Asus India has come up with their new budget android smartphone “Zenfone” series where they are going to launch Asus Zenfone 4, Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 6 smartphones in India. We have grabbed Asus Zenfone 5 today for hands on review ( preliminary ), lets see how much is Asus Zenfone 5 is worth as compared to the toughest competitor in same specifications and price range market i.e. Moto G.

Let us give you a brief overview of Asus Zenfone 5. Asus Zenfone 5 comes with android 4.3 out of the box (comes with a promise to get android 4.4 KitKat). It runs on Intel powered Atom Dual-Core Z2560 1.6GHz chipset, available in 5 colors white/red/black/gold/purple. It has 5″ 720p IPS display, 2 GB RAM, 8/16 GB internal storage and a 8 MP rear cam and 2 MP front cam. Asus has come up with a new personalized Asus ZenUI which is a way cooler than stock android UI.

Asus Zenfone 5 Review

It comes in a small white cardboard box with Zenfone 5 branding on it.

You can see film on Zenfone 5 brags about 8 MP Pixel Master Camera, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display and personalized Asus ZenUI.

There is screen guard on Zenfone 5 out of the box.

Asus Zenfone 5 Accessories

Out of the box Asus is giving 1 headphone ( black ), 1 USB cable and 1 charger along with some warranty cards and start up manuals.

Asus Zenfone 5 specifications

Asus Zenfone 5 Hardware

It has 5″ 1280*720 IPS+ Panel, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display with capacitive touch buttons on the bottom bezel. Touch buttons are somewhat spread towards the ends, they could have been more closer for better touch response.

On the top bezel a hearing speaker along with front cam and notification light are present ( sensors included ). Being a 5″ display phone it is very light, weighing only 148 grams and 148.2 x 72.8 x 10.34 in dimensions.

On the bottom bezels, you find the silver Zen series finish with volume rocker and power on/off keys at right profile of phone.

At the bottom side, micro USB port and microphone is present.

3.5 mm headphone jack at top with secondary microphone.

Volume rocker key and power on/off key. No external camera shutter key present.

External speakers are present at back of phone. Not so loud, mediocre quality.

To open the back cover of phone there is a small gap given on body line of back cover which is used to open the phone from back to insert SIM cards and Micro SD card.

Asus Zenfone 5 Software

Asus Zenfone 5 is powered with android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS and with new personalized Asus ZenUI. Asus has done a great job with the flat icons in the UI and making it white and colorful like Sony has for their Xperia devices.

Asus ZenUI

You can access camera, phone and messaging app from the lock screen. Tap on home screen to add widgets and change wallpapers, you can change the transparency of the home screen.

Notification panel is really cool, giving you access to around 16 quick setting options.

Home launcher is pretty much similar to stock android home launcher.

Calling app is pretty much handy to make calls and to see the details swipe across the app to see other panes like contacts, groups etc.

Keyboard in ZenUI is really good with all gesture settings. Very well spaced in landscape mode. There is limited smileys present only.

Lets have a look at Asus Zenfone 5 Settings options.

Out of the box Zenfone 5 comes with android 4.3 firmware and build number as ASUS_T00J_WW_user_1.14.40.16-20140610_388297.

General Dual SIM settings found.

Asus has included an easy mode simple home launcher with very basic settings and option ( for not so tech savvy people ).

Asus Zenfone 5 Benchmark results

Zenfone 5 scored between 19K-21K points when ran on AnTuTu benchmark for 5 times in a row, lets have a look at result.

Asus Zenfone 5 PixelMaster Camera

To be honest as Asus is branding Zenfone 5 having a camera from which you can shoot a stunning ad campaign, we didn’t find anything like that. Camera in Zenfone 5 is very slow, laggy, heats up after taking some pics.

Auto focus seems to work well but the auto exposure in camera pics in ruining all quality. We compared to 8 MP shots and 5 MP shots of other phones like Lumia 625, Moto G and it definitely produced better pics than them but could have been more better for a 8 MP camera. Front cam pic quality is also of low level.

Check below some pics captured with Zenfone 5.

We captured some pics in different modes of the same object, check below.

Asus Zenfone 5 Price and Release date in India

Zenfone 5 will be launching in India on 9 July so you can’t grab it till then, seeing its specifications and close rival like Moto G, it should hit somewhat around 12499 INR to 13499 INR, depending upon internal memory size variant handsets. In US it starts from $149. We are expecting Asus Zenfone 5 to hit online retail stores like Flipkart, Amazon, Infibeam in India soon after the launch.

Asus Zenfone 5 Official Accessories

Asus has officially launched two official accessories for Zenfone5.

Asus Zen Case

Protective back cover case for Zenfone 5 available in all 5 color variants of the phone.

Asus View Flip Cover

Asus view flip covers comes with an opening in case where you can access the lockscreen accessible apps so that you can take your calls without opening the cover.

Asus Zenfone 5 Recommend Accessories

If you are purchasing Asus Zenfone 5 in India then you might take a look at below listed accessories which will go great with your device.

• SanDisk MicroSD Card 32 GB Class 10 Ultra
• Sony MDR-XB30EX Extra-Bass Stereo Headphone
• Jabra BT 2046 Bluetooth Headset
• Sony CP-ELS Power Bank For Smart Phones

Asus Zenfone 5 Review – Conclusion

We spent a week with Asus Zenfone 5 and noticed a few things to include in the pros and cons of this phone, lets have a look at it.

Asus Zenfone 5 Pros

The very first thing I said after holding Zenfone 5 was “it’s so light weight” as compared to my Xperia Z1. Screen display is very bright with vivid colors, perfect for a 720p resolution phone. UI is great and so is memory consumption of the device. Battery life is descent, not so bad not so good. Good gaming and video quality experience.

Asus Zenfone 5 Cons

Size of bezels can be a issue for many users like us. Capacitive touch buttons are not so responsive like they would have been as onscreen keys. Camera is slow, lags ( can be a firmware issue ), over exposed pics. Mediocre quality of external speaker. It do looks like a cheap plastic device when you hold it in your hand ( as compared to Moto G ). We are not impressed by overall build quality of phone.

Asus Zenfone 5 Verdict

If you are comparing it with Moto G then you might have to go in depth as both devices perform equal in terms of performance. We would rate both devices equal if compared and will go for anyone by self choice. You can say Asus is doing great when firmware updates are concerned, we got 3 bug fixing updates of android 4.3 within 2 days of taking phone out of the box. You might take a look at Zenfone 5 if you are going to buy a budget android phone in India.

As when it comes to India and you took it, do come here to tell us, hows your experience with it. Drop your comments below if you have any doubts regarding Asus Zenfone 5.