The ASUS ZenFone 7 Pro Review: The Triple Flip-Camera
by Andrei Frumusanu on September 1, 2020 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Asus
- Smartphones
- ZenFone 7
- ZenFone 7 Pro
GPU Performance
Gaming performance of the ZenFone 7 Pro is also very interesting as it represents a contrasting data-point from the same vendor which also offers a gaming-focused phone such as the ROG Phone III. Both phones also feature the higher performance binned Snapdragon 865+. In the ROG Phone III review we saw somewhat mixed results from the new SoC, so let’s see how the ZenFone fares:
Starting off with Basemark GPU, the ZenFone 7 Pro performs quite excellently in terms of its sustained performance figures, with only a few fps of throttling after prolonged periods.
I’ve noted that the phone’s peak skin temperature reached 44°C, which is still reasonable. In essence, it reaches about the same thermal levels as the ROG Phone III when that phone is set to its “Level 2 X-Mode”.
The rest of the GFXBench tests all showcased similar peak and sustained performance figures, strongly favouring the ZenFone 7 Pro.
Frankly speaking this is both a win for ASUS as the ZenFone 7 Pro performs very well, and sort of a self-goal, given that it essentially invalidates performance advantage aspect of the ROG Phone III.
As to why there’s such a stark difference between the two phones, I’m not too sure, however the two devices have quite different motherboard layouts. The ROG Phone III has the SoC placed on a rather narrow motherboard to the side of the phone near the accessory USB-C ports, whilst the ZenFone 7 has it located on a bigger PCB that covers the top part of the phone underneath the cameras. It’s possible that this simple location change allows for better heat dissipation on the ZenFone 7 Pro as the SoC is more centrally located inside the phone, thus making usage of more of the screen as a dissipation area.
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PeachNCream - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Introducing the ASUS ZenFone 7 with twice as much gimmicky camera market differentiator at a cost of functionality as last year's model!RollingCamel - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
I would suggest a revisit the camera performance for a number of phones while using GCAM. Should be an interesting read.Here is the link for Zenphone 7/pro GCAM files.
https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/p/gcam-...
skavi - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
i was hoping to see the panorama mechanism in action. that’s a really cool idea.eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Thanks Andrei! With video recording being a key interest of mine, the lackluster performance disqualifies this phone for me already. Too bad ASUS spent all their engineering time on gadgetry, and not on making the camera function what it could and should have been.FredFlog - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
I know ASUS is a Taiwanese company but does anyone know exactly in which country this phone is produced / assembled / made?Kashif ali - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Sir I need Asus Zenfone v 520 kl unitldx00 - Wednesday, September 2, 2020 - link
I think Asus are losing their way. They are not a premium manufacturer for 2 very important reasons. Their software and their support is terrible. I have had many Asus products but I am now seriously going off them. Their hardware is always great, I mean really good, but their software is often buggy and most importantly of all, is never maintained for as long as you might expect and is often abandoned way too quickly, even by budget manufacturer standards, never mind a premium one. At least unlock the bootloader or something so we can keep using the products. I know they have done this for some products but it's too random which products get it and which not. One of the most horrible examples come from their tablets, specifically the Z500KL which I own (zenpad 3S 10 LTE). It was a very expensive tablet, over £300 at the time and was vertigo made and functions well to this day, after 3.5 years of heavy use, yet it shipped with android 6 which was already basically obsolete, then it got 1 android version update to 7 and that was it... Almost no security updates either. They have released a bootloader unlock for the Z500M, the non LTE version, but nothing for the Z500KL. With this kind of attitude, they will never be accepted as a premium phone manufacturer. I have to say though that I do like the flat screen on a top end device. I hate the curved screens and if it wasn't for the software and the ridiculous price, this could well be an attractive set of phones. Also, no headphone jack. Pity...gutsonator - Saturday, September 5, 2020 - link
One of the main issues I have with Asus phones is software rather than hardware. Phone runs fine until you get an update that screws up a major issue like sound or display or even brick your phone completely like what happens to my zenfone 4.Also Asus after zenfone 4 started to cut cost on the OS but removing the customization features they used to provide
gamer1000k - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
I've got a Zenfone 6 and was excited to read about the 7 until I read that the headphone jack was removed, and the price went up 50%. Hard pass.itsjustaprankbro - Wednesday, January 6, 2021 - link
I don't get all these salty comments. I bought a Zenfone 7 Pro and I LOVE this device. The phone feels extra premium. The camera is great. The performance is superb. Sound is great, call quality is great, signal/reception/GPS is great. Everything is awesome about it, I really have NO clue why people are complaining all this much.Before this phone I've had a OnePlus 7 Pro, Mate 20, then a Note 10+, then a Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro. This is the best phone (both software and hardware wise) out all of them, hands down.
No, ASUS have not paid me a cent to make this post. I just truly believe this phone is awesome. I wish they'd have used IPS LCD on this phone as well (just like on the 6), but whatever, it works.