Going LIVE Made Easy with the New Asus Zenfone Live


Vowing to win-back the low budget smartphone customers, Asus launches yet another smartphone – Asus Zenfone Live – a new addition to its Zenfone series. Going according to the trend, Asus is looking to target the selfie-obsessed youngsters, as the new Zenfone Live, despite being of the low budget category (9,999), comes equipped with selfie flash. Operating on a Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 processor coupled with a 2GB RAM, the Zenfone Live is powered by a 2650 mAh Li-Ion battery. It has an internal storage of 16 GB, which can further be expanded up to 128 GB through an external MicroSD card. However, only 10 GB is available to the user, as the rest is occupied by the system and pre-loaded Facebook, Messenger and Instagram, along with several bloat ware apps of which very few tend to be practically useful. Let us take a look at other features in detail –

Performance

Running on a Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 Qualcomm SD 400 processor which is now a thing of the past, the Zenfone Live manages to handle basic tasks like calling, texting, listening to music, or watching videos; however, when it comes to multitasking, or even playing games with mid-range graphics such as Temple Run or Subway Surfer, the device tends to lag/hang at times. Users who use heavy apps like Pokemon GO or Blood & Glory will have a hard time at the controls, as the device lags a lot. Contrary to the other smartphones in the 2 GHz range, the Zenfone Live heats up in a very short time-frame, which is yet another major addition to the list of drawbacks of this device.

Software and UX/UI

The new Asus Zenfone Live, which comes with Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), offers a wide range of options to customize the smartphone. The default launcher is pre-equipped with the option of changing the app icons, wallpapers & themes, and locking apps, which is an attractive feature for people who look forward to personalize their device. However, the system optimization apps running in the background keep popping very often, which is quite a dent to the users’ experience.

Battery

Contrary to the Zenfone MAX which consisted of a massive 5000 mAh Li-Ion battery, the Zenfone Live’s battery capacity of 2650 mAh is very meagre, which makes one think about Asus’ decision of cutting-down the battery capacity to such a steep extent. Also, the battery seems to last less than a day even while using basic applications such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, or basic utilities such as listening to music/radio or watching videos. However, the backup time become even worse while using Google Maps, Facebook LIVE or watching videos for over 30 minutes. Adding on, the fast-charge option, which is seen as a pre-requisite to almost all smartphones irrespective of the price range, is absent in the Zenfone Live, taking over 2 hours to get fully charged.

Camera

The Zenfone Live flaunts a 13 megapixel primary camera and a 5 megapixel secondary camera, both equipped with a LED Flash each. As an icing on the cake, the device’s camera comes with an in-built beautification feature which automatically edits the images as and when they are clicked. Users can also change the edit options as per their preference. Apt to its name, the Zenfone Live is a perfect bait for today’s youngsters who are obsessed with taking selfies or going LIVE on Facebook.

Overall, the Asus Zenfone Live comes as a surprise package of many drawbacks and a few interesting highlights. Although the selfie flash combined with the very effective beautification feature seems catchy, the device and battery performance takes a bad hit. The many number of better smartphones in this price range makes it only for those who look at camera as the most important functional aspect of the device.

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