Asus Zenfone 10 review

Finest Costs In the present day: Asus Zenfone 10

Asus is finest identified for its laptops and gaming gear, however every year it additionally releases a premium-spec smartphone beneath the Zenfone identify.

The Zenfone 10 is the newest iteration, and it’s very like 2022’s Zenfone 9: an Android telephone marketed as a small, compact system with an eye fixed catching design, top-end specs, and considerate software program.

For essentially the most half, the Zenfone 10 is all these issues, although it’s not the smallest telephone round. It’s taller than the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone SE and is roughly the identical dimensions as an iPhone 14 however with a smaller display screen.

Don’t get me improper, Asus has a superb telephone on its palms right here – it ticks virtually each potential field on the spec sheet. In doing so the Zenfone 10 finally ends up doing every part fairly nicely, however its show and digital camera aren’t high drawer.

Design & construct

• Slender design
• Paper-feel again
• Headphone jack

Asus has not modified a lot of the look of the Zenfone 10 from the Zenfone 9. In reality, it’s precisely the identical dimensions at 146.5 x 68.1 x 9.4mm. That’s smaller than lots of the largest telephones on the market, however it’s not the smallest.

The iPhone 13 mini is 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.7mm and the Samsung Galaxy S23 is 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6mm – each are thinner and shorter than the Zenfone. Heck, even the common iPhone 14 is 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm, solely 0.2mm taller and 0.1mm thicker than the Zenfone 9.

I solely labour this level as a result of Asus markets the Zenfone 10 as some one-handed mini telephone miracle, however it’s very equally sized to different globally obtainable high-end handsets.

My evaluation pattern was the daring red-backed model, although there’s additionally inexperienced, white, black, and blue. The again is made out of a bio-based polycarbonate and feels a bit like exhausting paper to the touch.

I grew to love it, however it received’t be to everybody’s style. Neither will the daring round islands that home the twin rear cameras on the highest left of the rear. Underneath that’s some refined Zenfone branding with a brand on the underside proper.

It’s grippy and feels higher than a shiny glass end that draws fingerprints, however I favor a matt glass texture such because the one discovered on the iPhone 14 Professional or OnePlus 11. Making up for that’s the headphone jack, which might energy hi-res wired audio. There’s additionally a side-mounted energy button with an embedded fingerprint sensor as a substitute of 1 beneath the display screen.

The telephone additionally has an IP58/IP68 mud and water resistance ranking. This implies it’s protected towards mud, jets of water, and immersion in water. It’s higher than telephones which have simply an IP68 ranking, that means it is a telephone that may take a number of splashes and survive.

Display screen & audio system

• ‘Small’ 5.9in display screen
• As much as 144Hz for gaming
• Twin stereo audio system

The Zenfone 10 has a 5.92in OLED 2400x1080p show. It’s fairly skinny with a 20.4:9 facet ratio, which makes it simpler to carry in a single hand and doomscroll.

It has a most refresh fee of 144Hz. That is increased than the 120Hz seen on most high-end telephones such because the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely and is a spec normally discovered on gaming telephones, which is sensible because the Zenfone can solely hit 144Hz in supported video games.

In any other case, you may choose 60-, 90-, or 120Hz, or ‘auto’ that switches between these three to avoid wasting battery relying on what you’re doing.

It’s a superb show, and noticeably pokier than, say, an iPhone 14, because it’s narrower than that and plenty of different compact rivals.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I didn’t miss having the next decision given it’s fairly a small display screen by fashionable requirements. I want it went just a little brighter although – it’s able to 1,100 nits at peak brightness however Asus says it solely has 800 nits of outside readable brightness. The display screen is tough to learn in daylight.

The twin stereo audio system are nothing to put in writing dwelling about. They will get loud sufficient for podcasts, however given the smallness of the telephone they aren’t very full, and it might get fairly tinny at loud volumes.

Specs & efficiency

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• As much as 16GB RAM
• As much as 512GB storage

Powering the telephone is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Qualcomm’s finest cell chipset but. My evaluation telephone was paired with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage, however you can too get 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB variations relying in your nation.

The highest-spec Zenfone 10 completely flew via every part I threw at it, dealing with all apps and demanding video games similar to Name of Responsibility Cell, not getting too scorching within the course of regardless of its small dimension. The fashions with 8GB RAM may fare much less nicely, however I haven’t examined these.

