Unlocked phones with flagship-level specs may be a niche market in the US since most people buy their phones from carriers, but it's hard not to be enticed by the Asus ZenFone 5Z.
It boasts the latest specs, including a Snapdragon 845 processor, dual rear camera sensors, and a sleek glass body in a tall-and-narrow 19:9 form factor.
It's the most powerful phone in the ZenFone 5 lineup, and with a price expected to be similar to the $529 OnePlus 6, it could be a formidable challenger depending on how well the camera capabilities and overall performance shake out in daily use.
We got a chance to take an early look at the phone and have some first impressions.
Another Notch Joins the Club
Love them or hate them, the notch is a trend that's not going away.
The ZenFone 5Z adopts the distinctive notch at the top of the screen that was popularized by the Apple iPhone X.
The 19:9 form factor attempts to maximize screen space by cramming a 6.2-inch display into a body that measures 6.0 by 3.0 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.8 ounces, which is similar to the OnePlus 6 (6.1 by 3.0 by 0.3 inches, 6.2 ounces), but wider than the Samsung Galaxy S9 (5.8 by 2.7 by 0.3 inches, 5.6 ounces).
You should be able to use the 5Z with one hand, but reaching across it all the way will require some dexterity.
The back of the phone is made of polished, mirror-like glass that's highly reflective and prone to fingerprints and smudges, but looks and feels pretty slick when it's in pristine condition.
Available in both silver and blue (which is more of a black), the 5Z looks like a very high-end flagship.
The sides of the phone are metal and have your standard array of ports and buttons, including a clicky volume rocker and power button on the right, and a headphone jack and USB-C charging port on the bottom.
There's also a SIM/microSD card slot that can support cards up to 2TB.
A fingerprint sensor is on the back.
Unfortunately, the phone isn't waterproof, a feature that's becoming increasingly common among high-end models.
The phone features a reasonably loud bottom-ported speaker.
It's compatible with a number audio codecs and supports high-resolution 24-bit audio, though it's not as geared for audiophiles as the LG G7 ThinQ, with its built-in quad DAC.
The display is a crisp 6.2-inch 2,246-by-1,080-pixel IPS panel with rich, saturated colors.
Pixel density works out to 402ppi, which is the same as the OnePlus 6, but not as sharp as the Quad HD Galaxy S9 (570ppi), which also has denser, inkier blacks and richer colors thanks to its AMOLED screen.
In a well-lit demo room, the 5Z's viewing angles were good, and the display seemed bright.
According to Asus, it goes up to 550cd/m2, which is approximately half of what the LG G7 ThinQ can reach for maximum outdoor visibility.
The color temperature can be enabled to change automatically in response to the lighting in the room, similar to the iPhone X's TrueTone display, which warms the screen.
The same goes for a blue light filter that will automatically turn on at night.
Asus likes to call these AI features, but there doesn't seem to be much different from what we've seen on other phones that don't call it AI.
Artificially Intelligent Performance...Or Is It?
Under the hood, the 5Z is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and available in three different configurations—4GB RAM/64GB storage, 6GB RAM/128GB storage, and 8GB RAM/256GB storage.
Any of these configurations, combined with the 1080p display, should make for great gaming performance.
Asus has also implemented AI Boost into its ZenUI 5 (running on top of Android 8.0 Oreo), which is intended to dynamically manage background processes to accommodate your day-to-day usage.
If you fire up a game, it might kill background processes and automatically put the phone into Game Mode so you're not disturbed.
It also appears to do some RAM management, allocating memory to more intensive apps, though I'm having a difficult time seeing how that's distinct from other phones that do this without using machine learning.
In some regards, Asus seems to be pushing the definition of exactly what qualifies as AI.
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Battery capacity is 3,300mAh, which seems decent for the size.
For reference, the OnePlus 6 has the same size cell and clocked 5 hours, 49 minutes of LTE video playback in our battery rundown test. There's no wireless charging like on pricier flagships, but the 5Z supports fast charging (Power Delivery 3.0) at 9V/2A for an 18W output with the included adapter.
Naturally, there's a number of AI features that manage charging so as not to wear your phone's battery out prematurely.
For connecitivity, the phone supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz), along with Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless listening on two audio sources.
There's also NFC for mobile payments.
It supports LTE bands for GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile, but it won't work on Verizon or Sprint.
Dual Sensors and AI Cameras Are Here to Stay
The real AI features kick in for the camera.
Here you have an 83-degree 12MP rear camera (roughly equal to a 25mm lens on a full-frame camera) paired with an ultra-wide 120-degree 8MP sensor (around 12mm), so you can choose between a wide angle and ultra-wide angle perspective.
That's an aspect we like on phones like the G7, because it allows you to capture more of a scene and makes for some nice landscape and scenery shots, albeit at the cost of some barrel distortion.
More intriguingly, the ZenFone 5Z supports 16 types of AI scene detection and makes adjustments to aperture, focus, filters, and other settings in order to take the best shot for that scene.
Over time it learns from your photos and your preferences for what constitutes a good picture, becoming better at recognizing scenes and making appropriate adjustments.
We've seen this on the G7 as well as the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, which uses a dedicated AI core for its Kirin 970 processor.
The 5Z doesn't have that, but it's able to pick up on food, plants, people, sunlit scenes, sky, and supports a low-light mode for clearer shots in darker settings.
I took some test shots with the 5Z and found it to be responsive, capturing crisp images in a well-lit indoor setting.
I'll put it through our full set of lab tests when we get one in for review.
The phone can also shoot 4K video at 30fps and supports optical image stabilization, allowing for smooth and stable recording.
The 8MP front-facing camera looked clear and bright in some preliminary snaps.
A Promising First Look
Asus may be a bit too generous calling everything AI, but there's no doubt that the Asus ZenFone 5Z is on the same playing field as other recent flagships in terms of design and hardware.
It's packed with useful features despite a heavy UI layer, and boasts a promising camera that takes advantage of machine learning.
We'll still don't have a definitive release date, but we'll put the phone through testing at PC Labs to see how it measures up, so check back soon for a full review.
