The Asus Zenfone 2 laser ZE550KL was recently launched in India. This handset is using the well known qualcomm snapdragon 410 quad core processor running Lollipop with 2GB RAM. The main highlight about this handset is the laser auto focus camera on the rear for faster focus.
Zenfone 2 Laser ZE550KL Unboxing
Inside the box you will find the Zenfone 2 Laser smartphone, user guide, warranty card, data cable and travel charger 5.2V ~ 1A. Earphone is not included. SAR Value : 0.361 W/Kg (Head) and 0.313 W/Kg (Body).
Design and Display
If you have used any of the Asus Zenfone smartphone or seen one, the Zenfone 2 Laser design is almost the same. The volume rocker however has been moved on the back side. Build quality is very good; it’s a plastic body, bulky in the center and gets slimmer towards the edges.
This handset is heavy, not at all slim but because of the curvy body it is comfortable to hold. Weight with battery is 170 grams and dimensions are 77.23 x 152.30 x 10.53mm.
The power button and 3.5mm audio jack is placed on the top side. Micro USB is at the bottom and volume rocker is on the back. There are dual mics for noise cancellation.
The Zenfone 2 Laser comes with a 5.5 inch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection and supporting 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. Colour reproduction, touch response and viewing angles are very good.
There is LED notification, native video calling is not supported and handset is loaded with following sensors – accelerometer, light, proximity, gyro and magnetic.
This is a dual SIM handset, there are two micro SIM slots and both the SIM slots support 4G. The micro SD card supports up to 128GB external cards. There is SIM slot 1 with overlapping micro SD card and SIM slo2 (check image below), you can use 2 SIM and a micro SD card. This is not a hybrid SIM slot.
Memory, Storage and OS
This handset is packed with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Of the 16GB storage you will get around 11GB free space and of the 2GB RAM about 900MB free RAM on the first boot. Apps by default are getting installed on internal storage, but there is move to SD card option – it will work with some apps. OTG is supported.
Asus Zenfone 2 Laser is running 64 bit Android 5.0.2 with Asus ZenUI.
Performance and Benchmark
This handset is using the 64 bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 cortex A53 MSM8916 quad core processor coupled with Adreno 306 GPU. Performance is smooth and handset does not heat up much.
Benchmark
| Benchmark App | Score |
| Quadrant | 13398 |
| Antutu (64 bit) | 1st – 23310 , 2nd – 23309 |
| Nenamark 2 | 53.8fps |
| Multi touch | 10 point |
Gaming
I played the Asphalt 8 – this game got installed on the internal storage. The game is playable in high visual quality mode, game play was smooth.
Camera
The best thing on the Zenfone 2 Laser is the camera. There is a 13MP camera on the rear that makes use of Laser to get a faster focus. Front camera is of 5MP resolution. Rear camera comes with dual LED flash support and it can shoot 1920 x 1080p videos.
There are a lot of camera mode including night mode that reduces the megapixel resolution but captures brighter shot in very low light conditions. Then there is the super resolution option – in this mode users can shoot images in up to 52MP resolution, better use a tripod when using this mode.
Auto focus is fast thanks to the laser AF, however manual tap to focus is not as fast. Camera quality is excellent. Do check the sample images and video at the end of this review.
Others
Sound is loud and clear, the in-call sound quality is also very good. Media sound however is low. When watching movies and playing games the sound output was low. You can use the audio wizard option to enhance the audio quality, it does increase the loudness but still it is low as compared with other handsets. Surprisingly the ringtone volume is loud, so I guess may be an update will fix this issue.
4G worked, no issues found with 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.
Battery
There is 3000 mAh battery. When you open up the back panel it looks as if the battery is built in, however it can be removed. Battery backup is also pretty impressive. You can expect about 8 to 11 hours of continuous moderate to heavy usage. I have been using this as my primary device and am getting almost 2 days of battery backup.
| Performance | Time | Battery drop % | Battery Max Temp |
| Benchmark | 14 Minutes | 2% | 36 degree |
| Gaming (Asphalt 8) | 20 Minutes | 5% | 37 degree |
| FHD movie play with full brightness + Wi-Fi on | 26 minutes | 5% | 35 degree |
| Wall Charge (on standby) | 3 hours 5 minutes | 18% to 100% (wall charge) | 34 degree |
Verdict
The Asus Zenfone 2 Laser is a very good option with a price tag of ₹9,999. The handset is powerful, can shoot really good images and battery backup is also pretty impressive. On the negative side the handset is heavy / bulky and media sound is low.
[Rating 4.5 out of 5] – cannot use decimals in the review rating box below.
A very good buy for the price!
Asus Zenfone 2 Laser is available for ₹9,999.
Image Gallery
Rear Camera Sample
Front Camera Sample
Super resolution sample (7MB to 12MB size)
Sample 1 | Sample 2 | Sample 3
Zenfone 2 Laser video review