Review of Asus Zenfone 8 - a full-fledged flagship in a compact body

It is very difficult to find a smartphone with a screen diagonal of less than 6 inches on the market: 6.5-6.8 have become the standard even for simple models. Compact devices are rare and mostly in the budget segment - that is, an outdated hardware platform is attached to a small display.

And then the Asus Zenfone 8 comes out. It is built on the latest Snapdragon 888 and has either 8GB or 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of custom storage. But most importantly, it has a 5.9-inch AMOLED screen, which is why the smartphone is tiny by modern standards. Let's see how convenient it is to use such a device in the world of "shovels".

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and ergonomics
• Display
• Iron
• Operating system
• Sound and vibration
• Cameras
• Autonomy
• Outcomes

Specifications

Design and ergonomics

"Give me back my 2007" - this is how the Zenfone 8 looks at first glance. The smartphone is quite plump, small, incredibly comfortable in the hand. In the version we got for testing, the back is decorated with black frosted glass - and such a finish is graceful to simplicity and to gracefulness. It does not collect fingerprints on itself (except for greasy marks), does not scratch or attract too much attention.

The sides are metal and also matte. The camera block is the only glossy element in this realm of utilitarianism (not counting, of course, the screen). It protrudes above the body with a small step. But with the complete plastic cover, the back becomes almost flat.

In addition to the black color, there is also a silver one. This also refers us to the days when smartphones as a category were just being born. In the modern world, manufacturers offer a riot of finishes for every taste and color, and the technique, available only in soothing shades, seems too boring.

Although there is a slight deviation from the monochrome canons of past years - this is a bright blue power key located on the right side panel and attracts attention. Just above it are the dual volume buttons.

At the bottom there is a tray for SIM-cards (double and double-sided), a USB-C connector, one of the speakers, a microphone and a status LED. Strange choice for placing the indicator: it is very easy to overlap with something and eventually not be noticed.

The upper edge is given over to the headphone jack and another microphone.

The entire front panel is occupied by the screen. The frames are quite large by modern standards - about 3 mm from the sides and 4–6 from the top and bottom. A second speaker is mounted on the top edge. The selfie camera is framed by a small silver circle and is offset to the left edge of the display.

The ergonomics of the device are at their best: you can reach every corner of the screen, the buttons themselves fall under the fingers. The smartphone weighs not so little - 169 grams - and in the hand it feels like something solid, tightly knocked down. And the excellent build reinforces this impression: you understand that you are holding a flagship, albeit a small one.

Display

The screen is the star of this smartphone: a 5.9 ‑ inch AMOLED module from Samsung with a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 pixels, capable of operating at 60 to 120 Hz. In the settings, you can set the automatic frequency selection depending on the content, or set it manually: compromise 90 Hz is also available. Most of the test time, we used just auto-tuning, but for some time we set 120 and 90 Hz.

The color rendering can be changed: this function is hidden in a menu called Splendid. There you can adjust the color temperature and palette. Default is a little chilly, while Natural is a little warmer. Even more yellowness gives the "Cinematic" mode, and "Normal" looks slightly desaturated. There is also an opportunity to adjust the color rendition yourself.

The panel itself covers 112% of the current cinematic DCI ‑ P3 color space and also supports HDR10 + content. To make the smartphone more convenient to use, there is a DC Dimming function, which eliminates flicker at low brightness (but only works at a frequency 60Hz refresh rate), automatically turns on blue-less night mode, and sets the display to Always On.

The screen is wonderful: thanks to the high pixel density and high refresh rate, there is no graininess. The interface, games, any application looks incredibly smooth. The brightness of the panel is sufficient even on a sunny day, although you still have to twist it to the maximum.

The display is covered with the most modern protective glass from Gorilla Glass - Victus. During our communication with Zenfone 8, we did not manage to make a single scratch on it. Even when the smartphone was in the same pocket with the keys.

Iron

In terms of performance, the Zenfone 8 that we got for the test outperforms many. It is based on the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip. It is supplemented by a 16 GB RAM module (and very fast - LPDDR5) and the Adreno 660 video subsystem. All together, it gives practically the fastest combination of hardware for Android devices at the moment, thanks to which the smartphone will remain relevant for another five years. It has 256 GB of user memory.

Modern applications cannot make this device pause or stutter. Games run without problems at the highest settings, programs start instantly. The only thing that upsets is the sub-screen fingerprint sensor: it does not immediately recognize pressing. And Zenfone 8 heats up quickly under load, and even a thick case does not help.

You can install two SIM cards in your smartphone. It supports 5G, is equipped with an NFC module that works without delays. The Zenfone 8 is incredibly pleasant to use: this is the kind of gadget you can believe in. The combination of a simple yet user-friendly design with some of the best hardware on the market gives this feeling. Only there is no memory card slot.

Operating system

Our Zenfone 8 runs Android 11 with ZenUI 8. The developers paid maximum attention to optimization and usability in it. And here everything is not so smooth.