Asus admirably went full kitchen sink with the specs of the Zenfone 10: 5G, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 7. It additionally helps hi-res audio by way of the headphone jack and helps it wirelessly with the LDAC codec, along with aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, and AAC codecs. Audio can be tuned in partnership with Dirac. That’s a really spectacular record, upgrading in a number of areas over the Zenfone 9, and you’ll battle to search out all of this on some other telephone.

The one factor it’s lacking is a microSD slot for expandable storage. There’s a twin bodily SIM slot, however no eSIM assist.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Cameras & video

• Inconsistent predominant lens
• Fundamental ultra-wide lens
• No telephoto

I discovered the Zenfone’s cameras strong however just a little inconsistent. In daylight, the 50Mp, f/1.9 predominant sensor, a Sony IMX766, takes positive, sharp photos with first rate color copy. Low gentle photographs are additionally good, and the excessive dynamic vary (HDR) produces some enjoyable, punchy photos.

Its predominant challenge is saturating colors, although that is one thing Samsung telephones additionally like to do, and it struggles with oversharpening. At different occasions, photographs appears to be like too pale. Listed below are some examples:

It is a extensively used sensor additionally present in cheaper telephones such because the OnePlus 10T and Nothing Telephone (1). Given the Zenfone 10 prices far more than these, the digital camera is a weaker level. The twin lenses on the $799/£849/€1,019 iPhone 14 and the $499/£449/€509 Google Pixel 7a are higher.

As there’s no telephoto lens, it’s a must to depend on the primary lens to digitally zoom. There’s a 2x button within the digital camera app and you may go to 8x. Outcomes are blended however usually usable:

The 13Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide is merely positive for grabbing extra of a scene. The photographs are adequate to share with buddies on WhatsApp however you’re not going to be greatly surprised by outcomes or wish to put up them on social media. Colors are over-saturated and there’s a lot of noise if you zoom in.

I used to be disillusioned with the entrance 32Mp digital camera, which pixel bins photos right down to 8Mp. It was really higher for fast enjoyable movies of teams, whereas images had been generally washed out and missing intimately like the primary one beneath. Examine that to the second selfie, which is great. It’s as inconsistent a sensor as the primary one:

Asus is basically pushing the primary digital camera’s 6-axis gimbal stabiliser, which it claims improves picture stability greater than conventional optical picture stabilisation (OIS) tech. There’s even a dot and line animation within the digital camera app to be sure to aren’t shaking round an excessive amount of.

That is all nicely and good and appears to work, however it appears overkill on what’s a firmly mid-range sensor, and Asus doesn’t see to do a lot further computational processing on the pictures to enhance them like you’ll find on Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy telephones of the identical worth.

I discovered the Zenfone’s cameras strong however inconsistent

The actual take a look at of a telephone digital camera is taking it to an essential occasion and seeing if you’re proud of the outcomes. I took the Zenfone to a superb buddy’s marriage ceremony, and although I acquired some first rate photographs, I additionally acquired some terrible ones, and was pissed off with the expertise of utilizing it for the day as my digital camera. It left me not desirous to take images with the telephone.

Video is okay, although I don’t shoot extreme video on my telephones. It might seize as much as 4K at 60fps, and outcomes regarded nice with the gimbal stablisation.

Battery & charging

• Wonderful longevity
• Sluggish 30W wired charging
• Wonderful software program charging choices

From slight disappointment with the digital camera to being greatly surprised with battery life. I don’t know what wizardry Asus is doing right here, however the Zenfone 10 has no proper lasting this lengthy contemplating it’s operating the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and solely has a 4300mAh battery.

Different premium telephones just like the Galaxy S23 Extremely have the identical chip however barely eke out a day’s energy on 5000mAh batteries.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I thrashed the Zenfone 10 from 8am on the day of that marriage ceremony, utilizing Google Maps, the digital camera, and WhatsApp extensively, and it lastly died at midnight. That was the one approach I might kill the factor.

Most different days I used to be ending up with 40% or so at 11pm. It’s among the finest issues in regards to the telephone, and proves smaller telephones can have good battery life.

