Asus Zenfone 8 Flip 256 GB

The best selfie camera

The flagship smartphone of 2021 from Asus, with its Flip prefix in the title, indicates to a potential buyer its main highlight — a PTZ camera. The manufacturer has been producing gadgets with a flip camera for several years, but it still looks original. The essence of the work is simple: the triple camera block can rotate 180 degrees for shooting ordinary photos and selfies and automatically turn around during video shooting to track the object. The mechanism must withstand at least 300K operations, which is about 5 years of fairly active use. But the human factor and accidental breakdowns due to negligence still have not been canceled.

The camera consists of three modules: a 64 MP Sony IMX686 sensor with phase detection autofocus, which takes over the main work, a 12 MP ultra-wide lens and an 8 MP telephoto lens. The smartphone can shoot video up to 8K, a 3x zoom is claimed, there are as many as three microphones for wind noise suppression, but, unfortunately, there is no optical stabilization, and this is rather strange for a modern flagship. As a result, the camera shoots decently, but still falls short of competitors from Samsung, Apple and Huawei. Everything changes if you look at the situation from the other side, namely from the front. Since the camera plays the role of both the main camera and the front camera at the same time, it simply has no competitors in matters of selfies. It's simple: usually the front cameras are not so fancy, they don't have so many sensors and high resolution. And if for the main camera 118 points received from DxOMark specialists lower the Asus Zenfone 8 Flip to the second half of the rating, then among the front cameras this is the best result so far. Therefore, the creation of Asus should be appreciated by lovers of selfies, vlogs and unusual design of gadgets.

Top class

You can hardly find fault with the rest of the characteristics of the smartphone. The large 6.67-inch Super AMOLED display supports HDR10+, has a refresh rate of 90Hz, and is devoid of any cutouts as there is no separate front-facing camera. The top Snapdragon 888 processor easily handles with any task, and its performance reserves will last for several years for sure. The model supports 5G and Wi-Fi 6E networks, is equipped with a built-in fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, an NFC chip and a capacious 5000 mAh battery with support for 30 W fast charging. Of course, these are far from record figures, but a whole day of battery life is guaranteed. But for some reason, the manufacturer decided to refuse wireless charging, but in vain. Despite the good amount of memory, there is a slot for a microSD memory card. Moreover, the slot is not hybrid, so you don’t have to sacrifice a second SIM card, and the maximum card capacity is as much as 2 TB – just right for a large archive of photos and videos.

In terms of design, the smartphone is quite modest — no bright colours, eye-catching elements or large logos and inscriptions. In general, for lovers of minimalism. As befits a device from the highest class, the back panel is made of glass, and the frame is made of durable metal. Alas, the glass is easily soiled and collects fingerprints, and due to the design features, we had to forget about protection against water and dust. But the kit includes a special cover with a latch so that the camera does not accidentally open when shaking.