The OnePlus 6 (OP6) has received utmost adulation by the consumers across the globe for not only being a value-for-money product, but also a smartphone that challenges the biggies like a Samsung S9 or even the Nokia 8 Sirocco.
But, since the sub-30k category has been heating up, there have been a number of phone makers tossing their own contenders to take on the OP6 and one of them is the Asus Zenfone 5z.
To see how big of a threat the new Asus phone poses to be, here’s a spec-to-spec comparison between the OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5z.
Display & Design
These are two 6.2-inch glass back phones which sport a notch design. This means it will be very tough telling them apart unless you turn them around. Another way of telling them apart is by their notches, as the one on the Zenfone is a bit longer than the one on the OnePlus 6.
Despite sporting a similar screen size the OP6 sports a bigger form factor and feels bulkier in the hand. Nothing wrong with that though. Albeit the whole notch design is ubiquitous and vapid, both these phones manage to impress.
The duo sport a full HD+ screen with great colour output. I don’t have any complaints with the display or the size on either as both are stellar performers and make everything on the screen a visual treat.
Performance & Storage
The Snapdragon 845 is the king of the hill when it comes to smartphone processors and both the OP6 and the Zenfone 5z come bundled with the same along with RAM options of 6GB and 8GB. The big advantage the 5z holds is the addition of expandable memory, which the OP6 is devoid of. Not that 64GB,128GB or 256GB space with the OP6 is going to be any less.
Since I haven’t used the 5z for long I won’t comment on the experience but I see a lot of refinement in ZenUI 5 and the Android Oreo 8.0 makes the user experience better.
On the hardware front, the OnePlus 6 comes with a shortcut key on the right which helps switching between different profiles (silent, vibrate, ring) very quickly.
The Zenfone 5z on the on the other hand is an audiophile’s gizmo and comes with a dual speaker and 3 mics for high fidelity audio recording. Both the phones are workhorses and capable of handling multiple tasks at one time. So it doesn’t matter which one you buy, you’ll still end up buying a good performer.
Camera & Battery
The Asus Zenfone 5z camera hasn’t ceased to impress us since we started using it. The 8-megapixel selfie snapper was a bit of a disappointment but the dual rear camera has been great. It comes with a 12+8-megapixel primary shooter with AI.
I haven’t dived into the AI aspect of the camera but it’s evident that there’s some processing that is taking part while we take pictures. The Zenfone comes with 16 different modes for capturing images in different conditions. We’ll put out a detailed review of how the AI works very soon. Oh, and the 5z also offers a wide-angle lens. A big miss on the OP6.
I feel that the OnePlus 6 camera is better than the Zenfone 5z if you really dive deeper into the picture quality and other aesthetics. However, for the daily user, who doesn’t really give a sh** about all the poro stuff, the Zenfone 5z camera is more than good.
Check out some of these camera samples taken by the OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5z:
Shot on OnePlus 6
(Photo: The Quint)
Shot on Zenfone 5z
(Photo: The Quint)
The OnePlus 6 camera doesn’t offer any AI capabilities but is still a very good camera. The 16+20-megapixel rear camera shoots excellent pictures in all scenarios especially in low light. I feel the 16-megapixel selfie camera of the OP6 is better than the 5z purely because its pictures are more crisp and tend to look more natural.
Which One to Buy?
The Zenfone 5z is fresh out of the oven and is very exciting! At just Rs 29,999 you are getting a Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor which is great! Good camera quality and lots of tweaks with the AI are some of the perks that come along with this phone.
The OnePlus 6 on the other hand has that X factor and is a stellar performer; a tried and tested gizmo. It’s tough finding a flaw in this one, which is why it’s one of the most recommended phones in this category.
I won’t say the Zenfone 5z is a better device (because it’s not!). Both these devices have their good and bad points but if you are adventurous enough to try something new while saving a few bucks at that, then the 5z is a good option to go for, else the OnePlus 6 is always a safe bet.
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