11 reasons the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser is perfect for you – A detailed review

And why we scored it 9/10 based on our review…

Are you planning to replace your existing phone because it is getting slow, old and boring? Or you are just planning to purchase a new phone for business and everyday use? Or for any reason, you are now researching for a brand new smartphone to be your new companion without breaking your bank? This will be a good read for you. We have eleven good reasons why you should buy the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser 5.0 and give it a chance to be your daily buddy, especially if you are a start-up entrepreneur who wants to take a high-quality photo of your products and share it to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media websites or you love to travel and take panoramic and landscape photos. Note that all photos below are taken using this phone.

This is not going to be something very technical as this is purely based on our abrupt research about the product and a full week of experience from handling and scrutinizing it. We are doing a review of the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser because of its practicability and innovation for people who love to travel and are also doing business ventures.

We had a 3 days vacation in Palawan recently & we were able to take a look at this phone’s features closely while we were in transit. We went for a Palawan City Tour and stayed in The Blue Lagoon during our first night & went to Dos Palmas Resort & Spa in Honda Bay afterwards. Now that we are back in Cebu, we will let you know what we’ve discovered about this great cellphone.

We found out that this ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser 5.0 is an upgrade of last year’s fast-selling smart phone, the ASUS ZenFone 5. Most of the features were upgraded but the price is increased by a whooping P300 only.

Laser VS ZenFone 5 Comparison Infographic

Probably because we love to travel or ASUS was sympathetic enough because of the burglary incident in our store, or possibly due to our recent business challenges or because of our loyalty to ASUS’ Products (Desktop Computers and Laptops), ASUS sent us a free ZenFone 2 Laser. Honestly, we are not a huge fan of ASUS phones – NOT UNTIL NOW. When it comes to Mobile Phones, Samsung and Apple used to be our preferred brands but our minds were changed after we got this phone, which we now consider as the “biggest bang for the buck”. Lisa has a Samsung Note 8 & an iPhone 6 while I (used to) have a Samsung Galaxy Win, Samsung i900 Windows Phone, Cherry Mobile Aura Tablet & Starmobile Engage 7+ Tablet. Other housemates are also using the same popular smart phone brands. Now that we’re convinced by this brand, the next time we buy a phone, as replacement for a damage one, we will surely consider ASUS.

For some reason, ASUS was confident enough that it will convince us, in some way, that this is one amazing product for our business and for leisure. If you can check the latest photos we uploaded on Cebu Balloons’ Official Facebook Page, these are taken using our new ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser. After using the product for 1 week, we’re convinced that it is one of the best “value for money” smart phones in the market today, just like our Sulit & Budget Balloon Decoration Packages. At just a little over 7,000 pesos, you already get a very competitive Android Phone, perfect for business use, for outdoor/indoor photography and for daily activities.

Final Output of Cebu Balloons – Shot by ZF 2 Laser

Without further ado, here are 11 of the reasons why you should buy an ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser. We hope you like our review.

1. It is easy to hold even for long hours – This phone is one of the best when it comes to holding the gadget for longer hours. The ergonomic arc design of the back of the phone, the slightly matte hairline artwork of the cover and the thin edge makes this mobile phone easy to handle with just one hand. It fits perfectly in your hand and you won’t have any trouble in scrolling and navigating it for very long.

2. Taking a Selfie & using the timer is very simple – Unlike many of the Samsung and iPhone designs, the buttons of the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser are strategically placed on the top (Power) and the back (Volume, Shutter). Taking a Selfie and Groupie is so simple that even our 4 year old child can handle the phone. The camera can focus in just a few seconds because it is Laser guided. The camera timer can also be set with ease and you no longer need to go to the settings button just to adjust the timing of the camera shutter. There are also several presets that can help you make your Selfie more polished and ready for upload. One of the best feature of this phone is that it has a Wide Angle Panorama Selfie, which is perfect for catching a wide picturesque background or taking a group picture.

