ASUS has recently announced 3 new series of ASUS ZenFone 4 that consist of 6 models; ASUS ZenFone 4, ASUS ZenFone 4 Pro, ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie, ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro, ASUS ZenFone 4 Max & ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro.

The ASUS ZenFone Selfie was introduced 2 years ago alongside with the ZenFone 2. It was a well-received device where the “Selfie Hype” was blooming and more competitors bring selfie-centric smartphone.

Finally the company has decided to revive it back and introduce not one but two model; ZenFone 4 Selfie and ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro. I will be reviewing the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie series, specifically the “Pro” model.

Let’s begin with an unboxing video;

What’s inside the box?

• ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie 4 Pro
• ASUS Power Adaptor
• microUSB Cable
• Warranty Card & User Guide Menu
• Headset
• Earpiece buds (Different sizes)
• SIM Card Tray Ejector
• TPU Case

Cameras

Since it’s a Selfie-centric smartphone, I’ll begin with the cameras. ASUS has opted for a set of two cameras on the front that works dedicatedly and using a single camera on the rear. The company labelled the phone’s front camera as the 24-megapixel DuoPixel Technology camera; however the native resolution of the Sony IMX362 sensor in the camera is actually 12-megapixel with f/1.8 aperture lens. The claims behind of this technology is the twice of the light capturing performance on a large 1.4μm pixels. This allows the ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro to combine all the camera details and produce 24-megapixel images.

On the other hands, the secondary front camera is a 5-megapixel Omnivision 5670 with f/2.2 aperture and 12mm or 120° lens. This camera works dedicatedly and switching between are seamless. The wide angle camera can shoot perfect self (Selfie) or group portrait photo (Wefie) without missing anyone or scenery background. This allows you to take a different and unique perspective of Selfie photo-taking.

There is this Portrait Mode available in the native camera apps where it automatically create an artificial depth-of-feel background aka Bokeh.

The ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro equipped with 16-megapixel Sony IMX351 sensor with f/2.2 aperture lens and assist with PDAF system rear camera. The performance on this camera is rather average especially under low-light environment and it tends to get underexposure and slightly washed-out. Fortunately the ZenFone 4 Pro has this “Pro” mode in the camera app allows you to manually control the camera settings so you can capture perfect/desire exposure and effect.

Both of the front (24-megapixel camera) and rear camera are capable to shoot up to 4K video whereby the wide angle secondary front camera shoot 1,080p resolution videos.

Here are some camera samples taken with the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro;
(all the photos were not post edited/photoshopped and uploaded to Flickr straight from the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro)

Click on the image for high-resolution viewing


Front camera: 24-megapixel with standard wide angle vs 5-megapixel with 120-degree wide angle.

Front camera: 24-megapixel standard wide angle under extreme low-light environment

Front camera: 24-megapixel standard wide angle, snap with Selfie Master app

Rear camera: 16-megapixel f/1.8 lens, Auto mode

Rear camera: 16-megapixel f/1.8 lens, Auto mode

Rear camera: 16-megapixel f/1.8 lens, Auto mode

I strongly believe the camera outputs would be improved over time with software tweaks and update. The ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie has the best camera sensor and lenses in it class.

Performance

The ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro runs on my favourite mid-range SoC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset and packed with plentiful 4GB of RAM. It has 64GB internal storage, along with microSD expansion via the second SIM slot.

Like others Snapdragon 625 powered device, it has great power efficient without flounder performance. The 4GB is more than enough daily driver day-to-day use.

It runs on ASUS’s latest ZenUI 4.0 based on Android 7.1.1 out-of-box and upgradable to the latest Android 8.0 Oreo. The new ZenUI 4.0 has reduced its bloatware and introduced few new useful apps such as Twin App, Mobile Manager and Selfie Master. The UI is much simple and less cartoonish as compare to the last ZenUI.

Design & Built

My first impression when I picked up the ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro, it was light and feels comfortable to hold in hand. It has a slim metal unibody with chamfered edges, wraps well with the front 2.5D glass.

On the bottom of the device is the audio jack, microphone and down-firing speaker. The loudspeaker is very powerful thanks to the new 5 magnet structure speaker that able to produce louder sound with less distortion.

ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro support dual SIM and the second SIM works as microSD card slot for storage expansion.

The ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro support DTS HeadPhoneX that features 7.1 Virtual Surround and Hi-Res Audio 192kHz/24-bit audio output.

The ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro sports a 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display protected with Corning Gorilla Glass. The display is very vivid and sharp. It also has Always On Display feature that beneficial of using AMOLED panel display.

Below the screen is capacitive Home Button along with backlit Back and Recent Apps buttons. Beneath the Home Button is fingerprint scanner that very accurate and fast.

Battery

Thanks to the power efficient processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, the 3,000 mAh battery is more than adequate to last me a full day use with lot of video streaming, social networking, photo taking, gaming and phone calling before I need to charge at night. I can get averagely 5 hours screen-on-time (SOT) with 20% battery left.

Overall the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro is a well-rounded selfie-focus smartphone. It meets what the Selfie-smartphone market needs and well packed hardware. There are still plenty room for improvement especially in camera quality which likely can be done through software update time to time.

The ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie is available for pre-order now at the price of RM 1,799 through Lazada Malaysia and Shopee Malaysia. For those who pre-ordered the device will get exclusive free gifts that include ASUS Selfie Stick, ASUS OTG Cable, ASUS microUSB Cable, Screen Protector, 16GB microSD Card and ASUS 10,050 mAh ZenPower Powerbank.