Asus Zenfone Live Review: Latest 4G VoLTE Smartphone

Today’s article features an in-depth Asus Zenfone Live review.

Asus has been really aggressive in the Indian Smartphones market over the last few years introducing Android Smartphones at very competitive price points. Asus Smartphones lately have not only become cheap but also a really great choice especially when considering the features and performance capabilities you get out of Asus Smartphones. The Asus Zenfone Live is the latest Android Smartphone offering from the brand and what makes it different from the list of Asus devices that we have in the market currently?

Read on with the Asus Zenfone Live review below to find out what is special about the Asus Zenfone Live 4G VoLTE Smartphone and whether you should be excited about the device.

Asus Zenfone Live Review:

With a price tag of Rs. 9,999, the Asus Zenfone Live is a part of the very aggressive budget Smartphones market in India. Smartphones within this price range nowadays have every other feature that we wished for in a budget Smartphone a few years ago. From monstrous battery backup to metal built and even great camera quality, today’s budget Android Smartphone devices even with a price tag of less than Rs. 10,000 have all of these features.

So what can be done to set a Smartphone alive and apart from rest of the competition in 2017? Well, Asus is answering this question by launching their latest Asus Zenfone Live Smartphone, which is the first Android Smartphone to feature a “live beautification technology”. Now if you are someone who does a lot of live streaming on social media websites, this means that you can now make use of the beautification technology that we see on many Smartphone cameras these days even when you are live streaming.

Apart from this feature, what else are you offered with the Asus Zenfone Live? Keep reading the Asus Zenfone Live review below to know more!

Asus Zenfone Live Review – Built and Design:

The overall design and build of the Asus Zenfone Live are very much similar to the lineup of Asus Zenfone 3 devices that we have seen lately. The Asus Zenfone Live features rounded corners which make it quite easy to grip and handle the device.

The Zenfone Live features a plasticky build and is offered in three color variants, namely Gold, Rose Pink and Black. Weighing in at just 120 grams, the device is quite light adding on to the comforts of handling the device even single-handedly.

Talking about the physical button placements in the Asus Zenfone Live, the device has its volume and power buttons placed to the right of the device whereas to the left of the device a tray is featured that can accept either two SIM card of Nano size, of which one can be replaced with a MicroSD card for storage expansion, in case you wish for.

The volume and power keys have a textured finish making it easier to realize the buttons, however, a similar texture means that the volume controls can be easily mistaken for the power key when not looked upon.

The Asus Zenfone Live supports 4G LTE and VoLTE as well. However, out of the two SIM cards that the device can accept, only one SIM supports 4G LTE and VoLTE.

The top of the device features the 3.5mm headphone jack accompanied by a secondary microphone whereas the bottom features the Micro-USB port which can be used for charging and data syncing along with the mono-loudspeaker of the device.

There is no fingerprint scanner in the Asus Zenfone Live, which is quite a bummer considering all its competitors have one. Even competing Smartphones with a lower price tag has a fingerprint scanner in them.

Asus Zenfone Live Review – Hardware Specifications:

Coming to the hardware specifications of the device, considering its price tag, anyone would assume the device to feature the Snapdragon 425 chipset, as it is very common among Smartphones with a budget price tag.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Asus has chosen to go with the Snapdragon 400 processor, which was launched way back in 2013. When most of the budget Smartphones offer the latest Snapdragon 425, or even a bit older Snapdragon 410, Asus’s choice to go with the Snapdragon 400 is really odd and disappointing.

The Snapdragon 400 found in the Asus Zenfone Live has a clock frequency of 1.5GHz and the device also features 2GB of RAM.

The rear and front facing cameras of the Asus Zenfone Live are of 13MP and 5MP respectively. There is a single-LED flash provided in the rear of the device and also a selfie flash in the front.

The Asus Zenfone Live features 16GB of inbuilt storage. Out of the 16GB, around 10GB of memory space is free for use. Even though not plenty enough, the storage can be aptly expanded up to an additional 256GB by making use of a MicroSD card.

The Asus Zenfone Live battery is rated at 2650mAh and is a non-removable unit.

Asus Zenfone Live Review – Hardware Performance:

The Asus Zenfone Live is featuring a processor that powered the first generation Moto G Android Smartphone. Even though the first-gen Moto G was a very good performer, the device is now over 4 years old and the same processor on a device in 2017 is a surprise indeed.

Overall performance does take a hit in the Asus Zenfone Live, thanks to the older processor. The processor along with the 2GB of RAM does not at all help in the smooth functioning of the device.

Let alone gaming, even app launches can take quite some time. Even the custom Asus-made ZenUI running on the Asus Zenfone Live is outdated, so is the Android version on the device. The Asus Zenfone Live run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The 2650mAh battery on the Asus Zenfone Live does not offer any hope when it comes to battery backup. The battery unit is non-removable, which also takes away the chance to swap away the battery when empty.

Asus Zenfone Live Review – Camera Performance:

The 13MP primary and the 5MP secondary camera units of the Asus Zenfone Live are not something to boast about either. Even though there is a flash unit placed at both the rear and front, it does not help very much in the output.

Considering there is an ample amount of lighting, the image output quality and become bearable enough. However, it does take some time to focus on objects even when the screen is tapped to focus. And when the light gets dimmer, the images turn out to be dull and grainy and takes more time to focus on objects.

Video recording can be done at 1080p Full-HD. However, in order to make use of the software stabilization that the device offers, video resolution should be lowered to 720p HD.

Even the main highlight of the device, the live beautification technology fails to impress. For starters, the feature can be used only for streaming on either Facebook, Instagram or YouTube and even if that impresses you, the camera performance won’t. Forget the dull image quality, there is an immense amount of lag when making use of the live beautification feature and live streaming videos.

Final Words:

The Asus Zenfone Live as mentioned in the beginning is the first Android Smartphone to feature the live beautification feature. However, apart from that every other aspect of the device, from the choice to include a 4-year old processor, its small 2650mAh battery and even the omission of a fingerprint scanner, points out that the Asus Zenfone Live is going to be a disaster in comparison to the rest of the competition, where devices offer at least 3GB of RAM, the latest processor and not forgetting the fingerprint scanner and a larger battery.

So, if the live beautification feature is not something you would drool about (frankly, no one would), then the Asus Zenfone Live is not for you.

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