At Dos Palmas Palawan – taken by ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser

3. Taking photos of your products in HD – The 8MP Main Camera at the back of the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser is one of the best in the market today. Don’t just compare the 8MP from the higher resolution Cameras of other brands, take a look at the quality of the images it captured. Because it is Laser-guided and not based on the Contrast of the subject, focusing on the product or the main subject you are shooting is faster even with less light. The quality of the photos are also interesting because other Smart Phones in the market today, which has a 12MP or higher, has relatively the same image quality as this phone.

Pump Boat with Outrigger in HD

4. Easy to share photos on Social Networks – Android Phones in general are better when it comes to sharing photos in Social Media Websites compared to Apple’s Smart Phones. Take for example Pages Manager (by Facebook), iPhones cannot easily share photos from the gallery or from PhotoGrid app to Pages Manager. You need to save your edited picture or collage first, then go to Pages Manages, then choose the picture you want to upload. In ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser, you can easily open a Collage Maker Application, then click on the Share Logo and choose the app or social media site that you want to share your photo to.

Trisikad with Family at Baywalk, Palawan

5. Value for money – At an SRP of P7,295, the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser is a complete steal. After using this product for a week, we can easily say that this is comparable to Smart Phones with P10,000 to P15,000 price in the market. The main features of this phone already includes the HD display, the 4.0 Bluetooth technology, it is already 4G/LTE ready and it has an 8MP back camera with 5MP front camera. We really don’t have any idea where ASUS is able to minimize the cost for this product as everything from physical appearance to software are very reliable. The company surely did not compromise the quality just to achieve the price. Trust me, you will be getting your money’s worth for this product.

6. Super tough & beautiful display – Because we are a bit surprise of the quality of images rendered by the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser, we did a short research and found it is using the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 4. This is the same product used in Samsung’s top phones today including the Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Note 4 and Note 5. At its current market price, the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser is got to be the most affordable smart phone with this kind of toughness. Check Corning’s product testing and you will understand why this is one tough mobile phone. The readability of the phone is great even when under the sunlight. It’s viewing angle is also better than most phones, even with higher prices.

7. No fingerprints while browsing – The anti-fingerprint technology of this phone really rocks! Before this phone came to us, we were having problems with fingerprints while scrolling and swiping the screen during use. Now that we have the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser, we no longer deal with a blurry display screen because of the fingerprints. When the mobile phone is sleeping, you can see minimal fingerprints but when it is turned on, the finger marks will be gone and you will have a nice, bright and clear display while navigating your phone.

We also found out that this phone supports “Glove Touch”, which means you can change the sensitivity of screen and can scroll even when you are using a glove. When in Glove Touch mode, you can see that screen will scroll even though your fingers are not touching the screen yet.

8. Fast and responsive touch experience – The ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser provides you with a no lag feeling because of its very quick touch response time. Powered with the same CPU (Central Processing Unit) and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) as the Samsung Galaxy E7 (SRP: P19,980), the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser offers a much better responsiveness even when playing games. Playing your favorite COC (Clash of Clans) application or the heavy games such as Asphalt 8 and Riptide GP2 don’t make you frustrated. It has a very smooth performance without overheating the phone.

9. Easy to use software – Comparable to many high-end smartphones in the market today, the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser has one of the best and easy to use built-in software. Because of its extensive experience in building motherboards, laptops and other electronic systems, ASUS’ ability to innovate the best hardware is unquestionable. Prior to receiving the phone, we were skeptical that they can provide a good overall experience – and we are wrong. It has a nice and easy to use applications, especially when it comes to photo and video editing. The photo effects and photo collage are very useful tool for both personal and business use. The mini movie, real-time beautification mode are also worth using. Unlike most smartphones today, it uses a Dual Color Real Tone Flash (White & Yellow) to make sure the skin color is more realistic compared to the widely used “White Flash only”.

