PowerMaster is an application for managing the power consumption of ZenFone Max. PowerMaster - application for managing energy consumption ZenFone Max Fast charging does not work zenfone 2

The time has come for me to express my opinion about the “flagship” from Asus, and it will not be positive at all. So welcome everyone and happy reading. I want to say right away that all this is my personal opinion, my experience of use and, maybe, all these are just mistakes of my copy, but this does not make the company higher in my eyes, if someone is lucky, then I’m only glad! ☺ The review will be boring, I warn you right away, grab some cookies and tea.

To begin with, I would like to note what qualities and characteristics a smartphone should have in order for me to pay attention to it. Firstly, the screen is at least 5 inches, but preferably 5.5 inches. Secondly, I need a good camera. Well, no less than 2 GB of RAM and a quad-core processor. In principle, nothing outrageous, but in reality everything is sad and depends on the high cost of gadgets. Hand on heart, I won’t buy a smartphone for 50,000 rubles simply because I want to change it in 4 months, but I’ll sell it for a maximum of 20,000 rubles, so why do I need it? And my husband will kill you too ☺.

It all started with the fact that I caught fire! Yes, for the first time in my choice I was guided by the manufacturer’s promises, the wild success of the previous model and widespread advertising. Exactly 3 months before purchasing the Asus Zenfone 2, I owned, as it turned out in comparison, an excellent Meizu MX4 16 GB device. I would still like to say a few words about him. Smart is wonderful, if not for 3 “buts” - the lack of memory cards, terrible heating, and the lack of Russian firmware, if you buy not in Russia. But the Chinese in general did a great job! Great camera, excellent display, better design than many branded smartphones, excellent performance. The first thought about selling it crept in during a hot summer day; it simply rebooted due to overheating and became stupid; metal still plays a big role in this. Although now I understand that I started everything in vain and it would be better to stay with Meizu ☺. I note that I had a Fonepad 8 tablet from Asus, which I quite liked and had no problems with it.

Competitors include Sony Xperia C4/C5 and Samsung Galaxy A7. at least for me personally. This is what you can buy in Russia for up to 23,000 rubles. with a 5.5-inch Full HD screen, LTE and NFC, two SIM cards and memory card support, at least 2 GB of RAM. (Yes, also the Meizu M2 Note. But it’s still not sold everywhere, and its red price is no more than 10,000 rubles, and not like we officially sell for 15,990 rubles.) Asus still wins over them precisely because of the presence of 4 GB of RAM and at a slightly lower price. As for the rest, to each his own.

There are many versions of this smartphone in nature, you can get confused because they look the same. They differ in screen size, amount of RAM and internal memory. There is also a version with a lower processor frequency - 1.8 GHz instead of 2.3 GHz.

The top version of all this variety has the following characteristics:

Platform: Android 5.0 (Lollipop).

This is the second disappointment, and quite significant. If 2 SIM cards are installed and LTE is working, then problems are guaranteed. I’m walking around the city and I realize that no one has called me for a long time, I take out my smartphone, and they tell me that the SIM card is not inserted. Finish. If this had only happened once or had been immediately corrected by the manufacturer, I would not have remembered about it. There were about 4 updates in which something was changed, but to no avail. Everything works great for a while, and then it starts again. It got to the point where I was checking every 10 minutes to see if everything was okay. It was precisely because of these dumps of SIM cards that I had to constantly open the lid and rearrange the SIM cards. Everyone has SIM dumps! If you think that you do not have them, then go to the battery menu and look in the “Network Connection” item for how long you did not have a network. I temporarily solved the problem by placing a piece of paper in the SIM card slot. But it’s still somehow strange to correct the mistakes of developers and engineers.

