Asus Zenfone 9

Verdict

Nonetheless the most effective small-sized cellphone in the marketplace in 2023, the Asus Zenfone 9 delivers wonderful efficiency and extremely succesful digicam {hardware}. Nonetheless, there are a number of minor gripes that permit it down, together with charging velocity, picture processing, and its thickness.

Introduction

Nonetheless the most effective small-sized cellphone in the marketplace in 2023, the Asus Zenfone 9 delivers wonderful efficiency and extremely succesful digicam {hardware}. Nonetheless, there are a number of minor gripes that permit it down, together with charging velocity, picture processing, and its thickness.

Design and Display

• It’s a small however thick brick
• Uncommon roughened-but-soft end
• Daring and brilliant OLED show with good out of doors visibility

The Asus Zenfone 9 is an unusual-looking cellphone. It has a small footprint, however the digicam lenses on the again are large, just like the eyes of a type of yellow Minions characters. 

It’s also certainly not skinny at 9.1mm thick. And that doesn’t seem like the measurement of essentially the most sticky-outy digicam lens both, simply the primary physique. 

The Zenfone 9 is mild and never a handful, however it’s not fairly smooth and slender like a number of the different small telephones you would possibly look into. Nonetheless, this suits with Asus’s fashion. It has by no means been a family cellphone model within the US, UK, or Europe, and its largest successes have arguably been fashions such because the ROG Cellphone 6 Professional that will attraction to the nerdy crowd who would possibly like its RoG gaming PCs. 

The rear end is uncommon right here too. On the worth you would possibly hope to see glass, maybe aluminium, however Asus used a “polymer” within the Zenfone 9.  I often take this as a advertising and marketing spin on “plastic” however the Zenfone 9’s rear does have an uncommon really feel to it. It’s softer than an everyday plastic, however isn’t rubberised. 

I assume the purpose is to offer the Zenfone 9 a type of furitistic industrial really feel, one thing that isn’t glass or aluminium however doesn’t really feel low-cost. Nonetheless, I do have some worries about the way it will maintain up long run. You possibly can put a mark in it with a comparatively mild graze of a fingernail. And when you can rub out inconsistencies within the end, easy-wear surfaces hardly ever age that nicely. 

Asus does bundle in a rear cowl, however it’s easy plastic and doesn’t really feel pretty much as good. Nonetheless, you need to most likely use it.

There are lot of nice options to be discovered on this cellphone’s {hardware}. For starters, it has a headphone jack; a rarity nowadays. It additionally has stereo audio system, ones with wonderful efficiency for a smaller cellphone. There’s one driver above the display screen, and one other on the backside, and they’re roughly matched, tonally. Typically you get a bassy speaker and a tinny one, however that’s happily prevented on this case. Most quantity is sweet, and there’s a good substance right here. 

The Zenfone 9 is water-proof to IP68, the best score you’ll discover in a “regular” cellphone, and there’s a quick fingerprint on the facet. The show glass is top-tier Gorilla Glass Victus, so it’s constructed to be immune to scratches.

This can be a properly designed and weird cellphone, however one potential disadvantage that I can see is the corners of its plastic rear panel turning shiny by put on. 

The Asus Zenfone 9 is a smaller cellphone, so naturally doesn’t have an enormous display screen. It’s a 5.9-inch OLED panel, a flat one with decision of 2400 x 1080 pixels. The display screen borders are small, and the panel is flat. It’s nonetheless the smallest panel round in 2023, with most different Android makers seemingly shunning something lower than 6.1 inches.

There’s nothing right here to right away sign you spent more cash on the Zenfone, however that is largely as a result of nearly all £200-plus telephones have wonderful screens nowadays. For instance, you will get comparable specs for a lot much less cash in mobiles just like the Xiaomi Redmi Notice 11 Professional.

Asus claims the Zenfone 9 can attain 1100 nits of brightness. However does it? In a usually lit room the cellphone will head as much as round 442 nits of brightness. And in its turbo-charged excessive brightness mode it could actually hit 805 nits. This can be a very wholesome determine, sufficient to make outdoor visibility largely a non-issue. The excessive brightness mode will interact mechanically if you head outdoor on a brilliant day. 

It’s a handsome, colour-rich and contrasty display screen. The small measurement makes it simpler to stretch your thumb throughout too, and Asus helps you to use the Zenfone 9’s energy button to tug down the notification window when you like, due to a function known as ZenTouch, the place the capacitive properties of the fingerprint reader permit it to double as a contact floor. 

Digicam

• Nice-quality {hardware} throughout the board
• Good normal picture high quality together with at night time
• Among the finer factors of picture processing could possibly be improved

You possibly can’t miss the Zenfone 9’s cameras, sitting proper there on the again behind a pair of coke bottle glasses. As you’ll be able to inform from there being simply two cameras, Asus has not loaded up this cellphone with sensors simply to make it look sensible. 

