Zenfone 2 First Impressions/First Question

[anon(5316299)]

Hi all -

My 4GB/64GB Zenfone 2 arrived this morning. I have it set up with a TMO sim in the first slot, ATT sim in the second. I'll give more detailed feedback later, but here are first thoughts:

1) Size is great. Is really no bigger than my HTC Desire EYE, feels good in the hand.
2) Speed and performance seem fine, no stuttering or lagging. I did have one freeze when I was setting up a google account, which required a hard reboot. No issues since.
3) power button on top is mushy but hard to press. out of keeping with rest of device.
4) Asus customizations are REALLY nice so far. Feels as polished as Sense.
5) A bit concerned about camera image processing. I'm seeing exactly the same issue as gsmarena did in the quick review today...image color and dynamic range are good, but fine detail is heavily smoothed. Not as blocky and annoying as my Xperia Z3, but still frustrating. Camera software itself seems easy to use. I like the ability to long-press and lock exposure and focus.

Finally...a question. Can anyone tell me how to disable haptic feedback for softkeys? I disabled it for the keyboard but for the life of me I can't figure out how to get rid of the vibration when I touch the home key. any help would be much appreciated.

Will do a full camera comparo vs. my Lumia 1020, Desire Eye, and Xperia Z3 soon.

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

Hi all -

My 4GB/64GB Zenfone 2 arrived this morning. I have it set up with a TMO sim in the first slot, ATT sim in the second. I'll give more detailed feedback later, but here are first thoughts:

1) Size is great. Is really no bigger than my HTC Desire EYE, feels good in the hand.
2) Speed and performance seem fine, no stuttering or lagging. I did have one freeze when I was setting up a google account, which required a hard reboot. No issues since.
3) power button on top is mushy but hard to press. out of keeping with rest of device.
4) Asus customizations are REALLY nice so far. Feels as polished as Sense.
5) A bit concerned about camera image processing. I'm seeing exactly the same issue as gsmarena did in the quick review today...image color and dynamic range are good, but fine detail is heavily smoothed. Not as blocky and annoying as my Xperia Z3, but still frustrating. Camera software itself seems easy to use. I like the ability to long-press and lock exposure and focus.

Finally...a question. Can anyone tell me how to disable haptic feedback for softkeys? I disabled it for the keyboard but for the life of me I can't figure out how to get rid of the vibration when I touch the home key. any help would be much appreciated.

Will do a full camera comparo vs. my Lumia 1020, Desire Eye, and Xperia Z3 soon.

Check in the sound settings.

Note in my house!

 

[anon(5316299)]

Check in the sound settings.

Note in my house!

Derp. Missed it the first five times. Buried in "other sounds".

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[planoman]

Thanks for the impressions! Can you check the speed on SIM 2? Is it The same speed as SIM 1? I saw and article which said the speed of SIM 2 is limited to 2G?

Also saw the article on GSM arena. Have you tried a different camera app to see if that does anything. Hopefully ASUS can update the app if needed.

Also can you check back in a few days to give us impressions of the battery? Also are you using a case?

Also pics?

Posted via Nexus 6!

 

[anon(5316299)]

Thanks for the impressions! Can you check the speed on SIM 2? Is it The same speed as SIM 1? I saw and article which said the speed of SIM 2 is limited to 2G?

SIM 2 is Voice Only as far as I can tell..no data at all, not even MMS. a bummer really...if it could do MMS that would be great, but my daughter sent me a photo by MMS and I couldn't download it. SMS works. Voice quality on SIM 2 also doesn't appear to be as good as SIM 1...I made some calls on SIM 2 and people said I sounded bad, I got no such comments on SIM 1.

Also saw the article on GSM arena. Have you tried a different camera app to see if that does anything. Hopefully ASUS can update the app if needed.

I have not tried a different app yet...will go with Google Camera and see if the image processing is different. I doubt there will be much difference really. I will post full comparison in a day or two.

Also can you check back in a few days to give us impressions of the battery? Also are you using a case?

No case. I'll let you know about battery, to early to tell yet obviously.

Also pics?

Posted via Nexus 6!

 

[anon(5316299)]

Ok! Detail issue SOLVED. turn off "image optimization" in camera settings. The great thing is that you can actually change the image processing manually to suit your tastes.

Wow. Gonna like this phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[planoman]

Micro or Nano SIM (s)?

 

[anon(5316299)]

Micro or Nano SIM (s)?

