ASUS ZenFone 5Q Review - Quad Cameras, Respectable Performance!
As a quick recap, the new ZenFone 5Q is the most exciting mid-range ASUS smartphone yet. The shiny glass rear design is back, it runs with the speedy Snapdragon 630 chipset, and it has four independent cameras in total.
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| ASUS ZenFone 5Q review! |
After more than two weeks of using the ZenFone 5Q (also known as ZenFone 5 Lite), here's our full review!
For our review part 1: ASUS ZenFone 5Q Unboxing and First Impressions
Display Quality
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| Big 6-inch 18:9 screen! |
ASUS equipped the ZenFone 5Q with a large 6-inch screen with a tall 18:9 screen aspect ratio. Bezels are considered as slimmer than your traditional 16:9 phones even if it has a kinda thick bottom bezel. It is also great for multi-window view due to its wider screen.
Screen is wide!
It has a resolution of 2160 x 1080 or 402 pixels per inch. It is on par with the sharpness of other mid-range 18:9 phones like the Huawei Nova 2i and the OPPO F5.
As a result, details are crisp and it has good viewing angles. Color accuracy is alright and natural looking. But, it would have been nicer if it has a bit more punch like other IPS panels. Blacks and contrast are also decent, but again, we craved for more.
Sunlight legibiity is great. It can go quite bright. Reading and viewing photos outdoors won't be an issue most of the time.
It also has 10 points of touch in total.
Audio Quality
Below, it has a single loudspeaker which is good enough for casual listening. It can go loud enough with crisp details and good highs. Soundstage won't be the biggest around though. Separation of details are average. Lows are weak. But, it has minimal distortion on max volume.
For headphones, it doesn't have a dedicated DAC on paper. But it is capable of playing lossless audio files with ease. Output is good (close to balanced) with hints of extra bass response and warmness. Driving power is alright and strong enough to make most small headphones and low powered in-ear monitors shine. Just don't expect it to be as good as high-end phones with proper audio chips.
On the microphone part, it has a two microphones in total. Quality is great for calls and acceptable for casual voice recordings. Audio for video recordings aren't the cleanest around though. It has plenty of unwanted hiss.
Battery Life
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| Good battery performance! |
The 3,300mAh battery of the ZenFone 5Q is stellar for a phone with big 6-inch FHD+ display. In our test, it clocked 11 hours and 41 minutes of work battery life. We also got a screen on time of 5 hours and 5 minutes.
Stellary battery overall performance!
It is equal or even a bit better in battery benchmark performance compared with some phones with unoptimized 4,000mAh battery. Its good battery score is due to its power efficient 14nm 64-bit Snapdragon 630 chipset.
In real life, the battery performance is about the same with the benchmark result we got. It can last for more than 11 hours even under heavy usage. Our heavy usage include: playing 3D games liek PUBG and NBA 2K18, taking photos, 4G LTE data or even with WiFi hotspot all the time, and calls.
ASUS even included a PowerMaster app which helps users manage battery consumption and select power saving modes.
Charging time from 0 to 100 percent is around 2 hours.
Camera
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| Dual cam behind |
The ZenFone 5Q is one of the very few with a quad camera setup. It has two cameras at the back and two more cameras in front. Its camera setup is also quite unique. It is the only one with dual 120-degree wide-angle mode at the back and in front yet.
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| The camera UI |
At the back, it goes with a 16MP f/2.2 OV16880 + 8MP f/2.4 OV8856 lenses. It has PDAF focus, EIS, and LED flash. The 8MP f/2.4 sensor is the one with 120-degree wide-angle lens.
Like most modern ASUS phones, it has HDR, filters, panorama, and different filters. Users also has an option to active the bokeh effect and the wide-angle mode. It also has time-lapse and GIF modes.
The best part is it also has a robust pro camera mode where you can adjust the focus, ISO, WB, and others. It is actually the only sub PHP 20K smartphone we tried with up to 32s shutter count. You may use this mode to create night shots and even capture the stars.
Respectable picture quality with ultra wide-angle mode!
In terms of camera quality, the phone has above-average shooting speed and good focus accuracy and speed. Taking macro shots is possible. But, it isn't for super close-up shots. Shooting speed is a bit faster than the mid-range ZenFones in the past.
Picture quality is quite good too. It has decent sharpness and good color reproduction in well-lit scenarios. Grain aren't that visible too. It can definitely hold its ground against most phones in this price range.
The primary 16MP shooter obviously has more details, colors, and dynamic range than the wide 8MP sensor. The wide 8MP sensor is great for outdoor GoPro looking shots with barrel distortion. It is really wide!
As expected, indoor dim shots are just okay. It could be soft, grainy, and lacking in colors at times though. Thankfully, it has a pro camera mode and a bright enough type of flash to help users take respectable photos in lowlight.
Rear Camera Samples
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| Natural looking daylight shot |
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| Exposed background, but subject is detailed and colors are vibrant |
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| Wide sample 1 |
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| Wide sample 2 |
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| Indoor well-lit close-up |
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| Indoor dim close-up |
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| Decent lowlight sample |
For selfies, it goes with a even bigger 20MP f/2.0 Sony IMX376 sensor paired with another 8MP f/2.4 OV8856 for 120-degree wide-angle selfies and groufies. It even has a softlight LED flash for lowlight selfies.
It still has the HDR, 10-level customizable face beauty mode, portrait bokeh mode, wide-angle mode, and flash mode.
