Asus 6Z design and display
Premium, that is what came to our mind when we first saw the Asus 6Z. The glass body coupled with the full-screen display and the fairly rare rotating camera module makes the handset stand apart in the otherwise crowded mid-range segment. While we have to admit that the smartphone is a little heavy to hold, one cannot really call it bulky. In fact, we thought that its weight only added to its premium appeal. Asus has tried keeping the design of the device minimalistic, and it is something that we liked. If you like flashy looking phones, maybe you should opt for something with funky colours that has a gradient back panel. Asus 6Z is certainly not that handset. On the contrary, it is elegant, simple, yet beautiful. The front panel is dominated by the display of the smartphone that is outlined by thin bezels. Only the chin is slightly thicker than the rest of the bezels of the smartphone. Looking closely, you will also be able to sport an earpiece on the top along with a small LED.
On flipping over, you will see the curved Gorilla Glass rear panel of the Asus 6Z smartphone. However, the camera module of the handset, that is also its key attraction, is made of plastic and has two sensors and an LED flash housed in it. The camera module rotates to face the user either when the user clicks on the selfie camera button or when facial unlock is triggered. The back panel also has a fingerprint sensor and blue-coloured Asus branding on it. The right edge of the device has the Power, Volume Rocker and Google Assistant keys placed on it. We should mention that these can be very difficult to get used to. We used the handset for almost a week, but still, we at times pressed the Google Assistant key instead of the volume key while we were on a call. The fact that Power button is Blue in colour and Google Assistant key is textured doesn’t really help either. The left edge has the SIM tray, while the bottom houses the Type-C slot, 3.5mm headphone jack and speaker grilles.
It is worth noticing that the Asus 6Z does not come with an in-display fingerprint scanner, but since it has a regular fingerprint sensor and support for facial unlock, you wouldn’t really miss it. In a nutshell, we would say that we really liked the design of the Asus 6Z smartphone. It is elegant, beautiful and yet different from others. It stands apart because Asus chose not to make it flashy like a lot of other smartphones, and that is a good thing, according to us. The downsides include the three rather closely placed keys on the right edge of the device and the slippery glass body of the handset. The lack of in-display fingerprint scanner may also be considered as a downside by few, but we were really okay with it. Coming to the display of the Asus 6Z, it sports a 6.4-inch screen with a Full-HD+ resolution and has support for HDR10, and a minimum brightness of 600nits. The screen of the smartphone is made up of Gorilla Glass 6 and it is slightly rounded on the sides. If you love watching videos, you really are going to like the Asus 6Z.
The display of the device offers plenty of real estate to watch content and the absence of a notch or a punch-hole design makes it even better. The images are crisp and sharp. The colours are vibrant and they remain the same at different viewing angles. The sunlight readability is another plus. The display of the handset didn’t really give us any issue during our time with it. We would say it is one of the best aspects of Asus 6Z.
Asus 6Z performance and cameras
When it comes to the technical specifications of this smartphone, the handset runs Android 9.0 Pie that is skinned with the company’s own Zen UI 6. Asus has also promised that it will be rolling out the Android Q and Android R operating system updates to the handset, when launched. Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC, the device is backed by Adreno 640 GPU and has up to 8GB of RAM. The handset has 256GB of internal storage and users can install a microSD card of up to 2TB. On the imaging front, there is a rotating camera module that comes with a 48MP primary sensor and a 13MP ultra-wide-angle sensor. The device houses a massive 5,000mAh battery and it comes with support for Quick Charge 4.0. The mobile phone comes with dual speakers and dual smart amplifiers, too.
Talking more about the software of the device, as said, Asus 6Z runs Android 9.0 Pie skinned with ZenUI. But then, instead of being heavily customised the operating system is close to the stock Android. But then, Asus has added some nice tweaks to the smartphone. For instance, you can remove the app drawer, download new icon packs, lock apps using your face, fingerprints or even a PIN and do a lot more. Users also get the option of running two versions of a number of apps on the smartphone. The handset has support for a number of hand gestures too. Asus has also added Game Genie to the device that comes with a usual set of optimisations and adds integrations for social media apps as well as streaming. Now, let’s talk about the performance of the Asus 6Z. When a device is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC and has 8GB of RAM backing it, you can’t really expect anything but an excellent performance from it. Needless to say, the basic day-to-day tasks were a cakewalk. The heaviest of apps open quickly, and multi-tasking on the device was so easy. We played graphic-hungry games while using Asus 6Z for navigation, watched content on the likes of Netflix for hours and used the smartphone extensively. But we did not face a problem with it even once.
