Asus (ZenFone) 6z Review: Flipping To A Notch-less Future

After a ton of legal chaos, Asus chucked the ZenFone branding and finally unveiled its flagship smartphone as the Asus 6Z in the Indian market.

This smartphone is known for its clean design and a unique camera setup. Unlike conventional smartphones, the 6Z gets a flipping camera module at the back that acts as both the front and rear cameras.

The flipping camera setup means the edges come closer to the display (eliminating the need to dedicate space on the top section of the display for a selfie camera), bringing us closer to a truly notch-less future!

When I first read about the 6Z (It was and still is called Asus ZenFone 6 globally) and saw its images and videos I was excited to see that a smartphone manufacturer is trying to create something truly out of the ordinary. And the day I got my hands on the smartphone box, I won't deny, I was excited like a kid going to Disneyland (Or Imagica, considering my bank balance).

The unboxing experience

So when I popped the box open the first thing I saw a silver box with 'Flip Camera' embossed in electric blue on it. I took the box out and got a glimpse of the smartphone covered in the translucent plastic film. I first opened the box and found a transparent plastic case, with an unusually large camera cutout for the flipping camera. This box also contained a warranty statement book and a tiny SIM removal tool.

After keeping the case and the device aside, I found something that is rare these days in smartphone boxes- a pair of in-ear earphones, along with a set of silicone ear tips. The box also contained an 18W Qualcomm QuickCharge 4 supported charging brick and USB Type-C to USB Type-A charging cable.

After keeping everything to the side, I couldn't wait to turn the phone on.

Display

On booting the device and setting it up with my Google account, I was ready to use this smartphone as my regular phone. The first thing anyone would notice is the beautiful display that the Asus 6Z packs. It is a 6.4-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2360x1080 pixels. While the resolution was fine, coming from the OnePlus 7, it truly felt like a downgrade.

I was and still, am truly spoiled with the deep rich blacks that OLED screens offer and this screen did miss out on that (perhaps to keep the costs low) but it surely was vibrant and looked great from every angle. The display has minimal bezels around the edges with no notch on top, but there is a considerable amount of chin at the bottom, which kind-of bursts the bezel-free display dream. The display also gets HDR support, which means you get amazing dynamic range while watching HDR supported content on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

The top of the phone also houses a speaker module, along with the earpiece. Asus 6Z gets a stereo speaker setup with one speaker on the top next to the earpiece and the second one at the bottom. The speaker sounds pretty loud and clear and with the HDR goodness, it fits to be perfect for media consumption.

Design

The device takes the popular glass sandwich approach as seen in smartphones these days. Weighing at 190 grams, this is one heavy device. Although for this the internal 5000mAh battery is to be blamed (more on that later). The back sports a black-grey glass panel, which houses a fingerprint scanner (which was easy to set up and functioned without any hassles) right below the flipping camera module. This camera module is also the reason why this phone isn't splash or water resistant!

Between the display and the glass back lies an all-aluminium chassis, which gets a matte-black finish and chrome highlights for a premium look and feel. The back glass also curves around the edges to make it easy to grip on to the otherwise ginormous and heavy device. The matte finish around the edges also helps in getting a good hold on the Asus 6Z.

The left gets a dual-SIM card + microSD card tray, which can really come in handy for people who want both SIMs to work along with external memory cards. The right gets the power button which is neatly highlighted with electric blue accents, along with a volume rocker and a third programmable button. This button by default launches Google Assistant but can be set to other pre-defined functions like a camera shortcut, flashlight etc. I did, however, found it difficult to reach for the button, as it was all the way on the top. But still, it's great to see brands add programmable buttons to its devices.

When I looked at the bottom of the smartphone (No, I wasn't feeling naughty!) I found a USB Type-C charging port, a speaker grille and a headphone jack! Yes, you're reading that right, no this isn't a typo! Asus was kind enough to include a 3.5mm headphone jack on its flagship smartphone.

Overall, even with the weight, and the slippery glossy back, the device felt comfortable to hold on to, however, I still preferred keeping a case on the device.