The first digicam has a 50MP IMX766 sensor, a big chip that Asus has used earlier than within the Asus RoG Cellphone 6. OPPO additionally employed it within the top-tier Oppo Discover X5 Professional. The ultra-wide digicam makes use of the Sony IMX363, which was the brains of the primary digicam within the much-lauded Pixel 5. And the selfie digicam makes use of the Sony IMX663. 

Asus was clearly going for it with the Zenfone 9 digicam, utilizing all-Sony sensors when cost-conscious fashions usually throw in some Omnvision or Samsung {hardware}, in any case. Nonetheless, in one other sense Asus has held again; the Zenfone 9 has no zoom digicam. Becoming one in a cellphone this small could be a problem, and would no double improve prices dramatically, however it’s the one lacking half of what’s in any other case a powerful set of bits of {hardware}.

Asus makes use of A-grade sensors, and whereas it doesn’t fairly have the software program to keep away from criticism completely, the top outcome continues to be a super-capable and fun-to-use digicam. 

The primary nice Zenfone 9 function is how the unusually high-quality ultra-wide digicam means there’s no apparent high quality compromise if you swap lenses, even when taking pictures in poorer mild. Degradation of the picture on the corners is healthier than common, lens distortion is mechanically corrected, and ultra-wide photographs maintain as much as shut scrutiny fairly nicely. 

A high-quality ultra-wide with geometric distortion correction means it’s not all the time instantly apparent which digicam any shot was taken with (and that’s a great factor), as you’ll be able to see from the images under:

“Gimbal” stabilisation is Asus’s second star function. This refers to super-charged optical picture stabilisation, matched with software program stabilisation. It might probably compensate for as much as three levels of movement, and you may clearly see the lens shifting when the digicam app is open. 

That is most helpful when taking pictures video, as stabilisation simply isn’t that needed in the course of the day, and at night time software program does a variety of the legwork. Whereas I don’t discover the stabilisation miles higher than that of some flagship telephones, it’s at that degree. And its hardware-based nature means even the Zenfone 9’s prime taking pictures mode will get some type of stabilisation — that’s a whopping 8K decision (at 24fps) on this case. 

The Zenfone 9’s video is robust throughout the board. 4K video at 60fps is my most well-liked mode. It’s easy, sharp and clear. You possibly can even shoot HDR video when you drop all the way down to 30fps. 

1080p footage doesn’t look overly comfortable, because it usually can do in telephones. And whereas I don’t suppose the 8K mode is value utilizing that always over 4K due to the lowered movement readability, and elevated picture and color noise, the stabilisation makes it extra usable than loads of 8K modes I’ve used up to now. Good job, Asus.

Let’s head again to stills. The Asus Zenfone 9 can deal with just about any scenario. It maintains foreground readability when taking pictures into the solar. At night time the high-quality sensor and OIS repay, netting you clear and clear photographs whether or not you utilize the devoted night time mode or not. They don’t take an arduous period of time to seize both. 

Perceived element from each the usual and ultra-wide lenses is sweet and the Asus Zenfone 9 is healthier at preserving highlights in lots of scenes than the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion I got here from utilizing per week or so forward of this evaluate. 

There are a number of quirks, principally associated to processing. The Asus Zenfone 9 doesn’t have class-leading color dealing with. Whereas tones don’t look comically oversaturated, the cellphone will at instances clip color channels when, for instance, taking pictures a brilliant crimson flower. 

Have a look at photographs all the way down to the pixel degree and also you’ll discover the Zenfone 9 has much less natural-looking element processing than an iPhone, Pixel or one of many best Samsungs. I feel Asus’s has tuned the “AI” texture rendering too arduous. Look shut at a gravel path and the patina of its floor will usually look “made up”. As a result of it kinda is. And much away bushes and leaves received’t look as pure as they might do, shut up. 

That is the form of processing fashion Samsung has largely weaned itself off over time, and Asus’s fashion nonetheless has some maturing to do. Nonetheless, this isn’t all that evident till you look shut, so is simply going to be a significant subject if you begin cropping into pics. 

Within the above picture, you’ll be able to see the large blob solar impact attributable to the Asus’s tackle HDR tuning

The above photograph was shot with 2x digital zoom.

The side-effects of the HDR fashion are going to be extra apparent. This cellphone tries rather less arduous to retain excessive highlights in very excessive mild distinction scenes than many. You possibly can see this if you shoot immediately Into the solar. The place some telephones will render the solar as just a little dot, it turns into a much bigger white splodge by the Zenfone 9. The remainder of the scene will usually look nice, with exemplary mid-tone readability and fairly good dealing with of color in these excessive situations. However, once more, Asus’s software program isn’t fairly top-tier. 

There’s additionally a wee little bit of shutter lag within the Zenfone 9. It’s not an ideal digicam, and a few of its heights aren’t that far off these of the cheaper Pixel 6a or OnePlus Nord 2T. Nonetheless, the constant excessive degree of high quality within the {hardware} is spectacular. 

