The ZenFone Zoom S (ZE553KL) is ASUS latest phone with zoom function and a huge 5000mAh battery phone. It was first introduced at CES 2017 as ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom. This is the first phone from ASUS with dual rear lens. The 2.3x optical zoom is achieved by using a fixed 59mm focal length on the secondary lens and 25mm focal length on the primary lens. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 and Adreno 506 GPU, paired with 4GB of ram.
Hardware
The ZenFone Zooms is made of an aluminum alloy body with a cool matte surface. It has rounded edges and corners and 2 antenna lines across the back of the phone.
Also located at the back of the phone is the fingerprint sensor which is considerably fast.
The location of the sensor is very comfortable to scan when holding with either hands. It’s the ideal position to unlock the phone quickly.
The dual lens has a slight protrusion at the back which is minimal.
The full 1080p screen is using AMOLED. AMOLED has better battery life and has blacker black than the typical LCD screens. It has the latest Gorilla Glass 5 with 2.5D contoured edges. It has 60% more drop-resistant than the last generation glass.
It weighs only 170g and with a 7.99mm thickness it’s really impressive how much ASUS is able to squeeze into this body.
Audio
The 3.5mm headphone jack is located at the bottom of the phone, ASUS has included the DTS Headphone:X 5.1 Virtual Surround software enhancement. This simulates a virtual 5.1 surround sound system in your headphones. It boast the sound effects when you’re watching movies on the phone. This is good for long mrt rides which gets longer every day. If you’re interested in Hi-Res Audio, this phone is able to play 24bit/192KHz audio files.
But if you’re just chilling at home alone the speakers on this phone is quite loud due to the smart amplifier by NXP. It also has an outdoor mode option which amplifies the sound with lesser distortion.
Battery
Another good reason to purchase this is phone is because of the 5000mAh battery. It can last for 2 of usage without charging. And with ASUS BoostMaster I was able to fully charge it within 3 hours. One useful function of this phone is that it supports reverse charging. Which means that if you have another devicecv that is really low on battery, the ZenFone Zoom S can charge it with the USB Type-C to USB Type-B OTG adapter. It charges with 1.0A output.
Processing Power
Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 with 8 ARM Coretex A53 at 2.0Ghz and Adreno 506 GPU. It is not using the latest Snapdragon 835 but it is a powerful mid-range processor. With 4GB of RAM it is quite smooth for daily usage and gaming on the phone is as good flagship phones with 1080p. The internal storage is 64GB but if that is not enough you can upgrade with a microSD card up to 128GB.
Camera
The main focus of this phone is the Camera. It has dual lens but two different sensors. The main camera lens uses Sony IMX362 sensor which has a size of 1/2.55″ and a pixel size of 0.0014mm or 1.4 microns. the focal length is 25mm and f/1.7 aperture. ASUS has named it the SuperPixel Main camera, which has can capture better low light images. One good feature that ASUS has added is the triple autofocus system. Which is the Dual Pixel phase detection autofocus sensor, long range laser and the contrast detection sensor for continuous focus. The Dual Pixel phase detection autofocus sensor has a quick time of 0.03 seconds to focus on an object.
The second lens sensor is using Samsung 3M3 which as a focal length of 59mm and f/2.6 aperture. The sensor size is 1/3.42″ and has real optical zoom of 2.3X but with digital zoom it can go up to 12X.
My hands tend to shake sometimes when I’m in an awkward position trying to take a photo but with the 4-axis OIS in the ZenFone Zoom S, I was able to capture the image with less blurry photos and turns out pretty sharp. How the 4-axis OIS works is that the sensor detects the movement on the Y-axis, X-axis, yaw and pitch. Yaw is actually the movement of left and right and pitch is up and down.
But if you’re taking video the OIS won’t be the system being use. The 3-axis Video EIS will take over the job to keep the video steady. With pitch, yaw and roll it helps remove the shaking motion and capture the smooth motion.
ASUS didn’t just focus only on the rear camera but on the front camera they have included a 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor with f/2.0 aperture with a sensor size of 1/3.06″ and they have a built-in beautification mode which enhances the subject’s face with makeup-like effects including skin softening and brightening, blush and color correction, eye enhancement and cheek-thinning. The effects is in real time which makes it easier to pose.
Camera App
ASUS has included an array of shooting modes into their app.
Using the zoom function at 2.3x i was able to zoom in to this pigeon without scaring it away
I was able to capture this sunset photo using the night mode as the sun was almost setting
KFC Meal looking appetizing
This shot of the Moon is achieved by the combination of ZenFone Zoom S and an external 12X mobile zoom lens.
Sky Garden on a cloudy day
Using the Smart Remove function I was able to take this shot and the mode auto removes the vehicles
Testing the low light sensitivity and zoom function together
2.3x Zoom
12x Zoom
Marco shot
Super Resolution mode shot
Take a look at the full range of controls in the manual mode.
