In March 2015, Asus announced a whole line of three device models. It's about Zenfone 2, and its three variations share only the design concept, while the technical content of the ZE551ML, ZE550ML and ZE500CL are completely different.
The hero of our review today will be the latest version of the ZE500CL. It is positioned as the “youngest” of the above devices, respectively, which has the most modest parameters and the lowest cost. Despite this, she also has something to boast about. Do not believe? Remember the success of Asus devices in the tablet market. For some reason, there are assumptions that a company can achieve this with smartphones, using the same approaches and relying on the very same values. The same thing can happen with the lineup, which includes the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL. Customer reviews, at least, do not exclude this.
Model concept
Let's start with the mini-characteristics of the phone, which is described today, in general. By price, Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL 16Gb can be attributed to the lower price class (within 10-11 thousand rubles at the time of writing); while in terms of its characteristics and design, the model can quite worthily compete with more expensive devices. This is facilitated by the manufacturability of the smartphone, its coordinated work, optimized processes that occur in the device.
The phone comes in two versions, which differ in the amount of internal memory (8 and 16 GB, respectively), as well as cost (albeit insignificantly, within 1 thousand rubles). However, this should not be so fundamental, since the device supports the operation of a MicroSD memory card, due to which it is possible to expand the memory of 64 GB, and this is enough for a huge amount of content of any type.
To understand more about what the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL (8 GB) smartphone is, read our review below.
Equipment
By tradition, I would like to start a more detailed description of what is included in the package of delivery along with the phone. Indeed, if branded and more well-known manufacturers are “modest” in this regard, then less popular developers belonging to category B and C of brands, on the contrary, put various accessories in a box with the device, providing the buyer with everything necessary. And how are things with Asus?
When you open the box, the first thing you notice is the device itself - the dark luster of its display and the glare on the side faces painted “under the metal”. Raising the divider, you will find instructions for working with the device, as well as the charger. Those who expected the manufacturing company to take care of providing headphones, an extra battery or a case for the device in the basic kit are forced to upset. But if desired, all this can be purchased. True, the official telephone set in white participated in the review. In preparation for publication, we were able to establish that in the set of phones that were imported into the country in a gray way, there were also headphones.
But speaking of official sales, we can say that the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL mobile phone is sold in the “nothing more” format.
Design
The smartphone cannot be called a “shovel” - due to the 5-inch screen, the device seems compact and usually lies in the hand. When developing the appearance of the Asus phone, they borrowed the idea of Nokia, which is to design the front of the device in a dark color (thus, the line between the display and the frame around it is visually erased, due to which the dimensions of the first seem much larger). The back cover of the phone is somewhat rounded and made in a certain color (there are three of them: black, white and red). The lid plastic is pleasant to the touch, does not slip and looks attractive.
According to reviews related to Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL, the device does not show anything new with respect to navigation elements: the screen lock button is located on the top edge (in the center), the bottom panel placed the physical Home, Back, and search buttons information. The only feature is, perhaps, the sound control key, which, instead of the side face, was placed on the back of the smartphone, directly under the camera. Whatever you say, this decision is original and, as practice has shown, quite justified. The connector for charging the phone is at the bottom, and the audio connector is opposite, at the top.
The smartphone is assembled, according to reviews written about the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL, quite high quality. At least in everyday use, no squeaks are felt in the device panels - it seems that everything is sitting in one piece. But this is not so. The phone removes the back cover, although the battery is not removable. This is done in order to insert a memory card or SIM.
Screen
The five-inch display of the device operates on the basis of the IPS-matrix, which allows us to talk about the high brightness and saturation of the colors transmitted to them. The screen resolution is 720 by 1280 pixels, which gives the image density at the level of 294 pixels per inch (a good indicator, it indicates the clarity of the image).
A protective glass Gorilla Glass 3 is mounted on top of the display, which, according to the developers, is able to withstand the appearance of scratches, chips and other damage, even resulting from strong shock to the device. The reviews describing the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL indicate that the phone has a very good color rendering: the display does not fade in the sun and saves the image even as a result of tilting and turning.
CPU
What kind of technical stuffing is contained in the phone determines its further behavior - speed, reaction speed, stability and other indicators. Speaking of Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL 16Gb, one can note a fairly powerful Intel Atom Z2560 processor. It operates on the basis of two cores, the clock frequency of which is 1.6 GHz. Paired with 2 GB of RAM, this equipment allows talking about a high level of smartphone performance, noting its ability to work even with bulky games without braking and reducing the quality of graphics.
If the dry numbers of the characteristics do not impress you, you can trust that this device is a product of Asus. It becomes noticeable that the manufacturer apparently carried out processor optimizations. The almost complete absence of heating of the smartphone in its operation may also testify to this, which, in turn, favorably affects the battery consumption.
Even if you, as an Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL Black user, do not plan to play it, you can still be sure that the smartphone will cope perfectly with its basic tasks (like banal switching of some less demanding applications in terms of performance).
Autonomy
We have already partially touched upon the issue of battery operation, noting that during the operation the processor of the smartphone does not heat up, which already solves many difficulties in the form of a fast charge. In addition, a 2500 mAh battery is capable of providing the phone with up to 28 hours of talk time and up to 360 hours of device idle time. This figure is slightly higher than most other Android phones of the same price class.
However, the reviews characterizing the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL smartphone indicate that everything is bad with autonomy, and the stated indicators are far from reality. Like, in fact, the phone can last no more than 3-4 hours of video playback, after which it will be completely discharged. Unfortunately, this information was confirmed by several opinions of customers, therefore, perhaps, on paper Asus does not state real indicators, but their goals, which have no real grounds.
