The ASUS ZenFone 2 Review
by Brandon Chester on May 26, 2015 8:00 AM ESTNAND Performance
While it's not disclosed by manufacturers, the speed of NAND on a smartphone is a very important aspect of overall smartphone performance. It has an impact on how long cameras can do burst capture, and how well the phone performs when apps are running both in the foreground and the background. To evaluate the NAND performance of the ZenFone 2 I've run it through both of our internal storage benchmarks. Because our iOS benchmark only supports a single IO thread, we'll be using our older storage benchmark alongside the newer Androbench 4.0 test for the foreseeable future.
In our original single threaded storage benchmark the ZenFone 2 is decidedly average in its performance. In every case it's either slightly above or below the median result on our charts. It's important to keep in mind that this test puts devices like the Galaxy S6 with its UFS storage at a disadvantage, as its NAND can make use of several IO threads due to the use of a command queue.
In our newer AndroBench 4.0 storage test we see that the ZenFone 2 ends up falling farther behind the other devices that we've run through the test. In the sequential read test it's not the slowest device, but that's only due to the Nexus 6 being extremely far behind every other device as a result of Google's full disk encryption. In the sequential write and random read tests it's comes behind the HTC One (M9), although to a very small degree in the latter test. Random writes are where it really stumbles, with a speed that's less than half of the next slowest device.
I'm not sure whether I can attribute it to the enormous amount of RAM that the 4GB version of the ZenFone 2 can use as a cache, but I never noticed any issues with performance as a result of IO operations being run either by the app I was using or by another application in the background. Even when updating applications, performance remained consistent.
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meacupla - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
There was another reviewer who also droppped his zenfone 2 and he cracked the screen.So is the phone hard to hold while pulling out of pockets and fingering buttons or what?
niva - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
It's always a risk when you don't use a case, even with a case it can happen.I found most disappointing about this phone the references to zenUI and the pre-installed bloatware. We knew the camera wasn't perfect but had some good parts too already so I wasn't too surprised.
Glock24 - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
Would a metal (alumunium) or glass phone fare any better? Would it also get big scratches and marks?niva - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
Metal doesn't necessarily fare better, though in this case it seems like it would have. Metal can get scratched and unlike this plastic removable case cannot be replaced... also metal is more rigid usually which leads to higher rates of cracked screens though that statement is hard to back up by statistics. Other polycarbonate phones (like Nokia) fare amazingly well in drops and feature surfaces that don't get scratched easily unless you purposely take a knife to them. I for one have never understood the premium materials thing going on in the industry because I always put cases on my phones. Even the all metal phones need cases to help protect them in drops.Frenetic Pony - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I've never dropped my phone in my life, going on 6+ years now for that record, so I've never seen a need for a case. But maybe I'm overconfident, and then maybe so are other people.ketacdx - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
I dropped my first Zenfone 2. Ended up needing to buy a 2nd one (I got the TW models so I've had it for a few weeks)tipoo - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
Plastic phones generally do better in drop tests than metal or obviously glass ones. I have heard of some ZP2s cracking, but I hope it's just the usual odd accident that would put any phone down. I wonder if there are any drop tests of it out yet.Brandon Chester - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
No I was just trying to hold it in my left hand while trying to photograph it. I never dropped it once in normal use, but it's something to look out for. In general I find myself having trouble when holding any phone of this size in one hand, but that's not specific to the ZenFone 2.ketacdx - Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - link
Mine landed flat from about 2-3 feet on my basement cement floor. directly flat on its screen, no sliding or anything and the screen completely shattered. Ironically it didn't have even a scratch elsewhere on it. It was cement so im not necessarily saying the phone is weak however I've dropped phones before but never had anything like that happen. It was very saddening..re2onance - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Did you purchase the 550 or the 551. I've heard that the 550 does not actually come with Gorilla Glass 3 which is extremely deceptive in their advertising.