My Zenfone Selfie

Hi,
Disclaimer:
I am not a professional phone reviewer. So dont bother if you want those hardcore technical reviews. you can easily find it online. i am sharing a more personal review. read on and you will understand.

While everyone is hardcore to get their Apple product, i was damn excited that Zenfone Selfie came.

And if you have been reading my blog, which i doubt anyone does, i wrote a short review about the Zenfone 5 . You will think i am a spendthrift to buy a phone within a short period of time, but its not true.

Apparently the Gorilla Glass is that Zenfone 5 came with is just a pretty name, and it has nothing to do with being able to withstand a Gorilla attack. I didnt even attack it. It fell from my pants pocket, approximately less than a meter(im only 1.7m short, and im pretty sure my legs are short), and tada!

What's more interesting is that no repair shop is willing to repair it in Singapore (talk about reduce reuse recycle), and in Malaysia, it costs a whooping $60sgd to repair the screen despite SGD to MYR is 1:3. To put into perspective, this exact new model is going for $199sgd now, and a Iphone screen maybe cost less than $100 to repair in Malaysia.

I wanted to let Asus repair it since my set is still under warranty.
But their Global support don't seemed to be friendly(ask them got trade in, say no, ask them got price range, say dunno), and their service center is really FARRRR.

OKAY, enough of my whining about my destroyed phone.

Zenfone Selfie
Price: $379 (some promo now due to launch in sg)
Freebies: Free lolliflash and 16gb OTG from sandisk
Bought from: AMK Hub Challenger (you spend above $60, free $8 AMK hub voucher)
Bought on: 27 Sept

Apparently, despite their launch on 26th, nobody actually cared about the phone. There are display sets in some stores but most of them told me they dont have stock. Newstead at Jurong Point is selling at Original price of $399. Jurong Point Challenger have stock. But all other shops like Harvey Norman, Best Denki, all no stock.

When i buy on 27th (sunday), they had a hard time keying my order.
This is because stock came on a Saturday and nobody have time to key it into system nor unload it. So the set i bought was the first Selfie AMK Challenger sold.

My next challenge is to get Accessories for the phone. Screen Protector and Case. NO SHOP HAVE STOCKS FOR ZENFONE SELFIE AT ALL. I tried buying from Challenger and all main retailers, they say they dont have either.

Free Lolliflash when Selfie have flash for front and back camera. I RATHER THEY GIVE ME A HANDPHONE CASE.

Just a little tips for buyers:
if you are a Challenger Member,

This itself makes it worth the $30 to be member, since my reason of changing phone is due to a destroyed screen. Of course, since i have yet to test their service to see if it is really no cost replacement or not, i shall not comment more on this free warranty. Maybe its free material but you pay labour etc. Well, lets hope Gorilla Glass 4 is better.

The phone is a bit laggish when you first use it, but after awhile, it stabilizes, or i gotten used to it.
but no big concern here. The camera is as good as they tell you. please play around a sample set if you are a person who cares a lot about camera.
I loved the zen touch the most.
I have customised to swipe "W" on a sleeping screen to open whatsapp immediately, and "Z" to show instagram.
Its a fun, albeit "can do without" function.

My Chiwawa likes the function too.


The smart battery saving thingy is pretty irritating too. I on it to optimize my battery. but every time it sleeps, it will off my 3g, which means no Whatsapp Call and Whatsapp Web will go offline. Once i wake the phone up, the 3g is reactivated again!
Ended up, didnt use that either.

Calling is a bit irritating. Since it have a big selfie camera, the speaker is slightly placed on the right, which sometimes dont fit my ear.

Verdict
I would strongly recommend this phone if you are on a budget, and is okay with the severe lack of choice for accessories. The camera and functions are really decent for its price tag, and despite destroying one Gorilla glass previously, i really think the phone screen colour is pretty and nice to fondle. Its like a Phablet, so i dont really like the size of the phone since i prefer a smaller phone. But well, the screen is really pretty.

I liked Zen UI, despite it having more bloatware and trash installed as compared to Zenfone 5. Maybe its Lollipop that i liked, but nevermind.