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
Conclusion & First Impressions
Today’s launch of the Zenfone 8 series is an interesting attempt by ASUS to position themselves in a gap in the market. The focus is clearly on the new Zenfone 8 which introduces as new smaller form-factor, and in many ways, it’s a unique device in the market because of that.
ASUS’s efforts in creating a smaller flagship phone work out well in terms of the actual form-factor and ergonomics of the Zenfone 8. The phone it actually reminded me the most of is the Pixel 5, both petite devices of similar dimensions, with the Zenfone 8 of course being built of more premium materials and having higher grade hardware components.
The display at 5.9” lands at a sweet-spot in terms of density for the 2400 x 1080 resolution. While we didn’t cover the matter in a dedicated section, I was actually impressed by the quality of the image calibration of the phone, allowing for near perfectly balanced white colour temperature in the settings, something many vendors struggle with. The 120Hz refresh rate of the panel is also great for general responsiveness of the device – however it comes at a cost of battery life.
While the phone has a 4000mAh battery, generally you can only expect good results in the 60Hz mode as like with many other devices this year, the Zenfone 8 features odd power consumption regressions. The 60Hz mode in turn comes at a cost of a regression of user experience that isn’t nearly as fluid as the 120Hz mode.
Performance of the phone is adequate, however aspects such as the sustained GPU and gaming performance of the phone, while adequate, isn’t the best due to the heavier throttling of such a smaller device.
Finally, there’s the cameras, and much like on the Zenfone 7 last year, it can be a deal-breaker for potential buyers. The camera hardware as well as the image processing just aren’t up to par with the competition. While the cameras are functional, they are well behind any competitor solution.
As we always say, there’s no bad product, just bad prices. In that regard, ASUS prices the Zenfone 8 at a very competitive 599€ starting price, which is far below the positioning of similarly specced competitors. The thing is though, is that while ASUS positions itself as a cheaper alternative, it also comes with quite a lot of drawbacks and compromises. Amongst the “small-phone” crowd, there’s really only the Xperia 5 III which isn’t available yet and comes at an eye-water 922€, or simply the Galaxy S21 which can be had today at 680€ - more expensive than the Zenfone 8, but also a vastly better device.
The Zenfone 8 Flip is quoted to start at 799€. Due to the meagre improvements of the Snapdragon 888 this year I would rather just advise to consider the Zenfone 7 at only 432€ right now if you’re after the flip-camera design, given that all other features and specifications between these two phones are the same.
Finally, there’s the continued issue of availability and limited releases depending on country and markets. I had asked ASUS about their recent track-record of having extremely slow roll-outs, with users sometimes waiting months to be able to purchase the phones in their specific region or country. Similarly, the Zenfone 8 series don’t have any concrete sell date or more specific pricing beyond the European start prices showcased in the above slide. ASUS had replied that they’re aiming to do better this year, but again shying away from disclosing any more concrete per-country availability information.
In that context, given the lack of availability dates as well as obvious better value competitor devices, it’s hard to recommend the new Zenfone 8 series phones – the company still has a lot of work ahead of it if it wants to be a contender in the mobile market.
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MrGutts - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
So let me get this right, the smaller version has a headphone jack but not the much larger unit?arashi - Sunday, May 16, 2021 - link
The larger unit is literally the old version with updated SoC. Laziest upgrade.Kangal - Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - link
The new QSD 888 isn't that much faster than the QSD 865, due to throttling. And the QSD 865 itself isn't that much faster than the QSD 855. Basically having QSD 855 in 2022 is still considered luxury/"flagship" level, unless you're in the iOS Market. With that said, the new "high-end" level chipset, QSD 780, is around the QSD 860 level. So that's a bargain. Maybe that's what ASUS should've gone for instead.After a year (or two), we should see a better, newer and optimised AndroidOS version, that is running on the next platform ARMv9. So I expect a good performance leap up from the QSD 888+, similar (probably better) to the performance leap from the Early QSD 845 to the Later QSD 855+.
XMight - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
Looks cool phone, the kind I would use, but, has 2 drawbacks:1. no sd card slot. Its not the problem that 128 GB is not enough for me, its just having the possibility to store data outside internal memory and access it fast without plugging the phone in a PC.
2. No FM radio in Europe. I'm tired of this, honestly. I look forward when Europe will force by law, like US, phone manufacturers to include FM radio. I really enjoy FM radio and even if I have unlimited plan, FM radio sounds way cooler and it feels more real-time than internet radio with apps with lots of ads and bloatware. Radio on Nokia 5 sounds really cool. I waited for Sony 5 III, which could have been my next phone, but no radio. Sony 10 III has no gyro, and I look at the stars with the phone through stellarium.
And the whole issue is that there isn't a single phone on the market that has: SDCARD, FM RADIO, dualsim, GYRO, Snapdragon CPU, IP rating, 3.5mm, small form-factor at the same time. So, I will stick to my Nokia 5 and Sony XZ1 compact combination for a few more years. I really hate this marketing crap the companies are pulling for forcing people buy something they aren't 100% satisfied with at the moment so they will feel incentivized when a new phone with something they wanted appears, but misses something else they had before.
msildoja - Monday, July 5, 2021 - link
Totally agree with the second part. No good compact phone on the market. Purchased xperia 5ii but returned it as it was too long. Went for asus zf8, but it has so poor battery life compared to xpetia 5ii. Sad. Reall no good phones available after sony ditched the compact series.yetanotherhuman - Friday, July 9, 2021 - link
Yeah, it's incredibly tiring. I recently got a new phone, but it was too big. I left it in the box and carried on using my 4 year old phone instead.patel21 - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
Hi Andrei,Wouldn't a 870 or even 865 make more sense in a compact phone like this which isn't able to use 888 to its fullest?
They could even shave off a bit from price and the battery would also last longer
sheh - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
Roughly the same size as the S10 and S20.A good start, but shaving extra 2-3mm width and 10mm height would be welcome.
tkSteveFOX - Friday, May 14, 2021 - link
Strange, other reviews praise the camera for the price, but I also looked at their photos and more willing to go with your assumption.Ultrawide especially was lacking in fine detail even in broad daylight, and there's too much sharpening going in postprocessing. The main camera looks decent, but got to be expecting better than IMX686, however the front camera is miles better than anything in that price range.
SolarBear28 - Friday, May 14, 2021 - link
This is pretty much the size and price I'd want for my next phone. My 2018 Galaxy A8 is a fantastic device and still getting quarterly security updates. I'd like to stick with Samsung for their Good Lock and One Hand Operation apps but they don't makes any good phones under 6" anymore. The S21 is a fantastic device but slightly bigger and slightly more expensive than I'd like.