ZenFone 6: €499 For No Notch, Stock Android, Huge Battery, & Headphone Jack!

[Bouzoo]

3 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Oppo N1

https://www.oppo.com/en/smartphone-n1/

Rotating cameras on phones were here for like 15 years now, if not more. Also recent Samsung A80 has it. This on the other hand... 

[jiyeon]

1 hour ago, TVwazhere said:

5000mAh battery? Meh

Notchless display? Whatever

649 price tag? I guess

 

Headphone jack? OH BABY NOW WE'RE TALKIN

I was more like:

 

5000mAh battery? Oh goodness

Notchless display? SWEET JESUS

Headphones jack? AH WOW

649 price tag? ... _{oh ok}

[TechyBen]

16 hours ago, seoz said:

When done right, LCD can be on par on with OLEDs minus the black levels of course. There's always that one compromise that phones have in the big picture, and the ZenFone 6's compromise is the screen.

 

I read a few comments on Dave2D's video saying they would pay $50-$100 for an OLED display on the ZenFone 6. Shows how much people wanted this to be the perfect device that checks every single box.

Da block lvls dough. Thooooose BLACK LEVELS!

 

Other than that, an interesting phone. 5000mah battery seems great though. No notch. Headphone jack? If it was OLED I'd see it as a Samsung beater. But I now notice backlight bleed.

 

My Note 9 should last a long time I hope. But phones like this mean I hold out some hope there will be something to replace it with eventually that won't be brain dead broken by design.

[Brooksie359]

10 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

Nice = stock Android

Meh = flip camera.

 

In fairness I am also not really that impressed with the OnePlus 7 Pro either: selfies cameras were neat when they were like an added bonus but punch holes, flip and pop-out mechanisms? Just use the camera on the back in a fucking mirror already.

If you dont use it for selfies do you even need to have it flip though? I dont really take pictures at all so it doesn't matter much to me but no notch does. 

[Misanthrope]

25 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

If you dont use it for selfies do you even need to have it flip though?

If it's part of the reason why it could potentially fail or not get water resistance certificates, yes actually.

 

However unlikely Asus (or Oneplus) claim that is, introducing a point of failure for no good reason is never a good idea imho.

[kokakolia]

Ok! The more I think about this phone, the less I like it. 

 

1. It's thick AF.

2. The glass back already looks dated. I understand that almost all phones ship with glass backs these days. But, it looks like companies are trying to differentiate their glass back phones with gradient effects or frosted textures. The glass on this Asus phone looks like it comes straight out of 2016. 

3. The flip camera is flat out ugly. The compromise to avoid a tiny punch-hole for the camera and get that extra 1% screen/body ratio with the flipper is comical because it introduces many more problems. 

4. The all screen design looks nice, but it adds the problem of accidental touches when you grip the phone. And you'll have to grip this phone harder because it's heavy and thick. 

 

And I'm just thinking that my current phone, the iPhone 7, just has a lot of elegance that this Asus phone utterly lacks. You won't find a thinner smartphone. The all metal body feels nice and solid. The iPhone 7 is easy to grip, and every button and feature is ergonomically placed. The bezels are comically huge, but charming in a symmetrical no notch, no gimmicks, no frills kind of way. 

 

Ultimately, I expect many people to keep their old iPhones and just switch out the batteries. This Asus phone just showcases everything wrong with current smartphone trends and doing a poor job at convincing people to upgrade. On the flipside, the Pixel 3a speaks to me a lot more. It's a more nostalgic approach to design that's reminiscent of the iPhone 5c but with smaller bezels. And everything is ergonomically sound. And the 3a might just prove that consumers don't care all that much about screen/body ratio. 

[Brooksie359]

5 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

If it's part of the reason why it could potentially fail or not get water resistance certificates, yes actually.

 

However unlikely Asus (or Oneplus) claim that is, introducing a point of failure for no good reason is never a good idea imho.

That can be said about anything. I guess we shiuldnt add a finger print scanner because it could fail. Why even have a conventional rear camera if that could fail as well. Oh we put more speakers on the phone than nessisary I guess that one of those could fail as well. 

[Misanthrope]

3 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

That can be said about anything. I guess we shiuldnt add a finger print scanner because it could fail. Why even have a conventional rear camera if that could fail as well. Oh we put more speakers on the phone than nessisary I guess that one of those could fail as well. 