Micro. Adapters work fine.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

I got my 4GB/32GB variant this morning. I have some of the same sentiments as Quantify. Build is nice, feels good in the hand because of the curve. Don't have to mess with the power button because of tap to wake and sleep. It's fast and fluid while moving through the UI. Screen brightness could be better but it's still good. I seem to have an issue with losing all connection at times, it drops and doesn't come back until I either restart or toggle airplane mode (using T-Mobile). I also can't seem to get rid of lock screen notifications that have to deal with the system, it constantly tells me that I have installed my SD card and when I long press to get to the menu to not show that notification, it does nothing. Other than that, it's a beast phone and I'm happy with my purchase. Will update more when I have more hands on.

I didn't feel like making a new thread but if Quantify would like this to be his own thread then I can.

 

[planoman]

I got my 4GB/32GB variant this morning. I have some of the same sentiments as Quantify. Build is nice, feels good in the hand because of the curve. Don't have to mess with the power button because of tap to wake and sleep. It's fast and fluid while moving through the UI. Screen brightness could be better but it's still good. I seem to have an issue with losing all connection at times, it drops and doesn't come back until I either restart or toggle airplane mode (using T-Mobile). I also can't seem to get rid of lock screen notifications that have to deal with the system, it constantly tells me that I have installed my SD card and when I long press to get to the menu to not show that notification, it does nothing. Other than that, it's a beast phone and I'm happy with my purchase. Will update more when I have more hands on.

I didn't feel like making a new thread but if Quantify would like this to be his own thread then I can.

Glad you got it! Looking forward to hearing your impressions! Was there an update waiting as soon as you connected? Is the connection issue with the network only or when WIFI is used along with, without? Call quality?

 

[anon(5316299)]

Glad you got it! Looking forward to hearing your impressions! Was there an update waiting as soon as you connected? Is the connection issue with the network only or when WIFI is used along with, without? Call quality?

I did not have an update... also not experiencing connectivity issues yet.

Performancewise... so far so good. Total beast on asphalt 8...

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

There was no update waiting for me. The connection issue so far, is only when I'm on the network as I was out of the house when it happened. Call quality has been okay, but I've only made one call since having it so more time is needed to really answer that.

Edit: Just ran Antutu and scored 47682. I know that benchmarks aren't all they're cracked up to be though.

 

[jpr]

Re: the dual SIM
You can only have one data connection. It is this way on all dual SIM phones. The second SIM is 2g only - calls and text. MMS is sent over data, not the voice network, so that is why no MMS on the 2nd SIM.

 

[slick5150]

Is wireless Qi charging an option with this phone?

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

I don't believe so, but it does have fast charging with the original charger.

 

[TOTtomdora]

Quantify, or any other owners, what's your battery life like?

 

[bigsmooth66]

I got my 4GB/32GB variant this morning. I have some of the same sentiments as Quantify. Build is nice, feels good in the hand because of the curve. Don't have to mess with the power button because of tap to wake and sleep. It's fast and fluid while moving through the UI. Screen brightness could be better but it's still good. I seem to have an issue with losing all connection at times, it drops and doesn't come back until I either restart or toggle airplane mode (using T-Mobile). I also can't seem to get rid of lock screen notifications that have to deal with the system, it constantly tells me that I have installed my SD card and when I long press to get to the menu to not show that notification, it does nothing. Other than that, it's a beast phone and I'm happy with my purchase. Will update more when I have more hands on.

I didn't feel like making a new thread but if Quantify would like this to be his own thread then I can.

I was having the same issue with T-Mobile. I deleted the APN settings that automatically load when the network is found and manually added them back and my connection improved. Also, change the preferred settings from 4G to 3G. At 4G it is constantly looking for LTE. On 3G it will settle on HSPA+.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[bigsmooth66]

Also worth noting that when on standby the aignal meter will say 3G, but when data is being used it will show your fastest connection.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[anon(5316299)]

So far, pretty bad. This is from 96% this morning. I would hold off final judgement until I do a few more cycles, but I'm pretty confident this is not going to look like my Z3 Compact...

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

I was having the same issue with T-Mobile. I deleted the APN settings that automatically load when the network is found and manually added them back and my connection improved. Also, change the preferred settings from 4G to 3G. At 4G it is constantly looking for LTE. On 3G it will settle on HSPA+.

Posted via the Android Central App

I originally couldn't get data on 4G preferred connection with either APN I put in, so I dropped it to 3G preferred and got HSPA+ with terrible speeds of 2.5Mbps down. I then found out I should have the APN fast.t-mobile.com instead of fast.tmobile.com and it allows me to have the 4G preferred and get speeds around 15-25Mbps down.

As for battery it's still too early to say, it seems pretty good in standby, but it looks like it may drain slightly fast with usage.