The ASUS Zenfone 8 Hands-On Review: A New Compact Direction
by Andrei Frumusanu on May 12, 2021 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Asus
- Mobile
- Zenfone 8
GPU Performance
GPU performance of the Zenfone 8 is interesting given that’s it’s currently the smallest Snapdragon 888 device we have at hand. We’ve had determined that the Snapdragon 888 is a quite power hungry SoC, so combining this with a smaller phone which has a lesser thermal envelope isn’t quite the recipe for success.
Throughout the benchmark scores, we can indeed see that while the Zenfone 8 outperforms the Zenfone 7 Pro quite easily when it comes to the peak performance, the new smaller phone actually regresses its sustained performance to below the levels of its predecessor once the device heats up and becomes thermally saturated. ASUS has quite reasonable thermals here and the phone doesn’t exceed 42-43°C peak skin temperatures which is a reasonable and good behaviour, it’s just that the resulting power levels here mean that the SoC and GPU have to throttle quite a bit.
The end results aren’t bad, and the phone is still plenty competitive, it’s just that it doesn’t really showcase any performance advantage over the last generation of devices.
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itsjustaprankbro - Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - link
Yeah, wife also uses S10e. Thought about this phone but she loves wireless charging. There is also the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G, but also no wireless charging (and no OIS on that one). Sony's compact phones also lack wireless charging, despite costing twice as much. There is only the S20-S21, but those phones have some utterly horrible battery life and performance (minus the Snapdragon models). So I guess, the S10e will have to serve a few more years.BedfordTim - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
It was one of the many annoyances of my Nokia 9. I can't imagine going back to 128GB.yetanotherhuman - Saturday, May 15, 2021 - link
I use a phone with 64GB and don't give a shit. I guess we're all different.itsjustaprankbro - Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - link
Silliest comment of the year. If not the decade. Yes, Samsung made 512GB edition of the Note 9. Released 1TB edition of the S10+. And? It keeps releasing the S20 Ultra, S20, S20+, S21 Ultra, S21 and other phones with a measly 128gb storage ONLY. And there is NO dedicated microSD slot (like on the Zenfone 6-7-8), just a hybrid SIM slot.If anything, Samsung is pathetic. Yes, I am salty about their decisions because a new S21 costs an insane amount of cash and it has no storage?
quiksilvr - Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - link
Uh, that plastic gasket piece between the metal frame and display is essential for durability. It is actually something you are supposed to have. Removing it is the cheap move, not the more expensive move.Wereweeb - Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - link
Tell that to people who think a smartphone's function is to look pretty in your hand.eastcoast_pete - Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - link
The problem with your statement is that it's true and thus makes sense 🙂; unfortunately, many people prefer looks over function.arashi - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
All iPhones are cheap phones to Andrei maybe. ;)eastcoast_pete - Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - link
Thanks Andrei! I don't like that they dropped the microSD slot; there are fewer and fewer phones in the upper middle and flagship range that have those. Regarding the battery life, maybe ASUS could come out with a Zenphone 8 Lite with everything like this (plus mSD slot, please) , but with the SD 780; plenty fast, much easier on power drawKangal - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
I agree 100%.They can't compete when it comes to Software Updates, or Camera Quality, or Customer Service. So there's no point for them to compete in the Luxury/Flagship category.
They should've just made ONE variant: QSD 780, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and decreased the price by $100 to compete in the High-end category instead. Don't make different RAM/Storage options, or different 3G/4G/5G radio variants... that's a waste of money.
Their winning strategy against those cheaper Chinese competitors? Just do a clean Stock AndroidOS, have unlockable bootloader, and include the basic features. Basic features are: 3.5mm Jack, microSD, IrDa. Also great features are Front-firing stereo loudspeakers, Flat Display, IP68 protection or User Removable Battery. I know I'd buy it, even with the QSD 780G, as that is actually a Flagship-level Processor, unlike QSD 845 or QSD 768G (or lower).