ASUS ZenFone 5z Unboxing, First Impressions: Promise Fulfilled

ASUS ZenFone 5z Unboxing, First Impressions: Promise Fulfilled

We unbox the budget flagship from the Taiwanese company

2018 is proving to be the best year for Pinoys on the hunt for budget flagships. With the return of Xiaomi and Honor, as well as the release of OnePlus’ latest phone, Pinoys looking for the most bang for their buck have a lot of brands and devices to choose from.

In today’s unboxing we’re taking a look at ASUS and their own interpretation of the bang for the buck flagship, in the the ZenFone 5z. It’s a return to form for the Taiwanese company and their “empowering luxury” mantra that made them a household name a few years ago, making good on a promise to return to their roots and correct the pricing snafus that chased off fans in the past.

Asus Zenfone 5Z Specs

  • AI-powered Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor
  • Adreno 630 GPU
  • 6GB RAM
  • 128GB of storage
  • 6.2-inch Full HD+IPS display, 18.7:9 aspect ratio, 2246×1080 resolution, DCI-P3 wide color gamut
  • 12-megapixel main rear camera, Sony IMX363 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, Night HDR, OIS, EIS, PDAF, RAW capture
  • 8-megapixel secondary rear camera, 120-degree wide angle view
  • 8-megapixel, f/2.0 front camera
  • 4G, LTE
  • Dual SIM
  • WiFi, Bluetooth
  • GPS, A-GPS
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Facial Recognition
  • USB Type-C port
  • 3300mAh battery with BoostMaster and Smart Charging
  • Android Oreo with ZenUI 5.0

So, what’s in the box?

The ZenFone 5z comes in the same colored box as the ZenFone 5, with a subtle z added at the end of the model name to denote you’re getting the better version of ASUS’ latest flagship.

You get the phone itself (naturally), a pair of headphones, USB cable, USB charger plus a silicone case and documentation. There’s no pre-applied screen protector, so you’ll need to be a little careful with it until you get one.

ZenFone 5z? What’s that?

Well, in a nutshell the ZenFone 5z is a supercharged version of the ZenFone 5. It sports the same design of the ZenFone 5 on the outside, but very different innards on the inside.

If you missed our ZenFone 5 review, the tl;dr version of the design is glass, glass everywhere. The ZenFone 5 and 5z has glass fronts and backs, which is the prevailing design trend nowadays for phones. The rear of the phone also has ASUS’ trademark Zen design which is basically a fancy way of saying subtle coencentric circles embedded right behind the glass.

The circles aren’t super obvious at first glance but reveal themselves when light hits the phone the right way. The fingerprint scanner placement is excellent as always, as it lets you reach it with either pointing finger without having to reposition your grip.

The cameras are the same as the ZenFone 5 – basically a primary 13-megapixel shooter that has excellent low-light capability, and a secondary 8-megapixel camera for wide shots.

There’s a notch on the front of the display just like the ZenFone 5 and a gajillion other Android phones announced this year but you’ll get used to it as we did on the 5.

What makes it different from the OG ZenFone 5?

The insides. The ZenFone 5z runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor with 6GB of RAM, which is the typical setup of most flagship phones nowadays. The difference is that the ZenFone 5z is quite a bit cheaper than the offerings of Samsung, LG and Huawei.

Not only is the ZenFone 5z cheaper, it looks to be a little faster as similarly equipped models. Granted its overall speed is only appreciable in benchmarks as it performs as quick as other phones that have the same hardware, but a win is a win in our book.

It’s also the only Snapdragon 845-equipped phone under the 30K price range that has 128GB of storage, so you won’t really lack space for the stuff that’s important to you.

Where do I get it?

We suggest you wait for our full review before you commit to getting one, but if you really want one you can head over here to pre-order your own until June 17. You’ll be getting a couple of freebies with the phone, specifically a soft case, JBL T450 headset and a ZenPower Slim 3000 power bank with every purchase. The phone is priced at an affordable 29,995.

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