to 25 cd/m² (normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 120 cd/m² (just right), very in a bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to a maximum of 395 cd/m² (which is what is required). Brightness slider at 50% - the values ​​are as follows: 19, 50 and 340 cd/m², at 0% - 19, 26 and 215 cd/m². It turns out that the automatic brightness adjustment function works adequately. At any brightness level, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering.

IN this smartphone An IPS type matrix is ​​used. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without a significant color shift even with large deviations of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen and without inversion (except for the very darkest when the gaze is deviated to the left) shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which Asus screens Zenfone 5 and Nexus 7 display the same images, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m² (over the white field in full screen), and color balance on the camera it is forcibly switched to 6500 K. There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

Color reproduction is good and colors are rich on both screens, but the color balance is slightly different. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Asus Zenfone 5 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong brightening of black, and the blue has increased somewhat (on the other diagonal the color shift is slightly less). And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), and decreased approximately equally. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a violet or red-violet hue. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is approximately the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is very good:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is quite high - about 870:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 25 ms (15 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 38 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. Approximating indicator power function equal to 2.86, which is noticeably higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve strongly deviates from the power-law dependence:

Due to the aggressive dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the output image (without identifying a clear pattern), the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential output of shades of gray by almost whole screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - when displaying special templates with a consistently average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. In general, such brightness correction, which cannot be switched off, does nothing but harm, since constantly changing the screen brightness can at least cause some discomfort. However, the manufacturer, represented by Asus continues to implement this feature in its mobile devices with a screen (the exception is Google Nexus 7 2013).

The color gamut from a practical point of view is equal to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:

As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

IN this device By default, there is a special utility that allows you to manually adjust the color balance by adjusting color temperature, saturation and hue (and turning on the Vivid Mode).

The graphs above show the result (data labeled as C.t.=+7), obtained after our attempt to correct the color temperature, for which we had to resort to several iterations, as a result we settled on the value +7 (which corresponded to approximately 6500 K on a white field). And a visual representation:

It cannot be said that there is a particular need for such a correction; moreover, as a result, ΔE has increased slightly. That is, given the already good balance, there is no point in using this utility. Note that the correction does not work in case of hardware video playback. But what happens if you turn on the mode Vivid Mode:

Saturation (color contrast) is pushed to the limit, there is no trace left of the naturalness of the image - another useless function.

Let's summarize. The screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can most likely be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of air gaps in the layers of the screen and flickering, excellent uniformity of the black field, as well as the sRGB color gamut and good color balance. Significant disadvantages include low black stability in response to gaze deviation from perpendicular to the screen plane and aggressive, non-disabled dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the Asus Zenfone doesn't get 5 stars from heaven. The sound remains clear across the entire frequency spectrum, but compared to real top-end smartphones, the sound is still quite faded, and the maximum volume is not up to par. During a telephone conversation, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, the conversation is quite comfortable.

The device uses proprietary SonicMaster technology - a set of hardware and software to improve sound quality. Realize self-configuration and mode selection can be done using the pre-installed AudioWizard utility.

The smartphone comes with a pre-installed voice recorder, which is used for creating audio notes. It is also possible to record using standard means telephone conversations off the line. To do this, just press the special “rec” button in the lower right corner of the phone application screen during a call, and the conversation will automatically be recorded in the device’s memory. The smartphone also has an FM radio; it does not have the ability to record broadcasts.

The main rear camera is equipped with an 8-megapixel module; the developers also mention the proprietary Asus PixelMaster technology, which is currently implemented in the new Zenfone and Padfone smartphones. Judging by the description, the technology can automatically increase the pixel size up to 400% and includes a set of functions and modes such as Low-light Mode, the ability to shoot up to 20 frames per second, intelligent smile detection, and the ability to remove unwanted images. objects from the frame and much more.

The camera can shoot video with a maximum resolution of 1080p (30 fps), an example of a test video is presented below.

• Video No. 1 (60 MB, 1920×1080)

The main camera shoots at a maximum resolution of 3264×2448. When controlling shooting while the camera is activated, the volume key can be used as a shutter button. Below are test images taken with the Asus Zenfone 5 camera, with our comments on quality.

