{"video_id":"qtrjwsz6Q6c","title":"ASUS Zenfone 2 - Best bang for the buck smartphone?","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2016-05-06T14:53:45Z","duration_s":642,"segments":[{"start_s":0.24,"end_s":7.359,"text":"So, there's this hilarious typo in ASUS's PR materials for the Xen Phone 2","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.279,"end_s":13.12,"text":"that I think perfectly captures my biggest gripe with this product. I'm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":10.08,"end_s":14.96,"text":"sorry. Available for purchase when? Yes,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":13.12,"end_s":20.72,"text":"the most annoying thing about the Zen Phone 2 was the fact that it took so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.279,"end_s":22.88,"text":"very long for ASUS to deliver the $200","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":20.72,"end_s":28.64,"text":"smartphone that they showed off at CES this year. But, is the delay a big deal?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":26.24,"end_s":34.16,"text":"Has the competitive landscape really changed so much in three months that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":30.64,"end_s":39.64,"text":"it's significantly less market shaking?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":34.16,"end_s":39.64,"text":"I guess we'll find out. Strap in, folks.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":47.36,"end_s":54.719,"text":"The Corsair HX1200i power supply delivers 80 plus platinum efficiency for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":52.0,"end_s":60.48,"text":"quiet efficient power and Corsair link digital for advanced monitoring and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":56.8,"end_s":63.52,"text":"control. Click right here to learn more.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":60.48,"end_s":66.08,"text":"Oh, ASUS. I love those guys dearly, but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":63.52,"end_s":70.08,"text":"they really are a PC company at heart and it really shows through sometimes.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":68.08,"end_s":75.96,"text":"The Xen Phone 2 actually comes in two flavors. a 16 gig storage version with 2","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":72.479,"end_s":80.159,"text":"gigs of LPDDR3 RAM and an Atom","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":75.96,"end_s":82.88,"text":"Z3560 for $200 and a 64 gig storage","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":80.159,"end_s":86.119,"text":"version with 4 gigs of LPDDR3 RAM and an Atom","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":84.119,"end_s":92.96,"text":"Z3580 for $300. I mean, RAM and storage we've seen","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":89.119,"end_s":96.0,"text":"before, but changing out the CPU, who","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":92.96,"end_s":98.079,"text":"who does that with phones? Anyway, other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":96.0,"end_s":101.92,"text":"than those core speeds and feeds, both models of the phone are the same.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":100.4,"end_s":108.479,"text":"Starting at the front, we've got a 5 megapixel selfie camera, a 5.5 in 1080p","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.52,"end_s":114.159,"text":"IPS display covered in Gorilla Glass 3, fixed offscreen buttons above a circular","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":111.6,"end_s":119.68,"text":"finished metal chin. Then around the bottom, a micro USB port and microphone.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.04,"end_s":123.439,"text":"On the sides, a whole lot of nothing. At the top, a second mic for noise","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":121.2,"end_s":128.64,"text":"cancellation, a 3 and 12 mm audio jack, and the quite disappointing lock button.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.04,"end_s":132.4,"text":"The position makes it kind of hard to press without really mushing the phone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":130.72,"end_s":136.64,"text":"into your finger, and the tactile response is marshmallowike, to put it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":134.48,"end_s":141.76,"text":"kindly. Around the back, we've got a two-tone flash next to the 13 megapixel","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.04,"end_s":145.92,"text":"rear camera, volume up and down buttons that can also be used for the camera","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":143.599,"end_s":151.12,"text":"shutter, and a rear-facing speaker that I would describe as functional. But it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":149.44,"end_s":155.04,"text":"under the brushed finished plastic backing where things actually start to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":152.879,"end_s":158.4,"text":"get pretty interesting. Micro SD expansion is one feature that's been","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":156.72,"end_s":163.519,"text":"trending towards extinction in the industry, but ASUS has gone ahead and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.319,"end_s":165.28,"text":"included. And dual micro SIM slots,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":163.519,"end_s":171.04,"text":"something pretty uncommon here in North America, are also present back here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":167.84,"end_s":173.28,"text":"Very nice. Oh, and we can't really show","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.04,"end_s":179.239,"text":"this, but if you were to dig in further, you'd find wireless AC and LTE chipsets,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":176.879,"end_s":184.08,"text":"as well as the sorry, it's not userreplaceable, and it doesn't charge","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.519,"end_s":190.64,"text":"wirelessly, but it does support Qualcomm quick charge 3000 milliamp hour battery.