Review: ASUS Zenfone 3 Zoom (ZE553KL) photography smartphone

Since I broke the camera glass of my SGS5 at the end of last year, I have been looking for a new phone.
One of the features I've been waiting for since a long time was optical zoom. Of course there's the new IPhone, but as a free software guy that's not for me.
So I was hyped to find out ASUS was going to release a new Zenfone Zoom. Some may remember their first one, which had a big clunky camera module in the center of the back. Luckily that's not necessary any more, dual lenses ftw!

The first release announcement was for february, but it got delayed to Q2. Since a week or two it's now available in the US, starting at an amazing $329 for the 32GB version. To get it in europe I had to buy from an importeur, paid some more, but it's got 64GB and I waited so long that I just had to get it now.

And boy am I happy. I've never cared about brands much, but I feel like I'm becoming an ASUS fanboy. For my travels I already got the GL502VS notebook, which I love beyond measure, and now all my devices are from that brand. The build quality of both items is awesome, and no problems with software so far.

The phone comes with a 5.5" AMOLED 1080p screen (which means no VR, but I'm not a mobile gamer anyway) protected with GorillaGlass 5 on a 154.3 x 77 x 8 mm body and weights only 170g. It takes 2 nano sims, where one can be replaced by a MicroSD up to 2TB. It's shipped with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, an update to 7 is announced.

Of course there's the common sensors - accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, rear mounted fingerprint - which all work fine. For connectivity it comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, A-GPS, Bluetooth 4.2, an FM Radio and USB type C (2.0).

It's equipped with a gigantic (non removable) 5000mAh battery, and features an energy saving processor, which easily allows to use it for 2 days without charging.
Besides that, the main feature are the cameras. There's two lenses on the back (25mm, f/1.7, OIS (4-axis)& 59mm, f/2.8), which provide a 2.3x zoom. Using lasers, the autofocus is so fast that I first didn't realize the picture's already taken. And it comes with a huge amount of different modes for the camera (Auto, Manual, HDR Pro, Beautification, Super Resolution, Children, QR code, Night, Depth of field, Effect, Selfie, GIF, Panorama, Miniature, Time Rewind, Smart Remove, All Smiles, Slow motion, Time lapse). I never owned a DSLR, so I still have to learn how they all work. You'll be able to see my progresses (hopefully) if you follow me ;-)
The front camera has an amazing quality too, a few less modes, but still more than enough.

I'm also amazed by the sound. It's loud and clear, and the headset (good old 3.5mm jack) it comes with is the best in-ear I ever used (which doesn't mean much, but still).

Besides the Navy Black one I got, it's also available in Glacier Silver and Rose Gold.

I won't give an overall rating because I'm absolutely happy with it, but that's just because it's exactly what I want from a phone. Opinions surely differ.

Finally, here's my first few tries with photos, more coming over the next months!

Auto mode at night

Same setting with night mode

Another night mode

Optical zoom

Full zoom comparison (was a comment first, but makes sense to include here)
1x

2.3x (optical)

5x (digital)

12x

And a (auto) selfie :)