	The sharpness is not bad, the foliage blends together only in the background. But the camera has problems with color.
	Significant overexposure and strange colors indicate weak firmware.
	The macro is quite sharp, and across the entire field of the frame.
	Good sharpness in the focusing area. However, the program handles small details in a strange way.
	The camera does the text well.

The camera shots are disconcerting. The efforts of good optics are negated either by the sensor or by software processing. It's possible that the camera driver itself is misinterpreting the signal from the sensor, but something is clearly wrong. The camera copes well with close-ups, but in long shots something difficult to explain is happening. Most likely, this problem can be solved by updating the firmware, and since the camera’s hardware is quite good, there is hope that it will be able to shoot quite well. For close-ups, the camera is suitable in its current state.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks; There is no support for fourth generation networks (LTE). Data transfer speed is limited to HSPA+ mode to 42 Mbps. The communication capabilities of the device are implemented without frills: neither the 5 GHz Wi-Fi range nor NFC technology are supported here. Unlike Padfone series smartphones, the mode of connecting external devices to the USB port (USB Host, OTG) is not supported here. Can be organized as standard wireless point access via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The navigation module can work with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system.

There were no spontaneous reboots/shutdowns observed during testing, as well as system slowdowns or freezes. Drawing letters and numbers virtual keyboards quite comfortable to drive. The layout and location of the keys is standard: switching languages ​​here is done by pressing a special button, there is also a dedicated row with numbers - very convenient, there is no need to switch the layout every time. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing telephone number A search is also carried out immediately using the first letters in contacts. It is also possible to enter text by continuously sliding your finger from button to button (Swype).

The smartphone supports working with two SIM cards, and in general, working with them in the menu is organized according to a familiar principle: you can designate any of the SIM cards as the main one for organizing voice calls, transferring data or sending SMS messages; When dialing a number, you can also select the desired card in the context submenu. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G networks, but only one of the cards can work in this mode at the same time (the second will only work in 2G). To change the assignment of slots, cards do not need to be swapped - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Work with two SIM cards is organized according to the usual Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

Asus Zenfone 5 is currently running on software platform Google Android is no longer the latest version 4.3, but the developers firmly promise an update to 4.4. Standard interface The system was replaced with a proprietary one, and it was even given its own name - of course, ZenUI.

Major changes have affected the notification panel: it has been completely redrawn externally, a quick access menu has been added, here you can quickly change the screen brightness, turn on the flashlight, etc. The program menu has been supplemented with sorting capabilities, a separate section for managing two SIM cards has been added to the settings menu, Miracast support, improved software interface cameras and sound effects. In addition, a special section called “Individual” has been added to the settings. Asus settings" It contains additional settings, which were not present in the original Android OS.

Performance

The Asus Zenfone 5 hardware platform is based on a dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 CPU with a frequency of 1.6 GHz. The device has 1 GB of RAM, and the storage available to the user for downloading their own files is about 10 GB of the nominally designated 16 GB - the rest is spent on the system itself and applications. The memory can be expanded using microSD cards, but connecting a flash drive via an OTG adapter will not work - the device does not support this mode.

To get an idea of ​​the performance of the platform of the smartphone under test, we will conduct a standard set of tests.

All the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the most latest versions popular benchmarks, we have summarized them in tables for convenience. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that at one time they passed their “obstacle courses” on previous versions test programs.

Test results showed that two Intel cores The Atom Z2560 of the Asus Zenfone 5 was quite able to compete on equal terms with the four ARM Cortex-A7 cores with a frequency of 1.4 GHz in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (Asus Padfone E configuration). The results turned out to be similar, and in general, in terms of hardware performance, the new product looks quite decent. We would say - unexpectedly worthy for the price at which the smartphone is offered for sale.

In general, according to the results of all tests, the Asus Zenfone 5 smartphone can be safely classified as a device with average (even slightly above average) performance. At the moment, the hardware performance of this smartphone should be enough to perform most tasks that can be performed by any games or other applications from Google Play Store.

