Top Battery Performer in a Mid-level Android Phone: The Powerful Asus ZenFone 6

The mobile phone industry is reaching the saturation point where if you're happy not to be owning the latest, most expensive, top branded phone, there are plenty of choices that offers similar if not more hardware at a fraction of the price. Asus may not be the top of the household names for mobile phones (yet), but the ZenFone 6 packs such powerful specs that you definitely should have it as one of your top options when choosing your next phone.

Huge battery

Right off the bat, the ZenFone 6 has one of the largest capacity internal batteries on the market packed into it. At 5000mAh, the ZenFone 6 has almost twice as much power as competing phones, and it shows. Without trying to be thrifty in my phone usage (LTE on, GPS on, WIFI on, brightness medium-high), I was seriously taken aback that at the end of the first day of using the ZenFone that it still had 61% battery left. Whereas many are used to a full-day of usage out of mobile phones (if that), the ZenFone can easily stretch it to one-and-a-half to two days before needing a recharge.

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Having a large battery makes a significant difference on business trips when you're not always between home and work where you can easily get a quick charge. I found myself not even taking out my powerbank much during my latest trip.

There are phones with bigger internal batteries, but very few if any can do it while adding almost no bulk to the phone. While looking at or holding the ZenFone 6, you wouldn't guess that it had a battery that would probably out last any other phone in the room.

48 Megapixel + Wide-angle flip camera

One of the reason why Asus was able to fit a larger camera into the ZenFone 6 could be due to the fact that this phone only packs two camera units, as opposed to competing phones fitting up to 4, 5, even 6 cameras. The reason why the ZenFone 6 only needs two cameras is due to its flip camera design, where the same camera units are used for both front and back photography.

The normal camera on the latest ZenFone uses a whopping 48 Megapixel sensor, and though pixels aren't everything, the sharpness of the photos shows when using the larger sensor. The 12 megapixel wide-angle camera is excellent in capturing group photos, especially when the cameraman wants to be included in the shot.

The flip camera also offers the bonus of a front facing flash located between the cameras. You want to make a video call in the dark - this is probably one of the very few phones that is able to do so.

All screen, no obstruction

Asus is one of those phone companies that decided to skip the punch-hole design and go straight to a full-screen design, which would please any notch-phobic users out there. This is achieved by having the aforementioned mechanical flip-up camera which creates an extremely clean and pleasing front. The earpiece is hidden in the top edge of the phone, and the bezels are very thin, with the screen corners rounded following the shape of the phone.

The all screen design is especially useful when watching 16:9 ratio videos, which means films and movie trailers clips will be able to take the most advantage out of the notch-less screen.

Instantaneous fingerprint unlocking

While the lead-edge of the mobile industry and working hard to move forward from fingerprint unlocking, Asus decided to put one of the fastest fingerprint unlocks on its flagship phone - in the back - where it's supposed to be. Unlocking the ZenFone 6 is literally instantaneous with either index finger when picking up the phone, and is arguably faster than newer methods like face unlock. The only downside to this might be the sensor sometimes being too fast, to the point that even when putting the phone away in my pocket and accidentally touching the sensor unlocked the phone. I'm pretty sure that with longer use, my hands will get in the habit of not touching the fingerprint reader unintentionally.

Near stock Android

Being near stock Android is gets so much positive user feedback that it's surprising there isn't more phone manufacturers jumping on the wagon. The ZenFone 6 inherits the smoothness and speed of the minimalistic stock Android 9, and if you like to dabble in some experimental uses of your phone, through some quick Googling you will quickly find a Google Camera port, which means you will get a 48 megapixel + wide angle camera with Pixel quality photos (Both of which you won't be getting with the latest Pixel).

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Dual-SIM cards + 1TB Micro SD card tray

For business travelers, dual-SIM card suddenly becomes a relevant and useful feature to have. If you're traveling between two countries, or prefer travel SIM cards over roaming services, having a dual SIM tray means you are always connected, and can save yourself the trouble of fumbling for a SIM ejector tray while on the move.

Though the ZenFone 6 I had on hand already has 256 GB memory onboard memory, it still had a Micro SD tray that is together with the SIM tray. This meant I didn't need to transfer anything from my old phone, as a Google account sync together with moving the memory card to the new phone pretty much transferred all the data I needed.

Processing and multi-tasking prowess

The ZenFone packs the fastest Snapdragon 855 processor that matches other flagships on the market currently, as well as packing 8 GB RAM memory which ensures smooth and capable multi-tasking. This is an impressive feat because again, ZenFone is not charging top-of-the-class prices, but is offering top specs that matches competition that charges much more for their offerings.

Who is the Asus ZenFone 6 for?

If reputation is not everything to you, and you are not fixated on having the latest Samsung or Apple phones, the ZenFone 6 has features that begs to question: "Why not?" Asus being a reputably personal computer manufacturer is offering a phone that can run up to two days without recharge, amazing 48 megapixel and wide-angle cameras as well as top tiered processor and memory, it is a serious contender for any business travelers who doesn't mind saving some hard earned cash while still being at the top of the mobile hardware game.

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