ASUS Announces ZenFone 7 Series: The Triple-Flip Camera - Hands-On
by Andrei Frumusanu on August 26, 2020 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Asus
- Smartphones
- ZenFone 7
- ZenFone 7Pro
Today ASUS is announcing its follow-up to its innovative flip-camera design that was first introduced last year with the ZenFone 6. This year’s ZenFone 7 series, consisting of the regular ZenFone 7 and the ZenFone 7 Pro are sticking to the quite well received and innovative flip-camera design, improving upon its specification by adding in an extra camera module. We’ve also seen key specification improvements on the part of the phone itself, with an important shift from an LCD screen to a new 90Hz AMOLED display, as well as adoption of Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 865 and 865+ chipsets.
This year the company is also releasing to variants of the phone – beyond higher DRAM and storage configurations, the higher-end model features a higher-binned SoC as well as differentiates the camera systems by exclusively employing OIS – which is an interesting way to segment things.
ASUS ZenFone 7 Series | |||||
ZenFone 7 | ZenFone 7 Pro | ||||
SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 1x Cortex A77 @ 2.84GHz 3x Cortex A77 @ 2.42GHz 4x Cortex A55 @ 1.80GHz Adreno 650 @ 587MHz |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ 1x Cortex A77 @ 3.1GHz 3x Cortex A77 @ 2.42GHz 4x Cortex A55 @ 1.80GHz Adreno 650 @ 670MHz |
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DRAM | 6 GB LPDDR5 | 8 GB LPDDR5 | |||
Storage | 128GB UFS 3.1 + microSD |
256GB UFS 3.1 + microSD |
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Display | 6.67" AMOLED 2400 x 1080 (20:9) 90Hz 200Hz Touch |
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Size | Height | 165.08 mm | |||
Width | 77.28 mm | ||||
Depth | 9.6 mm | ||||
Weight | 230 grams | ||||
Battery Capacity | 5000mAh 30W charging (PD3.0) |
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Wireless Charging | - | ||||
Rear Cameras | |||||
Main | 64MP IMX686 0.8µm pixels (1.6µm 4:1 16MP) f/1.7 |
64MP IMX686 0.8µm pixels (1.6µm 4:1 16MP) f/1.7 w/OIS |
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Telephoto | 8MP 3x optical zoom f/2.4 |
8MP 3x optical zoom f/2.4 w/OIS |
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Wide | 12MP IMX363 1.4µm pixels Dual PDAF 113° FoV ultra-wide f/2.2 |
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Extra | - | ||||
Front Camera | Flip-camera Design Front cameras = Rear cameras |
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I/O | USB-C | ||||
Wireless (local) | 802.11ax WiFi-6 Bluetooth 5.1 LE + NFC |
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Other Features | Triple-function Power Button w/ Capacitive Fingerprint Sensor | ||||
Dual-SIM | Dual nanoSIM | ||||
Launch Price | ? | ? |
Starting off with the hear of the phone, the ZenFone 7 and 7 Pro employ Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865 SoCs and are thus 5G-capable devices thanks to the X55 modem. ASUS here employs the newer higher-performance Snapdragon 865+ on the 7 Pro model which brings with it 10% higher CPU and GPU performance thanks to the increased frequencies of these IP blocks.
Further variations between the regular ZenFone 7 and the 7 Pro is in the DRAM and NAND storage department. The regular variant comes with 6GB of LPPDR5 and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage, whilst the Pro gets respectively 8 and 256GB.
The key selling point and differentiating factor of the ZenFone 7 as opposed to other phones in the market right now is the fact that it employs a full-screen display without any notch or camera cut-out, enabling a seamless screen experience without distractions.
A big upgrade this year compared to last year’s model is the shift from an LCD to an OLED screen, which makes this year’s model significantly more attractive to users. The 6.67” screen features a 2400 x 1080 resolution in a 20:9 aspect ratio, and features a 90Hz refresh rate capability.