There is also a problem with switching to 4G. Let's say I have H+ enabled, and I need LTE, then I switch it in the settings, and. nothing happens, the internet just disappears. It was treated by turning on/off the “Airplane” mode. Otherwise, everything is fine, they hear me well, I hear perfectly. Both SIM cards are micro format and work simultaneously, that is, if we talk about the first, then they can call the second, unless, of course, one of them fell off at that time ☺. Oh, yes, there was also a problem with dialing when 4G was turned on, that is, usually when a call is made, the smart switches to 3G, but here this often did not happen and they could not reach me.

Important! Do not glue films that cover the proximity sensor - after the call ends, the screen will not light up! Here you either set it to “End call with power button”, or look for a normal film or glass with all the holes.

Wi-Fi works great, the connection has never dropped.

I don’t know how an NFC chip can be useful in today’s world, especially in our country, but the situation turned out to be to check its operation, otherwise, you never know, there’s also some kind of bug. Transferred music and photos from Asus to Sony. Connects quickly and works great. I'm looking forward to more reasons to use it ☺.

GPS works great! I often go to some places in the city that I have not explored, and I have never had any problems. Even gets me there.

Here we must make a reservation that the first discharge/charge cycles are very important for Zenfone. If you don’t do this, you will see how the charge melts before your eyes at breakneck speed. After all the manipulations, the charge will also melt before our eyes, but a little slower. I can’t understand why manufacturers treat the operating time of their devices this way? It would seem that the battery was installed at 3000 mAh, but it had to be charged at least 2 times a day. The battery lasts for an average of 2.5-3 hours of screen operation, while the most power-hungry process is the Android OS, which I have never encountered before; the screen has always come first.

There are several operating modes - in the productive mode everything works at maximum and at the same time holds the battery better than in normal mode. I don’t consider it advisable to use energy saving modes. Why do I need all the power and capabilities of a smartphone if I need to turn everything off all the time? It’s easier to buy a regular dialer for a thousand rubles, rather than spend tens of thousands for an energy saving mode. I got a powerbank, it became easier. Meizu also had problems with discharge, so this is a widespread problem with modern devices.

The adapter with accelerated charging is available only in the top-end 4 GB/2.3 GHz model. It really charges up to 70% in 40 minutes. As far as I understand, in principle all versions support this accelerated charging, the only thing is that you need to buy an adapter, and here it is already included. True, I could be wrong.

Performance and shell

The smartphone boasts a large amount of RAM (4 GB) and a good processor (4 cores at 2.3 GHz). I was not able to get rid of the habit of constantly closing running programs, but the difference in work is noticeable. The interface does not slow down, everything works smoothly and beautifully with a bunch of programs running at the same time, although they were not deceived in this. Then I caught myself thinking that my laptop also has 4 gigs of RAM.

The heating is minimal, especially after Meizu you can feel it. Although Asus doesn’t seem to have any problems with heating anywhere, the tablet hardly got warm either. Thanks to Intel for this!

I rarely play games. Mainly in Angry Birds 2 and Candy. which are available on all devices. I launched several games just to check - there were no slowdowns and it was a pleasure to play.

For parrot lovers, a screenshot is attached.

Asus has its own ZenUI shell, which I really like - everything is customizable, looks beautiful and, most importantly, everything is clear. Android version is 5.0 and they promise to update it to 6.0, but it is unknown when they will do this.

The notification shade can be pulled out either completely with two fingers, or in parts with one finger. Icons are customizable.

There is an Easy mode, apparently for those who have just started using it, or for those who need something simpler. In this mode, all the icons are on the screen and they are large in size.

There is a children's mode with all sorts of restrictions and passwords. I didn’t use it because I don’t give phones to my children.

The dialer is very convenient, the SMS application is excellent! I really like the Asus keyboard, it’s a real standard for me.

There are many Asus programs pre-installed, which it is better not to delete without complete confidence, otherwise something will stop working. This is especially true for the Splendid application, which is responsible for screen settings. In most cases, I like branded programs and I did not uninstall them, but used them.

Root access can be obtained using special. program, you can also use it to make an root. Never update a rooted smartphone - you will be bricked! First we remove the root, and only then you can update. Then we install the root again.

