Asus Zenfone 5z review

Android Oreo 8.0 with ZenUI 5

The ZenFone 5z comes with the fifth major release of Asus' ZenUI based on Android Oreo. Unfortunately, it is still Android 8.0 and not the newer 8.1. The phone has received several updates since launch but none have changed the Android version number, so we are assuming it's not a priority for Asus and we will likely jump straight to 9.0, whenever that happens.

When it comes to features, Asus follows the same 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach to software that it does to the hardware. Sometimes, it's a good thing. Other times you wonder what is the point of having so many features when most of them are either never used or turned off.

It's hard to list all the features here as that would require its own separate article. But to just summarize, the launcher itself comes with a choice of 33 typefaces. These are not system-wide font choices, mind you - that is a different menu altogether - these are just for the text underneath the app icons, which, by the way, can also be any color you like.

Launcher settings

That's just the beginning. The Settings app has a sub menu for some special features that includes some fifteen odd features in there, which includes everything from a mode that lets you record and live stream your games to one that applies a permanent beauty filter on your face in any live video streaming app of your choice even if that app doesn't have its own beauty mode.

We could go on but it would be a very long day. The point is, the phone comes with a ton of software features, many of which you will never use but they are there if anyone's interested. The good thing is that they can all be disabled and you never have to worry about them again if you are not interested.

Features and settings

What's less nice is the bit of bloatware the phone comes with. There are a bunch of Asus apps and several third-party apps that come pre-installed, which is usual for Asus phones. Unfortunately, while some of these can be uninstalled, others such as the Facebook apps (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram) cannot be uninstalled and permanently take up place on your phone.

Since the ZenFone 5z has a notch, it's worth talking about the software implementation. You can "disable" the notch, which just blacks it out but we have never found that solution ideal or even particularly sensible. Good thing is that Asus has pretty good level of customization available on a per app basis for notch settings. You can enable fullscreen access to the notch to every app of your choice, which is especially convenient for any app that can display images.

None of the apps so far can access the notch area automatically in fullscreen mode, which creates some issues on some devices but on the ZenFone 5z you can manually grant them access, which makes the apps behave as you'd expect.

One thing ZenUI is not particularly good at is UI scaling. Since Android Nougat, devices have had a built-in feature to adjust the UI DPI scaling. Most devices tend to ship with one size too large, which makes everything look a bit too large and wastes display space but it's easy enough to fix; just slide the DPI scale down one notch, which usually fixes it. With ZenUI, scaling down one setting makes everything tiny across the OS; even buttons in the camera app become nearly unusably small. It seems like Asus barely tested the UI with different scaling options and just expected everyone to use the default setting.

Lastly, although the ZenFone 5z does support the Widevine L1 DRM required for HD playback on Netflix, Netflix still does not support HD playback on this device.

Performance and benchmarks

In terms of hardware, the ZenFone 5z brings the A-game. It includes the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, a choice of 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4X memory and storage options that go up to 256GB. Our review unit had 6GB of memory and 64GB of storage.

Starting with the benchmark scores, the ZenFone 5z performed predictably for a Snapdragon 845 device, which means it was right up there with devices ranging from the humble Poco F1 to all the way up there with the Galaxy Note9, since they all basically have the same chipset and similar storage and memory specifications.

In terms of real-world usage, the ZenFone 5z is extremely impressive. It's one thing to have a flagship chipset and ace benchmark scores but it's another to perform in the real world, but you don't have to worry about the ZenFone 5z. The phone blitzes through all tasks with ease and feels incredibly snappy throughout. App launches are instant and scrolling performance is almost perfectly smooth in every app.

The ZenFone 5z will also mow through every game you throw at it. There's really nothing that fazes it, which is how you'd expect a flagship device to perform.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone X
  10215
• Asus ZenFone 5z
  9030
• OnePlus 6
  9011
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  9003
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  8830
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  8494
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  5908
• Oppo F7
  5901
• Nokia 7 plus
  5893
• Oppo R15 Pro
  5809
• Meizu 15
  5770
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  4625
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  4388

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone X
  4256
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  3759
• Asus ZenFone 5z
  2488
• OnePlus 6
  2450
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  2438
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  2431
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  1890
• Nokia 7 plus
  1634
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  1617
• Oppo R15 Pro
  1612
• Meizu 15
  1551
• Oppo F7
  1531
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  881

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Asus ZenFone 5z
  266590
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  265314
• OnePlus 6
  264200
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  250156
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  217298
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  170218
• Oppo R15 Pro
  146526
• Nokia 7 plus
  140820
• Oppo F7
  139414
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  130927
• Meizu 15
  128680
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  77964

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  82
• Apple iPhone X
  81
• Asus ZenFone 5z
  79
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  73
• OnePlus 6
  71
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  64
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  33
• Nokia 7 plus
  23
• Meizu 15
  23
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  22
• Oppo R15 Pro
  22
• Oppo F7
  20
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  9.9

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone X
  59
• Asus ZenFone 5z
  59
• OnePlus 6
  59
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  59
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  45
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  30
• Meizu 15
  23
• Nokia 7 plus
  21
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  21
• Oppo R15 Pro
  19
• Oppo F7
  18
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  9.4

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ZenFone 5z
  60
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  60
• OnePlus 6
  58
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  53
• Apple iPhone X
  51
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  46
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  23
• Nokia 7 plus
  15
• Meizu 15
  15
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  15
• Oppo R15 Pro
  15
• Oppo F7
  12
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  6.5

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ZenFone 5z
  55
• OnePlus 6
  55
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  53
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  50
• Apple iPhone X
  44
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  24
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  22
• Meizu 15
  16
• Nokia 7 plus
  14
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  14
• Oppo R15 Pro
  12
• Oppo F7
  11
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  6.1

Basemark X

Higher is better

• OnePlus 6
  44229
• Asus ZenFone 5z
  43911
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  43652
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  43285
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  42645
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  27560
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  21378
• Nokia 7 plus
  21063
• Meizu 15
  20786
• Oppo R15 Pro
  20693
• Oppo F7
  11873

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone X
  4708
• OnePlus 6
  4440
• Asus ZenFone 5z
  4309
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  3858
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  3713
• Samsung Galaxy S9
  3382
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  2658
• Meizu 15
  2556
• Oppo R15 Pro
  2438
• Nokia 7 plus
  2376
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  2240
• Oppo F7
  1953