Asus Zenfone Flip Review: The Selfie Master Returns
Asus Zenfone 8 Flip Review: The Selfie Master Returns
"The Zenfone 8 Flip's unique motorized camera module makes it the best selfie camera you can buy, but the rest of the phone goes unnoticed because of its sturdy body and recycled design."
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Motorized camera means amazing selfies
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Excellent audio
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Ideal for playing
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Fast, reliable software
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No water resistance
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No wireless charging
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Big and heavy
If you expect the Zenfone 8 Flip to be a radical departure from the Zenfone 7 Pro, you will be disappointed as the phone is almost identical to the 2020 flagship on the outside. It's also not exactly Asus' big release for 2021, evidenced by the lack of a "Pro" suffix. This honor actually goes to the “compact flagship” Zenfone 8.
So should you even care? Yes, as some important changes have been made internally and the technically very clever motorized camera module means it's still one of the best smartphones you can buy if you really love selfies. Just don't expect the rest of the phone to delight you in the same way.
design
Give or take a few tenths of a millimeter, the Zenfone 8 Flip is exactly the same size and shape as the Zenfone 7 Pro. Asus may have kept the Zenfone 8's body less than 70mm wide to make it easy to use with one hand, but the Zenfone 8 Pro doesn't. It is 77 mm wide, 9.8 mm thick and weighs 230 grams. The back is made of glass, the body is made of metal, and the flip camera module is made of liquid metal for strength and lightness.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The flip camera is the reason you buy the Zenfone 8 Flip because it allows you to use the rear cameras for selfie tasks too. The motor – a wonderful piece of technology on a small scale – quickly flips the camera out and over the top of the phone so that the three cameras are pointed at you. It's a very mechanical experience as you can hear and feel the motors and gears working at the same time, a very unusual tactile feeling on a modern smartphone. It's fast and smooth, and Asus has upgraded the components to improve durability. Now it promises to last at least 300,000 flips compared to 200,000 on the Zenfone 7 Pro.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
I like the flip camera. It's unique, works very well, and has features not available on any other smartphone. However, the entire Zenfone 8 Pro package is dated as the design hasn't changed at all from last year's phone, and it arguably isn't much different from the Zenfone 6 Flip either. The Zenfone 8 Flip is big, heavy, thick, and just not nifty or pretty enough compared to phones like the OnePlus 9 Pro, iPhone 12, and Samsung Galaxy S21. This makes the Zenfone 8 Pro more difficult to sell, despite the pull of the flip camera.
screen
The 6.67-inch AMOLED screen on the front of the Zenfone 8 Flip, made by Samsung, is not interrupted by a punch or notch, as the flip camera makes something like that irrelevant. It has a refresh rate of 90 Hz, a touch sampling rate of 200 Hz, a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits and special features such as a DCI-P3 color gamut. Asus claims the bezels are smaller than the Zenfone 7 Pro, but I don't see much of a difference.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
It's the popular 20: 9 aspect ratio that's shared by phones like the Galaxy S21 and OnePlus 9. As you'd expect, it's great for watching videos and games. It's an FHD + resolution, but I didn't miss the higher resolution that phones like the OnePlus 9 Pro offer under normal circumstances, and it also extends the battery life. It doesn't have an extreme curve on either side, so it's mostly flat, which can be attractive too.
For lengthy viewing sessions, the size and weight made the Zenfone 8 Flip more tiring than lighter and more compact devices, and while the screen is bright and colorful, the lack of a front-facing selfie camera cutout isn't enough to excite me about having it over one of the other really impressive phone screens like the iPhone 12 Pro, OnePlus 9 Pro, and Galaxy S21 +.
camera
The Zenfone 8 Flip has a total of three cameras, all of which are in the same module. The main model is a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 with an aperture of f / 1.8, phase-detection autofocus and 8K video recording with electronic image stabilization. The second is a 12MP Sony IMX363 wide angle camera with f / 2.2 aperture and auto focus, and the third is an 8MP camera with 3x optical zoom.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
For a rear camera, the Zenfone 8 Flip's setup is decent but not outstanding, but for a front camera setup, it's about the best you can get. All of the above features, as well as various video modes, are ready for selfies too. That means wide-angle selfies, 3x zoom selfies, and even 8K video selfies if that's what you really want, and absolutely no other phone offers the same functionality in its front-facing camera.
Even the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, with its tiny rear screen, isn't as easy to use as the Zenfone 8 Flip for high-quality selfies, as you're staring at the full 6.67-inch screen as you shoot. The Asus camera app is great too and offers plenty of speed to suit its functionality. The flip module can be set to different angles via a context menu that allows you to take photos from unusual angles. The motorized flip camera has an automatic panorama mode where it moves for you instead of moving the phone and a tracking mode.
All of this is very good, but does the camera take good photos? It's technically very similar to the Zenfone 8's camera, which means the photos are very easy to share due to the strong HDR effect and bright, eye-catching colors. I think they look great, and I prefer this to an underexposed shot that I have to edit before I want to share it. It's not very consistent, however, and the wide-angle camera struggles with difficult lighting. I stuck to using the main camera and 3x optical zoom, which adds to the versatility of the Zenfone 8 Flip's camera.
