Zenfone 6 - 855 cpu, 5000mah battery, $499

Really was ready to write this one off and just get the next Poco for another year until I read a hands-on and see they seam to have hit every single one of the things I want(ed) in my next android phone! and that's before we even talk about the 855 Chipset/SD card/two sims/6+RAM on board!


Dedicated (and customisable) button for the google assistant:
Love that it will start the search as soon as you let the button go and not stay sitting there with the mic turned on while its getting confused by the noise going on behind you while I'm wishing it would just do the darn search already! ...and give me back the audio via the earpiece if I want it


Auto-adjusting ringer volume:
Hooray! in work I go from loud noise places to very quite office space may timea a day and my phone often blasts out for the whole office to hear and I get the stinkeye from many of them. Motorola had something like this a few years back, surprised its not a standard in android by now.


A full screen: (That's 600 nits bright LCD)
No frigging notch here! But still a camera for the very rare times I would want one anyway and no screen burn in as I used maps for hours every day.


5000 Mah Battery:
... It's got a 5000Mah battery People! oh and QC4.0 to boot!


Darkmode:
Yep thats right! Out of the box on day one. Even better andriod(s) 10 and 11 updates already confirmed! (I'm calling it now people! google will stop with the food names and start with numbers from this point on.


Headphone Jack:
yep I have on but I want my next phone to have one too: #BringBackTheHeadphobeJack


Price won't break the bank!:
Looks to be around the 500euro mark, nice if it holds to that


All those reasons (and a few more) I wanted/seen on other phones over the last year and wished one phone just had them all. Even if the camera is s£it but 'OK in good light', I'll probably still want/buy it anyway...

From the asus unvailing video one of the speakers gave it to his son and that kid really gave the camera mechanism a good going over (for about 10 minutes) real world, MKBHD say it doesn't feel that robust.



Suppose we have to wait and see for Samsung fold levels of braking news...


EDIT: Camera samples hear: (Vs P30Pro) : Remember, this was from a Pre-production unit vs a 'Flagship' device... that costs twice the price

https://www.androidauthority.com/asus-zenfone-6-camera-review-987641/

I've had the lower spec Zenfone 5 for coming up to a year & am pretty happy with it. Got updated to Android 9 very early compared to other phones. The 6 could tempt me later on in the year once there are some reviews of it knocking around.

Zenfone 5 got the May security update yesterday & was one of the first non-Google phones to get 9.0. Huge difference compared to my previous phone, an LG G4, which was abandoned by LG almost immediately.

corwill wrote: »

https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_6-review-1937.php

I'm sold, if only I could figure out where to buy it. Pre-order on Asus UK store is showing as out of stock.

Me too. Cant wait to get my hands on it.

Seems like the screen is one sub par aspect on this phone.
Chris says its an "Okay" LCD ips panel.
In his review he says the screen is the weak spot.
Similar to one from a medium phone leaning towards a budget phone.
Not a deal breaker, but sure no phone is perfect.

Otherwise it seems like a fantastic phone. And one I'm considering too. Although the Mi 9T might personally get the nod.

https://youtu.be/GMplpTGC4vY

True, it's rumoured the K20 Pro is tipped to be copied for other models.

Mi 9T, possibly with wireless charging etc

Pocophone F2 - no details yet. But I wouldn't be surprised to see a plastic or metal body, but with 8gb ram plus 128gb as the base model. That's what I'm hoping anyhow.

corwill wrote: »

https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_6-review-1937.php

I'm sold, if only I could figure out where to buy it. Pre-order on Asus UK store is showing as out of stock.

Was only seeing sterling price on the UK site. They say a euro price on most reviews but I dont think we can buy from them in euro.

glasso wrote: »

why is that - worried about burn-in on amoled?

Yep had happened on many phones now. For YouTube it was the bars on the screen (vids were not run full screen) and maps put a dark triangle in the centre on may of my ones.

Android Authority review is up. Editors choice too Whoop Whoop!

god's toy wrote: »

...and just ordered mine.

Where'd you order it boss?

god's toy wrote: »

at Alsa.co.uk


https://www.alza.co.uk/search.htm?exps=zenfone%206


Says they are shipping 20th June where amazon.de say 10th (but a dearer 128gb model) , will keep an eye on both.

Nice! Best of luck with it

opus wrote: »

How are you finding the phone? I was kind of tempted to get one in Germany as will be there later on this month but seems impossible to order.

Even that link you sent just has options to reserve the phone.

I'm still waiting!!!

Turns out Asus completely botched up the ordering process for everyone by making too few units...I mean Who would have guessed that by giving people what they really wanted (Stock Android software with no blot/crapware + class hardware + Headphone jack at a decent price) it would be very popular? In short, you can't get this phone for love nor money. unless you get the resellers looking for mad money or grey import that won't have any warranty.



Have the phone on order with a few places for almost 3 months now but they all keep pushing the dates back... It was late May when people starting saying they won't be able to supply enough, on the 10th of June I heard a rumour (from an Asus worker) it could be late September by the time they have enough units from the production lines. Turns out it was true. GRRRR... all the European storefronts only deliver to the country they belong in and as Brexit is still a thing the UK stores have no hope of getting stock (Asus UK won't let you even preorder it last I looked there!)



Still, I'm holding out hope it's here soon...

glasso wrote: »

not sure this is worth the hassle of poor availability

mi 9t a decent option imo

48mp main, 13mp wide, 8mp zoom
snapdragon 730 as good as the 845
AMOLED
in-screen fingerprint
no notch
4000mah battery
nice-looking premium build

308 or so on eglobal for 128gb

Sure its a fantastic phone for sure but, Nope (not for me) CPU is slower and it has an AMOLED screen and smaller battery... is a no-no. I know its the coming tide regarding screens right now but if there is still an LCD option out here that tics all of my boxes then I'll get it over AMOLED.

opus wrote: »

Looks like it's orderable on the German ASUS site at the moment but delivery after Aug 16th is too late for me. Will be there again later in the year so maybe then.

Yep some of the stores had stock around Europe over the last few weeks but none would ship to Ireland, they would tell you to use the UK store but they never had stock any to start with. Grrr. I think the silver-backed version is starting to move, I'm holding out for the black myself.

DashcamDik wrote: »

Very tempted to go for one of these. I came across them on Gearbest but bit nervous to buy there.

Don't if it ships from outside the EU otherwise you'll be hit with customs charges.

Just received my Zenfone 6 from Gear Best. Cant wait to get started using it. Only thing is that I cant connect to the Internet through my data. I can make calls and the sim is recognised on the phone (with eir being my provider) but it just wont connect to the net. I have tried a number of options in the settings. Anybody any idea what it could be?

When I go into the APN settings there is nothing there. I get a message (when I click on the APN menu) that "Access Point Name settings are not available for this user". There was a plus symbol at the top of the screen so I clicked that and it brought me into a Edit access point option. I manually entered the APN settings for EIR (got them from Google) but anytime I save the info they just vanish.

droidman123 wrote: »

https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Help-Support/APN-disappears-when-saving-settings/td-p/20292474

I dont know if this is any good to you,i only gave it a quick glance,but there seems to be a solution near the bottom of the thread

http://www.droidforums.net/threads/apn-will-not-save.115593/
Another one maybe worth looking at

Thanks for that link. I will check it out and see if I can get any info from it. I suppose I could just pop into an Eir store on the way home from work.

glasso wrote: »

did you get hit for customs - if not what postage method did you use?

No. I didnt get hit with any customs charges. I used the EU express option. Only cost 3.41.