Big things in small packages: How the new Zenfone 10 bucks the smartphone trend

Remember the days of handy little smartphones, the kind you could operate with one hand, relieving you of the annoying need for hand gymnastics to use the phone’s features? That category has been pretty much forgotten by major phone manufacturers. It was Sony who first offered a smaller form factor with the Xperia Compact, but nowadays small phones are truly a rare sight.

There is one company, however, called Asus who are introducing their Zenfone range, aiming to buck the trend and give us devices that we can handle without requiring both of our hands to do so. The Zenfone 10 is the third iteration and this time Asus has gone all out. This phone has all the features you could want in a modern smartphone. The screen is beautiful, the processor is fast, the camera is capable, and it packs several features that aren’t as ubiquitous as they once were.

Perhaps the real merit of the Zenfone 10 design is that it avoids being ostentatious, but still manages to bring out its presence in a convincing way. It probably won’t come as a huge surprise that the iPhone was the main line of design inspiration for Zenfone, but it has several advantages that its Apple counterpart doesn’t. the back of the phone is based on polycarbonate, which is a type of plastic, and is sturdy in a way that’s quite pleasant to the touch.

Functionally, it guarantees some type of drop resistance and will probably never drop from your hand or any other smooth surface. The build quality of this phone is really top notch. The small screen is protected by a Corning Guerrilla Glass Victus which is quite resistant to drops and other types of knocks. While it’s not the slimmest of smartphones, at 9.4mm thick, it’s worth mentioning that they’ve had to shrink a bit. That also means it’s not particularly light, weighing in at 172 grams. Still, that weight makes it feel sturdy and reliable.

The phone has an IP68 certification, which means it can survive splashes of fresh water and can be submerged up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. Perhaps adding to the appeal of the phone is the fact that it comes in white, black, light green, red and blue. Choosing more colors might appeal to women, who will likely be more attracted to the compact form factor.

If there’s one feature that could be in any way a drawback, it’s the camera array on the back. It has two camera lenses, both of which are huge, which leaves limited space for you to hold it without pushing your finger against the lens. That said, ASUS has been able to create a unique design language, which is no easy feat these days. So no, the Zenfone isn’t the prettiest of phones, but it’s handsome enough and distinct enough to differentiate itself from the hordes of Samsung, iPhone, and Xiaomi offerings out there.

Keep in mind, though, that when we’re talking about compact phones these days, it’s all pretty relative. The Zenfone screen is 5.9 inches in diameter, which is actually considered compact these days. The resolution isn’t quite up to the 2023 standard, as it only sits at 1920 by 1080, making it a full HD display, but it does have an AMOLED panel, meaning color and contrast are superb, and it can refresh the display up to 144 Hertz, a trait that was likely inherited from their ROG lineup.

So yes, the Zenfone is excellent for gaming, and in any case, gaming is the only avenue you can take full advantage of the 144 Hertz refresh rate. With other more rudimentary tasks, you should settle for 60, 90 or 120 Hertz. Colors are quite vivid and the panel can get very bright, with up to 1100 units in manual mode. Let’s put it this way: if you’re a consumer who values ​​a quality display above all else, you’ll really appreciate what the Zenfone has to offer, comfortably rivaling any iPhone or Samsung.

We’re happy to report that all other hardware features are also top-notch. The processor is the second generation Snapdragon 8, which is considered one of the best from Qualcomm. It knows how to save energy and offers ample computing speed to rival the latest iPhone and has impressive thermodynamic temperature management even under extreme workloads. There’s no SD card slot, but it comes in two guises. Either 8 gigabytes of internal memory and 256 gigabytes of storage, or 16 gigabytes of internal memory and 512 gigabytes of storage. Regardless of how you look at it, this is a phone that will be able to withstand anything you throw at it, no matter how intensely you throw it.

Ready for some more praise? The battery life of this phone is almost legendary. It has a 4,300 milliamp-hour battery, and with the processor’s efficient use of energy, it can easily last two days before needing to be recharged. Additionally, it also supports wireless charging for anyone who still finds this feature relevant. It has Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 7 built in, and unlike many other modern manufacturers, it hasn’t skipped the headphone jack.

Unlike Samsung and other manufacturers who play around with their Android infrastructure and make their UI look cartoonish and grotesque in a somewhat desperate attempt to stand out, Asus has chosen to keep it as close to Stock Android, which gives it a streamlined look that’s easy to use. The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner, and if you choose to tinker with the settings enough, you can also establish that double-tapping the back of the phone will take a screenshot. There are some of ASUS’s immovable apps like file manager and weather, but otherwise it’s all Google.

Despite its relatively small size, the Zenfone 10 is equipped with everything you need to consume content like a pro, with a real headphone jack and capable stereo speakers. The only thing that could be considered a little less so is where they’ve placed the speaker itself, which is at the bottom of the phone, so if you’re the type of person who puts the phone in a cradle, for example, the sound it could come out a little muted.

However, the sound quality, in general, is superb and one of the best we’ve heard from the latest smartphones, meaning it’s highly recommended for music fans. However, if you’re planning on a Netflix and quiet night in, you probably won’t find this screen big enough to do it in a way that will feel comfortable and natural. If you love consuming YouTube videos, you might want to stick to short films, which are presented in a 9X16 format instead of the usual 16X9. In terms of software. The only thing I can complain about is the fact that Asus software rolls out updates every two years, which is pretty annoyingly rare.

ASUS has never been considered a photography behemoth, especially when it comes to smartphones, as none of its previous devices were particularly known for their photography capabilities. However, this one comes with a pleasant surprise. It packs a giant 50-megapixel main sensor made by Sony, and its image stabilization is one of the best. Daytime photos are very colorful and full of detail, and low-light photos mostly look good too. That said, the ASUS algorithm is still not as sophisticated as those of iPhone, Huawei, Xiaomi and Samsung. All of them have gained a lot more experience with this sort of thing. Also, there is no zoom function here and the digital magnification only goes up to X2.

The second lens is designed for wide angle shots. It packs a 13 megapixel sensor and its output is reasonable. It has a couple of problems though. The first is that the image stabilization is not up to par with this lens, and the second is that we are talking about a fixed focus lens. It’s good enough for panoramic landscape shots, but nothing more. The selfie camera has a 32 megapixel lens, which is also fixed focus. It’s definitely more than enough for your TikTok videos or portraits with a blurry background. The main selling point of ASUS is video shooting, which remains stable and very sharp, even if you have two people running after your dog or your children during filming. It also supports spatial audio, which means that while you’re filming, the captured sound will appear to come from all around you. The bottom line is that this is a truly excellent all-purpose camera.

The Zenfone 10 is expected to hit Israeli stores soon and is likely to accept the latest offers from Apple and Samsung directly.

The Zenfone 10 is a phone that’s greater than the sum of its parts. It doesn’t quite hit a bull’s eye on every single street, but for the most part, this is an extremely capable device that’s easy to use and live with. If you like compact phones that can be easily operated with one hand, and are well aware of their somewhat limited lifespan and hefty price tag, this might be worth a look. It might just capture your heart in a way that others have forgotten how to do.