You can choose different angles for the flip module with the push of a button, but I'm having trouble finding a scenario where this makes a lot of sense. The auto panorama mode is effective and improves sewing because there is no camera shake when panning. The motion tracking also uses the motorized module and keeps up very well, provided the subject isn't moving too fast. While all of these fun little features work well, they are a little tricky and probably won't get used very often.
The Zenfone 8 Flip has a good rear camera that takes photos that you love to share without messing around with a lot of editing and an amazing front camera that takes better selfies than any other phone. It's a strange statement when you know the back and the selfie camera are one and the same. Compared to other phones like this one, the Zenfone 8 Flip's unique camera feature ensures that it stands out from the selfie crowd.
Performance and software
Asus' ZenUI interface is based on Android 11 and roughly corresponds to the experience you get with a Google Pixel phone. It is therefore relatively free of unnecessary apps, functions and functions. It's clean, easy-to-use software with a lot of Android features that I like, including a great dark theme, simple settings menu, standard notifications without changing the notification shade, and an easy turn-off screen when you hold down the power button. It may sound silly, but these make the phone logical and pleasant to live with on a daily basis. It was completely reliable too.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
I really enjoyed playing on the Zenfone 8 Flip thanks to a combination of the monster performance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, the 20: 9 aspect ratio screen, and the superb audio I'm used to from Asus. It's not quite on par with the ROG Phone 5, but it's pretty close with a deep, melodic, and distortion-free sound at almost any volume. I've played Asphalt 9: Legends for more than an hour in one session (shhh, don't tell my editor) on the Zenfone 8 Flip, and this is where the weight and size can give the phone an edge as the weight makes it easy to grip.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The 5,000 mAh battery is much better than the cell in the Zenfone 8. It took up to two days with moderate use with Wi-Fi, and is slightly longer than a day even with some lengthy gaming sessions and WhatsApp video calls. The phone supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 and Asus' 30 W HyperCharge with the included network block. Wireless charging is not possible.
Price and availability
The Asus Zenfone 8 Flip has 8 GB of RAM and either 128 GB or 256 GB of storage space and costs $ 972 from 799 euros. US price and availability have not been confirmed at the time of writing. The Asus Zenfone 7 Pro sold for around $ 800 in the US. So if the Zenfone 8 Flip makes it too, we're assuming it will be somewhere near that cost.
Our opinion
Living with the Zenfone 8 Flip was like going back to early 2020. The design wasn't really a winner before, it's just too heavy, and seeing it again in 2021 is unhappy and makes the phone look and dated feel. The size and weight will put some people off, but I found it works in favor of the phone when gaming, especially when combined with the excellent sound. However, you definitely know you have a 230 gram phone in your pocket.
The Zenfone 8 Flip lives and dies from how badly you want the flip camera. If you take a lot of selfies, the features and specs on paper are second to none, and you'll get great results compared to any phone with a single front camera. However, if you are serious about mobile photography in general, better phone cameras are not available for much more money.
It might be an impressive piece of technology, but the flip module means the Zenfone 8 Flip is not water-resistant, nor can the phone be charged wirelessly. Asus makes a good case for not including wireless charging. It helps control the battery life with wired charging and special modes. Sometimes it helps, and both it and an IP68 rating are generally considered a basic data sheet these days.
Where's the Zenfone 8 Flip? It's typical of Asus: a well-made, well-designed and well-equipped device that serves a niche with a unique function. It's the same offering as the ROG Phone 5 for gamers and the Zenfone 8 with its compact flagship design. You'll know right away if you are going to love the versatility of the Zenfone 8 Flip's flip camera, but if the selfie skills don't excite you, there are better phones for you.
Is there a better alternative?
Yes. Based on the Zenfone 8 Flip for around $ 900 (we don't yet know the official US price), the OnePlus 9 Pro for $ 969 or the Apple iPhone 12 Pro for $ 1,000 are our top recommendations. Both have a lot of power to play with, beautiful screens, and very powerful cameras. They're generally better all-rounders than the Zenfone 8 Flip, with helpful everyday features like very fast wired charging, wireless charging, and more attractive, lighter designs.
When you shop for everything to do with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, sometimes it still can be found for around $ 1,000and it's an amazing value for that. Usually it wouldn't be an alternative to a phone that costs less than $ 1,000. If you're looking to spend less than $ 980, both the $ 699 Google Pixel 5 and the $ 830 Apple iPhone 12 are great.
How long it will take?
Asus includes a special case for the Zenfone 8 Flip, which can be used to lock the flip module so that it is not activated unexpectedly. The company says the mechanism is stronger than before and capable of at least 300,000 flips. It is also automatically retracted if a fall is detected. The module makes any kind of water resistance impossible. So you need to be careful if you want the phone to last a long time.
Asus promises two Android system updates as well as 5G on board if you use the fast network now or plan in the future. There are several battery charging modes, including a scheduler, to keep the battery performing for years to come. The only thing preventing the hardware of the Zenfone 8 Flip from feeling fresh in two years is the design, which is already a year old.
Should you buy it?
No. Unless you're really into selfies and can envision a scenario where you might want an 8K video selfie, the Zenfone 8 Flip doesn't have the general appeal of many of its competitors.
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