Danishblunt
Well here is my thoughts on the Zenfone 8:
Camera:
The claim of having a pro grade camera is a little iffy, none of the sensors are remotely flagship level, that being said, there has been going some real effort into inovating and an attempt to get the most out of them. As a person who is getting the most out if his IMX 686, I do know that there is a ton that there can be done with the lens, that being said I didnt really see anything that I would consider "pro grade" about it. The lack of OIS also hurts the camera setup quite a bit. I wasnt convinced about the "photographers" first pictures, they were overblown, not very detailed at times and just ok at best, however when the freelancer showed up and showed what she can do, the story changed quite considerably, props to that lady, she knows what she is doing. However in her demonstration, there has been some bitrate crushing on her videos, which are caused by the EIS trying to adjust the shakyness due to lack of OIS, also the bitrate didnt really seem that high, kinda hoped it would get upped even higher. When I hear pro grade, I usually think of Sonys pro mode which is absolutely ridicolous, that being said, it's still a good camera setup, I don't think it will be able to compete with the xperia i II, but I think it will absolutely make most people happy. It's a little sad to see that even though software has been a major point, there was little to no showcase of the actual camera software, hence I assume its still as we know it, which is alright but not great. I do love the innovation on the panorama mode and the macro mode, really like it a lot.
Design and ergonomics Zenfone 8:
Huge deal, seriously nice to see a small good quailty phone filling the market. I know tons of people who would like to have a phone around the size presented, I feel ASUS did a very good job when it comes to find the perfect size. Absolutely spot on. I also love the fact that there has been going some thought into the back of the phone, which makes it more grippier. Also absolutely love the fact we have SD card slot, super important for people who do intend to use it as a photograph device.
SoC + Battery:
I really don't know, calling the battery "massive" for a 4000mah especially on a SD 888 chip is just silly at this point. However what caught my attention is the custom battery settings, if done correcly this can be an actual game changer, I am very interested to see what that advanced tab allows the user to do. Also glad to see no BS supercharge on 120W or crap like that. I am quite concerned about the SD 888 running in the Zenfone, I don't know how the devs are trying to solve the obvious heater in the room, but we will see how it goes, I hope it does better than the xiaomi where the display just dims and phone acts up weird.
Display:
Another Samsung E4 display at 1100nits, which is good to see, altho I do wish it would be a little brighter, unless peak brightness is higher in outdoor mode, then we are on. I just hope it doesnt suffer from green tint, altho I suppose its something people can live with. Only thing I am concerned about is the possible lack of 90hz, which means 120hz would just drain battery, which already has to feed a SD 888 and some decent speakers. I also kinda wonder what the resolution of the display is, since I dont think it has been mentioned. Also seriously, can you not do the whole DELTA 1 thing, I mean so far ASUS has always lied about that so I don't think its going to be true this time either. Just state facts, Delta below 2, which is measurable and still fking impressive.
Speakers & Audio:
Seems like the speakers will be a real contender for the mainstream smartphones. The AMP seems very decent however it does concern me a little again with battery life, that being said I would take battery performance hit for decent sounding phone speakers any day of the week, so another thumbs up here.
Now the claim of "Audiophile level Audio", yeah no, that's again bs and just a lie. The phone will never compete with the likes of a fiio m11 pro or a high quality audio dac dongle.
Audiowizard as usual very solid, I feel that a lot of potential marketing has been missing out on this, I mean for crying out loud why dont you take a regular phone with no audio processing, connect to a bluetooth speaker and compare with a tuned audiowizard profile, that's a massive selling point, as this is not only through headphone jack but also bluetooth and the internal phone speaker. A lot of people dont understand what an EQ even is.
Zenfone 8 flip specifics:
Claim of ultimate selfie phone, jep, keep that, to my knowledge no phone can even compete.
The decision of going with the fingerprint below display is so terrible, its just so much inferior to the powerbutton fingerprint and hope it will get reversed. Also no mention of the telefoto actual lens makes me believe its probably some really poopoo lens.
Pricing:
It's a little too aggressive for my taste. Just a tad bit. I don't really see the zenfone being in line of what other flagships currently offer. If i had to put the device somewhere I would put it on upper mid tier but not quite flagship level.
Conclusion:
I wish ASUS was a little less aggressive with their marketing and BS claims and would give a little more practical examples of the phone, their slogan was "Big on performance, compact in size" yet there was no demonstration of performance at all except for 1 slide of showing, here are some vague benchmarks and here is 1 benchmark, biggest selling point was obviously the camera and I just don't really see it compete with the S21, Huawei mate 40 or Oneplus 9. The mention of marques test also seems kinda cringe, his test has obvious flaws such as matching phones that have an easier time beating other brands while also only taking 1 picture, which we know where phones can sometimes just fk up 1 image but do other 9 much better. Overall it seems the Zenfone 8 lineup is going to be a decent upgrade, the software features and design is something i dig, however what worries me the most if the SD 888 chip and how the battery will cope with it, lets see what ASUS has thought about it.
I'd rate 7/10.
Zenfone 8 Launch event
Zenfone 8 Flip doesn't have it
