In its fourth generation of mid-range smartphones, Asus has boldly gone with a 'selfie special', launching three devices to cater both to festival indulgence needs as well as the selfie craze. The ZenFone 4 Selfie series consists of three phones—all 5.5 inch screen—that look almost identical, but offer significant differences under the hood that cater to a broad spectrum of affordability in India. We had the chance to try out the flagship phone—the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro—over some days and also got our hands briefly on the two lesser priced models.
The USP of the ZenFone 4 Selfie range is its group selfie capabilities, thanks to the Asus SelfieMaster technology which improves portraits on the fly with tools like skin-tone adjustment, skin softening, skin whitening, blemish removal, eye enhancement and facial-feature balancing. All three smartphones of ZenFone 4 Selfie Series features portrait mode on the front and the rear camera; front and rear flash; with 5.5” display and Snapdragon Octa-Core Processor.
The ZenFone 4 Selfie Series comes with a new version of the Asus Zen UI 4.0, and a Twin Apps feature which allows the user create two separate accounts on apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram.The new series of devices support Android N out of the box and can be upgraded to Android O in the future. This means a stark and simple user interface, not cluttered by all sorts of fancy apps and GUIs (graphical user interfaces). The Asus specific apps are tucked into a separate folder that you can open—or not.
The ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro comes with a 24MP DuoPixel main selfie camera with Sony IMX362 image sensor, ƒ/1.8 aperture, 1.4µm pixel size and a special SuperPixel Engine enabling 2X light sensitivity for beautifully clear and vivid selfies. While the main shooter is the centrally located 24MP front camera, there is a secondary wide angle camera with a 120 degree wide angle which will let fit in the whole gang into a selfie. It is also one of the first devices to feature 4K UHD selfie video capability... a useful feature in these days when we have 4K on many flat screen LED TV screens, but hardly any 4K content to play.
I don't often find a phone camera to be too good at its job. But the moment I switched the camera to the front or selfie mode, it laid bare my facial features in stark unflattering detail that I don't encounter even in a shaving mirror. Clearly 24 megapixels were doing their job. But then I had already enabled the Selfie Master feature and this pops up in the form of a slider that softens and improves the image in real time. The device is priced at Rs. 23,999.
The ZenFone 4 Selfie comes with a high-res 13MP selfie camera with front Softlight LED flash and 13MP rear camera with phase-detection autofocus (PDAF) to take clear, detailed photos with natural colors, and with EIS for steady videos. This device also comes with a Selfie Panorama mode which makes it easy to capture selfies with friends or to include scenery in the shot. Priced at Rs. 9,999, it is one of the cheapest selfie phones for the specs it offers. No dual cameras—but good value all the same.
ZenFone 4 Selfie (Dual Camera Version) features dual front-facing cameras, including a high-resolution, 20MP main selfie camera with an ƒ/2.0 aperture and a secondary 8MP 120° wide-angle camera. Along with a Softlight LED flash, the device also comes with LED flash and phase-detection autofocus system Additional camera features include Pro mode that enables exposures of up to 32 seconds, and Full-HD video recording with electronic image-stabilization (EIS) for detailed, shake-free videos. The dual camera variant is priced at Rs. 14,999. (check online for some discounts)
The big difference in price of about Rs 10,000, between the Selfie Pro and Selfie Dual Camera is possibly due to the 4K shooter of the former. But this is not a priority, then the Dual Camera is still better value. Both offer 4GB RAM and 64 GB storage; identical 3000 mAh batteries, though the processor of the Pro is a shade better. The dual nano SIM slots are identical in all three phones and you can second nano SIM slot can take a jumbo micro SD card up to 2 TB which is difficult to find in India.
Since all three cameras support 4G VoLTE, you are able to avail of festive offers from Reliance Jio, currently the only service provider leveraging this standard country wide. Airtel subscribers in Mumbai are also able to harness VoLTE.
By sticking to the handy 5.5 inch size, Asus is able to squeeze a lot of high-end camera features into attractively priced models in every price band.
