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00:00As my wife always tells me, Tom, it's not about the size. It's what you can do with it.
00:05And I don't think that's ever described a phone as perfectly as the new Zenfone 8.
00:09And it's kind of like if Asus have made a flagship version of the Pixel 5.
00:15Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap and Asus have sent me both the Zenfone 8 and also its bigger brother the Zenfone 8 Flip.
00:23Now to be honest, at the start I was more excited for the Flip because, well, it's got a flipping camera.
00:29It is a bit of a chunky monkey, but having all three rear cameras for selfies is awesome.
00:34And there's not a hole punch cutout in sight. So we get this lovely full screen experience.
00:40So I really do like the Flip,
00:42but it does only have a 90 Hertz screen and also we haven't had official confirmation of a release or even pricing for this in
00:49the UK. But regardless of that, actually, having played with these phones for a couple of weeks now,
00:54it's actually the standard Zenfone 8 that I'm a lot more excited about.
00:58You guys know the drill. Normally what happens is we get a big flagship phone like the 8 Flip, the S21 Ultra,
01:26iPhone 12 Pro Max, or maybe OnePlus 9 Pro, and then usually a smaller, cut down, cheaper, non Pro, Ultra, Max, Flip version.
01:36But not this time. This is a 5.9 inch proper flagship phone, which takes the customization and Game Genie DNA from their ROG gaming phones,
01:46combines it with the Zenfone design and almost stock Android Zen UI software, and then it's given the best specs possible.
01:54We're talking Snapdragon 888, 120 Hertz AMOLED screen, up to a whopping 16 gigs of RAM and 256 storage,
02:025G, of course, Gorilla Glass Victus, IP68 stereo speakers, and a few extras
02:07you don't normally see, like this high-res 3.5mm headphone jack, a proper notification LED,
02:12I haven't seen one of those in ages, and also this nifty customizable power button,
02:17so you can program what a double tap or a long press does.
02:21However, there are a few compromises. For example, there's no micro SD card support, so you can't expand the storage.
02:26We don't get any wireless charging, which is a bit disappointing.
02:29There's also no Wi-Fi 6E support, which I would have thought we'd have given the Snapdragon 888 chip.
02:35Also, we get Gorilla Glass Victus on the front, but on the back and the camera lens,
02:39it's just Gorilla Glass 3. But most significantly, we do only get two camera lenses on the back,
02:44which both use last year's Sony sensors. Although the main and ultrawide lenses double as a macro and telephoto,
02:50but this setup doesn't quite compete with the best camera phones out there.
02:54By the way, if you do enjoy this video and want to see more from me, perhaps, then a cheeky little subscribe would be lovely.
03:00Now, design-wise, it's definitely got a Pixel 4a slash Pixel 5 kind of vibe when you first pick this up,
03:06except this has an in-screen fingerprint reader and, well, proper high-end specs.
03:11Now, as you can see, it's not as small as the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini,
03:16but I actually find that to be a little bit too small.
03:18And I kind of think the Zenfone's got it just right, the Goldilocks size, if you will.
03:23But hilariously, there is also a one-handed mode if you just want to go crazy small.
03:28So at this stage, given everything I've told you, how much do you think this is? How much do you think it costs?
03:34Well, I can tell you that in the UK, this will start from
03:37£539, or €599 in Europe, obviously, and that will get you 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage.
03:44You can pay an extra £60 if you want 8GB of RAM.
03:47But this tops out at £699, so £700 basically, which doubles the storage and doubles the RAM up to a frankly ludicrous
03:5616GB of the stuff, which really does just complete the Napoleon complex that this phone has.
04:03And for context, the same spec Zenfone 8 is actually £30 cheaper than the OnePlus 9.
04:09And also, the cheapest Pixel 5 and also the cheapest iPhone 12 mini
04:14cost the same as the most expensive Zenfone 8 at £699.
04:19So actually, if you go for the cheapest model of this, which I probably would recommend you do,
04:23it's all you need really, then you'll actually save yourself £160.
04:26So in many ways, ASUS is becoming the new OnePlus.
04:30Flagship specs, slick software, decent, although not best-in-class cameras, and fantastic value for money.
04:36And actually, like OnePlus, another reason I really do like this is the software.
04:40We get Android 11 with ASUS' ZenUI 8 on top, but it's near enough stock Android
04:46so there's no bloatware or heavily customised UI to slow things down.
04:49But we do get a few handy extras, including a few features from their ROG gaming phones.
04:55For example, they've lifted the animation speed settings from the usually hidden developer options.
05:00I've put everything to 0.5x to speed up all the animations.
