The Asus ZenFone 2 debuted at MWC 2015 in March and was available for purchase in the Indian market in April. As the successor to the Zenfone 4, 5 and 6, the Zenfone 2 is available in both 5 inch as well as 5.5 inch variants. In this comparison we will be taking a look at the 5.5” Zenfone 2 (ZE551ML) variant which is also the first smartphone to feature 4GB of RAM on board. Now, a new competitor has arisen for the Zenfone 2 which also is the follow up to a successful predecessor. The OnePlus 2 is the first official device to come with Oxygen OS pre-loaded and also makes use of the USB Type-C port instead of the regular micro USB port. Let us take a look at both these devices in detail to see what each of them have going for and against them.
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Both these devices fall under the category of phablets due to their large 5.5” displays. However, the OnePlus 2 has a smaller footprint as it measures 151.8×74.9x85mm compared to the 152.5×77.2×10.9mm of the Zenfone 2. That translates to around 73.30% screen to body ration on the OnePlus 2 while the Zenfone 2 has 70.10% screen to body ratio. However, the OnePlus 2 is heavier at 175 grams compared to the 170 grams of the Zenfone 2. That is largely due to the metal build of the OnePlus 2.
Both the displays are 5.5” with 1080p resolution however, the OnePlus 2 gets the newer Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection while the Zenfone 2 uses Gorilla Glass 3. Overall both the displays are really good in terms of brightness, colour reproduction and viewing angles however the OnePlus 2 seems to have a slight edge in the first two aspects. Contrast levels and sunlight legibility is good on both the devices as well. The Zenfone 2 also comes with adjustable colour temperature which is something the OnePlus 2 lacks.
Above the display, you have the earpiece, sensors and the 5 Megapixel cameras on both the devices.
Below their screens, they also have hardware keys that are used for home, back key and multitasking key. On the OnePlus 2, the home button houses a fingerprint sensor and the back and multi-tasking keys can be switches easily. Users also have the ability to switch from hardware to software navigation keys on the OnePlus 2.
The power key and volume rocker is placed on the right side on the OnePlus 2 however the power key is present at the top on the Zenfone 2 and its volume rocker is at the back just like in some of the LG phones. Additionally, the OnePlus 2 has a 3 stage profile switch key at the left side similar to the two step key on iPhones.
At the back, you have a 13 Megapixel camera on both the devices along with Dual-LED flashes. The OnePlus 2 also features a laser focus here. Both the phones have removable back panels however the batteries aren’t. The battery on the OnePlus 2 is a 3300mAh unit while the Zenfone 2 has a 3000mAh unit.
Overall, the OnePlus 2 feels premium and solid especially with the metal and sandstone at the back that gives good grip. The Zenfone 2 feels good to handle as well thanks to the rounded edges however the back panel does feel cheaper in comparison to the OnePlus 2 as it uses regular plastic and the power button at the top of the phone is a bit hard to reach.
The OnePlus 2 comes in two variants, a 3GB RAM variant with 16GB internal memory and a 4GB RAM variant with 64GB internal memory. The Zenfone 2 comes in 32, 64 and 128GB capacities, all with 4GB of RAM. Additionally, the Zenfone 2 even supports microSD cards while the OnePlus 2 doesn’t. Out of 4GB of RAM, the OnePlus 2 gets around 2.6GB free upon boot while the Zenfone 2 manages to have 2.8GB of free RAM.
The OnePlus 2 is powered by v2.1 of the Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor (four 1.56 GHz cortex a53 and four 1.82 GHz cortex a57 cores). The Zenfone 2 on the other hand makes use of Intel’s quad-core Atom Z3580 processor clocked in at 2.3GHz per core. Both the device perform extremely well and there are no complaints regarding performance. Users who want better performance will have to go for the 4GB RAM variant with 64GB memory if they are option for the OnePlus 2.
Both the phones have 13 Megapixel cameras at the back and 5 Megapixel cameras at the front. The OnePlus 2 produces good details compared to the Zenfone 2. The brightness is average and there is aggressive noise reduction but is brighter than Zenfone 2. The Zenfone 2 has poorer output in comparison but has better colours. Lowlight images are bright but with lots of noise.
HDR modes are good on both phones but the images are over-processed on the OnePlus 2. The Dual-LED flash works well on both phones and good details. The OnePlus 2 supports UHD 4k videos while the Zenfone 2 maxes out at 1080p. Both the phones support 1080p video recording with the front cameras.
The OnePlus 2 has a very simple camera interface which is easy to use but not good for power users who prefer manual controls. The Zenfone 2 has a better UI that has good image processing as well. Especially the low light mode which produces great images however at a much smaller 3MP resolution in 16:9 mode.
Check out some camera comparison samples (Click the image for high resolution sample). The left one is OnePlus 2 and the right one is Zenfone 2.
The OnePlus 2 comes with Android 5.1.1 out of the box with Oxygen OS 2.0.1 while the Zenfone 2 comes with Android 5.0 out of the box with Asus’s ZenUI on top. Both the UI’s are customizable and offer app drawers but ZenUI offers more customizations. In terms of performance both are equally good. The gallery app is good on both and the zoom function is quite smooth. Both phones were able to handle all types of video files with ease. Audio quality is also very good on both the phones and even the loudspeakers are loud and clear.
Gaming performance is good on both phones as well however the OnePlus 2 does get a bit hotter in comparison and some games are not optimized for the PowerVR G6430 GPU on the Zenfone 2 so users won’t have the best graphics in some games.
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The OnePlus 2 has a USB Type-C port that does support USB OTG when used with an adapter however there is no native support for gaming controllers. Users will need to root their phones to enable it. The Zenfone 2 has a regular micro USB port and supports both mass storage as well as gaming controllers over OTG. Both the phones have Dual SIM support and 4G LTE connectivity. The OnePlus 2 supports 4G in both the SIMs. Since the Zenfone 2 has Dual SIM Dual Active (DSDA) support that lets you receive calls or SMS from both SIM cards simultaneously, it has 4G LTE support only on the first SIM, while the second SIM can only be used for calls and SMS, and not for data.
The OnePlus 2 with its 3300mAh battery managed a one charge rating of 11 hours and 24 minutes in our battery tests while the Zenfone 2’s 3000mAh battery managed to last for 9 hours and 59 minutes.
However, it is important to note that the OnePlus 2 doesn’t support fast charging and in fact is quite slow to charge and you will need to use a USB Type-C cable or an adapter to charge it. The Zenfone 2 has fast charging support that lets you charge the phone up to 60% in just 39 minutes with the bundled fast charger, but only the ZE551ML variant with 4GB RAM has this BoostMaster Fast Charging support. Check out a couple of battery test charts.
Overall, both the devices are quite close to each other in terms of performance and value for money. The OnePlus 2 does have an edge in terms of camera, music quality and also comes with Laser Autofocus and a fingerprint sensor. It also has customizable keys and also the option to choose on screen navigational keys. The Zenfone 2 has a better UI, microSD card support and is cheaper overall. So depending on the features you need, you should choose the handset more suitable for you. However, one thing is for sure is that regardless of which handset you choose, both of them won’t disappoint you.
Srivatsan contributed to the comparison