Picture quality is promising. It can compete with some similarly priced selfie centric phones not named Vivo V9. The bokeh portrait mode is pretty good in well-lit conditions. It can even produce close to natural looking edges at times.
However, picture quality is inconsistent. There are times where it shoots really good selfies with crispy details and punchy colors, but there are times that selfies are overexposed.
In lowlight, it is grainy and soft at times. Color reproduction and dynamic range are obviously lesser.
The wide-angle mode in front has the same quality at the back.
The ZenFone 5Q has the ability to record up to 4K 30 fps video quality. But for us, it is the best to use it at 1080p 30 fps. It shoots videos with good details and acceptable stabilization at that resolution. I find the focus and stabilization a bit better using the selfie mode.
However, there's no way you can switch to wide-angle or normal mode while the video is already recording. You can do that in other phones with wide-angle mode like the LG G6.
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| Dual cam in front |
It still has the HDR, 10-level customizable face beauty mode, portrait bokeh mode, wide-angle mode, and flash mode.
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| Nice portrait mode |
Picture quality is promising. It can compete with some similarly priced selfie centric phones not named Vivo V9. The bokeh portrait mode is pretty good in well-lit conditions. It can even produce close to natural looking edges at times.
However, picture quality is inconsistent. There are times where it shoots really good selfies with crispy details and punchy colors, but there are times that selfies are overexposed.
In lowlight, it is grainy and soft at times. Color reproduction and dynamic range are obviously lesser.
The wide-angle mode in front has the same quality at the back.
Selfie Camera Samples
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| Wide selfie well-lit 1 |
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| Wide selfie well-lit 2 |
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| Indoor selfie portrait mode |
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| Indoor selfie |
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| Lowlight selfie |
The ZenFone 5Q has the ability to record up to 4K 30 fps video quality. But for us, it is the best to use it at 1080p 30 fps. It shoots videos with good details and acceptable stabilization at that resolution. I find the focus and stabilization a bit better using the selfie mode.
However, there's no way you can switch to wide-angle or normal mode while the video is already recording. You can do that in other phones with wide-angle mode like the LG G6.
Video Samples
Performance
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| Add caption |
The ASUS ZenFone 5Q is the most affordable smartphone in the country equipped with 14nm based Snapdragon 630 octa-core processor inside. It has a maximum clock speed of 2.2GHz and is paired with Adreno 508 GPU. It even has large 64GB expandable storage.
It's a speedy mid-range phone!
The last phone we reviewed with the same chipset is from Motorola, the Moto X4 priced at PHP 23,990. According to ASUS, the expected SRP of the ZenFone 5Q is just PHP 16,995!
As a result, actual performance is blazing fast for the price. Opening and closing of apps are quick, multitasking is easy, and it can load multiple apps all at the same time without random crashes.
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| NBA 2K18 screenshot, thanks for the help Bryan of FTA |
This phone is gaming capable too. It was able to run most of the games with ease. The heavy games like NBA 2K18 and PUBG at high settings (not max settings though). But that's fine, the ZenFone 5Q is still one of the better gaming phones in the mid-range smartphone world today.
Thermal management is also great. The phone gets warm when you turn the 4G LTE data and hotspot mode while gaming, but far from alarmingly hot.
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| ZenUI |
Interestingly, ASUS's UI is now cleaner than ever. It runs with the Nougat-based ZenUI 4.5 skin with swipe up from the buttom of the home screen to open the app drawer. According to ASUS, it'll be updated to Oreo and ZenUI 5.0 sometime this year.
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| Mobile Manager app and OptiFlex tech |
It still has the pre-installed apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Google apps. The ASUS apps are trimmed down to just the Mobile Manager, Selfie Master, and ZenUI safeguard.
On the settings part, it has the Game Genie, Smart Wall Paper Detection, SW Navigation Bar, Smart Screen On, Video Trimmer & Collage, Twin Apps Mode, and Data Transfer.
ASUS also added the interesting OptiFlex 3.0 tech which predicts the app usage and accelerate app access.
The ZenFone 5Q also the both the fingerprint scanner and face unlock tech. The fingerprint sensor is the more reliable and speedier way of unlocking. The face unlock is quick, but it only works well in well-lit places. In lowlight, there are times that it can still work.
The rest of the telephony experience is great. GSM signal is mostly strong for both SIMs, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS are stable, and it has up to 4G LTE Cat 13 speed with up to 400 Mbps speed. This phone also has NFC with Google Play support and gyroscope sensor for VR applications. OTG also works.
Pros - Sharp FHD+ screen, good overall performance, stable LTE connectivity, nice thermal management, good cameras, dedicated microSD card slot
Cons - Slightly undersaturated screen, microphone has hiss, not on USB Type-C, face unlock only works in well-lit condition
Verdict
The ASUS ZenFone 5Q is a SOLID mid-ranger for its expected price tag even if it has few minor weaknesses.Design is modern and great looking, the large 6-inch FHD+ screen has sharp enough details for viewing images and videos, battery performance is strong, and overall performance is great.
The quad cameras are promising and the wide-angle mode is exciting to use. However, it still has some inconsistencies especially for the selfie camera.
Now, let's hope that ASUS will price it right.
The ASUS ZenFone 5Q together with the ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 5Z will arrive in PH on April 14.
Stay tuned!
Build / Design - 4.25
Display - 4
Audio - 4
Battery - 4.25
Camera - 4
Performance - 4.5
Average - 4.16 / 5
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