ZenFone 2 Laser -Camera Settings

10. Closest thing to a DSLR Camera – The ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser is the best smartphone that can be compared to a DSLR Camera. It has a Manual Mode, perfect for those who are very passionate photographers. If you want more control on the output pictures of this phone, you can just set the mode to Manual, then you will have the ability to adjust the Shutter Speed, ISO, EV, Metering, Horizon Level, Sharpness, etc. The main thing about this phone is that it has a faster focus speed compared to a DSLR Camera. It takes less than a second to focus on the subject and you can easily go to the focus point with just a touch of the finger. Because of the well-programmed software of this phone, making an artistically-done photograph is easy to do. The f/2.0 aperture Toshiba lens enables it to focus on the subject in a snap and in excellent detail.

Blue Lagoon, Palawan taken by ZenFone 2 Laser

Sadly, we were not able to visit Palawan’s Underground River because of time constraints. We could’ve tried taking photos inside the Cave to test the “low-light” features of this phone and upload it here for readers to review. We have decided to take a low-light photo from another tourist attraction in the island. Below is a photo of a Kalesa inside Plaza Cuartel in Palawan at around 6:00pm and it still looks OK. There are noticeable “noise” in the photo but for us it is still a nice picture compared to its competitors in same or even a little higher price range.

Photo of Kalesa at Nighttime

11. Innovative features that solved common smart phone problems – The best thing about this phone is that it is able to solve a number of problems – at least for us – for the existing smart phones. One of the features we love with this phone is that it has a ZenMotion. It is basically launching an application with just a simple touch gesture. Making a simple “C” swipe will instantly open the Camera. Doing a “W” will open the browser (W for Web), “e” for Email, “O” for Calendar and many more.

Taking a selfie (or using the phone’s front camera to take a picture) is very easy. Aside from effortlessly doing a timed shot, taking your own photo is simple. The volume keys at the back of the phone serves as the camera shutter for taking a selfie or groupie. It is way more straightforward compared to most smart phones, which still use a portion of the camera screen or the power button at the side to take a photo.

Since it takes a double-tap on the screen to easily wake the phone up, you are basically saving the battery power. Existing mobile phones can be awaken accidentally because it only takes a single press on the home button to turn on the backlights.

The Home, Back and Open Apps button of the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser are already part of the main screen. These buttons, especially the Home, are the most used buttons on the smart phone and because these buttons are part of the screen, it will only become damage if the screen is broken – again, this phone is covered with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 4, which is an excellent quality cover glass, used in most high-end mobile phones ranging from P25,000 up.

CONCLUSION: 92/100 – We scored the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser a very high score because of its usability. Trust us, this is not a sugar-coated review of the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser. Other notable features of this phone includes the High Connectivity, Excellent Sound Quality, Kids Mode App (for filtering applications that you allow your kids to use), Snap View (shield your apps, photos and files in a snap), full HD 1920 x 1080 max resolution for the video, Battery Life and many more. The combination of the excellent hardware and software of the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser truly delivers the best in class camera solutions – it is the first phone in this price range to have an 8-megapixel camera with a laser autofocus guide.

ASUS launched its first motherboard 26 years ago and until now they continue with their “Quality Forward” belief – they have the best quality when it comes to Hardware and together with a team of great Software Engineers, ASUS will have a huge chance to become the best in the smart phone market very soon.

Palawan Seaside Park

At Cordova Home Village Resort in Lapulapu, Cebu

Technical Specifications of ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser

Specifications of Zenfone 2 Laser from GSMArena

We also have great posts about tourist attractions in Bohol, Davao, Dapitan, Boracay and many more. For future photos, we will surely use our new ASUS mobile phone because the reasons we just read above.

About the author

Mark Anthony Maranga is an Educator-Parent to his 3 Homeschooling Kids. He sells Ice Cream and Balloons in Mandaue City, Cebu. Exploring the Philippines tourist attractions together with his family is his passion; they are learning without borders.