Test results in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of AnTuTu 4.x and GeekBench 3:

When testing the graphics subsystem in the cross-platform 3DMark test for the most powerful smartphones, it is now possible to run 3DMark in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

Playing video

To test omnivorousness when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, for example subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, don't expect mobile device decoding everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the results Asus testing Zenfone 5 was not equipped with all the necessary decoders, in this case audio, which are necessary for full playback of most of the most common files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, even in it you will have to first change the settings, switching from hardware decoding to software or new mode entitled Hardware+(not supported by all smartphones) - only then will sound appear. All results are summarized in a single table.

¹ MX Video Player only played sound after switching to software decoding or a new mode Hardware+; The standard player does not have this setting

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. For this we used the set test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methods for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

In general, in terms of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very high, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels (720p), the image of the video file itself is displayed one-to-one, exactly along the border of the screen. Clarity (with hardware playback) in the vertical direction (of course, in landscape orientation) is equal to the original, but in the horizontal direction the clarity decreases to such an extent that the world with vertical stripes merges through the pixel into a gray field. However, such a decrease in clarity is difficult to notice in real images. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to standard range 16-235 - all shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights, which is what is required for correct playback of typical video files.

Battery life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery installed in the Asus Zenfone 5 is 2110 mAh, which is small for a modern smartphone. According to the test results, the test subject demonstrated very poor performance in terms of battery life; unfortunately, the new Asus smartphone has absolutely nothing to brag about here.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted 8.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching YouTube videos in high quality(HQ) with the same brightness level through home network The device lasted about 5 hours in Wi-Fi mode, and almost 3 hours in 3D gaming mode.

Bottom line

As for the cost of Asus Zenfone 5, in our market it is now about 7 thousand rubles or even a little less. The money, in general, is not that big, but the smartphone, as it turns out, has few obvious advantages. The hardware platform, built on the basis of the Intel Atom SoC, really turned out to be very appropriate, showed itself at its best, and as a result, there are no complaints about the performance of the Asus Zenfone 5 - especially considering the price of this smartphone (of course, you need to understand that this far from flagship performance). In addition, we tested a simplified version of the device - it can be configured with a more powerful Intel Atom Z2580, which has a higher frequency of processor cores and a larger amount of RAM.

However, that's practically all. The design of the device is secondary (although it can be considered attractive without any stretch), the body materials cannot be called premium, the screen and camera are far from the top level, and the battery life is not great. Such negative little things as wide frames around the display and a rather harsh block of mechanical controls are also not among the advantages of the device. In addition, there is no need to talk about support for LTE, NFC, USB OTG, Wi-Fi (5 GHz). The smartphone is very simple, and its only really strong trump card, in addition to a successful hardware platform, is the good opinion about the manufacturer that has developed in Lately not only in the Asian market, but also here. Perhaps this factor will help sales, but it’s still a little unfortunate that in its new line Asus has not put as much soul and effort into smartphones as it did into the Padfone series, which we really liked at the time.

In conclusion, we invite you to watch our video review of the Asus Zenfone 5 smartphone.

General characteristics

Screen

Multimedia capabilities

Connection

Memory and processor

Nutrition

Other features

Additional Information

Before purchasing, check the specifications and equipment with the seller.

It was not in vain that this new product from Asus was waited for so long - as a result, the released device met all expectations and hopes. Today you can finally become the owner of Asus Zenfone 5 a501cg 16Gb – a functional, convenient and very beautiful smartphone.

All the impressive capabilities of the device are enclosed in a thin, stylish, weightless body, made in the signature Asus spirit, which means - in the tradition of outstanding quality. Just one glance or touch of this device decides everything - it immediately becomes clear that the engineers of the Taiwanese brand did a great job designing and implementing these calm, effective lines. Each button fits tightly to the body, each key is easy to press: holding the smartphone in your hands is a pleasure.

Do you want to buy Asus Zenfone 5 16Gb black? Not surprising, because under the rugged plastic body of the smartphone lies real power and performance in action. Thanks to the 64-bit memory, unique for this price niche, the smartphone shows unprecedented results in speed and performance, even when multitasking. Sensitive touch screen has become even thinner and clearer - the quality of the images displayed on it is simply off the charts.

At the same time, the phone consumes less electricity, which means it discharges slower and replenishes its charge faster. Supports two SIM cards at once, high-speed mobile communications and high-speed roaming against this background look like only additional bonuses. However, very pleasant. Well, to top it off, it’s worth saying that the price of the Asus Zenfone 5 a501cg dual sim remains more than affordable among smartphones of this quality and class. You can start making your purchase right now by ordering a phone with delivery to your office or directly to your home.

