The #BackTo5 vibe that Asus Philippines is not yet over with the response of their more price-friendly Asus Zenfone 5 series. The Zenfone 5Q will still be on release this June 2018 so it is quite proper to start with the most affordable handset in their recent announcement. Here's my take on the Asus Zenfone 5Q
In it's physical look, this will not tell you that the 5Q is the most affordable in the bunch with the materials that they gathered to form this phone. It is with 6 inch 18:9 display and one hand navigation of it as well as the proper placing of the fingerprint sensor is quite ok. Somewhat, it scratched my head a lil bit on some random apps that the phone that will not function properly like the feather-light Facebook Lite which is more than enoungh for a phone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor. In a day, let's say I had 10% chance that I faced some problems in operating the phone despite that the review unit that I had received 5 OTAs
Here are the benchmarks which the number revealed in Antutu is already expected for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC.
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Connectivity is already a given for a Qualcomm chip. Thumbs up to calls, texts, mobile data, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS
On 3,300 mAh battery with 6 inch 18:9 display, the phone survived in 14 hours and 40 minutes in video battery rundown test which is on the average side as we seen other solutions within the same price range at around 3 to 4 hours more. Real time usage for me in around 30 hours in heavy status with 5 1/2 hours of screen on time. Charging time took me at over 2 hours. One of ASUS PH execs said that it will work with a QC 3.0 charger but we do not have a charger of it in the days of our review
In camera, there were some tweaks in comparison in some of Zenfone 4 phones but a bit better. I love the pro mode of the Zenfone 5Q as it is real time in changing the scenarios which I brought this one in a number of media coverages. I am not a fan of their wide angle camera as I had some samples which had a bit of "warping" in some of my photo output. The auto mode was pretty good too in almost all of the lighting situations. Obviously it will not be as good as high-end devices but the pro mode was a blessing for this midrange. The 20 MP selfie cam also works great. Expect that it will some noises in low light selfies and groupies so the flash tried it's best to fill in the void.
Asus Zenfone 5Q rear camera samples
Wide angle rear camera sample
Asus Zenfone 5Q normal to wide angle front camera samples
Another front camera sample
Asus Zenfone 5Q is at Php 16,990 which on the stiff competition of other phones with almost the same processing power (or more with a Helio P60 powered phone at Php 1,000 more) ranging from Php 15,990 to Php 17,990. The 5Q is an easy recommendation at this price segment with the enough power of the said Qualcomm SoC and right amount on the specs sheet plus the lighter ZenUI but some of the glitches that I encountered on some of the apps. I will gonna grade Asus Zenfone 5Q at 4 out of 5.
