The ASUS ZenFone 2 Review
by Brandon Chester on May 26, 2015 8:00 AM ESTGPU Performance
As I’ve already mentioned a few times, both models of the ZenFone 2 use the PowerVR G6430 GPU from Imagination Technologies. This is the same GPU used in Apple’s A7 chip, although the implementation in A7 likely has a max GPU clock of around 450MHz, while in Atom Z3560 and Z3580 it peaks at 533MHz. While one would think this would give the ZenFone 2 a lead over the Apple A7 based iOS devices, factors like driver optimization can also play a role.
The ZenFone’s performance in 3DMark is very good, and is one of the highest that we’ve seen. Much of this is due to the score in the physics test, which bests even the Galaxy S6 that had previously topped the chart, and second only to the Venue 8 7000 tablet. In the graphics test it achieves a score similar to that of the iPhone 6. The overall weighted average of the two tests puts the ZenFone 2 in fourth place, between the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy S6 Edge.
In BaseMark X we see that the ZenFone 2 stumbles compared to the G6430 implementation in the iPhone 5s. Despite the higher clock speed on the GPU, it trails the iPhone 5s in both the Dunes and Hanger tests. The final score ends up right in the middle of the chart. It’s not as quick as the iPhone 5s and faster devices, but it’s quicker than those that use Snapdragon 801 and Adreno 330.
Our last benchmark is GFXBench. In the off screen 1080p tests we see that the ZenFone 2 is slightly quicker than the iPhone 5s in both Manhattan and T-Rex HD. The differences are small enough to be attributed to test variance, but the important point is that the G6430 GPU ends up being as quick as the implementation in Apple’s A7 SoC. The fact that it’s only as quick as the iPhone 5s despite its higher clock speeds indicates that PowerVR GPU drivers on Android are not as well optimized as on iOS, and it would be great to see GPU performance improve a little bit down the road via driver improvements.
Overall, the GPU in the ZenFone 2 is more than fast enough to run the OS smoothly and run any 2D or 3D games a user will want to play. The performance is substantially better than any other phone at this price point. It looks like there's still a gap between the optimization of PowerVR GPU drivers on iOS versus Android, but despite that the ZenFone 2 still delivers performance that I know won't disappoint any of its buyers.
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re2onance - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
nm, apparently that isn't correctmeacupla - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
ok, done deal for a protective case for this thing then.blzd - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
That's one of the issues with larger phones such as this.jjj - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
Actually in many markets the top Zenfone does compete with the G3 , S5 and the likes on price. Asus isn't quite hitting the 300$ + tax price everywhere and older flagships do get cheaper. The currency drops in some markets are not helping them either. The 200$ model is better value but it competes with A53 based devices that can be plenty cheaper with similar specs In China the TLC Meme da 3S ( 5inch 1080p , SD615 , 2GB RAM , 16GB NAND , 13MP and 8MP cams ,3050mAh ,139.6x69.6x8.9mm ,130g) just launched at 799CNY and that's 129$. Differences aside, they do have to compete with such devices. For the 300$ device you also got the soon to arrive SoCs, spending 300$ on this now might feel like a mistake in a few months.Wish you had the 1.8GHz 4GB RAM and 2GB RAM versions (they do have a lower clocked 4GB version) to compare battery life. In browsing the 4GB of RAM might be what kills it so fast.
Always wanted to ask about the LTE battery test , how much of the time time is idle or each of the LTE power states. Or maybe even better, how much data is used per minute or hour or w/e. Americans can afford to use a few GB per month but most of the world uses 10 times less or worse. In any case, the daily average usage is from almost 0 to bellow 200MB so LTE is most of the time idle if not disabled. Knowing how much data you use in testing battery life would help understand the relevance of the test and maybe help you better calibrate it in the future. So any chance you can provide some (rough) estimate on data usage when doing that test? Right now we have no idea if it's 60MB per hour or 10 times less and that's a huge range.
menting - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
Frankly, I don't think the difference in 4GB RAM and 2GB RAM should make that much of a difference. A difference of doubling the refresh rate in the DRAM, as well as the difference in idle power should be peanuts compared to to what the other components are pulling.Glock24 - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
I'm also interested in knowing if there's any difference in battery life between the 1.8GHz 2GB and 2.33GHz 4GB version.Some people in forums are saying the 4GB version drains the battery faster, some say the high battery drain was due to some bug in Lollipop. Maybe this was already addressed in a system update? All those comments about poor battery life of the 4GB phone come from people using the TW or India version with factory software version (which I assume is older than that on the US version). But still, would be interesting to know for sure if the 2GB version has better battery life.
I've read some people complain about the phone overheating, but there's no mention about temperatures in the review. Does it get hot during heavy use? Does it become so hot it's not comfortable to hold?
In the review Brandon talks about preinstalled bloatware, but does not mention about any useful bundled software. For example, I've read in other reviews about a bundled app that gives the user granular control over which applications run in the background and which ones are allowed to autostart, without the need for the phone to be rooted.
Also Asus gives you 5GB storage in Asus's own service with each device. How well or bad does the Asus Cloud app work? Does it make automatic backups? Is it easy to setup or use?
Chinaphonearena - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
An outstanding review, man. Truly. I hope you don't mind me plugging my own of the 2gb/16gb/1080p model. It's not nearly as technical or thorough as this, but some may get something out of it.http://www.gizbeat.com/7449/asus-zenfone-2-full-re...
Also the tear down of the phone from a Taiwanese user, which shows some of the components Asus is using.
http://www.gizbeat.com/7622/take-a-look-inside-the...
ketacdx - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
I have a TW 4GB model and its been getting 2 software updates a month fixing little things here and there on top of the ZenUI updates. I have not had any overheating or even it getting warm. My Nexus 5 from before this got way more hot. There is an Auto-start manager which is kind of neat but 80% of the preinstalled stuff is useless. Luckily most of it can be uninstalled and not just disabled which is cool. I don't know about the US model but the TW model gives me 100 GB's of free Google Drive storage for 2 years. I am in Canada and it enabled fine. I have never used to Asus cloud so I don't know how much they provide.Manch - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
I'd like to see Windows Mobile loaded onto this and the benchmarks run again. Is that possible? MS said they would release a ROM that could be installed over android.Gich - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
I think they made only a ROM for Xiaomi Mi4...