This year, ASUS has been aggressive with their smartphones. They launched different Zenfones this year including their flagship smartphone, the ASUS Zenfone 2. Recently, they launched different variants of the Zenfones including the ASUS Zenfone Selfie. It’s not their best smartphone but it features a good rear camera and a front camera with an Dual-tone Dual LED Front flash which can’t be found on most smartphones. How does this perform? Well, let’s compare it with Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S6
Design
The ASUS Zenfone Selfie still resembles the design of the Zenfone 2. There’s the arc back which makes it easier to hold and the rear volume button. But this time, the Zenfone Selfie comes in different colors and they don’t feature a brushed metal design back. Instead, they opt for matte back with chic colors. And yes, it is still handy despite having a 5.5-inch display.
Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S6 packs a glass and metal design but that comes with a compromise because the Samsung Galaxy S6 doesn’t come with a removable battery and a MicroSD card slot. The feel is premium and its materials are top notch but it is slippery and it comes with some compromises.
Experience
Both smartphones pack a different chipset. Obviously, The Samsung Galaxy S6 got a better hardware thanks to its powerful Exynos Chipset with 3GB of RAM while the Zenfone Selfie only packs Snapdragon 615 processor with 3GB of RAM. When it comes to numbers, the difference between the two are far from each other but that doesn’t mean that the experience between the two are different.
These days, a better chipset doesn’t mean that the experience will be inferior compared to other smartphones. Most processors these days are already powerful to give you a smooth and flawless Android experience. In the case of Samsung Galaxy S6 and ASUS Zenfone Selfie, you’ll barely notice the difference in performance when you are not so techie or a hardcore user. Most games would run smoothly and navigating on the smartphone is very smooth. Didn’t had any problems with normal usage on both phones.
However, the main difference between the two that I really notice is its UI. When it comes to UI, the ZenUI of the Zenfone Selfie is superior than the TouchWiz UI of Samsung. Why? Because the ZenUI is more optimized and it is faster to use than TouchWiz UI. I noticed that despite having a powerful Exynos processor inside the Samsung Galaxy S6, it is much easier and faster to navigate on the ZenUI.
Both smartphones come with bloatwares and I really appreciate that Samsung has lessened the bloatwares that are preinstalled on the Samsung Galaxy S6, but again, the TouchWiz UI is still slow and I experienced a lot of bugs. While the Zenfone Selfie’s ZenUI is fast and flawless. I rarely experience lags and slowdowns on the ZenUI which really affects our use of smartphones.
Camera
When it comes to the camera department, the Samsung Galaxy S6 comes with a 16-Megapixel Rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel wide angle front camera while the ASUS Zenfone Selfie got a 13-Megapixel Rear Camera with Dual-Tone Dual-LED Flash with Laser Auto-focus with a 13-Megapixel Front Camera with the same Dual-Tone Dual-LED Flash which makes for great selfies. Check out the shots that I took using both phones.
Galaxy S6
Zenfone Selfie
At the night shot, you could notice that the ASUS Zenfone Selfie got a brighter shot however the image is smaller on the Zenfone Selfie but hey, the lowlight shot was really bright on both smartphones and I was amazed that the Zenfone Selfie could have a brighter image.
Galaxy S6
Zenfone Selfie
In these images, the light is too bright that’s why I used HDR on both smartphones. The Zenfone Selfie produces a darker shot but with more details and with the right focus while the Samsung Galaxy S6 has a brighter image and it is a little bit overexposed on the light.
Galaxy S6
Zenfone Selfie
In these images, you could notice that the Zenfone Selfie got a deeper and darker HDR Shot. You could notice that the skies are darker and the colors were deeper however on the Samsung Galaxy S6, it has a more natural colors but it isn’t deep as expected.
Galaxy S6
Zenfone Selfie
In the group selfie shot of both smartphones, both were great. The Samsung Galaxy S6 produces a very warm image with less sharpness while the ASUS Zenfone Selfie produces a better selfie with more sharpness however with more grain and noise.
Galaxy S6
Zenfone Selfie
In these photos, I use both the front camera and I noticed that the Samsung Galaxy S6 got a softer image despite removing the beautification feature. The colors were warmer too while the Zenfone Selfie got a more accurate colors with sharper details. It is sharp and the colors were natural however it is grainy than the Samsung Galaxy S6. But if you ask me, I would choose the one on the Zenfone Selfie.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S6 and ASUS Zenfone Selfie got a different hardware and price range but the Zenfone Selfie can match up some of the features of the Samsung Galaxy S6. You should also remember that these smartphones are at the different price range. It’s interesting that midrange smartphones can match up some experiences and some basic tasks of most high end smartphones.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is now available and its phablet brothers, the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus are expected to be available soon while the ASUS Zenfone Selfie is now available for P11,995.