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":187.92,"end_s":196.8,"text":"So, those are some pretty impressive specs, am I right? But what's it like to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":194.0,"end_s":202.0,"text":"actually hold the thing? Well, the screen isn't the best or brightest IPS","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.68,"end_s":207.519,"text":"display I've ever seen, and I'm not a huge fan of the 5 and a half inch form","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":204.159,"end_s":210.239,"text":"factor, but I've got to give it to ASUS.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":207.519,"end_s":214.48,"text":"It handles pretty well. Their reviewers guide, however one-sided its","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":212.4,"end_s":219.08,"text":"representation of the facts might be, makes a point that I've made multiple","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":216.4,"end_s":224.959,"text":"times about the awkwardness of a flatbacked versus a curved back device.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":222.56,"end_s":228.519,"text":"And other than that, physically, wow. I guess there's really not much to say.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":226.64,"end_s":234.319,"text":"It's a ph any phone depending on who it is you ask.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":231.84,"end_s":240.08,"text":"So, let's talk the make or break of any Android device. The Android 5","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":236.76,"end_s":241.599,"text":"Lollipopbased Zen UI skin. And this is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":240.08,"end_s":246.72,"text":"going to be a tough one here, folks, because Zen UI does some things very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.08,"end_s":250.959,"text":"right and some things very wrong and some in between. So, let's start with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":248.319,"end_s":255.12,"text":"the former. Responsiveness is solid, although it should be given that the Xen","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.56,"end_s":259.199,"text":"Phone 2's Atom CPU performs similarly to a Snapdragon 801. According to this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":257.04,"end_s":262.88,"text":"Tom's article, quick settings are customizable and available for pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":261.359,"end_s":267.6,"text":"much any phone setting you could possibly want. And on the subject of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":264.8,"end_s":271.759,"text":"settings, there is some fan diddlyastic stuff buried in the settings menu.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":269.44,"end_s":276.0,"text":"Separate user profiles, including a kid mode that allows time limits and locks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.44,"end_s":279.759,"text":"down certain apps. some super smart do not disturb settings like ignoring a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":278.24,"end_s":285.52,"text":"call from someone the first time then accepting it the second since it's presumably urgent. Automatic phone call","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":283.759,"end_s":289.44,"text":"recording, although you'll want to check on the legality of this in your area","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.199,"end_s":293.36,"text":"before activating it. The auto start manager that lets you force apps to wait","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.68,"end_s":298.16,"text":"for your permission to launch and do anything in the background. customizable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":295.6,"end_s":304.479,"text":"gestures like double tap to wake and sleep and double volume tap to wake to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":301.919,"end_s":308.639,"text":"camera and even the ability to tweak the saturation and color temperature of your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.56,"end_s":314.08,"text":"display or save your screenshots as a PNG instead of a JPEG. I mean, who even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.639,"end_s":316.72,"text":"thinks of that? But for every yin, there","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":314.08,"end_s":320.16,"text":"is a yang. For every up there is a down. And for all the positive things I found","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":318.24,"end_s":325.28,"text":"about Zenui, there were definitely some others that irked me. First up in real","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":322.88,"end_s":330.16,"text":"talk time, ASUS, what is up with the incredible number of pre-installed apps?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":327.52,"end_s":333.919,"text":"I mean, some of them, like flashlight, I guess we need, but everyone else just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":332.4,"end_s":339.6,"text":"does this through the quick toggle directly. So, I don't get why it needs to launch an app on the Zen phone, too.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":337.84,"end_s":344.32,"text":"And some of these things are just inexcusable. What the chuffing hell is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":341.84,"end_s":349.039,"text":"Zen Circle? Are you a social network company now, ASUS? Why is the fact that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.639,"end_s":354.16,"text":"it comes with trend micro nonsense on it considered a selling point in the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":351.039,"end_s":356.32,"text":"reviewer's guide? Even Samsung has","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":354.16,"end_s":361.84,"text":"finally figured this out. If a feature is useless to 99% of your users, make it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":359.039,"end_s":366.24,"text":"an optional download. Don't pack your device full of junk that nobody cares","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":364.0,"end_s":371.12,"text":"about. Which leads to complaint number two, the overall polish. The ASUS","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":369.52,"end_s":375.28,"text":"launcher wasn't configured with notification access