The Zenfone 5 reviewed today is one of the most good offers on the market for its price, as well as the most interesting smartphone from the entire ZenUI line. Let me remind you that we already had a detailed “First Look” at this device, so if you read it, I recommend that you immediately go to the sections “Dimensions”, “Screen”, “Camera”, “Battery life” and “Conclusion”.

Characteristics:

• Class: state employee
• Form factor: monoblock
• Case materials: matte rubberized plastic
• Operating system: Android 4.3, Zen UI
• Network: GSM/EDGE, WCDMA, dual SIM support (microSIM)
• Platform: Intel Atom Z2560
• Processor: dual-core 1.6 GHz
• RAM: 2 GB
• Storage memory: 16 GB, microSD memory card slot (cards up to 64 GB are supported)
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n/), Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset,
• Screen: 5’’, capacitive, 1280x720 pixels (HD), automatic backlight level adjustment
• Camera: 8 MP main camera, 2 MP front camera
• Navigation: GPS/GLONASS (A-GPS support)
• Sensors: accelerometer, position sensor, light sensor
• Battery: non-removable, Li-Pol, capacity 2050 mAh
• Dimensions: 148.2x72.8x9 mm
• Weight: 145 grams

Equipment

• Smartphone
• Charger
• PC cable (also part of the charger)

Our package also included a wired headset, but commercial samples will not have it.

Appearance, materials, control elements, assembly

The smartphone is calm and strict appearance, the corners are slightly rounded, which is typical for Asus devices.

An interesting design element is the bottom panel under the touch buttons. It is made of textured plastic and shimmers beautifully in the light.

Dust collects at the junction between the touch buttons and the iridescent panel

Most of the front side of the smartphone is occupied by a five-inch display; above it there is a speaker mesh, a front camera eye, as well as light and proximity sensors.

Below the screen you can see a row of three touch buttons: Back, Home and Recent Apps. The distance between the keys is quite large, so you can sometimes miss a button (expecting it to be closer to the one next to it).

The back cover and ends of the device are made of matte rubberized plastic. It's more smudge-resistant than soft-touch plastic, but it still shows fingerprints, they're just barely noticeable.

A place for an external speaker is also allocated on the back of the device. He has an average level maximum volume, and the sound quality is average, to put it mildly. Using ZenFone 5 as a “music box” is unlikely to work.

At the top end there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and at the bottom there is microUSB for charging and connecting to a PC.

On the left side you can see the volume rocker and the power button. They are installed in such a way that it is convenient for you to press them with your right thumb. The material of these buttons is similar to the bottom panel of the smartphone; they also shimmer in different shades in the light.

There is a special groove at the bottom of the left side, by prying it you can remove back cover. By the way, the smartphone is surprisingly well built. Despite the removable cover, there are no backlashes.

Hidden under the cover are slots for two SIM cards in microSIM format, as well as a slot for a memory card.

In all the photographs you can see small specks of dust, unfortunately, this is a feature of rubberized plastic; it very quickly becomes covered with such specks of dust, and removing them later is very problematic.

Dimensions

To begin with, I suggest you familiarize yourself with the dimensions of the smartphone and its closest competitors in the table below.

As you can see, Zenfone 5 stands out only for its length; the device is slightly taller than other models, but otherwise it has typical dimensions for five-inch devices.

The smartphone is relatively comfortable to hold in your hand if you are already accustomed to a similar screen diagonal. However, you are unlikely to be able to operate it with one hand.

Screen

First, I suggest you familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the screen.

In the first glance, I wrote that the device has a poor oleophobic coating, so it seemed to me upon a quick acquaintance. After almost a month of active use, I have to take my words back. The oleophobic coating here is standard, yes, it is a little worse than on flagship smartphones, but in general, using the Zenfone 5 display is much more convenient thanks to its presence.

As for the quality of the screen itself, it has good picture clarity, and it’s easy to read even small text. But the maximum brightness let us down, its margin is lower than that of many competitors (than that of the same Acer Liquid E3, for example). When the display is tilted, the image is not inverted, but noticeably fades.

