I am happily using a 6 year old Zenfone 3. It was high quality and very cheap, ~ 200 EURO. It was a good phone to own, but Zenfone 9 is not a good replacement, it costs 4 times more. While some people still want to buy 800 EURO phones, they are a small minority, for people like me phones like Google Pixel 6A will be the next purchase.
Asus Zenfone 9
281–290 of 462 posts
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#282The Zenfone 6 remains the best Android phone I've used since 2019. Stock android, a fingerprint scanner, a headphone jack, a customizable hardkey on the side, notchless display and a great processor that still holds up today. Not to mention having what is easily the best selfie camera in the world (the back camera flips to the front to take selfies).
I only regret getting it in 64GB because after a point, I've run out of apps to delete as every app has gotten bigger - and I can't install to SD card.
A shame that the new Zenfones skip the flip camera.
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what it's worth, I use a Zenfone 8 and regularly get 2-3 days of battery life off it. I came from older, sanely-sized HTC phones, and am actually pretty happy with it - I was lucky to get a day off any of the prior three HTC phones (Sensation, M8, 10) that I had.
Won't be upgrading until a New removable battery phone is made.
Fairphone 4 might suit you https://shop.fairphone.com/en/
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#284I fear there may soon be zero phones on the market under 70mm wide
I think in the last couple of years we've had more <70mm phones than we have for a while. Xiaomi 12, S22 and the iPhone Mini all come to mind.
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#285The only problem with Asus phones in general, which is also apparent in their ROG phones, is the lack of updates. Their hardware is top-notch, literally; I've never seen faster phones. But, they don't update them consistently enough, unlike Google and Samsung which have pledged multiple years of software support through Android releases.
It’s sad that no phone maker is playing the open and standard platform game. A brand like Asus would have everything to win with this : they already are recognized as a « geek » brand, they could ship updates with no effort and they could get free marketing from the word to mouth of the « geek of the family ». Instead of that, like any other Android manufacturer in the market, they ship great hardware with shitty or…
> It’s sad that no phone maker is playing the open and standard platform game.
How about this one: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5?
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#286We've gotten to the point of peak absurdity where 5.9" is considered "ultra-compact". I'm in the market for a new phone right now, and it's baffling how ridiculously big most phones are right now. I only use mine for instant messaging and browsing Hacker News. 5" is more than enough for that.
Come rally: https://smallandroidphone.com/
The requirements are <6" display, that's not exactly great. The Zenfone 9 would qualify.
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#287I'm right handed but I hold my phone with my left hand. Am I in the minority here?
Well… I do hold my phone in my left hand, but I’m also left handed. The one handed feature would be useless. The issue is that when companies produce product like this, which ignore left haneded users, I get suspicious: What other details did they overlook? It’s most certainly just a cost issue, ignoring 10-15% of potential users is cheaper than building two versions.
They could just build one phone with fingerprint sensor on both sides and allow on app chose which side works as unlock button and which one as volume button. I doubt those fingerprint buttons are very expensive. Esthetically would even would look better and more symmetric with 2 buttons on each side - 2 as volume button on one side, one as unlock button, another one custom shortcut, e.g. Open camera
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
What Android phone gets OS updates for 6 years? Even 2-3 is quite good by Android standards.
Pixel 6 and Samsung S22, both 5 years of updates
At least in the Pixel 6's case, it's 5 years of security updates, not OS updates. IE nothing but the very critical updates beyond 2-3 years.
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
What Android phone gets OS updates for 6 years? Even 2-3 is quite good by Android standards.
Pixel phones beginning with the Pixel 6 are guaranteed five years of updates at a minimum.
The Pixel 6 Pro has been update to become a pile of hot trash in my case. The updates have been so bad I'm returning it this weekend, while I received a perfectly functional hone...
I'm sure some will appreciate the (security) updates, because the year or so of OS updates I've experienced have been a constant trend towards the worse.
Re: Asus Zenfone 9
#290We've gotten to the point of peak absurdity where 5.9" is considered "ultra-compact". I'm in the market for a new phone right now, and it's baffling how ridiculously big most phones are right now. I only use mine for instant messaging and browsing Hacker News. 5" is more than enough for that.
While phones have gotten bigger, screen size is not a good indication of that. It’s more useful to compare physical dimensions because of slightly different aspect ratios and border widths/roundness
This, really. While screen sizes have been getting bigger, the aspect ratio has been getting taller and the bezels/body of the phones has been getting smaller. While I agree that regardless of all of this modern phones are too big, you can't just look at the screen size.
Here is a comparison between a few phones: https://phonesized.com/compare/#1784,1862,1863,365,632,126 (the Zenfone 9 is not in the database yet, but it's almost identical at the Zenfone 8).
What I find more interesting is that their website focus so much on it being compact, but it's actually just pretty much the same size as the regular iphone.