I was disappointed in Asus, and very much so. This is the first device I have that annoys me. Absolutely every smartphone has some shortcomings (you can’t just go and make a perfect gadget), but they are not so critical and you can put up with them. I don’t understand people who praise this smartphone - maybe they were just lucky? For this money, it should at least work without failures and surprises, but if it cost 10,000 rubles, then there would be fewer complaints and I would just hope that everything will be fixed soon. I regret that I sold Meiza, and I regretted it a week after buying Asus. This is not a smartphone, but some kind of misunderstanding. I can understand if all the problems were isolated cases, but Zenfon has this feature, it seems to be a feature, so to speak. The last update was on November 13, but the situation has not changed in any way.

Asus Zenfone 2 gets 6 points from me:
-1 point per cover;
-1 point for problems with SIM cards;
-1 point for autonomy;
-1 point for dim lighting.

Of course, it still has a couple of advantages: price compared to more famous brands; accelerated charging; Asus shell.

For about 5 minutes I thought about what other advantages it had, but I couldn’t think of one.

So if you want to buy this device, I advise you to think ten times. If the developers fix all the bugs in the next updates, then I would still add 2 points, but it’s good that I won’t find out ☺.

Thank you for your attention!

Today we’ll look at a new product, the first smartphone with 4 gigabytes of RAM and a new attempt by ASUS to achieve Zen. Meet - ASUS Zenfone 2 ZE551ML. I’ll describe it briefly; those who are accustomed to laconic praise of new products will not find refuge here. I bought the device for myself and I’m keeping it for myself, so there will be the whole truth about ASUS Zenfone 2, do you want more details? - welcome under cut.

Device characteristics

System: Android, v5 (Lollipop) 32 bit but 64 bit core
Processor: 64Bit Intel Z3560 1.8 GHz 4 cores
Graphics: PowerVR G6430
Memory: 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM
SIM cards: Supports two SIM cards Micro SIM, 2 radio modules
Frequencies: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900 FDD-LTE 1800/2100
Support: 3G, EDGE, 4G, LTE, GPRS, EGSM ,WAP, Wi-Fi
Screen: 5.5" IPS OGS with FHD resolution 1920 x 1080, Gorilla Glass 3, multi-touch 10 touches.
Front camera: 5 megapixels
Main camera: 13 megapixels
Battery: 3000mAh
Dimensions: 155.2 x 77.2 x 10.9 mm, weight with battery 170 g.
Bluetooth: BT 4.0
GPS: GPS + AGPS + GLONASS + BEIDOU
OTG: Supports

Payment for purchase

First, let's look at the packaging - everything here is really modest, but with no small taste.

On the side there are symbols for some characteristics.

On the bottom you can see that I have the so-called CN version and this is very important. If you bought a device for example on Ali and you have the firmware inside WW, pay attention to the box, now many cunning Ali writers write WW in the description and simply reflash to WW before sending, such phones will not be updated via OTA and new 4G LTE frequencies will not appear, but I’m already getting ahead of myself.

The kit is harsh and simple, instructions with a warranty card in Chinese (CN version), USB - MicroUSB cable (I didn’t like it), 1 ampere charging (without fast charging function). That's it, the Chinese version does not rely on headphones.

Let's now look at the device itself. On the front we will find quite large frames around the display, a 5.5" display itself, a speaker grille, a front camera, proximity and light sensors, an event indicator, three touch buttons and decorative metal-like plastic, telling us that it belongs to the Zen line of ASUS .

On the back side there is a dual flash of different color temperatures, the main camera, volume buttons (I don’t know why ASUS thought this was convenient?), ASUS and Intel inside logos, as well as a grille, mostly decorative. Don’t be fascinated by the look of the polishing; the back covers of absolutely all ASUS Zenfone 2 models are plastic.

On the side ends you can only find a slot for removing the back cover.

At the bottom end there is a MicroUSB connector and the main microphone.