I don’t know what wizardry Asus is doing right here, however the Zenfone 10 has no proper lasting this lengthy

It’s a superb factor it lasts so lengthy, as a result of charging is annoyingly gradual with the included 30W wired charger. From 0% it solely acquired to 18% in quarter-hour, and was at 35% in half an hour.

There are glorious charging choices within the software program too, together with excessive efficiency, dynamic, sturdy, and extremely sturdy modes, three of which will be scheduled to kick in when the battery hits your chosen degree, scheduled charging to slower cost at sure occasions to guard the battery, and regular charging to all the time cost it slower.

Software program & updates

• Very customisable
• Intelligent additions to Android
• Solely two Android OS updates

The Zenfone 10 runs Android 13 however Asus solely guarantees two updates to take it to Android 15 in 2025. This isn’t nice, and lags behind Google, Samsung, Apple, and Oppo.

It barely makes up for it by promising 4 years of safety patches to 2027, however there’s no assure they are going to be month-to-month.

Asus offers you so many customisable choices that it’s just a little overwhelming. The Android pores and skin could be very plain, nearer to ‘inventory’ Android than Google makes use of on Pixels. The one duplicated app is Asus’s Gallery, in any other case Asus simply allows you to use Google’s apps for every part.

You may select to run the inventory look, or decide ‘Asus optimised’ components similar to an altered fast settings design, energy button menu,  clock dimension, incoming name show, and quantity adjustment choices. The facet key will also be set to react to swipes – I used it to swipe down the notification shade however you may get quirky and use it to clean forwards and backwards via YouTube movies.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Although not a gaming telephone, the Zenfone 10 inherits the Recreation Genie software program discovered on Asus’s ROG gaming telephones. Gestures are additionally nice – drawing letters on the locked display screen to open sure apps, flipping to mute, and double tapping to lock on the house display screen are all right here.

However the telephone’s narrowness means apps can really feel ever so barely cramped. The Gboard software program keyboard feels squished, so I modified the settings to make the keys larger, though I’ve fairly small palms. I discover it exhausting to sort shortly on this telephone.

The default textual content dimension can be weeny and though you may enlarge it, you’ll match much less on the display screen. In the event you want studying glasses or battle with small textual content, this isn’t the telephone for you.

Worth & availability

The Asus Zenfone 10 prices from £749.99/€799. It’s obtainable to pre-order now in the UK direct from Asus until 31 July.

The phone is coming to the US with a Q3 release planned. There’s no confirmed price or exact release date yet, though.

European pricing pitches the phone as a premium device close that undercuts the $799/£849/€799 Samsung Galaxy S23 and the $799/£849/€1,019 iPhone 14. It’s around the same price as the $699/£729/€849 OnePlus 11, but I think the OnePlus is a better buy for its superlative cameras, software support, and charging speeds unless you really want the compact form factor.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

For more options, check out our rankings of the best small phones and best Android phones.

Verdict

The Zenfone 10 is an impressive phone with a spec sheet rammed full of everything you could possibly ask for. It’s got amazing battery life, top-tier performance, a headphone jack, and some of the most customisable software going, all in a phone that’s actually going to fit in most pockets.

Despite this, it’s a premium-priced phone that has below-flagship cameras. If you don’t care about having the best phone camera then you won’t mind, but you can get a better shooter, and spend much less, with the Google Pixel 7a.

Asus also needs to do better with software support. A phone with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will perform well for at least five years, but Asus only promises two Android version updates with four years of security patches.

But if you don’t care about Android’s latest features then this is still an excellent small phone with battery life that defies belief.

Specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 
• 8/16GB LPDDR5X RAM 
• 128/256/512GB UFS 4.0 storage 
• 5.92in 144Hz AMOLED display 
• Camera:
  • 50Mp, f/1.9 Sony IMX766 main camera with OIS & gimbal-stabilisation 
  • 13Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide camera 
  • 32Mp, front-facing camera 
• 4300mAh battery 
• 30W wired charging 
• 15W wireless charging
• Dual stereo speakers with Dirac HD Sound 
• USB-C 
• Headphone jack 
• Wi-Fi 7
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Dual-SIM 
• Sub-6GHz 5G 
• IP68 rating 
• Gorilla Glass Victus display 
• 146.5 x 68.1 x 9.1 mm 
• 169g 
• Android 13 with Zen UI