Google has made great strides in the smartphone market over the past couple of years. The company recently passed the 2% market share mark with its Pixel devices, and while that doesn’t seem like a real threat to Apple and Samsung (for now), the big G’s mobile business is growing.
In the blue corner, as the boxing commentators say, we have the underdog, namely the Asus Zenfone 10. After the success of the previous model, Asus felt that they had struck gold with this compact powerhouse and released the Zenfone 10 with minor changes and updates.
At first glance, these two don’t have much in common. The Zenfone 10 is battling for the compact Android flagship title, while the Pixel 7 is neither a true flagship nor very compact. However, these phones do share some similarities which can result in a very similar user experience namely camera system, Android version and battery life.
Will the little guy be able to challenge the Pixel 7? And which of these Android designs should you choose? Today we will find out.
Google made a radical design change with the Pixel 6 series, moving to a glass sandwich design, and the company has been perfecting this philosophy ever since. It’s not your typical glass and aluminum design though, as Google decided to shake things up a bit with a long stripe that runs from side to side on the back of the phone. The company calls it the “Camera Strip”.
Asus, on the other hand, leverages a different design philosophy with the Zenfone series, going compact and light rather than sleek. The back of the phone is made of matte plastic with a papery/rubbery feel. It’s a different approach that yields different results.
The Zenfone 10 is much lighter than the Pixel 7 (169 grams versus 197), and this isn’t just down to the materials; the Pixel has a bigger screen at 6.3 inches, while the Zenfone keeps things below the 6-inch mark at 5.9.
Speaking of displays, this is one of the major differences between the two devices. The Samsung-made 5.9-inch AMOLED of the Zenfone 10 is capable of a refresh rate of up to 144Hz (though only when gaming), while the Pixel 9’s 6.3-inch panel tops out at 90Hz. Hz.
Both displays are quite color accurate, but the Pixel panel is a bit brighter. The resolution is exactly the same on the two phones (1080 x 2400 pixels), but since the pixel has a larger display, this results in a slightly lower density (418 vs 446 PPI). Actually, the two displays are sharp and the image is quite sharp.
Both phones also feature Face Unlock, but it’s not the sophisticated 3D variety used by Apple, so it’s less secure. That said, this feature works fast on both the Zenfone 10 and Pixel 7.
Performance and software
Another radical difference between Pixel 7 and Zenfone 10 lies in the hardware architecture. Google decided to design and build its own chip with the Pixel 6 generation, while Zenfone 10 relies on Qualcomm silicon. There is still a performance gap between the second generation Tensor inside the Pixel 7 and the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 found in the Zenfone 10. You can check out the detailed results in the table below. Synthetic benchmarks don’t always tell the whole story, but you can expect smoother operation from the Zenfone 10, which offers more raw power.
In terms of RAM and onboard storage, both phones start with 8GB/128GB storage configurations, and neither has a microSD card slot.
Performance Benchmarks:
Both phones launched with Android 13 out of the box, but the Pixel has a slight edge when it comes to software support. Google is promising three major Android updates, meaning the Pixel 7 will end up at Android 16, while the Zenfone software update cycle will end at Android 15.
In terms of software experience, Pixel 7 and Zenfone 10 are more similar than you might imagine. Asus offers the option to upgrade to the “stock” Android experience with a few minor tweaks to further enhance your daily life with the device. The Pixel 7, on the other hand, can no longer be “stock” and will also receive new software releases sooner.
Camera
The Zenfone 10 and Pixel 7 both feature just two cameras, lacking a dedicated telephoto lens. On paper, both are very similar, using 50MP sensors for the main camera (although the Pixel 7’s sensor is larger), with similar apertures and focal lengths.
Let’s not forget, though, that Google is the king of computational photography and has been perfecting it since the first Pixel phones. So, let’s take a look at some real-life photos and see what’s what.
Main camera – Day
Even though Asus has decided to keep the same camera hardware as the previous generation on the Zenfone 10, apparently the company has played with the post-processing algorithms. Because the photos look radically different between the Zenfone 9 and Zenfone 10. The new model dulls the colors to the point that the images look almost unnatural and also tends to overexpose in very bright light conditions.
The Pixel 7, on the other hand, manages to represent colors much better; they feel more natural, and dynamic range also looks better on the Pixel. Take a look at the photo with the flowers and see how burnt they look on the Zenfone 10. Transitions between sky and sea also look smoother and better on the Pixel.
