Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL review: More than meets the eye

16 November 2016
The Asus Zenfone 3 is the destination of the company’s "pursuit of superior function" combined with love for design and craftsmanship. Lofty goals for sure, but this isn’t your typical flagship or mid-range phone.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • PxV
  • 19 Nov 2016

Nice review... Zenfone 3 ZE552KL very good phone. May be high price, but quality material and finishing is very well...
I hope GSMArena team will show result battery test Zenfone 3 ZE552KL using SD625 14nm. :-)

    • M
    • MisplacedWorker
    • IDY
    • 18 Nov 2016

    Find it hard to agree with the sunlight ratings from the review. My previous phone, an HTC One M7, had almost the same rating and these two phones are night and day different when it comes to viewing in sunlight. The ZF3 is easily visible in direct sunlight.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 61U
      • 18 Nov 2016

      Rony, 18 Nov 2016After having picked the Zenfone 2 ZE551ML 64GB 2.3Ghz a sup... moreExplore more, there its many brands here. Dont worry!

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • IVx
        • 18 Nov 2016

        Anonymous, 18 Nov 2016lol, in my country the 3GB version is something around U$450 heheIn Malaysia you can easily buy the 4gb ram 64gb rom version less than usd340

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • IVx
          • 18 Nov 2016

          Rony, 18 Nov 2016After having picked the Zenfone 2 ZE551ML 64GB 2.3Ghz a sup... moreIt's irrelevant to compare ZenFonev2 to ZenFone 3. There're reasons why this phone sold much expensive than what its predecessor did. Just test use it first b4 making stupid comment.

            • N
            • Noasus
            • t7X
            • 18 Nov 2016

            Rony, 18 Nov 2016After having picked the Zenfone 2 ZE551ML 64GB 2.3Ghz a sup... moreCheers, sir.

              • A
              • Always
              • t7X
              • 18 Nov 2016

              Who would buy this l0w quality device with such price? Thry should know their place. $120 max for this one. If not, I'll stick to my n5 for another year

                • D
                • AnonD-413387
                • TGT
                • 18 Nov 2016

                Anonymous, 17 Nov 2016Thanks for the review gsmarena, do hope that you reveal th... moreAnd if you value battery life over benchmarks, the 625 beats the 820 and 650 phones by quite a bit. The UI is a little less responsive than I'd like (returning to the home screen always take just a little longer than I'd like - but this may be a ZenUI issue), but otherwise it is quite smooth and runs every app just fine.

                  • D
                  • AnonD-413387
                  • TGT
                  • 18 Nov 2016

                  Fitbri, 17 Nov 2016High maintenance phone as it shows up everything. Don't min... more3 dollar silicon case works pretty well!

                    • D
                    • AnonD-413387
                    • TGT
                    • 18 Nov 2016

                    wai from malaysia, 17 Nov 2016Does it really support fast charging?? Im using a zenfone 3... moreI think it's the equivalent of QC 1.0. My ZE552KL charges significantly faster than my Sony Z3 (totally non fast charge) which took something like 2.5 hours from 0% to 100%.

                    Interestingly there is a new base version of the Zenfone 3 Deluxe (~400 USD in US and Taiwan) that is almost exactly the same as the ZE552KL but with a metal body, NFC, and QC 3.0. I guess they just left it out of the base model to create more separation between the standard and deluxe.

                      • m
                      • mir
                      • t7X
                      • 18 Nov 2016

                      Rony, 18 Nov 2016After having picked the Zenfone 2 ZE551ML 64GB 2.3Ghz a sup... moreThere are indeed a lot of complaints on the software of asus phones. Even the asus zenfone 3 max has quite a few issues as well. Just look at the forum.

                        • R
                        • RejZoR
                        • M}3
                        • 18 Nov 2016

                        Really good camera I have to say. And I'm in love with glass back panels of phones. I hate metal and plastic back covers. I'm on Ascend P7 now, but in the future, Zenfone 4 might seem like a possibility if they continue like this... besides, I really like ASUS products in general. Quality stuff.

                          • G
                          • GT
                          • XNt
                          • 18 Nov 2016

                          i am using the phone... it is the best phone no matter the cost.. good features.....

                            • D
                            • AnonD-611238
                            • PGs
                            • 18 Nov 2016

                            Nice phone

                              • R
                              • Rony
                              • X$p
                              • 18 Nov 2016

                              After having picked the Zenfone 2 ZE551ML 64GB 2.3Ghz a supposedly flagship model from Asus a year back I can say one thing for sure.... "I will never buy another Asus product, and neither should anyone else do so"
                              Asus is one of the worst manufacturer in terms of releasing software updates for their phones, the updates are always late and buggy. The phone has major complications, within a year the SIM card tray is defective, the phone intermittently gives a garbled noise on calls (faced by multiple other users as seen on the Asus forums), major battery drain (Again faced by most users), loads of bloatware etc etc.
                              There are other better manufacturers out there to buy phones from, Asus should not be on anyone's shopping list.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • X{3
                                • 18 Nov 2016

                                Anonymous, 17 Nov 2016Lol, your sacrasm didn't work because Asus does has more mo... moreI think he cant face that reallity after i see #lol word on his comment.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • Jpg
                                  • 18 Nov 2016

                                  Rex Tech, 18 Nov 2016Great phone overall,Too bad it's priced really high in my c... morelol, in my country the 3GB version is something around U$450 hehe

                                    Great phone overall,Too bad it's priced really high in my country-around 350$ for the 5'2 model with only 3gb of Ram.The phone is kinda unfinished imo.It lacks NFC,backlight buttons and less bloatware.Then again it has an IR blaster and plenty of sensors so it's good.
                                    And around 420$ for the 5'5 model,which is the same as Xiaomi mi5s...

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • XNK
                                      • 17 Nov 2016

                                      AnonD-546038, 17 Nov 2016Sure, Asus has muchhhh more money and resources available t... moreLol, your sacrasm didn't work because Asus does has more money and resources available than Oneplus.

                                        Anonymous, 17 Nov 2016It doesn't have NFC right?Read Page 3, under 'Connectivity' section.