by default, causing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":373.199,"end_s":380.479,"text":"my lock screen to never display my new alerts. The app that lets you use your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.4,"end_s":385.039,"text":"phone on the desktop, actually super handy, very cool, but also kind of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.88,"end_s":389.84,"text":"janky. The phone actually locked up outright twice on me during the time I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":387.199,"end_s":394.4,"text":"was using it, including a startling full power off while I was writing an email","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":392.0,"end_s":397.84,"text":"with 15% battery showing on the meter. And then when I went to turn it back on,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":395.759,"end_s":401.199,"text":"it told me the battery was dead. And on the subject of battery life, I've","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":399.52,"end_s":405.44,"text":"confirmed with ASUS that I'm running the latest firmware, but I haven't been able","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":403.039,"end_s":410.639,"text":"to get past 8:00 PM without topping up the battery. Now, in their defense, I am","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.319,"end_s":416.0,"text":"a bit of a power user. All the radios on all the time is my policy. I got like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.56,"end_s":418.88,"text":"smartwatches and stuff, but with a 3,000","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":416.0,"end_s":423.599,"text":"milliamp hour battery capacity, I should be easily making it through the day. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":420.96,"end_s":428.56,"text":"I suspect software, whether it's one of my usual apps that disagrees with Zenui","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.479,"end_s":432.4,"text":"or some of the stupid bloat that ASUS preloaded, I think there's something","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":430.72,"end_s":437.36,"text":"stealthily draining battery in the background. But unfortunately, my usual","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":434.72,"end_s":441.44,"text":"battery meter apps are not picking up on it. So, I'll try and post in the video","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":438.88,"end_s":446.16,"text":"description when and if I figure out what it is. Which leads to the other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":444.0,"end_s":452.08,"text":"make or break smartphone feature these days, the camera. I'm torn on this one,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":449.28,"end_s":457.039,"text":"too. On the one hand, the manual mode is great for camera geeks and using the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":454.479,"end_s":462.0,"text":"super resolution like multi-exposure merging mode and the low light four","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":460.16,"end_s":467.039,"text":"pixels acting as one for higher sensitivity modes result in some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":464.639,"end_s":472.16,"text":"shockingly good photos, albeit with a higher processing time cost and or a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":469.759,"end_s":477.12,"text":"lower resolution cost in both ideally lit and poorly lit situations. On the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":475.12,"end_s":482.639,"text":"other hand, while the Toshiba sensor behind the f2.0 lens might be okay. It's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":480.4,"end_s":487.199,"text":"not very featurerich with a max video resolution of 1080p and no slow-mo","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":485.12,"end_s":492.879,"text":"support whatsoever. It lacks optical image stabilization. The camera launches","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":489.919,"end_s":498.72,"text":"quite slowly. And the auto photo mode, the one most people will usually use, is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":495.599,"end_s":501.039,"text":"just not very good with smeary noise","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":498.72,"end_s":505.199,"text":"reduction processing artifacts eliminating a lot of the detail from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":503.12,"end_s":509.879,"text":"even photos that are taken under pretty good conditions.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":507.56,"end_s":515.919,"text":"But this is a $200 smartphone off contract for the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":512.88,"end_s":517.76,"text":"base model. And even for the $300 one,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":515.919,"end_s":522.8,"text":"you get more than a token increase in storage with CPU and RAM upgrades being","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":520.719,"end_s":526.88,"text":"thrown in along with a quadrupling of your storage. Not to mention that ASUS","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":524.88,"end_s":531.44,"text":"has committed to allowing bootloadader unlocking. And the thing even includes a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":529.2,"end_s":536.12,"text":"quick charger, something HTC couldn't be bothered to do on a smartphone that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":532.88,"end_s":539.12,"text":"costs over twice as much. So, here's the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":536.12,"end_s":542.48,"text":"conclusion. While it's not perfect at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":539.12,"end_s":544.56,"text":"the price, the bottom line is ASUS,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":542.48,"end_s":548.56,"text":"you're going to have a lot of to clean up when the Xen Phone 2 is done kicking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":546.64,"end_s":553.44,"text":"all the ass it's going to kick out there in the market. And you can quote that on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":550.399,"end_s":555.519,"text":"the box if you