Gadget Review: Asus Zenfone 2 Laser - Zen on a budget

Zenfone 2 LaserDESIGN Therersquos no difference among Zenfone 2 devices except for the quality of the backcover Being a variant only specswise means the front screen camera placement control buttons and every inch of the Zenfone 2 Laser is same as the Zenfone 2 which was launched in April Though itrsquos still a smooth ride we dock a point for the lack of creativity Read our review of Zenfone 2 ZE551ML on middaycom for details Ratings 810DISPLAY We are impressed with the 55inch 1280x720 IPS display pixel density is 320ppi The Corning Gorilla Glass 4rsquos resistance to scratches works like a charm in fact we ran a sharp pin on the screen and there was no sign of scratch at all Full marks there We also liked the builtin Blue Filter that aids in reading Some issues remain such as poor visibility under sunlight and its affinity to smudges Ratings 910CONNECTIVITY The Laser is a dualsim smart phone with support for 2G 3G as well as 4G LTE networks band 1 3 38 40 and 41 on both sim cards The other connectivity options include Bluetooth 40 WiFi 80211 bgn WiFi Hotspot and Wireless Display The Laser can also double as a lsquomedia serverrsquo making shared content pictures videos and music on your phone accessible from your PC or laptop connected to the same wireless network As for navigation sadly you have to rely on AGPS which requires the device to be connected to the Internet and read WiFi networks around and hence canrsquot be used in offline mode Ratings 810CAMERA It has a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and auto focus AF and a 5MP front camera Though we were happy to see auto exposure AE and AF lock the picture quality in both cameras is poor Pictures are grainy and colours look faded whether used in daylight night or with flash Ratings 410BATTERY Though reallife performance may vary based on the user and usage behaviour we were content with the Laserrsquos 3000 mAh LiPolymer which gave us over 36 hours usage on 3G single sim and WiFi turned on throughout the period Most importantly itrsquos replaceable So if the battery performance drops you can always replace it yourself Ratings 810USER INTERFACE amp OS Asus runs its customised ZenUI on top of Android Lollipop 502 OS on Zenfone 2 Laser As mentioned in the past we liked the options within the settings menu but the UI remains clumsy mdash there are too many utility and third party apps crowding the app drawer Asus could have easily combined the utility apps into a single app as the control centre Ratings 710HARDWARE amp PERFORMANCE Itrsquos not the camera alone that suffers in Asus Zenfone 2 Laser but hardware too Though it gets 2GB RAM and a 64bit Qualcomm S410 SoC with 12 GHz quad core processor and Adreno 306 GPU the combination just doesnrsquot cut out well We faced lags both while browsing playing games as well as during multitasking The builtin storage is 16GB which should suffice all needs but if yoursquod like to expand storage Laser supports MicroSD cards up to 128GB as well Ratings 610SpecificationsDISPLAY 55inch IPS 1280x720 320ppiPROCESSOR 12 GHz quadcore Qualcomm S410 SocMEMORY 2GB RAM 16GB ROM expandable up to 128GBCAMERA 5MP front 13MP with flash and AEAF lock rearCONNECTIVITY 2G 3G 4G LTE AGPS Bluetooth WiFi Wireless DisplayPRICE Rs 9999Available on FlipkartcomOverall rating7110The guidersquos VERDICT If your need includes hard core mobile gaming and multitab browsing you may want to keep away from the Zenfone 2 Laser However if you are looking for long battery life a great scratchresistant 55inch display but with average performance for Rs 10K itrsquos worth it