05:04Also, like the ROG Phone 5 I recently reviewed, we have these power options that you can switch between.
05:09I tend to just leave it on dynamic and it will automatically go to high performance in games.
05:14But if you jump into advanced mode in particular,
05:16you can really get under the hood and start tinkering with the settings.
05:20And then when you are gaming, the ROG pedigree comes into play with the Game Genie.
05:24All this is missing is a couple of shoulder buttons and maybe a fan attachment
05:28and it will be a proper gaming phone.
05:31Now, I was actually really curious how the battery would hold up,
05:34because in the big brother, the Zenfone 8 Flip,
05:36we have a 5000 mAh cell versus 4000 mAh in the Zenfone 8,
05:41which obviously isn't as big, but then it's a lot smaller size.
05:44So versus the 8 Flip, after an hour of YouTube and half an hour of gaming,
05:48the 8 had 72% of its battery left versus 75% on the 8 Flip.
05:53Although bear in mind, the Flip does have a lower 90 hertz refresh,
05:57but then again, they are both set to automatic modes.
05:59So the battery isn't quite as good as the 8 Flip,
06:02but it'll still easily get you a full day.
06:04And we also get a fast 30 watt hypercharger in the box.
06:07It is just a bit of a shame that we don't have wireless charging.
06:10However, in what is otherwise a pretty exceptional phone,
06:13the cameras are a little bit less impressive.
06:16We have a 64 megapixel main lens with OIS,
06:19which uses last year's Sony IMX686 sensor,
06:23along with a 12 megapixel ultrawide using an IMX363.
06:27So we're not getting the latest camera tech,
06:29but we do get a two times lossless zoom from the main lens.
06:32And also the ultrawide doubles as a pretty decent macro
06:35with a four centimeter focal range.
06:38Now, obviously, there's constraints around the size of the phone,
06:40so we can't expect a crazy periscope zoom lens or anything.
06:44But I think my bigger issue is the processing, particularly with faces.
06:48Somehow, photos can look both too soft and over sharpened at the same time.
06:53Take this regular photo of me, for example.
06:55My skin has very little texture, yet the fine detail in my hair
06:59and my jacket looks a little bit too sharp.
07:01And then switching to portrait mode, the lighting changes completely
07:05and the colors are quite washed out.
07:07But then in other situations, it does quite well.
07:09And actually side by side with the Galaxy S21 Ultra
07:12that costs over twice as much, it trades blows.
07:19Although in low light, the Zenfone's dynamic range can't quite keep up
07:23with less detail and darker areas and the bright highlights a little bit overexposed.
07:27But again, for the price, it's pretty good.
07:31We can also shoot in up to 8K at 24 FPS,
07:34although genuinely I stick with 4K 30 and it's nice and smooth thanks to OIS.
07:39And then up front, we have a 16 megapixel selfie.
07:42And Asus claims it's the first phone to use Sony's brand new iMX663 sensor,
07:47which also offers much faster dual phase detection autofocus,
07:51which all sounds lovely on paper.
07:53But even with the beauty modes turned off, I still think photos look quite artificial.
07:57Skin texture is too soft and the image quality is a little bit poor.
08:01And the camera is a little bit slow, which is a little bit of a bummer.
08:04I still think photos look quite artificial.
08:07Skin texture is too soft.
08:08The colors are a bit washed out.
08:10And every shot makes me look even more pale than I actually am.
08:13And so on the whole, I'm not super impressed, although to be fair,
08:17I have been testing this with pre-release software.
08:19So updates may be able to tweak things a little bit.
08:23So great specs and performance and almost stock Android UI with a few extras,
08:27which is nice and also a really comfortable one handed design,
08:30which you just don't see very often.
08:32Plus, it undercuts the competition when it comes to the price.
08:36So from just 540 quid, if you can make do with a good rather than great camera
08:41and also don't mind missing out on wireless charging or micro SD card support,
08:45then I think the Zenfone 8 is definitely worth a look.
08:48And actually, it's really good to see some proper flagship competition
08:51in a phone this size.
08:53So you don't have to just go for a mid range pixel or jump ship to an iPhone 12 mini.
08:58I do just wish Asus would put a bit more of their efforts
09:01into the camera department.
09:02But what do you reckon?
09:03Do you miss smaller phones?
09:05And would you be tempted to buy the Zenfone 8?
09:07Let me know in the comments below and also drop a link below
09:10if you do want to check this out.
09:11Thank you so much for watching, guys.
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09:18And I'll see you next time right here on the Tech Chat.
09:21Cheers for watching.