want to. Speaking of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":553.44,"end_s":560.08,"text":"kicking a lot of ass, Crunchyroll is the site created by anime fans for anime","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":558.56,"end_s":564.16,"text":"fans. They offer the most current episodes of new shows straight from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":561.76,"end_s":568.48,"text":"Japan like Koko's Basketball 3 and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and a large","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":566.88,"end_s":573.16,"text":"collection of the most popular anime series like Naruto and One Piece with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":570.8,"end_s":576.04,"text":"the bonus being that all the content is professionally subtitled. So head over","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":575.12,"end_s":582.8,"text":"to crunchyroll.com/lininus and sign up for a 30-day trial of Crunchyroll Premium.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.8,"end_s":586.24,"text":"So that's completely adree. You get 1080p streaming. You get new episodes of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":584.72,"end_s":590.8,"text":"shows straight from Japan within an hour of their premiere. and you're able to stream anytime, anywhere on a variety of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":589.36,"end_s":595.2,"text":"devices like your phone, tablet, game console, Roku, whatever the case may be.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":593.44,"end_s":599.56,"text":"And if you decide you like it, continue your premium membership for only seven","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":597.519,"end_s":605.279,"text":"bucks a month. So head over to crunchyroll.com/Linus and check them","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":602.76,"end_s":608.16,"text":"out. So I think that pretty much wraps it up, guys. Like this video if you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":606.8,"end_s":612.32,"text":"liked it, dislike it if you thought it sucked, leave a comment if your feelings are more complicated than this,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":610.88,"end_s":616.24,"text":"preferably on our forum, which is linked in the video description. Also linked in the video description, a place to buy a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":615.04,"end_s":620.72,"text":"cool t-shirt like this one, a place to give us a monthly contribution, and a place to change your Amazon bookmarked,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":619.36,"end_s":624.88,"text":"one with our affiliate code. Whenever you buy phones or watches or whatever it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":623.44,"end_s":629.92,"text":"is you buy on Amazon, we get a small kickback. That helps us out a lot.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":627.839,"end_s":643.499,"text":"Thanks again for watching and as always, don't forget to subscribe.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"So, there's this hilarious typo in ASUS's PR materials for the Xen Phone 2 that I think perfectly captures my biggest gripe with this product. I'm sorry. Available for purchase when? Yes, the most annoying thing about the Zen Phone 2 was the fact that it took so very long for ASUS to deliver the $200 smartphone that they showed off at CES this year. But, is the delay a big deal? Has the competitive landscape really changed so much in three months that it's significantly less market shaking? I guess we'll find out. Strap in, folks. The Corsair HX1200i power supply delivers 80 plus platinum efficiency for quiet efficient power and Corsair link digital for advanced monitoring and control. Click right here to learn more. Oh, ASUS. I love those guys dearly, but they really are a PC company at heart and it really shows through sometimes. The Xen Phone 2 actually comes in two flavors. a 16 gig storage version with 2 gigs of LPDDR3 RAM and an Atom Z3560 for $200 and a 64 gig storage version with 4 gigs of LPDDR3 RAM and an Atom Z3580 for $300. I mean, RAM and storage we've seen before, but changing out the CPU, who who does that with phones? Anyway, other than those core speeds and feeds, both models of the phone are the same. Starting at the front, we've got a 5 megapixel selfie camera, a 5.5 in 1080p IPS display covered in Gorilla Glass 3, fixed offscreen buttons above a circular finished metal chin. Then around the bottom, a micro USB port and microphone. On the sides, a whole lot of nothing. At the top, a second mic for noise cancellation, a 3 and 12 mm audio jack, and the quite disappointing lock button. The position makes it kind of hard to press without really mushing the phone into your finger, and the tactile response is marshmallowike, to put it kindly. Around the back, we've got a two-tone flash next to the 13 megapixel rear camera, volume up and down buttons that can also be used for the camera shutter, and a rear-facing speaker that I would describe as functional. But it's under the brushed finished plastic backing where things actually start to get pretty interesting. Micro SD expansion is one feature that's been trending towards extinction in the industry, but ASUS has gone ahead and included. And dual micro SIM slots, something pretty uncommon here in North America, are also present back here. Very nice. Oh, and we can't really show this, but if you were to dig in further, you'd find wireless AC and LTE chipsets, as well as the sorry, it's not userreplaceable, and it doesn't charge wirelessly, but it does support Qualcomm quick charge 3000 milliamp hour battery. So, those are some pretty impressive specs, am I right? But what's it like to actually hold the thing? Well, the screen isn't the best or brightest IPS display I've ever seen, and I'm not a huge fan of the 5 and a half inch form factor, but I've got to give it to ASUS. It handles pretty well. Their reviewers guide, however one-sided its representation of the facts might be, makes a point that I've made multiple times about the awkwardness of a flatbacked versus a curved back device. And other than that, physically, wow. I guess there's really not