See What Others Can See With ASUS ZenFone 2!

        You know how ladies normally get all excited when they’re in a mall looking at dresses? Well, my wife for some reason gets all excited when passing by a cellphone shop. She doesn’t necessarily buy every new cellphone model like how fashion changes per season (because that would be crazy), but she just really loves looking and fiddling with cellphones. Any cellphone.

        And there are a lot of cellphones in the market today. So many that people are sometimes having a hard time keeping up. So when people need to change their phones, more often than not, they have to really do their research to make sure their next cellphone can keep up with their lifestyles but at the same time will not cause them an arm and a leg.

        And that’s just what the newest ASUS phone is about. The ASUS Zenfone 2 is pretty much one of the best smart phones you will get today with excellent excellent value for money.

Design

        One look at this phone and you’ll see why they named this phone “Zen”. The Zenfone 2 looks very elegant. Very sleek. Very zen. It sports the iconic ASUS concentric-circle design. You’ll see these subtle concentric circle patterns at the bottom of the face of the phone, as well as the rear key.

        The rear key is brilliantly placed at the back by the center of the phone.  At first I thought it was kind of weird but it actually is easily accessible for the index finger to reach it. This key controls volume and serves as the shutter key for taking selfies.  

        The lock and unlock key is located at the very center of the top of the phone. I have to admit it’s a bit of an effort to lock and unlock, but you wouldn’t mind this as soon as you discover the Tap feature. Wake up your phone just by double tapping the screen. And from the menu/desktop screen, double tap the screen again to lock. Pretty cool. (Read on to see the video of other ZenMotion features.)

        The back of the phone is slightly curved, making it easy to grip. They call this Ergonomic Arc Design. And the brush metal finish somehow reminds me of a beautifully polished pebble in a stream. Very zen indeed!

        The phone has a good 5 inch size. The body is a bit shorter compared to the iPhone 6 Plus but the screen is about the same size. That gives you a good body size but maximum screen size, perfect for viewing Facebook, emails, videos, and play games with. The screen has a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which in layman’s terms mean it’s very tough, and is scratch and damage resistant.

        One of the things I’m really impressed with the Zenfone 2 is the incredibly crisp and sharp screen. No matter how much you look closely, you won’t see any pixel squares at all. Very very impressive for affordable phone!

        The ASUS Zenfone 2 runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop)

Camera

        A huge factor when buying a smart phone is good camera quality. Because it eliminates the need for us to bring a separate camera in our bags. And I’m happy to say that the camera of the Zenfone 2 is very nice and jam packed with fun features. 

It operates really well outdoors on a sunny day...

This flower shot turned out really vibrant.

It also works pretty okay indoors during day time. 

Some home decor indoors beside the window.

        Being a food blogger, food shots are important. But ZenFone 2 pushed through. Here are some indoor food shots. We usually fix the colors, brightness etc. When we post photos in the blog but for this time, we’re not going to edit it (except put watermark) so you can see the actual photos taken by the ZenFone 2.

Owl Mode

        One of the unique features is the Owl mode which is perfect for low light ambiances. Here’s a photo I took last night with and without the owl mode. Not bad!

        It also has an HDR mode for those against-the-light shots. The top is the auto mode. Below us the HDR mode turned on. As you can see my wife’s face has more detail and is brighter.

Get Creative with Built-In Editing Features

        Aside from great photos, ASUS Zenfone takes another step in creating and sharing and preserving memories with Zenfone 2’s built-in editing tools that contain lots of filters and frames that are very easy to use and apply to your photos. 

MiniMovie

        And you can also make short photo slideshows with the MiniMovie maker. It’s the easiest thing ever! Just select the photos, then choose a tmplate. And that’s it! The template themes range from sports, love, memories, life, city, leisure, and more.

        The 2 megapixel front facing cam is also pretty good. My wife , and probably every female’s favorite camera mode feature is the Beautification. It automatically smoothens the face. Goodbye oily skin and pimples! This will make me save on Rina’s AA BB CC facial creams and whatnots. Yes!

        And speaking of selfie, the Selfie Panorama feature is pretty cool too! The front cam can take panorama shots with you in it. Although it takes some getting used to. Obviously, we need more practice for wider panorama shots. Because out shot here was hardly panoramic. Our fault!

I was also surprised that you can also take a vertical panoramic shot. This one I was able to do flawlessly!

        Taking photos of restless toddlers is a challenge most of the time. It’s hard to get them to sit still and smile and look at the camera. But with the Time Rewind Camera mode, it will be a lot easier. It takes spontaneous shots a few seconds before you actually snap the phote. This way you can really capture and choose the best shot.

Snapview and Guest Mode 

        ASUS Zenfone 2 adds yet another helpful feature for smartphone users. The Snapview feature gives you extra space where you can store files (videos, photos, etc. Even apps) SEPARATELY from all the other files in the phone. Think of it like a different user account.  This means the files that are saved while in Snapview can’t be viewed when you are in Owner user, and Snapview user won’t be able to view files saved in Owner user. Each user is protected with a password. There’s also guest mode in case your friend needs to temporarily use your phone to email, etc. User icon is on the top right most corner of the screen. Just tap that to change user.

ZenMotion

        Zenfone has got lots of gestures that you can do on the screen even when it’s in sleep mode. Aside from the double-tap feature I mentioned earlier, you can also “draw” on the phone’s screen to access certain features. Like writing W on the screen opens the browser. Writing S opens messaging, etc. It’s like magic! 

Gaming

        Like gaming? No problem! With Zenfone 2’s 4GB RAM and  it’s going to be easy peasy. I downloaded this Turbo Race game just to see how it performs in heavy graphic games and it did very well. 

Overall Performance

        Overall, I really feel that ASUS Zenfone 2 goes above and beyond what you’d expect from an affordable phone. Browsing and swiping through websites is very fluid, so far no hiccups. And with its 4G RAM and Intel internal processor, heavy gaming is not a problem. The camera is packed with features that makes it so easy to be creative. 

        This is really a phone that can keep up with today’s lifestyle. It’s elegant inside and out, without costing a lot. (And in case you were wondering, there are already available Zenfone 2 casings online!) With the ZenFone 2, you will really #SeeWhatOthersCantSee . ASUS empowers luxury to everyone! 

        The ASUS Zenfone 2 is available in the Philippines in Charcoal Black, Pearl White, and Cherry Red. Not yet certain if the gold and silver will be available here as well.

        For more techy specs of the ZenFone 2, click here. For more updates on ASUS new products, click here . and follow ASUS ZenFone Facebook page here!