The Zenfone 9’s selfie digicam is nice too, for instance. It might probably cope with poor mild and backlight scenes whereas retaining a variety of wonderful element. And it could actually’t damage than the selfie digicam has comparatively giant 1.22 micron sensor pixels. 

Efficiency

• Highly effective processor with no better throttling than bigger fashions
• Good for gaming, though just a little small for the job
• Unfussy customized interface

The Zenfone 9 ran Android 12 out of the field at launch with a customized interface on prime, although it obtained the replace to Android 13 in 2023.

At first look I assumed its app drawer regarded a bit cramped, just a little text-heavy; however that is actually only a knock-on impact of the display screen measurement. 5 columns of icons right into a 5.9-inch display screen is the next density than your eyes could also be accustomed to, and it could actually take a little bit of getting used to.

I’m happy to report that there’s nothing too offensive occurring right here, software-wise. The interface is mild sufficient to indicate off Android options like the colorful function toggle blobs. You possibly can alter the color of those — issues just like the Wi-Fi toggle button — to alter the look of your cellphone just a little. 

Numerous the preliminary Asus visible flavour is basically simply all the way down to the relatively daring Zenfone 9 preinstalled animated wallpaper. Altering it to one thing static, much less abrasive, takes the sting off and makes the Zenfone really feel a lot nearer to the expertise of utilizing a Pixel cellphone. 

The Asus Zenfone 9 had the most effective cellphone processors on this planet on the time of launch. It’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, a follow-up to the “non plus” Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. 

This can be a higher-clocked chipset, however can be made utilizing a unique manufacturing course of that Qualcomm claims dramatically improves energy effectivity. After being initially impressed by the unique Snapdragon 8 Gen 1’s benchmark outcomes, I feel it has proved to be a little bit of a dud. It causes a variety of system heat-up in each cellphone I’ve used, leading to thermal throttling which means you received’t all the time get dramatically higher real-world gaming outcomes after some time than a mid-tier chipset just like the Snapdragon 870 or MediaTek Dimensity 1300. 

The place a lot of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 telephones I’ve used find yourself with beneath half their peak gaming energy after some time, the Asus Zenfone 9 holds on to 75.2% in response to 3D Mark’s Wild Life Excessive benchmark. Asus does appear to have tailor-made this cellphone for efficiency, although, because the aluminium sides did get fairly toasty by the top of this 20-minute check. 

Peak graphics efficiency can be round 27% increased than that of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 cellphone just like the Galaxy S22 Extremely. It nonetheless can’t match the iPhone 14’s A16 Bionic, although. However that cellphone is £150 greater than the unique worth of the Zenfone 9. Nonetheless, it’s going to sail by any recreation you would possibly select to play — though I’d counsel contemplating a larger-screen cellphone in case you are cell gaming obsessive.

It’s value noting that the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 has been changed by the even newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 utilized by many 2023 flagships, however you’ll be hard-pressed to see a distinction in efficiency in real-world situations, making it simply as tempting in 2023 because it was in 2022.

Battery

• Charging is on the sluggish facet 
• Respectable stamina for a small cellphone
• No wi-fi charging

The Asus Zenfone 9 has a 4300mAh battery, an ideal wonderful capability for its measurement. Nevertheless it’s proven up by the Sony Xperia 10 IV, which inserts a 5000mAh battery right into a narrower and thinner (if taller) shell. 

Its charging velocity can be fairly poor in comparison with that of the opposite Chinese language manufacturers you would possibly head to with this a lot cash to spend: OnePlus, Xiaomi and so forth. The Zenfone 9 features a 30W charger however, utilizing an influence meter to examine the facility draw, the speed heads everywhere throughout a cost cycle. 

The Asus Zenfone 9 takes 84 minutes to succeed in 100% cost, and 33 minutes to hit 50%. It’s a bit garbage when you think about a full cost of the OnePlus 10T takes lower than 20 minutes. 

Precise battery life is a non-event in evaluate phrases. It’s not good, it’s not unhealthy. I discovered I can get by a day, no downside, however not with sufficient cost to make plugging the cellphone in, say, each different day a viable proposition. 

It’s nowhere close to as long-lasting because the Sony Xperia 10 IV, a cellphone I in any other case don’t like practically as a lot because the Zenfone 9, and is nearer to the OnePlus Nord 2T in stamina phrases. 

Newest offers

Sustainability

TrustedReviews’ holds the truth that world warming isn’t a fantasy as a core worth and can constantly endeavor to assist defend our planet from hurt in its enterprise practices.

As a part of this mission, each time we evaluate a product we ship the corporate a sequence of questions to assist us gauge and make clear the impression the system has on the surroundings.

We presently haven’t obtained solutions to the questions on this product, however will replace this web page the second we do. You possibly can see an in depth breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability information web page.