At the top end we have an additional noise-canceling microphone and a 3.5 mm headset jack. and another controversial decision is the power button. To the astonished exclamations of Zen users, consultants recommended not to use it, but to tap on the screen to lock and unlock, in principle an option; a screenshot can also be taken with a long tap on the “menu” button.

Let's remove the cover, under it there are two slots for MicroSim, here it should be noted that the device has two radio modules, a slot for a memory card and we see a small speaker, which, thanks to the rounded shape of the back cover and its location, is not muffled on a hard surface and sounds both in the hands and and on the table it is equally loud.

On the cover itself we see an NFC antenna, stiffening pads and a rubber plug for the unused part of the speaker slot.

In general, the device is quite wide, it fits firmly in the hand, it’s not for everyone, creaks are minimal, I didn’t find any play. For use with one hand, there is a zoom mode, which is activated by double tapping the home button. It is difficult to press the back button without intercepting it. Using the volume buttons, in my opinion, is very controversial; I constantly poke at the camera, thereby staining it. But ASUS Zenfone 2 looks very expensive and solid.

The full unboxing with my first grievances can be seen below:

Let's consider a point that probably 90% of users are acutely concerned about - namely battery. According to the manufacturer, there is an honest 3000mAh, which is actually true, but with some footnotes. To begin with, I ran the antitu battery with a tester.

The shell has a convenient, customizable energy saving mode. Then I measured it with a USB tester. Charging produced only 1.11 amperes and the charging process itself was not completed. In my opinion, this is a flaw in the Android 5 shell; we have already implemented this in the Elephone G2. During its own use, the Intel processor is quite power-hungry and the indicated battery will last for a day, a maximum of two of average use.

The display of ASUS Zenfone 2 ZE551ML is created using IPS OGS FHD technology and covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The brightness of the device is average, the colors are bright and contrasting, and do not fade at viewing angles. I am 100% satisfied with the screen, undoubtedly this is one of the advantages of the device.

From different viewing angles

From the menu you can adjust the color to suit your needs, multi-touch 10 touch points.

The second advantage of ASUS Zenfone 2 is the sound; the sound quality of both the speaker and headphones is quite decent. As far as I know, Intel uses a sound solution from RealTek, which has already become the standard for modern audio. However, I want to clarify that I was able to achieve the best sound quality in headphones only from the built-in player, fortunately it has playback by folders. So I can fully recommend good headphones for it, so far I have tested it on Vsonic VSD1 and XiaoMi Piston 3, but XiaoMi Hi-Fi is already on the way.

The device's communication quality is good, there is no leadership here, but the performance is at a decent average level. Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac through one and two walls, NFC, Bluetooth 4, OTG.

But in terms of navigation, ASUS Zenfone 2 is a clear leader, I have never seen such high-quality satellite reception, it’s definitely a test! And of course there is an electronic compass on board.

It remains to talk about communication frequencies, you can find the frequencies themselves in the specifications at the beginning of the review, but you need to clarify that different versions support different 4G LTE frequencies, so my CN version, regardless of the installed firmware, only supports band 1 and band 3, which are practically not used in the Russian Federation; at the moment it is known that 4G will work with the MTS operator in some cities.

ASUS Zenfone 2 ZE551ML is built on 32-bit Android 5 Lollipop with a 64-bit kernel.

The ZenUI add-on interface reminded me a lot of FlymeOS from Meizu. The interface is very convenient and friendly, here you can find everything you might need, including an autorun manager and a glove mode.

Mode for the elderly and automatic conversation recording.

And there are a lot of different small conveniences that you can learn about from the video review.
What shortcomings can be found here, and they exist. The first drawback is that there are two applications for transferring data from an old smartphone, which work via NFC and Bluetooth, but I didn’t have NFC, and only contacts are transferred via Bluetooth, so despite the abundance of software, you have to use third-party applications. The second disadvantage is the abundance of software, there is a lot of it, and only a few can be removed from it, most of it can be disabled, but there are also some that cannot be removed and cannot be disabled, and I consider this a disadvantage.

