Samsung Galaxy S20+ Vs Zenfone 6 Edition 30 - My Own Experience

[ZT-bf15d022]

I just wanted to share my personal experience of the glorious Zenfone 6 Edition 30, as I recently bought a Samsung S20+ for the sole reason that I wanted to get back on Tesco Mobile again, and no Zenfone that I'm aware of (other than the very first Zenfone 5, which I also owned and loved), supports 800Mhz/Band 20, which is needed to get 4G on o2. For those unaware, Tesco Mobile are the only provider who guarantee no price hike for the duration of your contract. I had my last 'contract' by EE honoured for a whole 2 months before they ignored it and raised the price per month (cos RPI - and there's nothing you can do about it so tough luck, suckers).
Of course you'd think the Samsung Galaxy S20+ was going to win, right? I mean, haven't you seen all the endless fawning over that "awesome Super AMOLED 4K screen", where the Zenfone 6 'only' has an LCD, IPS screen? For those who've not done this, I have, and I am telling you there is virtually no difference in quality and viewing angles between the 2. Sure the Samsung gets a lot brighter - retina burning bright. I'm not entirely sure what the "too bright for comfort" setting is for. Presumably it's the equivalent of a toaster setting that burns toast. But to dismiss the screen on the Zenfone 6 out of hand and list that in your "Cons" list is stupid, and only shows your sole interest is just getting sent more free Samsung phones to shill over.
Before I even got going trying to set the S20+ up, I made the mistake of installing the Samsung Smart Switch to transfer my data from my Zenfone 6 to the S20+. When I did a data transfer from my previous Sony XZ Premium to the Zenfone 6, I was more or less finished in the space of 15 minutes. Hours of painfully slow nothingness later trying the exact same process with the Samsung app, I could not work out why none of my apps or games were even starting to download. Eventually I randomly checked for a system update, and they suddenly all downloaded to the phone. This, you might think, would have been a standard mishap. But I do not recall ever needing to do a system update on the Zenfone just for the apps and games to start downloading to it - it just worked (this is why it's called a "Zen"fone).
Then there's the fact that Samsung have swapped around the buttons for 'go back' and minimise apps. WHY???!?!? That took me a good deal of fumbling and getting used to and pressing the wrong button countless times - not really something you should have to deal with in the normal 'getting used to' process of a new phone. Please show me the user feedback Samsung have possession of that says "You know, Samsung, I'm finding those phone commands down the bottom there just a bit too straightforward and intuitive - could you PLEASE swap them over? Thanks."
Then there was the alarm time setting, which I accidentally exited around 6 times before finally getting to alter it. No, not because I'm new to technology, because the process was so awkward, poorly designed and convoluted. When you try the same task on a Zenfone, it's tap, see alarm time, scroll the time wheel, bam, all done. Nice and simple and easy. Why make it all fancy, and why must I be forced to look at the damn Spotify logo when trying to set my alarm tone, 'just in case' I'm signed up to music streaming of any kind and want to use that? The Samsung tones were really nice, some of them a lot nicer than the ASUS ones, but that wasn't quite enough to dig this phone out of its hole...
Then there was the fact the S20+ was clearly overheating, and overheating very fast. Whilst playing Asphalt 9, perhaps...? Whilst having a 2 hour Fortnite session...? No. Whilst using WHATSAPP. And no, not watching videos, or taking and sending photos. Whilst chatting with text. Astonishing.
Then there was the fact that having had to carefully select some of my most wanted games to install, I had already half filled the puny 128GB internal memory on the phone.
Then there was that in-screen fingerprint sensor. Registering 4 prints took quiet a while but that's okay, because hey, it's really sophisticated and stuff, and will definitely not fail, right...? What do you think. Took me anything up to 6 attempts, no matter what finger I used. I contrast this with my Zenfone, where it instantly recognises my fingerprint, first attempt. There have been a handful of times it hasn't - that's when I've had slightly wet hands after just washing them or whatever. I'd be lenient about those times.
After finding all of this out, I took my SIM and Micro SD card out of the S20+ and they're now back in my Zenfone 6 Edition 30.
It is a source of constant frustration for me that more people are simply unaware of just how competent ASUS engineers really are. Indeed way too many people globally don't even know who ASUS ARE - let alone that they make phones that are simple to use yet these days tick all the right boxes in terms of spec and choice of components (don't really feel like I'm missing out not having silvery edging on my Zenfone 6 like the one on the Galaxy S20+). If you listened to 'tech experts' on YouTube with their 3 million subscribers, or the "analysts", one of whom I actually heard last week on the news state that, in the Android phone world, "Samsung, Motorola and Huawei are really the only show in town". It's led to the total complacency of Samsung, whose policy on phone releases amounts to "here's your mediocre incremental upgrades for the year. Now buy it". Sadly, thanks to all the 'conditioning' of the masses, this lackadaisical attitude to innovation and exciting design is all it takes to remain on top. I don't care what all the naysayers try to tell you on the forums about ASUS phones. I've been using them extensively day in, day out, and have had nothing but solid reliability. Sure the odd flutter - ANY phone will have that.
Every phone launch I see ASUS try SO HARD with their phones. Finally in 2019 with the Zenfone 6 I see A LOT of praise from the tech sites, but yet this still fails to translate into any significant prominence, and in some cases even visibility of their phone lines. Although I also read about the supply issues with the Zenfone 6. It's so disheartening.
Oh and P.S. - if you're thinking of swapping to a Samsung S20+ : DON'T. 😏

[Mayendra]

s20+ snapdragon or exynos?

[Monark]

Yeah bro what you said is correct most of the people think Asus is chinese and includes all those bloatware.
They have improved so much now we have near stock experience with monthly security updates. They are just still struggling in software side to provide customizations and we also can't deny the motherboard failures in some of the handsets. because i also got a defected one and replaced with a new one and this happened within a month of purchase but Now it's running solidly with no problems.
I actually so much liked the Zenui in rog phone 3 especially what they have done with the battery care that are all the features that we asked for our zenfone 6 but still didn't get.
They always has the potential to rise i don't know what's the problem with them i am actually in this asus family for almost 5 years now. My first phone itself is zenfone max which i am still using.
Let's hope they will get what they deserve😀
I am also curious what happened to zenfone 7🤔

[JBL]

I also changed to Galaxy S20+ Exynos cause ZenFone 6 don't provide Volte and WiFi calling in Denmark. Galaxy S20+ gave me that, and better stereo speakers, 120 Hz screen killed battery life and even at 60 Hz battery was awful. 5 hours screen on time at max, and yesterday I returned to ZenFone 6 and back to 9 to 10 hours screen on time. Even the much better camera at S20+ (night photos) did not help. Daytime photos are quite similar, but more fun at ZenFone. S20+ has better zoom and ZenFone better panorama and selfies.
Still hoping for Volte but can live without it, I learned the lesson 😉