- Aug 11, 2010
- 105
- 0
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First off I wanted to express just how awesome it was to receive this phone from Android Central being one of the contest winners. Honestly, I wanted to purchase the phone anyway because I loved the specs, especially the 4gb of RAM. You see, you can never have enough RAM hehe.
I have been using the phone for three weeks now and I even took it on vacation with me for four days. First, I wanted to mention that I am coming from a Samsung Galaxy Note II, a phone I have been using since it was released in 2012. I am very fond of that phone but let's face it, it was a dated version of Android and it had gotten laggy and It was time for a factory reset. Now that I have been using the Zenfone 2, I do not see myself going back to the Note II. No way, I love the speediness of the Zenfone 2. This sucker is fast, it's zippy. I love it. Lag is the enemy and I hate it and this phone makes me happy that I no longer have to experience it.
At first I wasn't so sure about the battery, you see the Note II has a great battery (3100 mah), it lasts forever, so moving to the Zenfone II and it's 3000 mah battery I was concerned about it's daily performance because I had read negative things about it and even experienced less life than I had been used to -- Until I read about the Auto-Start Manager and now the battery life has been excellent. At least, that's the only thing I can attribute the better battery life to because ever since I turned off a crapload of apps in the auto-start, battery life improved, I was no longer at 30% battery by dinnertime, I was now at 60%. A great improvement.
I am happy with the screen, I find it bright enough for my liking and I haven't had a problem with it. I love Tap to Wake, I don't think I could live without it after this. I need Tap to Wake on everything now. I found myself tapping on my wife's phone screen wondering why nothing was happening. It's now programmed into my brain.
One thing that I was not happy with was the Asus Messenger app, it would not send a photo while on wifi, I had to turn wifi off and switch to Data in order for messenger to send it. That was a pain so I installed Google Messenger and haven't looked back. Google Messenger sends photos just fine.
Does anyone else think it's weird that Ringtone and Notification share the same volume, is that normal? I think they should have separate volumes, I like my ringer much louder than my notifications. I don't know, maybe it's just me.
I used the camera quite a bit while on vacation and outdoor shots looked great and I must say that selfie shots look pretty good too, my Note II always made me look like a hideous chud but the Zenfone 2 makes me look much less chud-like.
I have been using the Zen UI and I have had a positive experience so far and I am using the ELUN Icon Pack. It's pretty cool looking. I had been using Nova Launcher on my Note II as I was totally sick of Touchwiz. I may go back to Nova but for now I am happy with the Zen UI. I did like being able to remove labels from apps on Nova, it's just cleaner looking. I would love for that option in the Zen UI.
What more can I say about this phone, it's a real bargain, it's only $299! You get a 5.5 inch screen, great speed, a great amount of storage and even an sd card slot. Sure, the speaker doesn't blow you away but I am happy for what it does. Anyone that is sick of paying off their expensive smartphone in tiny increments every month will enjoy the trade off you get with the Zenfone 2. You can own it right now, it's unlocked and it's yours!
One thing I would say to Asus is to keep up with the Updates as we all want the latest version of Android on this awesome phone! I would also love to have a 6 inch screen on a Zenfone, if that model comes to the US, it will be mine.
I have been using the phone for three weeks now and I even took it on vacation with me for four days. First, I wanted to mention that I am coming from a Samsung Galaxy Note II, a phone I have been using since it was released in 2012. I am very fond of that phone but let's face it, it was a dated version of Android and it had gotten laggy and It was time for a factory reset. Now that I have been using the Zenfone 2, I do not see myself going back to the Note II. No way, I love the speediness of the Zenfone 2. This sucker is fast, it's zippy. I love it. Lag is the enemy and I hate it and this phone makes me happy that I no longer have to experience it.
At first I wasn't so sure about the battery, you see the Note II has a great battery (3100 mah), it lasts forever, so moving to the Zenfone II and it's 3000 mah battery I was concerned about it's daily performance because I had read negative things about it and even experienced less life than I had been used to -- Until I read about the Auto-Start Manager and now the battery life has been excellent. At least, that's the only thing I can attribute the better battery life to because ever since I turned off a crapload of apps in the auto-start, battery life improved, I was no longer at 30% battery by dinnertime, I was now at 60%. A great improvement.
I am happy with the screen, I find it bright enough for my liking and I haven't had a problem with it. I love Tap to Wake, I don't think I could live without it after this. I need Tap to Wake on everything now. I found myself tapping on my wife's phone screen wondering why nothing was happening. It's now programmed into my brain.
One thing that I was not happy with was the Asus Messenger app, it would not send a photo while on wifi, I had to turn wifi off and switch to Data in order for messenger to send it. That was a pain so I installed Google Messenger and haven't looked back. Google Messenger sends photos just fine.
Does anyone else think it's weird that Ringtone and Notification share the same volume, is that normal? I think they should have separate volumes, I like my ringer much louder than my notifications. I don't know, maybe it's just me.
I used the camera quite a bit while on vacation and outdoor shots looked great and I must say that selfie shots look pretty good too, my Note II always made me look like a hideous chud but the Zenfone 2 makes me look much less chud-like.
I have been using the Zen UI and I have had a positive experience so far and I am using the ELUN Icon Pack. It's pretty cool looking. I had been using Nova Launcher on my Note II as I was totally sick of Touchwiz. I may go back to Nova but for now I am happy with the Zen UI. I did like being able to remove labels from apps on Nova, it's just cleaner looking. I would love for that option in the Zen UI.
What more can I say about this phone, it's a real bargain, it's only $299! You get a 5.5 inch screen, great speed, a great amount of storage and even an sd card slot. Sure, the speaker doesn't blow you away but I am happy for what it does. Anyone that is sick of paying off their expensive smartphone in tiny increments every month will enjoy the trade off you get with the Zenfone 2. You can own it right now, it's unlocked and it's yours!
One thing I would say to Asus is to keep up with the Updates as we all want the latest version of Android on this awesome phone! I would also love to have a 6 inch screen on a Zenfone, if that model comes to the US, it will be mine.
It seems that it could be a problem with the kernel, since Android OS is routinely using 30-40% of battery by the end of a charge, which is way too much. If Asus can fix this, then I will find this phone to be quite awesome.
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