Asus at IFA 2016: Zenwatch 3 and Zenfone 3 hands-on

Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL hands-on

Three full months since the Zenfone 3 lineup was announced, the smartphones are only gradually making their way to users' hands. And not all of them, mind you, it's Asian markets getting the vanilla Zenfone 3 first, with the rest of the world and and the rest of the models to follow. This right now is the first time we ourselves are getting a close look at the handsets too, starting with the Zenfone 3 ZE552KL.

Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL at a glance

• Screen: 5.5" Super IPS+ display, 1,080 x 1,920px resolution (401ppi); Gorilla Glass 3
• Chipset: Snapdragon 625, octa-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; 3GB/4GB of RAM, Adreno 506 GPU
• Camera: 16MP sensor, OIS, f/2.0 lens, Laser/PDAF, 1080p @ 30fps video
• Selfie cam: 8MP sensor, f/2.0 lens, 1080p video
• Battery: 3,000mAh
• Misc: Type-C 1.0 connector (USB 2.0)

And not a great first impression, it must be said, as the Zenfone 3 is a fingerprint nightmare. The back takes on grease with ease, and is a pain to keep clean. When you do wipe the smudges away though, the concentric circles effect resembling that of the Zenbooks looks truly impressive.

Fingerprints around the fingerprint sensor

Smudges aside, the Zenfone e ZE552KL has its controls logically laid out with the power button within easy reach on the right, the volume rocker above it. The 3.5mm jack is on top, while the Type-C port (only USB 2.0 spec though) is on the bottom, as is the loudspeaker.

Display • Controls

Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe ZS570KL hands-on

You're a lot more likely to fancy the Deluxe version, for a number of reasons. The slightly larger display doesn't make that big of a difference, but the hardware is vastly superior and so is the finish.

Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe ZS570KL at a glance

• Screen: 5.7" AMOLED display, 1,080 x 1,920px resolution (386ppi); Gorilla Glass 4
• Chipset: Snapdragon 821, quad-core CPU (2x Kryo at 2.4GHz + 2x Kryo at 2.0GHz); 4GB/6GB of RAM, Adreno 530 GPU
• Camera: 23MP sensor, OIS, f/2.0 lens, Laser/PDAF, 2160p @ 30fps video
• Selfie cam: 8MP sensor, f/2.0 lens, 1080p video
• Battery: 3,000mAh
• Misc: Type-C 1.0 connector (USB 3.0)

The metal unibody is nowhere nearly as friendly to fingerprints (keeps them away, actually) and looks as great as it feels in the hand. The phone doesn't feel as heavy as you'd think and the surfaces are nice and grippy.

Metal back • Similar arrangement

The circular pattern is still present here, only this time just on the front around the display. And the AMOLED display itself is beautiful too. We only wish the bezels would have been smaller.

Great-looking AMOLED 5.7-incher

The controls follow the same principle as the previous model with the power button and volume rocker on the same side. The top houses the 3.5mm jack, and the Type-C connector on the bottom does adhere to USB 3.0 standards.

Controls

Don't miss the rest of the Zenfone 3 models on the next page, including the giant phablet-pushing-on-tablet 6.8-inch Ultra.