We knew it that this blog will have a chance to do some hands-on on the elite version of Zenfone 3. This is the Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe.
A bit of disappointment that the Snapdragon 821 version of the said phablet was not there at the demo area but we managed to g et in the once with Snapdragon 820 with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB ROM
Yes, the black side lines are visible at the bezels which for me, it must be removed especially for a flagship type of device. A refreshing take with this metal unibody.
All trays at the left side for the micro SD and SIM cards. The right side, you can have the volume rocker and power/unlock button
The top has the 3.5 mm. audio jack while you can have the pin hole mic, USB Type C and single speaker at the bottom
For the Philippine market, the Zenfone 3 Deluxe allows you to customize the look including this one on the pulldown menu. The other half of the pic, you can see the storage option in action.
Like in other Android Marshamallow, I saw the RAM in motion in developer options. It actually has 5.6 GB RAM inside. Like in Zenfone 2 series (even that they already put in Qualcomm chips inside), I am kinda sad that the brand did not put in the LTE only option in mobile connectivity settings.
Here are my rear camera sample in auto HDR mode and the front camera sample in auto mode. I noticed that even at the said mode in selfie cam, the phone still put in some dash of beautification on my face. The color accuracy on both shooters are excellent and very quick on image processing.
On the benchmarks, it got a 144,292 on Antutu and only the temperature and pressure sensors are missing on this phablet
Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe 23 MP rear camera sample
Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe 8 MP front camera sample
Like in the regular Zenfone 3, the premium looks are there in the ZF3 Deluxe but the front cam, I am expecting for more details and clarity especially that the Php 34,990 is the same as the Samsung Galaxy S7 and a bit expensive compared to Huawei P9 Plus and LG G5 (although you are paying a bit for the extra RAM and ROM). It might be a good option if Asus can bring it a little at under 30k as we knew them from the Zenfone 2 launch as a disruptor in terms of specs/price ratio.