Although 90Hz isn’t the very top of the line for 2020, it’s still a huge improvement over other 60Hz phones and ASUS did manage to employ a 200Hz sampling touch controller which has a large impact on fluidity and responsiveness when you interact with your phone.
The back of the phone sees a glass back-panel which comes either in a “Pastel White” (pictured) or an “Aurora Black” colour variant. The phone lacks wireless charging.
It’s to be noted that this is a very large phone that is in line with the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the Galaxy S20 Ultra in terms of footprint, quite a bit larger and chunkier than the ZenFone 6. This is something that ASUS actively acknowledges as being a deliberate design choice so that that they could fit in more components and a larger battery, as well as enable the various antennas requires by 5G connectivity.
The camera setup now features triple modules. As the primary main camera, we’re seeing a 64MP IMX686 sensor with 0.8µm pixels that by default bins down to 16MP thanks to its quad-Bayer colour filter layout. The optics feature a large f/1.7 aperture.
The ultra-wide-angle also adopts the same setup as on the ROG Phone III with a 12MP IMX363 with 1.4µm pixels and dual-pixel phase detect focus ability. The optics have an f/2.2 aperture with a 113° wide viewing angle. Unusual is that it features auto-focus ability which means that this module can do dual-duty as a macro module since it enables super close focusing abilities.
New to the setup is an 8MP telephoto module which offers 3x optical magnification which thanks to multi-frame interpolation can be digitally cropped and magnified to up to a useable 12x zoom in the camera app. The optics here feature an f/2.4 aperture.
On the ZenFone 7 Pro the main camera as well as the telephoto module feature OIS in their modules, whilst the regular ZenFone 7 doesn’t feature this. We haven’t seen such segmentation in some time by a vendor, but it’s one of the cost-cutting measures that ASUS has decided to make for the cheaper model.
The flip-camera externally looks familiar with what we’ve seen on the ZenFone 6, however ASUS has greatly improved the internal mechanism of the newer generation module. The new module employs a new motor that is capable of 2.2x the torque of its predecessor even though it’s 40% smaller.
ASUS has also replaced the complex 49 signal and power cables that connect the various camera modules to the mainboard of the phone with a new 18-layer flexible printed circuit cable that promises to be twice as durable even though the total signal traces has increased to 110 outputs. ASUS claims it’s good enough for up to 200000 flips, which is 100 flips a day for over 5 years.
I’ve never had the pleasure to get a hands-on with the ZenFone 6, but the camera mechanism on the 7 series feels very solid and robust.
A new feature to the flip-screen is its ability to position itself at intermediary angles from within the camera app, giving you different capturing angles, which are essentially impossible for any other phone on the market.
Beyond your typical fully-flipped 180° setup in which the cameras can serve as high-quality frontal selfie cams, the module also can sit at a 90° or 135° angle. The phone’s panorama capture feature takes advantage of the flipping module to sweep the landscape whilst you hold the phone steady.
The phone is quite thick at 9.6mm, but that’s mostly due to the 5000mAh battery that’s included, which also bloats up the device to a 230g weight.
ASUS had put what I deem to be a quite unusual amount of focus on battery health of the device, and I found this to be a breath of fresh air amongst a crowd of vendors who seemingly just want to one-up themselves with absurd high charging speeds.
The phone features 30W USB-PD charging and features a corresponding (PPS compatible) charger in the box by default, however they don’t hide that faster charging does degrade your battery faster.
Beyond allowing for the option to disable fast-charging altogether from the phone side, and having smart scheduled charging features which allow you for example to only top-off the phone to 100% only in the mornings before you wake up, ASUS goes even further and even allows you to artificially limit the maximum state of charge the phone charges to.
Limiting the maximum state of charge level to 80% instead of 100% for example claims to reduce the battery capacity degradation over time by half. The above graph and data showcase the capacity degradation over charge cycles on the ZenFone 6 with 18W fast-charging.