When reading at night, I also want to reduce the minimum brightness a little more. As for behavior in the sun, the screen is almost completely blind, the image is practically indistinguishable.

Traditionally for Asus devices it is preinstalled Asus app Splendid, which allows you to change the color scheme to suit your needs.

Another setting used in smartphones from this company is reading mode. When it is turned on, the white color becomes yellowish, and the entire color scheme is softened, this is done in order to reduce eye strain. It’s convenient that you can choose the applications in which the reading mode will work.

The smartphone supports operation with gloves; to do this, you need to enable the corresponding option in the screen settings. Pressure sensitivity isn't as good with gloves on, but you should be able to take a call or read an SMS without taking off your gloves.

operating system

The smartphone runs under the operating system Android systems 4.3 with proprietary ZenUI shell from Asus. The manufacturer has completely redesigned it, and now it looks a little like a mixture of TouchWiz and CyanogenMod. And yet it remains just as comfortable.

There are a lot of different innovations in ZenUI, so I plan to write a separate article about it, the link to which will be added to the full review.

Performance

To begin with, I suggest you familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the chipset used.

To begin with, I note that in commercial version The device will have 2 GB of RAM, but our sample had only 1 GB. After long-term use, I can note that an extra gigabyte would clearly not have hurt our sample, since there was no more than 150 MB of free memory. However, I can’t say that applications often crashed or froze.

Now about heating. The device gets hot, sometimes quite hot, but it’s not clear why. It seems that you are simply receiving a call, but it feels as if the smartphone was given a command to fry the part of your face or ear to which you leaned the device.

As for performance, there are no complaints about the device. You can run most powerful games and other heavy applications without any problems. I would like to separately note fast work built-in launcher is a big plus of the device.

Autonomous operation

First, I suggest you take a look at the battery characteristics and the results of our tests.

With everyday use (total screen activity is about three hours: email, Twitter, web surfing, two SIM cards running in the background), the device’s charge lasts for one full day. The device has several power saving modes, with their help you can fine-tune the behavior of applications or simply limit the processor frequency. According to my feelings, there are especially many battery life they didn't add.

Wireless interfaces

I note that changing chipsets from MediaTek to Intel Atom had virtually no effect on improving the quality of the GPS module; a cold start still takes about two minutes, and this, of course, is a minus of the device.

The device has support for two SIM cards. There is only one radio module in the device, so when talking on one SIM card, the second one becomes inaccessible. As for the interface for working with two cards, on the one hand, it is well made (in the dialer and SMS messages there are buttons for selecting the SIM card from which the call will be made), however, one function is implemented inconveniently. I have often seen how in MediaTek devices, with one click on the switch in the curtain, you could change the active 3G from one card to another, but for this operation you need to go to the settings.

Camera

The smartphone has two cameras, the main one is 8 MP and the front one is 2 MP. Asus paid a lot of attention to the camera, talking about various modes and a large number of settings. But let's first look at the quality of the photos.

Among the interesting features, I would like to note the improvement of lighting when shooting in poor lighting. However, as you can see, despite the slight improvement in light, the quality of the image is still low.

Screen diagonal is 5 inches, matrix type is S-IPS (a type of IPS matrix), resolution is 1280×720 pixels, the display is covered with Corning Fit protective glass (analogous to Gorilla Glass), there is an oleophobic coating.

First of all, we note that the presence of an oleophobic coating in such a budget smartphone is a big plus. You will not have any problems using gestures (on devices without an oleophobic coating, the finger is constantly stuck and using Swype is very inconvenient) and cleaning the screen from dirt.

The screen itself boasts support for working with gloves and two special modes for fine-tuning the color gamut. In the display settings, you can make the color scheme warmer or cooler, and also enable “reading mode”, which softens the white color, making it more convenient to read from your smartphone. As for working with gloves, we tested this function: the responsiveness in gloves is not so high, but it is quite enough to take a call or scroll through a list of new emails.

HD resolution and S-IPS matrix have a positive effect on picture quality, the image is smooth and clear, color rendition is close to natural. The same viewing angles are typical for a budget smartphone, but they could have been better. In the sun, the display almost completely goes blind; it also has problems when reading in the dark; I would like to make the minimum brightness even lower. This indicates a small range of brightness.