Main Camera – Low Light
Night shooting is a mixed bag. Both phones brighten the scene too much in low light and the Zenfone 10 also tends to make photos too sharp to give a subjective feeling of more detail. There’s also a weird greenish tinge to night shots on the Zenfone 10.
The Pixel 7, on the other hand, produces more balanced shots that look a bit soft compared to those taken with the Zenfone. Sometimes Pixel blows out highlights, and Zenfone does a better job of preserving detail in those brighter areas.
Zoom quality
There’s no dedicated telephoto lens on any of these phones, so close-up shots use digital zoom and, of course, don’t look great. At low magnification, both phones return acceptable results; shots taken with the Pixel look a little softer and the enhanced colors on the Zenfone are still there.
If you zoom all the way in, the photos start to look like a mix between an abstract painting and ChatGPT-generated content, and if we absolutely had to pick one winner, it would be the Pixel. You can at least read the signs and tell people from aliens in those shots (whisper, there are no people, we are all aliens).
Portrait mode
Portrait mode is decent on both phones. The Pixel can resolve more detail, but the bokeh algorithm is a bit aggressive, sometimes clipping and blurring parts that shouldn’t be blurry. The Zenfone 10, on the other hand, does a better job on that front, but it sometimes lacks dynamic range and photos feel underexposed.
Ultra wide angle camera
Ultrawide shots look similar between the Pixel and Zenfone, both in terms of detail and field of view. Some colors are even more accentuated on the Zenfone (grass, for example), and there are artifacts towards the edges of the images.
Selfies
The Zenfone 10 has a new built-in selfie camera, a 32MP one with fancy white pixels inside it. Fantasy or not, this technology seems to be working, as selfies are cool. We can argue that the Zenfone 10 captures even more detail than the Pixel, although colors are still a bit problematic and too boosted for our personal tastes.
Video quality
One of the main highlights of the Zenfone 10 (and Zenfone 9, for that matter) is the 6-axis gimbal stabilization. It’s just great, you can capture perfect video in virtually any shaky situation. As far as video quality is concerned, both the Pixel 7 and the Zenfone 10 get the job done. There are more details on the Zenfone 10, but the colors are again oversaturated. The Pixel 7 does a better job in low light, resolving more detail in difficult highlighted areas.
Audio quality and haptics
When it comes to audio and haptics, we think the Zenfone 10 does things a bit better than the Pixel 7. Don’t get us wrong, the Pixel’s stereo setup is more than decent; it’s not very loud and can get shrill, especially at higher volumes.
The Zenfone 10, on the other hand, uses clever magic to enhance bass frequencies, adding things that “trick” your ear into hearing more bass, and the system works surprisingly well. Audio quality and volume are also very good, especially for such a small phone. The 3.5mm earphone jack gives you more flexibility in audio setup than you can get with Zenfone.
Battery life and charging
Battery capacity is very close between these two, at least on paper. The Zenfone 10 comes with the same 4,300mAh battery as its predecessor but sports a more efficient chipset, while the Pixel 7 comes with a 4,355mAh cell, but the Tensor is built using 5nm technology and loses the battle. of efficiency with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Our battery benchmarks paint an interesting picture. When it comes to browsing, the Zenfone 10 clears out the Pixel 7, but YouTube and gaming tests returned similar results. In real-life scenarios, both phones will last a full day, but the Zenfone 10 can easily extend that to two days if you’re not super tough.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
The charging situation is also very similar, even if on paper the Zenfone 10 has an advantage. Google advertises the Pixel 7 as capable of 21W wired charging, while the Zenfone 10 supports up to 30W charging bricks (and one comes in the box).
In practice, both phones will charge from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes, and a full charge takes about an hour and a half. The Zenfone 10 now features wireless charging at speeds up to 15W, while the Pixel 7 can charge wirelessly at 20W but again, real-life performance is very similar.
Summary and final verdict
At the end of the day, the Asus Zenfone 10 and Google Pixel 7 are quite different. They come in different sizes and weights; building materials are different; and the chipsets are also different. So why bother comparing them?
What’s not so different is the actual user experience: both offer a very solid Android deal, similar battery life, similar camera performance, charging speeds, and smooth operation. The deciding factor here is the price.
The Pixel is substantially cheaper at $599 (for the same memory configuration), while to get the latest Snapdragon and some case candy (a charging brick, a back cover), you need to spend an extra $200.
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Image Source : www.phonearena.com