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ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip Review

Charles TYK

Introduction

This is the ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip, which marks the return of the ASUS Zenfone series in Malaysia after nearly three years. The last Zenfone product I reviewed was the ZenFone 5Z, a phone with high-end performance that didn’t cost much. A couple of months ago, ASUS Malaysia launched the Zenfone 8 series — Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip. I’ve been using the Zenfone 8 Flip for a few weeks, and here’s the full review!

ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip Specs

Design

If you’ve seen the ZenFone 7 Pro, the ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip basically looks the same. However, since we didn’t really get to see the ZenFone 7 Pro in Malaysia, we’ll talk more about its design. The front of the phone is all about the screen. Due to the flip camera module, you don’t need to have a front-facing camera, which means it has a true full-view display without a notch or whatsoever. It has the same thick top and bottom bezels, making the phone looks more symmetry and well-engineered.

My review unit is the Glacier Silver variant, more difficult to notice the fingerprints compared to the Galactic Black variant, but it is still noticeable. The back of the phone is pretty clean, the flip camera module at the upper part houses a triple-camera setup. It’s not the prettiest back but I wouldn’t mind since I’ll use the included case, which is quite good, surprisingly.

The volume rocker and power button are located on the right side. I like the fact that the power button is in cyan, which matches the silver frame perfectly.

The bottom of the phone has an LED notification light, USB-C port, microphone, and speaker grille. Yup, it has an LED notification light, which is pretty rare for smartphones nowadays. Not to forget that the phone also comes with stereo speakers set up for a better audio experience.

Display

The ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip sports a 6.67-inch Full HD+ NanoEdge AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. Unlike most phones, the Zenfone 8 Flip doesn’t have a notch nor camera cutout, this is because it doesn’t have a selfie camera. By not having a selfie camera, the Zenfone 8 Flip can offer a true full-view display. The screen quality is no slouch either, it shows accurate and vivid colors, and the brown issue I’ve been having on the ROG Phone 3 is now gone.

Performance

Powering the ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip is the top-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. The phone handles pretty well in day-to-day usage, everything runs buttery smooth without any hiccup. In terms of gaming, it can definitely play graphic intensive games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Genshin Impact, at a very smooth frame rate.

Software

The ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip runs on Android 11 with ZenUI 8. ZenUI 8 is now pretty close to stock Android, but with some additional features.

There’s One-handed Mode, which brings down the top part of the screen by swiping down the screen’s bottom. This is basically the same Reachability feature on iPhone, and I’m fine with ASUS including this feature on ZenUI 8.

The phone also comes with various modes prioritizing performance or extend battery life by just a tap, though you’ll hardly notice any performance differences on daily basis.

Camera

The ASUS ZenFone 8 Flip comes with a flip camera module, which houses a 12MP Sony IMX363 ultra-wide + 64MP Sony IMX686 main + 8MP 3x telephoto lens. Having a flip camera module means you don’t need a selfie camera, and you get the same image quality as the rear cameras since both front and rear are taken with the same cameras. Sadly, its 64MP main camera doesn’t come with OIS, which means videos recorded will have weird artifacts since EIS is stabilized via software.

Auto Panorama

Ultra-Wide

12MP Main

3x Zoom

64MP

Night Mode (Ultra-Wide)

Night Mode (Main)

Edited

Image quality generally is pretty good with a great dynamic range as usual. ASUS did well in maintaining the white balance consistency between the ultra-wide and main cameras, but the photos taken with the telephoto lens appeared to be slightly warmer. With the flip camera module, you can even take Auto Panorama photos with just a single tap. The Zenfone 8 Flip doesn’t have top-class cameras, but it is good enough for social media usage. Nevertheless, the selfies will look great since you can flip the rear cameras to the front. Click here to view more camera samples.

Battery Life

The ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip packs a 5,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 4.0. It comes with a 30W charger that supports USB Power Delivery, not as fast as what you get on the ROG Phone 5 though. Based on my usage, the phone was able to last through a day with more than 5 hours of screen-on-time. Not exactly impressive but it’s good enough.

Final Words

Retailing at RM2,999, the ASUS Zenfone 8 Flip is a unique smartphone with the high-end performance you can get right now. Having the flip camera module allows the phone to have a true full-view display, and you can the same image quality for front and rear photography. If anyone wants to get rid of the notch or camera cutout, this is how you should do it! There’s a catch though, having the flip camera module means there’s an extra moving part, which means it is even harder to be water and dust resistant and that’s an extra cost for repairing.

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