Zenfone 4 Selfie review and initial impressions

I was one excited when ASUS officially announced last August 17, 2017 in Taiwan that a selfie-centric handset will be part of the Zenfone 4 series - the Zenfone 4 Selfie. And I was more amazed when ASUS publicized last August 19, 2017 at SMX Convention Center Pasay Manila that not only one but two of them will be available in the Philippines which includes Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro. But I will be talking about the Zenfone 4 Selfie in this post.

Zenfone Selfie was the first selfie-focused smartphone that ASUS ever released two years ago. It featured a 13MP rear and front camera, dual-LED Real Tone flash technology, and a built-in beauty mode. The said features are the main reason why my friend opts to grab one when it was released and I was one benificiary of the quality photos that I posted on my social media the past years.

I was saddened when Selfie series did not make another appearance with last year's Zenfone 3 family. But with thorough research, development, deliberation and observation, ASUS selfie team come up with this Zenfone 4 Selfie which met the wants of users and offer an even better experience for them.

Nowadays, users not only want their phones to have better camera resolutions but they are also expecting that they could capture enough of the scenery  that could also include more of the background scenes and also is capable of taking crisp pictures at night or even on other low-light conditions.  So, the Zenfone 4 Selfie is the answer to this as it introduced dual front cameras, one with 20MP resolution, a large f/2.0 aperture, and a softlight LED flash, and the other camera is with 8MP resolution, f/2.4 aperture and a 120° view angle. With this two cameras together, group selfie or wefie is more possible.

To give ZenFone 4 Selfie users even more creative options and flexibility to use its powerful front facing cameras, it comes preinstalled with the Selfie Master app which is a collection of the following useful apps:

On the other side of the phone is the 16MP camera equipped with Phase Detection Autofocus and still has a softlight LED flash.

The rear camera of the ZenFone Selfie empowers photo lovers to shoot with many interesting preset modes:

ZENFONE 4 SELFIE (ZD553KL) specs

Zenfone 4 Selfie sports a 5.5 inch HD IPS LCD (1280 x 720) display with 2.5D curved glass.

With its Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa-core Soc (8x ARM Cortex A53) clocked at 1.4GHz processor and Adreno 505 GPU it promised a crawl-free HD movies and a full gaming experience.

It guarantees a lag-free experience with its 4GB RAM and 4GB storage capacity.

It runs on the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat and ZenUI 4.0. ASUS confirmed during the launch that the upcoming Android O is planned to roll out to all Zenfone 4 and Zenfone 3 devices.

Wireless	Integrated 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz; WiFi-direct
Connectivity	Bluetooth 4.0 Micro USB 2.0 (supports OTG) 0.3s ultrafast fingerprint unlock, support 5 fingers 30 degree recognition
SIM card and SD card slot	Triple slots, dual SIM dual standby (4G+3G) Slot 1: Nano SIM (2G / 3G / 4G) Slot 2: Nano SIM (2G / 3G / 4G) Slot 3: MicroSD card (supports up to 2TB)
Battery	3000 mAh, non removable
Audio / Microphone	New 5 Magnet structure speaker for louder sound and less distortion
Dimensions / Weight	155.7 x 76.2 x 7.85 mm / 144 g

Zenfone 4 Selfie is available in Deepsea Black, Sunlight Gold, Mint Green, and Rose Pink.

This phone is priced only at Php 13,995.

You can order a Zenfone 4 Selfie online at http://store.asus.com/ph. ASUS team are still updating on the stores where you can purchase Zenfone 4 Selfie and other Zenfone 4 series.

Meanwhile, here are some of the testimonials from smartphone enthusiasts regaring Zenfone 4 Selfie:

"The camera is so crisp and clear. The beautification mode makes you look 5 years younger! The rear camera is also great for taking photos even on low light." - mizukishinju17

"With dual front camera, one with 20MP f/2.0 for more light and details, and an 8MP f/2.4 wide angle camera for great wefies, it lives up to its name in the array of selfie-centric smartphones in the market. It also sports a 1MP rear camera for great scenery capture in an instant." - KRunchyFries

"The most standing feature of the Zenfone 4 Selfie is its front facing cameras. It has a 20MP main front camera with f/2.0 aperture, and a secondary 8MP wide-angle camera, as well as a soflight LED flash so you could take selfies or wefies with ease." - AutumnHanz18