None of those things have moving parts on a device that is expected to be constantly carried and handled by the users, so excuse me but no it can't be said about "anything" unless you want to go back 15 years to the flip phone era.

[TheKDub]

I doubt that camera will last even half a year before it stops flipping properly, if the phone itself even lasts that long...

[Brooksie359]

4 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

None of those things have moving parts on a device that is expected to be constantly carried and handled by the users, so excuse me but no it can't be said about "anything" unless you want to go back 15 years to the flip phone era.

Basically every button on a phone us technically a moving part so I guess we should get rid of those. Also just because it has moving parts doesn't mean it is likely to fail. 

[mr moose]

14 hours ago, seoz said:

 

16 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

5000mAh battery? Meh

Notchless display? Whatever

649 price tag? I guess

 

Headphone jack? OH BABY NOW WE'RE TALKIN

 

Besides the question of flip durability, this doesnt look half bad at all.

 

I was more like:

 

5000mAh battery? Oh goodness

Notchless display? SWEET JESUS

Headphones jack? AH WOW

649 price tag? ... _{oh ok}

 

You had me at "headphone jack"...

 

[Misanthrope]

1 hour ago, Brooksie359 said:

Basically every button on a phone us technically a moving part so I guess we should get rid of those. Also just because it has moving parts doesn't mean it is likely to fail. 

1) Those aren't automatic, yes they move but not on their own the user moves them. You don't seem to appreciate the level of complexity that automatic movement implies

2) Buttons are going away anyway: we started with touch screens first then there's been push for no home button, no power button necessary (Phone wakes up and unlocks with face recognition or wakes up when moved and unlocks with fingerprint scanner, no button presses) and virtual buttons on a touchscreen have been the standard for many years now

3) Even if you want to disregard 1 and 2 to continue this silly line of reasoning, ever since I started this tread I stated that selfie cameras were fine before they compromised design in a major way. Once you move away from the desirable design principles we've been seeing so far to make things less complex into added complexity of automatically moving mechanisms just to keep the selfie function, then yes it becomes silly. Also note that my wording isn't even that negative I just said it was silly, my reaction was "meh" it wasn't and outright complain or outrage it's just something unnecessary and wasteful but not all that detrimental, just something that isn't a big deal selling point as Asus or Oneplus would like us to believe.

[Quadriplegic]

12 hours ago, kokakolia said:

-snip-

Flex based damage would like to know your location

[Trixanity]

12 hours ago, kokakolia said:

Ok! The more I think about this phone, the less I like it. 

 

1. It's thick AF.

2. The glass back already looks dated. I understand that almost all phones ship with glass backs these days. But, it looks like companies are trying to differentiate their glass back phones with gradient effects or frosted textures. The glass on this Asus phone looks like it comes straight out of 2016. 

3. The flip camera is flat out ugly. The compromise to avoid a tiny punch-hole for the camera and get that extra 1% screen/body ratio with the flipper is comical because it introduces many more problems. 

4. The all screen design looks nice, but it adds the problem of accidental touches when you grip the phone. And you'll have to grip this phone harder because it's heavy and thick. 

 

And I'm just thinking that my current phone, the iPhone 7, just has a lot of elegance that this Asus phone utterly lacks. You won't find a thinner smartphone. The all metal body feels nice and solid. The iPhone 7 is easy to grip, and every button and feature is ergonomically placed. The bezels are comically huge, but charming in a symmetrical no notch, no gimmicks, no frills kind of way. 

 

Ultimately, I expect many people to keep their old iPhones and just switch out the batteries. This Asus phone just showcases everything wrong with current smartphone trends and doing a poor job at convincing people to upgrade. On the flipside, the Pixel 3a speaks to me a lot more. It's a more nostalgic approach to design that's reminiscent of the iPhone 5c but with smaller bezels. And everything is ergonomically sound. And the 3a might just prove that consumers don't care all that much about screen/body ratio. 

This isn't a phone for iPhone users. This is a phone for users who want practicality and for the power user who wants everything that has been removed in the name of luxury and courageousness wrapped up in an affordable price. This is almost the antithesis of an iPhone.

 

9mm isn't thick. In fact iPhone 4s was thicker. Difference being a 250% increase in battery capacity. 

 

There won't be accidental touches because the display isn't curved and there are still small side bezels.

 

This phone definitely isn't for you.