In general, for a five-inch device costing 7,000 rubles, the display used here is very good.

Camera

At the presentation of the Zenfone line in Russia, we were told a lot of good things about the shooting technologies used and the quality of the camera, which made it all the more interesting to test them ourselves.

The smartphone is equipped with two cameras: the main one is 8 MP and the front one is 1.3 MP. The main camera takes good pictures in sunny weather. When lighting deteriorates, grain appears in the photo. The device has a separate night mode, which reduces the resolution of the final image but increases its brightness. We tested it and can say that the photo does look lighter, but the final quality is still poor.

The smartphone can shoot with the bokeh effect, when the entire background except the subject is blurred. For a budget device, the pictures are quite decent.

Video is recorded in maximum Full HD resolution at 30 frames per second.

Working with text - 5.0

The smartphone comes with a pre-installed proprietary keyboard, which is convenient for simple typing. The keys are large, erroneous presses are minimal, and there is a separate row for quickly entering numbers. The keyboard supports gesture input (Swype), as well as typing additional characters by holding a key.

Compared to previous versions of the keyboard, the updated one has become more convenient.

Internet - 4.0

IN Asus phone Zenfone 5 uses standard Android browser with several modifications from the manufacturer, it is perfect for viewing any web pages. The browser has automatic scaling when increasing text and a built-in translator. A separate reading mode is also present.

According to the results of our tests, this is one of the most convenient built-in browsers, it is perfect for both undemanding and advanced users.

Interfaces

The smartphone contains the following interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n) (there is no support for dual-band Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, GPS, but NFC support and LTE is missing. The entire Zenfone line can work with SIM cards simultaneously. However, it is worth noting that the device only has one radio module, so when talking from one SIM card, the second one becomes unavailable.

Also, in our tests, the device could not re-find the network signal if at some point it was lost (for example, in an elevator or subway), and we had to reboot it or turn on/off airplane mode.

Multimedia - 3.0

We tried to play various video files on the Asus Zenfone 5: the smartphone supports only common formats and codecs, the player plays videos in high quality, up to 1080p. Among the support for rare formats, we can only highlight MKV, but the built-in audio player was unable to play AVI. There is also no choice of subtitles or audio tracks. The audio player in the smartphone plays only popular formats MP3, AAC, WAV.

Battery - 2.5

The smartphone has a non-removable lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 2110 mAh. These are standard numbers for many modern smartphones. The results of our tests are as follows: when watching HD video at maximum brightness, the device discharges in 5 hours, when listening to music - in 32 hours.

Performance - 1.8

Asus Zenfone A501CG uses Intel platform Atom Z2560 with dual core processor frequency 1.6 GHz, graphics subsystem - PowerVR SGX544 MP, RAM - 2 GB.

We tested the smartphone's performance in several simple tests. Firstly, we checked how much desktops and pages in the browser can be scrolled through - there are no complaints about the smartphone in terms of this parameter. We also tested it with modern games and can note that Zenfone 5 supports most of them perfectly; stuttering can be observed only in the most productive ones (Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 5).

Memory - 4.0

The amount of internal memory in the Asus Zenfone 5 phone can be equal to 8 GB or 16 GB, of the 16 GB version, 12 GB is available to the user. The smartphone has a slot for memory cards up to 64 GB, and “hot swap” is supported.

Peculiarities

The device runs the ZenUI shell, this is a new interface from Asus with a large number of settings. The manufacturer improved the dialer (Russian letters appeared in it), added its own keyboard, installed several additional functions into its own browser, in general, did a great job of adapting the shell to the user’s needs. In our opinion, ZenUI can compete on equal terms with the more famous Samsung TouchWiz and HTC Sense.

Competitors

In the spring of 2015, the price of the Asus Zenfone 5 (A501CG) smartphone is approx. 12,000 rubles. For this money you get a smartphone with a high-quality screen, good performance, high-quality body materials and a good camera.

The closest competitor in terms of characteristics is Huawei Honor 3C, it has a better display and dimensions, but the model also costs 2,000 rubles more.

We think that for the money, the Asus Zenfone 5 is an excellent offer for users looking for an inexpensive but high-quality smartphone from a well-known brand.