The gaming experience on the device was a great one. We spent a lot of time playing Asphalt 9: Legends on it and we did not face any lag. It ran very smoothly. It was only after 45 minutes of continuous gaming that the device started becoming a little warm. But then, that isn’t something that is exclusive to Asus 6Z. Almost all smartphones with glass bodies warm up after heavy gaming or navigation. The call quality of the device was great. We could even make or receive calls when we were in areas like basements or elevators. We did not encounter a problem with it even once. The battery life of the Asus 6Z was one amongst the best features of the smartphone. With usage that involved gaming, watching videos, and using social media apps, the handset’s battery lasted a day and a half. This is very impressive, but then, it did not meet the 2-days’ mark that was set by Asus. However, we did not really expect it to last for two days either with such heavy usage. Another distinguished thing that we should talk about is the sound experience of the Asus 6Z smartphone. The sound produced by the handset can be very loud and very clear at the same time. The smartphone has support for DTS Headphone:X virtual 7.1 surround sound. Whether you play games or you watch videos, the sound on the device will surely enhance your experience. Now, let’s talk about the cameras of the smartphone, its main USP. Asus 6Z comes with a rotating camera module that has a 48MP Sony IMX586 primary sensor and a 13MP sensor that has a field of view of 125 degrees. The 48MP primary camera of the device produces 12MP images, but then, you also have the option of choosing images of 48MP resolution.
There is no separate selfie camera on the device. Instead, the dual cameras flip to face the user when the selfie mode is activated. The cameras of the handset have a dual-LED flash, laser autofocus and EIS. The primary sensor also comes with the support of an HDR+ Enhanced mode and AI scene detection.
During our time with the smartphone, we did not encounter any problem on using the camera module. It flipped over whenever we tried. However, if you are considering to buy it, just make sure to keep it safe from dust. Coming to the pictures taken, the quality was superb. Pics had rich colours and a good amount of details. Even when we transferred them to the laptop, their quality did not deteriorate. The shots taken during the day were consistently good, particularly the ones that were taken from the primary camera. However, the ones that were taken from the wide-angle sensor lacked details at times. Skipping to photos taken at night, the performance of the camera became way better when we used the dedicated Night Mode. The primary camera took good shots without it too, but then, they became much better with the Night Mode on. However, the low-light shots taken from the wide-angle sensor without the Night Mode on did have some noise. Coming to the selfies taken, both the camera sensors on the device worked very well during the day as well as at night. We managed to click some great selfies during our time with it. To conclude, we will say that while the 48MP primary camera did a great job at all times, the secondary sensor could have been more consistent. But then, it wasn’t bad either. We ran some benchmarks on the Asus 6Z smartphone. It scored 3,54,067 in Antutu and 3,432 and 10,423 in single and multi-core scores of Geekbench. We should mention that the phone prompted to turn on the AI boost mode a number of times during the benchmark tests, but chose not to opt for it while running benchmarks as it may have altered the results.
Verdict
At Rs 31,999, Asus 6Z is definitely a good buy. The smartphone has a lot of pros and there are hardly any cons. The design is elegant and minimalistic, the display is absolutely brilliant, and the performance is one of the smoothest thanks to the Snapdragon 855 SoC. The software of the device is not filled with ads, the gaming experience is good and the battery is long-lasting. The only two downsides of the Asus 6Z are the fact that it warms up a bit after heavy usage because of its glass body and that its wide-angle camera is not very consistent. But then, the same cannot be said for the primary camera, so these two are not exactly deal-breakers. Pros
Vibrant display Can handle powerful performance Lasting Battery
Cons
Wide-angle camera can be inconsistent Device warms up on prolonged heavy usage
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