The Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is the Taiwanese brand’s latest offering to their camera-focused Laser series. It is a budget-level, mid-range smartphone that brings a good amount of features, at least on paper.
But does it fare well in practice? Read more to find out.
A Sexier, Classier Build
Unlike its predecessor, the Zenfone 2, the Zenfone 3 Laser is updated with a sexier build. Gone are the full plastic bodies that exude cheap-looking personas. You can say goodbye to the bulky rear and chunky build as well.
Instead, the Zenfone 3 Laser is equipped with an (almost) all-metal body, making it look classier and more expensive than its supposed mid-range image. The body is also slimmer, lighter, and sports curved edges, making this smartphone grip-friendly and ergonomic to use.
Overall, the Zenfone 3 Laser’s more premium body design is a welcomed upgrade to our eyes (and hands).
Punchy Images and Color-Accurate Display
The Zenfone 3 Laser boasts of a 5.5-inch, full HD (1080×1920) display. A 2.5D glass covers the screen, while a layer of Gorilla Glass 3 protects it.
Few people may consider this a downgrade from Zenfone 2 Laser’s Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Still, the protection is still industry-standard, scratch and damage resistant protection.
Display quality quite exceeds expectations on this smartphone. The colors are accurate and the images are bright and punchy enough that you’ll have no trouble using your phone even in bright, sunny outdoors. Viewing angles are quite generous as well.
As with most Zenfones, the ZF3 Laser also allows you to tweak your screen’s color temperature via a built-in app called Splendid.
What a great option for people who’re sensitive to blue light!
Hardware Performance – Does it Deliver?
On paper, the Zenfone 3 Laser comes with an impressive hardware lineup.
This smartphone runs on an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, equipped with an Adreno 505 GPU. A massive 4GB RAM and an expandable 32GB internal storage is also provided.
With this, the Zenfone 3 Laser should be enough to handle day-to-day functions and run multiple apps at the same time. It can even run one or two graphics-intensive Android games without any lags.
For its price point, the Zenfone 3 Laser delivers a pretty good performance with a fast and snappy UI to boot.
OS, UI, and an Overabundance of Apps
Android Marshmallow 6.0 powers the Zenfone 3 Laser. It also runs on the ZenUI 3.0.
Right off the bat, this presents a clean and easy-to-use experience for consumers, although some of the features can look tad dated. This can be easily remedied by a launcher, however.
There are, unfortunately, some major issues. One of the most significant of these is the amount of bloatware that litters the Zenfone UI. This has been a long-standing criticism of the Zenfone series and Asus has yet to do anything about it.
The Zenfone 3 Laser is still littered with tons of unnecessary third-party apps. On top of these apps are more of Google’s pre-installed apps. Auto-updates will bombard you as soon as you connect to the internet.
This proves to be a major nuisance if you have a slow internet connection.
To make matters worse, Asus has made it impossible to uninstall them. This is unfortunate because the entire system eats up around 8.4GB of your initial 32GB internal storage.
This leaves you only 23.5GB to store all your photos, videos, and other files.
Superior Camera Experience
The Asus Laser series aims to give consumers a premium camera experience. You can see this with the Zenfone 3 Laser’s superior cameras despite its mid-range price point.
Let’s talk about the rear camera first.
The 13-megapixel rear-end camera has Sony IMX214 sensors and comes with a Laser AutoFocus.
Now all you have to do is point, shoot, and be instantly rewarded with sharp, clean images with vibrant colors.
As for the selfie camera, you will be glad to know that the 8-megapixel front-end camera of the Zenfone 3 Laser has a wide-angle lens for amazing group photos.
The selfie camera also comes with the staple Beauty Mode feature. It also produces great images in both daylight and low-light settings.
Generous Battery Life
Asus phones are generally known for their outstanding battery lives and the Zenfone 3 Laser is no exception.
Powered by 3,000mAh non-removable battery, it might be considered a downgrade from the previous 5,000mAh Asus offerings (remember Asus Zenfone Max 4?).
However, for its price point, the Zenfone 3 Laser definitely gives a generous amount of battery life. With a normal workload, one can squeeze up to 12 hours of power from this smartphone. Combined with a little gaming, you can have as much as 9 to 10 hours of battery life.
If worse comes to worst, the phone also has a pretty efficient power-saving feature to come and save the day.
Below is the full list of the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser specs
| Size | 143.8 x 72.3 x 8.4 mm |
| Display | 5.5-inch IPS LCD
1080 x 1920 pixels 401ppi Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Platform | Android 6.0 Marshmallow
1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa-core CPU Adreno 505 GPU |
| Memory and Storage | 32GB internal storage
Expandable via microSD card, up to 256GB 4GB RAM |
| Camera | 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor Laser autofocus rear camera with dual-tone LED flash
8MP front-end camera |
| Connectivity | 4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11ac Dual SIM (Micro-SIM) Bluetooth 4.2 A2DP, EDR, LE |
| Battery | 3,000mAh non-removable battery |
The Verdict: An Excellent Follow-Up to an Excellent Series
Despite some minor hiccups and performance issues, the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is a well-built smartphone and an excellent follow-up to an excellent series.
With its upgraded design language, more-than-capable hardware, superior camera, and generous battery life, we guarantee that it is worth your every penny.
Oh, and did we mention it’s currently on sale in Lazada Philippines? For a limited time only, you can get your own Asus Zenfone 3 Laser for up to 37% off!
Hurry and get yours now! Don’t forget to use your BillEase promo codes for a special offer!
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