Livestream your beauty with ASUS Zenfone Live (Review)

I encountered reception issues with ASUS Zenfone 3 Max in the past two weeks. Outgoing messages get sent, however, any incoming text messages do not get through, thus I do not receive any text messages from anybody.

I decided to reformat the phone and change all sim card inserted. That did the trick, the phone is working properly again. However, I have a scheduled visit to the ASUS Service Center already, and that was planned two hours prior to the phone reformatting. I have the phone re-checked though, and the staff said there are no issues with call and text reception. I took advantage of the situation and ask the staff to have the screw cracks fixed instead. I have to wait for a week up to a month to get my phone with a new back case without the screw cracks.

So, here comes in the ASUS Zenfone Live. I don’t have a spare smartphone that is fully-functional, and I need my data connection to be always on for my emails and notifications. Plus, my day is not complete without my daily dose of music. So out of impulse (I promise this will be the first and last time I will do this kind of purchase), I bought the ASUS Zenfone Live.

Features

five-inch display (75% screen-to-body ratio)
13 MP rear camera; 5 MP front camera
Quad-core Snapdragon processor
16GB internal storage; up to 128GB external storage
2GB RAM
Dual Sim card (hybrid-style)
2650mAh battery
Android 6.0 (Marshmallow OS)

Price

The retail price of ASUS Zenfone Live? It’s PHP 6,995.00

The PROS

So, what’s with this beauty that makes it interesting at an inexpensive price?

1) The “beautify-first-stream-next” feature aka, BeautyLive. The Zenfone Live was called as it is because ASUS markets it as a “streaming phone”, allowing users to beautify themselves prior to going “on air” for their “Live” videos on Facebook or on Instagram. Zenfone Live has a dedicatd app for this. (Sorry if my sample picture did not satisfy the purpose of the BeautyLive, but just so you’d see what I am talking about. )

Just like the beautification feature on the stock camera, the BeautyLive sets number metrics as to how many filters or adjustments the camera must make to make you look better on your video streaming on FB and IG. The difference with the BeautyLive and the stock camera beautification mode is that the former is adjustable even when you are already on live on FB or IG.

2. Dual flash. Both the front and rear cameras have dedicated flash useful for low-lighting picture-taking. No more prob taking a selfie with minimal to poor lighting, The front cam’s soft flash will help you.

3. ASUS Zenfit. The ASUS Zenfone Live smartphone has a stock app called ASUS Zenfit where the user’s mobility is measured either during the user’s random walks or a full-blown workout.

4. It’s lightweight, thin body. After acquiring this, I realized how heavy my Zenfone 3 Max was. ASUS Zenfone Live just fits my hand good and well. Single-hand mobile phone activities are possible, without the need of a ring stent. It still has the slippery back cover but not as slippery as that on the Zenfone 3 Max.

The CONS

Okay, so for every pros, there are cons. This is not to discourage you guys to not buy the phone, but instead, I just want you to know what comes with the great features.

1. Camera quality inconsistency. The front camera pictures seemed cartoonish to me at times, depending on the lighting I have in the location.

2. The 2650 mAh battery. Meh. I might be saying this because I am comparing it to the power of my Zenfone 3 Max which really gives me more than a day of consumption. Zenfone Live lasted for a decent 10 hours of music and social media browsing via data connection.

3. I experienced some issues of lagging, app not responding, phone stuck in lock mode, or app malfunctioning over the three days that I have this phone. Just last night, the camera malfunctioned and produced green pictures even if I am taking a picture of the same subject.