ASUS deemed all these options and features to be beneficial to the customer and his device over prolonged usage – and the battery on the ZenFone 7 is even specially designed with a thicker anode-cathode separator to allow for faster charging and better capacity retention.
I’ve never seen a vendor be this transparent and forthright about the negatives of fast-charging and battery degradation in general, and I applaud ASUS for it.
ASUS has dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack this generation. Their rationale about the change was that due to the increased internal footprint required by the 5G antennas they had decided to do away with the jack to be able to save on space.
One thing that’s unique on the bottom of the phone is that it features an LED notification light on the left of the USB-C port. ASUS here said that they had to remove it from the front top of the screen due to the reduced bezel size, but didn’t want to abandon the light completely, so they just repositioned it to the bottom of the phone. This is actually quite useful and a more power-efficient way to handle things than an always-on-display so I do appreciate this detail.
The left side of the phone features a long SIM tray that is able to house two nano-SIMs as well as a micro-SD card simultaneously.
The right side sees a traditional volume rocker, as well as a triple-function power button. ASUS opted for a capacitive fingerprint scanner from Goodix integrated into the power button – it’s one of the cost-cutting measures allowing the ZenFone to hit a lower price-point. Beyond the traditional single-press power button function, dual-pressing the button calls up the Google assistant, and you can customise or disable this functionality.
Overall, the ZenFone 7 feels like a very solid phone with quite a lot of potential. The only thing of note here that I guess would be a negative is that it’s a very large and quite heavy phone, although it has reasonable ergonomics so it’s still pretty usable.
Availability and exact pricing of the ZenFone 7 and ZenFone 7 Pro to be updated shortly after the official launch.
79 Comments
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Drazick - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Does it still have built in Call Recorder?Is it still vanilla Android?
I hope this time its availability will be better than ZenFone 6.
Asus has great phones.
itsjustaprankbro - Friday, August 28, 2020 - link
ASUS always had call recording in built. Though I always worry they might drop it in a future release. Not like they update their phones much at all - ASUS has a horrible track record with updates sadly.I dropped my purchase decision for the 7 because they switched from IPS. I hate how I buy a PREMIUM flagship device with a PREMIUM CHIP, stereo speaker, big battery BUT I am not supposed to use it. Because if I do, I get image retention or burn in. YAY.
Guess the only bonus of AMOLED is that if you buy a used phone and there is no burn in, you know it haven't been used much. But otherwise, it sucks big time.
frbeckenbauer - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Oh come on, everything sounded so nice and then they drop the 3.5mm jack.Tams80 - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
The battery life management and warnings, and LED notification light are good practices (even inspired by today's standards).But then they went and dropped the 3.5mm socket. Nah, I'm interested anymore.
damianrobertjones - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
"Nah, I'm interested anymore."-Brain implodes at the complexity of your last statement.
SirCanealot - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
I was going to say, the battery management features look great, but I'm in the same position about the 3.5mm jack :/I usually charge my phone to around 85-95% and try to only charge it fully when I need to. Phones I've done this with in the past have not really had any battery degradation after 2 years. Especially on this S10+ with a sealed battery, I'm taking care of it...
Quantumz0d - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Yep, complete BS move from ASUS. They are claiming it's the 5G !What a garbage show, V60 has it with 5G mmWave and has a full ESS DAC, Xperia MK2 has it with 5G mmWave. They want to save a couple of cents and sell accessory bullshit like OnePlus, Google, Samsung and ofc Apple who started it all. Greedy bunch.
Alistair - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
6 months later, and still no quality $500 Snapdragon 865 phone in the market. Android is such a let down this year, not sure what happened, but 855 phones were everywhere in comparison.BedfordTim - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Its the Qualcomm 5G problem. Manufacturers have to fit in a lot of expensive and large stuff to tick the box. This means expensive monstrous phones.Alistair - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
The Note 20 (MKBHD calls it the NOPE 20) is another example of it. Everything is overpriced or underpowered. Wait for next March, this entire year is a write off for Android, but I expect the next iPhone to be the only good phone this year.