Camera
On the device, as you can guess from the pictures presented in the review, two cameras are installed. We can say that this is a traditional set for such devices. Of course, we are talking about the front (for “selfie”) and the main camera (the latter is located on the back of the phone). The characteristics of both are as follows: the resolution of the matrix of the main camera is 8 megapixels, while the front has a resolution of 2 megapixels. The quality of the photos on both can be called normal when compared with other Android devices.
As the user characteristics on the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL show, the pictures on the front camera are obtained with a slightly knocked down color scheme. For example, in white areas a photo may appear bluish. But this problem is not so significant - the detailing of the pictures compensates for this drawback.
The main camera shoots efficiently. Of course, it cannot be compared with flagship matrices, but there is nothing to complain about here either. The flash allows you to take pictures in dark conditions, and the details in the picture can be transmitted using the autofocus function.
Still taking good pictures allows the presence of various modes. In particular, these are HDR, macro and auto shooting, the “maximum distance” and “low light” modes. There is the possibility of creating geotags.
Video can be shot in 1080p format.
operating system
As already noted, the gadget runs on Android OS, version 5.0 (the name Lollipop). Now, obviously, users will be able to upgrade to version 6, in which some errors of the previous generation are fixed.
It should also be noted that the model has a special ZenUI graphical shell used on Asus devices. It differs from the “bare” system by the presence of original icons, more colorful transitions, as well as a set of proprietary software. The latter include Asus Do it later, Email Client, Splendid. The developer did not disdain the installation of affiliate programs, such as Kindle, TripAdvisor, CleanMaster. The practice is that most people simply uninstall these programs, preferring to use their own set of applications. We found that some reviews of the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL 16 GB called the designated UI not as attractive in appearance as pure Android. Apparently, this is a matter of taste.
Multimedia
The capabilities of the device for working with entertainment content are huge. For example, the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL 16Gb smartphone is able to play all the most popular audio and video formats. Those that will not start in the base player can be made to play in additional programs, such as MX Player or VLC. You can install them, if desired, on Google Play.
Particular attention should be paid to the built-in photo editor, which received many positive reviews from users. Given all this, the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL phone can be called a solid multimedia device at an affordable price.
Communication
Despite the fact that lately dual-SIM devices have been popular, the ZE500CL model does not belong to those - there is a slot for only one card. The phone is capable of receiving all major GSM signals, working in 2G / 3G / 4G networks.
In addition to these, there is also support for another standard set of communication capabilities: Bluetooth (for file sharing), GPS and GLONASS (for navigation), as well as, of course, support for a WiFi connection to work with high-speed wireless Internet connection.
Memory
We already mentioned that the phone has 8 or 16 GB to choose from (information on this can be found in the name of the device, for example, Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL 16 GB). Also, as already mentioned, there is support for memory cards - up to 64 GB. The slot for installing the card is located under the back cover, so you should not rely on the fact that you can easily get it to download new data. To do this, especially on the go, is not easy.
Accessories
Separately, I would like to characterize a set of add-ons to the smartphone that make working with it more convenient. Not without reason, after all, representatives of the development company devoted a substantial part of the time to the issue of accessories for the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL 5.
The first category is the body elements, in particular, the back covers, which have a special, exclusive design. Due to the fact that they are painted in color with an iridescent shade, such covers are in additional demand among those who have already purchased a smartphone.
Of course, there were some protections for the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL LTE. So, the category of covers includes interesting products of the ViewFlipCover series, which have an original round hole for viewing information about incoming calls and other updates on the smartphone screen.
The developers did not forget about autonomy, giving customers the opportunity to get a portable ZenPower battery. In essence, he does not represent anything original by himself - except perhaps the unique design from Asus in the form of a compact cube. The capacity of the device is 10500 mAh.
Finally, add-ons for creating snapshots, or rather, portable flash, became another interesting group of accessories. They work through the opening of the charging port, are powered, respectively, by the battery of the phone. This flash is mounted on the back of the smartphone.
It should be clarified that all of the accessories listed are original, developed by Asus, presented with the model at the time of its debut, and therefore are now available for sale.
Reviews
There are a lot of recommendations about the smartphone due to its popularity. In general, of course, users praise the device, noting its advantages described above. These include, again, low cost, attractive design, good build quality of the phone. Also included are the performance Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL processor, the characteristics of its memory, multimedia capabilities, battery and other elements. However, there were some negative comments.
In particular, some users complain about the insufficiently bright screen. Like, in sunny weather, working with the device is somewhat problematic, it is difficult to parse small text, the display gives off glare.
Another disadvantage is the hardy battery. We already discussed this problem above - it lies in the fact that the characteristics declared by the manufacturer do not correspond to what the device shows in practice. Obviously, one battery charge is not enough for a full day of work with a smartphone, and this causes a lot of inconvenience.
More attention from the reader reviewers focus on the technical problems of telephone communication. For example, they can be expressed in the fact that the device does not recognize the inserted SIM card, or in the fact that the phone in a strange way loses the network. It is rather difficult to explain the nature of these problems, and even in the services they cannot understand what is the reason.
Of course, in addition to those mentioned, there are other, more minor flaws, such as a quiet sound in the headphones, the lack of backlighting for the buttons under the screen, the location of the display lock (it seems not very convenient for some users) and so on. Most of these assessments are subjective and can be regarded in different ways.
conclusions
Now that you have read our review, which includes the Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500CL 16Gb smartphone, you yourself can draw conclusions. And our verdict is this: the development company was able to produce a truly commendable model that is not much inferior to the real flagships. Perhaps it really has problems with the battery, but this is offset by the price of the phone and its functionality. Whether or not to take this device is up to you. But it should be said that thousands of satisfied customers around the world have already made this choice, and judging by the comments, they were absolutely satisfied.