The Russian language, by the way, is available in all versions of ASUS Zenfone 2, but Google services were not in my CN version, and I had to reflash it to WW via the PC command line, after which, naturally, all over-the-air updates do not work.

The device runs on a 64-bit 4-core Intel Z3560 1.8 GHz processor, PowerVR G6430 is responsible for graphics. CPU-Z values:

There are a whole bunch of sensors here:

There is no need to reap any additional achievements from the x86 processor; it works on the same level as the much cheaper MTK MT6752, which is confirmed by synthetic tests. Antutu:

Epic Citadel:

NenaMark 2:

Antutu 3D Rating on OpenGL 3:

Other tests:

The performance is more than enough for the maximum level of graphics in any modern toy, but the device does not reach the top values ​​of modern flagships.

Let's move on to the main parameter - memory, due to the presence of memory cards, the amount of built-in memory is not critical, to put it mildly, but what about 4 gigabytes of RAM? Before ASUS Zenfone 2, I used two devices with two gigabytes of RAM and they were enough for me. I can tell you my opinion, at the moment there is no need for 4 gigabytes of RAM, two are quite good, three are even better. The exception is those who like to run a lot of applications and games at the same time, for whom this device will be indispensable, and for those who are too lazy to constantly clear their memory. In my opinion, it is quite possible to save money and take the 2/16 version, but of course everyone decides for themselves.

And now we get to the main deception of ASUS Zenfone 2 - the cameras. And if the front camera is 5 megapixels, it’s quite acceptable.

The main one with 13 megapixel PixelMaster technology is simply disgusting today. Not only does the camera shoot in poor lighting conditions like an average Chinese, although they boasted about their “night owl” mode.

Also, at distances of more than a meter, the autofocus is constantly blurry and the pictures are not scalable; as soon as you start zooming in, absolutely all the details are lost.

HDR mode doesn't help at all:

At close distances, these are quite acceptable pictures:

Without a doubt, the problem here is software, since in manual mode you can get excellent pictures, but I myself almost never use manual mode, and this is mainly the lot of rare experts.

The device shoots FullHD video in mp4, 4K and Slow motion formats.

A full review of the advantages and disadvantages of ASUS Zenfone 2 ZE551ML can be found below:

Let's summarize:
- Android 5 is not updated.
- Hungry processor.
- Lots of junk apps that can't be removed.
- 4G LTE in CN versions of the device in the Russian Federation only works for MTS and not in all cities.
- There are no Google services in CN versions.
- Average performance in synthetic tests.
- The camera software has not been updated, the quality of the images for the most part is terrible.
- Plastic body, painted to look like metal.
- Just huge frames around the display.

Android 5.
+ Good battery.
+ Gorgeous display.
+ Great sound.
+ Very cool ZenUI shell.
+ Excellent GPS.
+ OTG and presence of a memory card.
+ 2 radio modules.
+ Availability of NFC.
+ Powerful processor and video card.
+ Good cameras.
+ 4 gigabytes of RAM.
+ Very solid appearance.

As you can see, at the moment the device is quite controversial, but you should also remember about the price segment, so the device with 4/32 CN version can be purchased with the ZE551ML coupon for $274.99, which is quite an affordable price, compared to the exorbitant prices of modern flagships, if you definitely need 4G LTE, then Chinese online stores and aliexpress most likely will not suit you, here you should look at ebay for a higher price. If 4 gigabytes is also not critical for you, then the price tag may even drop to the level of 200 bucks.

So, does ASUS Zenfone 2 have Zen? On the one hand, you can see simplicity in everything, no frills, a lot of well-developed details, on the other hand, a huge mass of garbage applications. And everything seems perfect, but they forgot to finish the software. So my verdict is that Zen is still ahead for ASUS.

With that, thank you all for reading, happy shopping everyone.