[kokakolia]

37 minutes ago, Quadriplegic said:

Flex based damage would like to know your location

That was an iPhone 6 problem! I was talking about the iPhone 7. It’s reinforced and tougher than your typical glass sandwich with a metal rim. 

 

@Trixanity You’re very much on the money. This is not a mainstream phone like the iPhone. iPhones don’t innovate, they steal features and refine them for the masses. The flip feature on the Asus is definitely a novelty that will attract tech enthusiasts. This phone screams « prototype » to me as nothing about it is refined. But everything is innovative from the all screen design to the unique camera layout. I think that the price of 500€ is ambitious. That’s flagship territory. Asus is doing a bold move here, even if they beat most other brands on specs for the money. My reaction of hate is unjustified, as it takes guts to release a phone with a camera flipper. I am just wondering how this Asus phone will age. I am sure that it will be featured in a tech video 5 years later as a novelty when front cameras will be under the screen. And similarly, people will be nostalgic for bezels (they really help grip the phone) thinking about the iPhone 6/6S/7/8. 

 

[Quadriplegic]

1 hour ago, kokakolia said:

That was an iPhone 6 problem! I was talking about the iPhone 7. It’s reinforced and tougher than your typical glass sandwich with a metal rim. 

 

 

iPhone 7 still suffers from flex based damage. Biggest issue with that design isn't weak frame, it's how there is no support for board:

 

[Trixanity]

1 hour ago, kokakolia said:

That was an iPhone 6 problem! I was talking about the iPhone 7. It’s reinforced and tougher than your typical glass sandwich with a metal rim. 

 

@Trixanity You’re very much on the money. This is not a mainstream phone like the iPhone. iPhones don’t innovate, they steal features and refine them for the masses. The flip feature on the Asus is definitely a novelty that will attract tech enthusiasts. This phone screams « prototype » to me as nothing about it is refined. But everything is innovative from the all screen design to the unique camera layout. I think that the price of 500€ is ambitious. That’s flagship territory. Asus is doing a bold move here, even if they beat most other brands on specs for the money. My reaction of hate is unjustified, as it takes guts to release a phone with a camera flipper. I am just wondering how this Asus phone will age. I am sure that it will be featured in a tech video 5 years later as a novelty when front cameras will be under the screen. And similarly, people will be nostalgic for bezels (they really help grip the phone) thinking about the iPhone 6/6S/7/8. 

 

The camera is very gimmicky and I have my doubts about the QA and overall design of the mechanism despite it being rated for 100k actuations (that's actually 200k less than OnePlus'). I wouldn't claim otherwise because it is a bit of an experiment when it comes to using motorized parts to get rid of the front cameras in the name of bezelless designs. However I'd also wager that most people even looking at this phone don't really take a lot of selfies, so I think in case the mechanism breaks that you might be able to push the camera to its original position and live without the front-facing camera (or if not, hope that it just one day doesn't move up when activated).

 

I wouldn't call it a prototype though. It isn't supposed to really be refined in the iPhone sense. You'd be looking at €750-1000 if it was to be refined. It's a compromise to keep it within their intended segment. Most of their phones are supposed to be high-value <€500 devices because they don't have the brand to compete with the likes of OnePlus, Samsung or Huawei at price parity. They realize the foolishness of raising the price to that level because if they got there why not just pick up the known quantity? OnePlus raises their prices with every release because their market share has likewise increased YoY and their brand has really gotten to the point where they can launch a €750 Pro model. No one willingly sacrifices profits unless it's a long term strategy to grow your market share.

 

Keep in mind that €500 isn't flagship anymore. It's midrange. Even €750 is barely flagship. Samsung S10 and Huawei P30 Pro is what's flagship in Android territory and likewise iPhone XS is on the other side. It's not a cheap phone, not even in Western markets, but it's not really expensive either.

 

Ultimately, in regards to the design for all-display phones, the goal is to avoid having anything on the front. The next big thing is supposedly having a camera that can be put behind the display just like the fingerprint sensor. I'd call the motorized thing a transition period until the technology is there to avoid it. That's what all these notches, hole-punch and now motorized units are for.

[kokakolia]

@Trixanity I should have specified that flagships can be had for 500€ through carrier deals and with last year's phones. I am looking at this through an average consumer's point of view. On the other hand, the Asus phone is harder to get as you have to buy one through specific websites and it's unlikely that you'd be able to try one in person.