The operation of the fingerprint sensor is both an iron and a systemic feature: the sensor constantly asks it to "clean" and requires touching in a strictly defined place. Literally a couple of millimeters to the side - and the finger is no longer recognized.

Notifications from some applications (Gmail and Yandex. Mail ") either did not come at all, or came in a crowd after some time. The Always-On mode sometimes just didn't work. And at some moments, on the contrary, he turned on the screen in his pants pocket and tried to unlock it with his hip (which, of course, he didn’t succeed, and he began to vibrate indignantly).

Fortunately, these features can be fixed with software updates if Asus wants to do it.

Sound and vibration

Zenfone 8 has stereo speakers: the top one, which is used as a second channel when playing music and video. The balance of the speakers is good: there is no feeling of skewness or that one of them is playing too loudly.

They are primarily aimed at clear speech reproduction, so listening to podcasts or watching interviews on YouTube is a pleasure. Music sounds boring, too light and bright. So in such a scenario, a smartphone will not replace a portable speaker.

Zenfone 8 also has a 3.5mm headphone output, which is not found in every top-end device - mainly due to the fact that they all strive to be as thin as possible. Asus, on the other hand, is not shy about the thickness of the Zenfone 8 and uses it wisely. Also, support for high-resolution audio was added to the smartphone and, apparently, a good amplifier was installed. The device feels good with full-size headphones, leaving ample headroom and without losing detail and bass.

From Bluetooth-codecs, the gadget supports all modern options, including aptX Adaptive, aptX LL, aptX HD and LDAC.

The vibration is powerful enough: the table does not wobble, but it is simply impossible to miss a call with Zenfone 8 in your pocket.

Cameras

The camera module is simple by modern standards and consists of only two lenses - the main one based on the 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor and the ultra-wide-angle one based on the 12-megapixel Sony IMX363.

The camera interface is very laconic, but the localization did not go to his advantage. Some menu item names are simply truncated, making it difficult to understand what they mean.

There is no protruding marketing zoom. Switching from the main lens to the ultra wide-angle camera shows as a 0.6X format zoom, the maximum digital zoom is 8X. Photos for both the main camera and the wide-angle camera are good, despite the fact that the sensors are quite old. In good lighting conditions and even at dusk, the white balance behaves decently, the detail is sufficient, the color rendition looks natural and vivid.

In the dark, the smartphone automatically switches to night mode (but this moment can be turned off) and tries to make the frames better due to software processing. And the algorithm behaves cool: first of all, it tries to make objects understandable and bright, to separate them from each other. Sharpness suffers a little, but the color reproduction is realistic. True, in the process, the smartphone asks to wait a little while it collects the necessary information about the situation. So night shooting is not just "click and go further", but a matter of five seconds.

There is a macro mode, and visually it looks like a crop from the main camera. There is nothing wrong with that, but the extra cute blur inherent in macro photography is not particularly noticeable.

The smartphone supports 8K video recording, and can also record slow-motion and fast-motion video. The stabilization is good, there is no excessive blurring around the edges, if the lighting is good, otherwise artifacts will appear.

Selfie camera It works best when HDR is on - so skin tones become more vivid, and light imperfections are corrected.

Overall, the cameras themselves are good, but not the most impressive.

Autonomy

The Zenfone 8 has a 4000 mAh battery. And for such a small, but still powerful smartphone, it is not enough. With a standard load with 3–3.5 hours of screen time, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth always on, it barely survives a day. Reducing the screen refresh rate and switching to auto mode did not really change the situation: the Zenfone 8 day will last, but no longer.

A 30W charger is included. With its help, the gadget can be charged from scratch by half in about 30 minutes, and completely in a little more than an hour. This somewhat reconciles with not the best energy consumption.

Outcomes

This is the perfect solution for those who want a small flagship smartphone for Android. There are no other such on the market, if you do not look at the folding models. But they are more expensive and, due to their design, do not give the same feeling of reliability as the Asus Zenfone 8 - it has incredible performance, a great screen and a harsh design from the late 2000s.

But everything is spoiled a little by not the most optimized power consumption and the features of the interface. And if the ZenUI software flaws can be corrected with an update, then it seems that nothing can be done with the battery.

On the other hand, it's still a flagship. A machine that will solve any modern problem and whose reserve of strength will be enough for the next five years. And if even now the smartphone barely lasts a day, then in a year and a half or two you will probably have to charge it twice a day or think about replacing the battery.

But if you want a powerful device that is very easy to use with one hand and fits in any pocket and costs more or less adequate, the Zenfone 8 looks great (and even the only one) option. Our version - with 16 GB of RAM - costs 72,880 rubles. And a simpler one, for 8 GB, will cost almost 10 thousand rubles less.

Buy

The author thanks Asus for the device provided for testing. The company had no way to influence its outcome.