Hardware and software experience

Asus has gone all in, in order to make this smartphone a true-flagship. We're talking Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor with Adreno 640 GPU. We got the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant but if you want something more powerful, you also get an 8GB RAM/256GB storage variant. With such a solid spec sheet, it goes without saying that this phone is a true powerhouse when it comes to performance. Whether it was gaming or just regular day to day tasks, the phone was ready to take everything head-on, without breaking a sweat.

Powering the device is a massive 5000mAh battery, that also supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0. The phone easily survived almost two days in a single charge, with extensive web browsing, streaming and camera usage.

One thing that sort-of alarmed me was that while charging, the device got awfully hot. Maybe I'm just used to OnePlus' WARP charging (In which the device doesn't get so hot while charging), but the high temperatures surely meant the thermals on this Asus 6Z weren't very optimised.

Asus 6Z is running on Android 9.0 with its custom Zen UI skin on top. I've used Zen UI in the past and I've haven't particularly been a fan of their customisations, but this iteration was a refreshing change. The Zen UI skin has de-cluttered its interface- so to speak- and make it look a lot like stock Android. Sure it still isn't exactly as similar as what you'd get in the Pixel smartphones or Oxygen OS by OnePlus, but it did feel smooth and snappy while browsing through apps and menus. The experience browsing through the OS was a pleasant one indeed.

Camera

Now we come to the star-feature of this smartphone, the one that makes everyone 'flip' (okay I'm sorry, I'll promise to not use any more flipping puns). The Asus 6Z is rocking a 26mm, 48-megapixel Sony sensor with f/1.8 (helping in better low-light photography) and a secondary 11mm ultra-wide camera with a 13-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The camera also gets Laser auto-focus sensors for focusing on subjects instantly.

Let's talk about the construction of the camera module first. This camera module is set on a rotary motor setup that flips the module instantly when switching between selfie and regular camera modes. The motor promises up to 100,000 movements, that translates to a couple of years (depending on how many selfies you take in a day). The construction feels solid, however, I wouldn't be putting too much faith in that. With too many moving parts involved, I'd still consider this a relatively-fragile smartphone. You do get free-fall detection where if the phone senses that it is going to crash on the floor (using the gyro-sensor) it'll instantly snap back to its place to avoid any damage, but this cannot be fully trusted.

If you thought the flip motor can only switch between selfie and the standard position, you're in for a surprise. Asus 6Z has re-purposed the volume rocker from a camera trigger button to a camera-angle setting button, where, by pressing either up or down, can change the angle at which you want the camera to face. If this sounds cool in reading, believe me, it truly blew my mind when I tried playing with it. The flip camera can also come in handy to shoot stable panoramas where all you need to do is click the trigger, and the flip camera will take care of the rest.

The flip camera also supports live object tracking. Just lock your focus on an object and the camera module will move in the direction of the object. While it didn't work as smoothly as I'd hoped, It still feels like a cool feature that I'm sure can be perfected with future software updates.

Coming to the camera performance, I liked the lens arrangement Asus went with. The primary 48-megapixel sensor is great on specs and the secondary super-wide lens can not only come in handy for landscapes but also group photos, especially when clicking in selfie mode. This lens setup makes this smartphone a powerful selfie shooter.

The camera did capture some sharp and vibrant images. The colours were well-balanced and accurate in the day time. With its Laser AF sensor, focussing on the subject was instantaneous and felt snappy with zero shutter lag.

Even in low-light, the camera did a good job of keeping the noise to a minimum. It took me some time to get used to the camera flipping to switch between selfie and standard modes, but it wasn't too annoying.

Final conclusion

With the first few hours with the Asus 6Z, I'm thoroughly impressed at what it is offering at a price point of Rs 31,999. The device is fairly loaded to take on the flagships in its competition. The flip camera might seem like a novelty, but it definitely performs as advertised. The 5000mAh battery is another strong point in its favour, apart from the seamless performance it offers. OnePlus 7 finally has a worthy competitor that can truly shake its flagship killer status!