much to say. It's a ph any phone depending on who it is you ask. So, let's talk the make or break of any Android device. The Android 5 Lollipopbased Zen UI skin. And this is going to be a tough one here, folks, because Zen UI does some things very right and some things very wrong and some in between. So, let's start with the former. Responsiveness is solid, although it should be given that the Xen Phone 2's Atom CPU performs similarly to a Snapdragon 801. According to this Tom's article, quick settings are customizable and available for pretty much any phone setting you could possibly want. And on the subject of settings, there is some fan diddlyastic stuff buried in the settings menu. Separate user profiles, including a kid mode that allows time limits and locks down certain apps. some super smart do not disturb settings like ignoring a call from someone the first time then accepting it the second since it's presumably urgent. Automatic phone call recording, although you'll want to check on the legality of this in your area before activating it. The auto start manager that lets you force apps to wait for your permission to launch and do anything in the background. customizable gestures like double tap to wake and sleep and double volume tap to wake to camera and even the ability to tweak the saturation and color temperature of your display or save your screenshots as a PNG instead of a JPEG. I mean, who even thinks of that? But for every yin, there is a yang. For every up there is a down. And for all the positive things I found about Zenui, there were definitely some others that irked me. First up in real talk time, ASUS, what is up with the incredible number of pre-installed apps? I mean, some of them, like flashlight, I guess we need, but everyone else just does this through the quick toggle directly. So, I don't get why it needs to launch an app on the Zen phone, too. And some of these things are just inexcusable. What the chuffing hell is Zen Circle? Are you a social network company now, ASUS? Why is the fact that it comes with trend micro nonsense on it considered a selling point in the reviewer's guide? Even Samsung has finally figured this out. If a feature is useless to 99% of your users, make it an optional download. Don't pack your device full of junk that nobody cares about. Which leads to complaint number two, the overall polish. The ASUS launcher wasn't configured with notification access by default, causing my lock screen to never display my new alerts. The app that lets you use your phone on the desktop, actually super handy, very cool, but also kind of janky. The phone actually locked up outright twice on me during the time I was using it, including a startling full power off while I was writing an email with 15% battery showing on the meter. And then when I went to turn it back on, it told me the battery was dead. And on the subject of battery life, I've confirmed with ASUS that I'm running the latest firmware, but I haven't been able to get past 8:00 PM without topping up the battery. Now, in their defense, I am a bit of a power user. All the radios on all the time is my policy. I got like smartwatches and stuff, but with a 3,000 milliamp hour battery capacity, I should be easily making it through the day. So, I suspect software, whether it's one of my usual apps that disagrees with Zenui or some of the stupid bloat that ASUS preloaded, I think there's something stealthily draining battery in the background. But unfortunately, my usual battery meter apps are not picking up on it. So, I'll try and post in the video description when and if I figure out what it is. Which leads to the other make or break smartphone feature these days, the camera. I'm torn on this one, too. On the one hand, the manual mode is great for camera geeks and using the super resolution like multi-exposure merging mode and the low light four pixels acting as one for higher sensitivity modes result in some shockingly good photos, albeit with a higher processing time cost and or a lower resolution cost in both ideally lit and poorly lit situations. On the other hand, while the Toshiba sensor behind the f2.0 lens might be okay. It's not very featurerich with a max video resolution of 1080p and no slow-mo support whatsoever. It lacks optical image stabilization. The camera launches quite slowly. And the auto photo mode, the one most people will usually use, is just not very good with smeary noise reduction processing artifacts eliminating a lot of the detail from even photos that are taken under pretty good conditions. But this is a $200 smartphone off contract for the base model. And even for the $300 one, you get more than a token increase in storage with CPU and RAM upgrades being thrown in along with a quadrupling of your storage. Not to mention that ASUS has committed to allowing bootloadader unlocking. And the thing even includes a quick charger, something HTC couldn't be bothered to do on a smartphone that costs over twice as much. So, here's the conclusion. While it's not perfect at the price, the bottom line is ASUS, you're going to have a lot of to clean up when the Xen Phone 2 is done kicking all the ass it's going to kick out there in the market. And you can quote that on the box if you want to. Speaking of kicking a lot of ass, Crunchyroll is the site created by anime fans for anime fans. They offer the most current episodes of new shows straight from Japan like Koko's Basketball 3 and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and a large collection of the most popular anime series like Naruto and One Piece with the bonus being that all the content is professionally subtitled. So head over to crunchyroll.com/lininus and sign up for a 30-day trial of Crunchyroll Premium. So that's completely adree. You get 1080p streaming. You get new episodes of shows straight from Japan within an hour of their premiere. and you're able to stream anytime, anywhere on a variety of devices like your phone, tablet, game console, Roku, whatever the case may be. And if you decide you like it, continue your premium membership for only seven bucks a month. So head over to crunchyroll.com/Linus and check them out. So I think that pretty much wraps it up, guys. 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