Asus ZenFone 4 Dual Camera Review – Light weight, Dual Happiness!

People take lot many photos, tons of it. The memories keep getting stamped and unlike earlier days the photos rarely get printed but mostly socially shared and saved on computers and cloud. My very first camera phone had a VGA camera at the rear and I used to be super thrilled back then, technology especially Smartphones have made giant strides in a short span and now we have cameras on Smartphones that has made point and shoot cameras almost obsolete. Asus has always been on forefront when it comes to innovation. They packed in super-resolutions with pixel technology, Zenfone Zoom was a game changer with its 3x optical zoom and Zenfone AR  gave a glimpse of the future the Smartphone industry is headed with the Artificial Intelligence packed in three cameras to enable motion tracking, depth, and room mapping. The AR also had the highest resolution mobile camera sensor on the rear of the phone and uses this sensor to combine four native 23-megapixel photos to create a single image —something the company is calling a 92-megapixel “super resolution” photo. With a proven record of camera innovation, with the Zenfone 4 series the company focussed on the rage these days – the selfie obsession with the launch of the ZenFone series. What I got here is the ZenFone (dual camera version) that accommodates to two important factors that weigh in a consumer mind – a selfie camera and dual camera. Yes, it has a dual selfie camera for the selfie generation. Before we delve into the camera, let’s take an overlook of the phone. What impressed me about the ZenFone (dual camera version) is its feather weight design. At 144 grams the phone is pretty light and holding it for a long time doesn’t bother, even if you decide to case it up. The dual has a 5.5-inch IPS HD LCD display that is graced with a 2.5D curved glass that gently melds in along with the curved sides, thus making it a joy to hold in the hands without any fatigue. On the back, it’s got a metallic matte finish. Additionally, it is powered by a well optimized Snapdragon 430 chipset with a 4GB RAM and 64GB on-board storage. Making communications and storage easier on the Zenfone 4 Selfie ‘Dual Camera version’ is the Triple Slot bay that lets you to not just insert two SIM cards, but also a MicroSD card up to 2TB, at the same time with a dedicated slot for the same. Now you can store a lifetime of photos and videos, and still have some space remaining. Let’s get the attention to the camera, here is how the specs read:

Front camera:

(Primary)

• 20-megapixels
• 5140 x 3860 pixels
• F/2.0 aperture
• Soft LED flash

(Secondary)

• 8-megapixels
• 120-degree wide angle lens
• 200% wider view for more friends and scenery in the frame
• 12mm equivalent focal length in 35mm film camera
• 6p lens

Rear Camera:

• 16 megapixels
• Phase detection auto-focus
• 26mm focal length
• F/2.0 aperture
• 80° field of view
• LED flash

Let’s talk selfies first. Equipped with a dual camera at the front and taking advantage of the wide angle lens of the secondary camera, the camera mode offers a groupie to accommodate more people in your selfies. There is also a portrait mode that gives you a depth of field to you while taking a selfies, after all people like to be in limelight don’t they? The camera app offers beauty mode, GIF animation and a selfie panorama for selfies. One of the surprising revelations of the advent of selfie camera is that most people love to apply some levels of beauty filters when taking selfies.  The ZenFone dual offers an array of beauty customization for people to dabble with including options like auto-beauty mode where the algorithm does the job or if you are finicky you can adjust the skin softness, skin brightness , enhance the eye and cheeks. When you hang out with a group of friends , we don’t want to leave a few in our selfies and the groupie mode in the camera app which is easy to access gives a wide angle view. The following picture is a regular selfie. Enabling the groupie selfie, gives more space in case more friends wants to join in. Even in an artificial low light scenario like the pictures shot above, the camera manages pretty well to capture the fun and frolic of the situation. The front camera also includes a portrait mode that softens the background brings the subject to the focus and makes sure you are the highlight of the image. Selfies can be taken in the 18:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios.  You can also time the selfie on 2 sec, 5 sec or 10 secs.  You can shoot videos up to 1080p with the front camera. Few months back Asus announced the world’s first Smartphone with a live beauty mode for social videos – the Zenfone Live. They have brought the feature to the ZenFone and that would impress many of those who go live on Instagram and YouTube and you find quiet as many these days. There is a separate Selfie Master app that does this job. Moving to the rear camera, the 16-megapixel is a capable shooter. What I really liked is the fact that at this budget it offers EIS for image stabilization and can even shoot on RAW mode, something you don’t come across on every other phone in this price range. . It also makes use of the Dual-microphones to cancel out ambient noise and keeps your voice intact while you live-stream to the world. The focus is pretty fast and locks in a mere 0.03 seconds with its Phase Detection Auto Focus and a 16-megapixel means you can blow it up considerably big if you choose to take prints. My interaction with people on Smartphones have indicated a fact people love various modes in their camera app. They want pre-sets that would satisfy their photography needs. Asus has always made sure to provide this in their camera app and their camera app is very user friendly and easy to navigate. The manual mode is something I look at in all the Smartphones I review. The Zenfone UI offers a Pro mode that gives control over white balance, exposure, ISO and manual focus something I appreciate. Dabbling with many Smartphones, I have notices very few phones manages to capture the natural green in the sceneries, most cameras tend to over saturate them. Asus has managed to reproduce the natural tone of the green. [gallery link="file" columns="5" ids="12579,12580,12581,12582,12583" orderby="rand"] The rear camera also has a portrait mode and it works well to add a bit of drama to the picture composition. Overall the rear camera satisfies you with the output. The pictures shot makes for a good social sharing ,which is what most of us look at. To conclude, the ZenFone  (dual camera version) with its dual camera capabilities at the front and a good 16-megapixel camera would be a good pair of lens that most would be happy with. The portrait mode on the front and back is something people look at these days and the ZenFone dual offers it. Plus, the Live beauty should interest most of the instagrammers and Youtubers out there.]]>