ASUS has recently released the Zenfone 4 series globally and one of their new devices is the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie. From the name itself, the smartphone focuses on its selfie camera. It’s a comeback from the missing selfie smartphone in the Zenfone 3 series. Actually, there are 2 selfie smartphones from ASUS and the affordable one is the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie. Today, we’ll review this smartphone.

A slim, light, & plastic build

The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie packs a plastic build and once you hold it, the first thing that’ll come to your mind is that the smartphone is really light. It’s also made up of plastic which contributes to its light profile. The smartphone is also slim with the curves feels just right which makes the smartphone really ergonomic.

The design is very similar to previous ASUS Zenfones however they ditched the fingerprint scanner to the back and placed it on the home button on the front which can’t be pressed down similar to most phones this year and also to the iPhone 7. There’s also the capacitive buttons beside the home button and unfortunately, it isn’t an LED backlit capacitive button.

Both the power button and the volume rocker are placed on the side while on the side is where you can find the Sim card tray which houses two sim cards and also a slot for MicroSD. It means that you can use two sim cards along with the MicroSD compared to most smartphones these days.

Despite its plastic body, the smartphone still has a nice feel to it because again, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is light and also packs a slim profile.

HD display is Meh

One of the things that you might be disappointed in the smartphone is that the display only sports an HD resolution. Obviously, that resolution isn’t an ideal one even at its price range. The display isn’t as bright as I expected too but the colors of the display are just fine. I wished that ASUS has at least used a Full HD display on this one instead of HD.

A Mid-range performer

The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor for its processing power. Yes, the processor is old but I really appreciate that ASUS has used Qualcomm over MediaTek for the selfie-centric smartphone. The smartphone also packs in a 4GB RAM inside which makes the smartphone just enough for most people.

If you’re a heavy gamer, sure, you would ask for more considering that the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie uses a quite old processor but up to this day, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor inside is just fine for most tasks. If you’re just into selfies for smartphones and just playing some light games and also browsing your social networking sites, then the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie won’t be a problem to you.

I’ve also tried playing games on the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie and if you’re just into games like Mobile Legends and Clash Royale then the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie won’t be a problem. It can run those games just fine however if you want to play 3D heavy games like NBA 2k17 then you might want to turn down the settings to be able to play the game well at playable frame rates.

A brand new ZenUI

ASUS has also redesigned the ASUS ZenUI to make it faster and cleaner. Compared to the Previous ZenUI, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie now features fewer bloatwares and also a cleaner and a better look. Of course, the ASUS ZenUI still features the same design DNA of the previous ZenUI especially its pastel colors but this time, it now features thinner and cleaner fonts and of course, faster response time when opening applications.

However, I’ve also noticed that the new ZenUI is still a little bit buggy but I’ve been receiving updates on the smartphone which makes the smartphone even faster and less buggy as well.

Long Battery Life

Another thing to appreciate about smartphones with only an HD display and a 3000mAH battery like the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is its battery life. I got a longer battery life than I expected on the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie and actually, the smartphone can last up to a day and a half if you’re not a heavy user and the smartphone can actually last a work day even without the use of a power bank. The smartphone is actually pretty impressive when it comes to battery life.

The Selfie Shooter

The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie’s main unique selling point is its dual lens front camera. The smartphone’s dual lens camera is made for selfies and also wefies. The camera made for selfies is the 20-megapixel lens camera while the other one made for wefies is the 8-megapixel wide-angle lens.

Before we proceed to the camera samples, I really have a gripe with the front camera of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie. As you can see, the front cameras of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie are placed a little bit too far from each other and actually, I’m still confused which one is the 20MP camera or the 8MP camera. This placement also means that when you’re taking selfies, we’re not sure whether which camera we should look at.

Again, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is made for selfies and also for wefies (group selfies). The cameras have different qualities, however, both of them has their own functions. The 20MP camera can take better photos and taking selfies using that, I noticed that the skin tones are better than the wefie 8MP camera. The wide-angle 8MP camera can take photos that are a little overexposed and the skin tone is a little bit pale but yeah, the 8MP camera can take photos that are wider which means that you don’t need to use a monopod just to take group selfies or wefies. Check out the camera samples of the selfie cameras of the smartphone.

Oh and yes, the selfie cameras of the smartphone also feature a LED Flash in case you’re in a low light environment and also, the cameras now also features portrait mode which is by the way, not perfect but at least it has one.

The smartphone also features a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash. Despite its lack of a dual lens camera at the back, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie’s rear camera can actually do portrait photos. However, it isn’t as good as most smartphones with dual rear lens camera that can detect the depth of objects, but yeah, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie’s rear camera is just fine especially for its price. Check out the photos that I took using the rear camera of the smartphone.

Verdict

The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie might have some flaws but it is an affordable selfie-centric smartphone. Despite its plastic build, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is still comfortable to hold and it’s actually really light. It isn’t the best performer but it does its job well when it comes to apps and games. The smartphone is actually more affordable than OPPO F3 and Vivo V5 Plus which are also smartphones with dual lens camera for selfies.

If you’re tight on the budget and you love selfies then you can consider the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie. Yes, it does have some flaws but the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is still affordable considering that you’re getting a smartphone with a dual front camera.

However, if you can increase your budget, I would suggest getting the better and bigger brother of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro.