By the way my old phone is an old Samsung Galaxy Note 2 bought around 2013 so I think it kinda served its span. Anyways the new phone I've been working with right now is a good Asus Zenfone 2 "Laser" 6.0 ZE601KL.
I bought this phone for a total of P 11,995 from an Asus store inside Cyberzone from SM Pampanga. The Unit is bundled with a headset and a charger. You can choose from two colors either Gold or the Silver one (and if am not mistaken there is also a Red one but it is not available when I bought the phone), and so I choose to get the silver one like my old Samsung Note 2 (I like dark colors for my gadgets).
Why 6.0? It has a very large 6 inch size than the previous 5.0 and 5.5 Asus Laser Units.
It is said to have a 71.8% screen to body ratio. So for the record I've placed my Samsung Note 2 beside it for the comparison.
My old Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a 5.5 inch compared with the ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser 6.0 with a 6 inch Multi Touch and 1080 x 1920 pixels ( a 367 ppi pixel density ) for its resolution, and it is also equipped with a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for its screen protection. These little factors is what made the ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser 6.0 a smart phone with monstrous screen display.
Here is a look from both lock screens the screen brightness or backlight, as you can see my Note 2 was set to auto and my Zenfone 2 Laser 6.0 was set to its lowest. There were issues about the Zenfone 2 Laser 6.0 about the backlight power or its intensity during the daylight that it is somehow weak or not doing well (this is also based from the reviews I have read and heard when I was deciding which phone ot buy), But it really is not a big thing for me, I always liked my phone this dim because I don't want anything that drains my battery except for the games I play the apps I want (which usually are very few) the camera that I usually use and the Wifi.
The Asus Zenfone 2 laser 6.0 has a Octa core processor 1.7 GHz CPU with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 for its chip set 32 GB internal storage and a 3GB RAM.
External memory storage is expandable up tp 128 GB with a micro SD card and this smartphone is also equipped with a dual sim dual stand by capabilities that most multi-sim / network users will find handy.
The battery as you can see in the image is removable unlike the Asus Zenfone 2 and its other Zenfone 2 models the battery is builtin. You can also see two speakers under the battery hold that gives excellent loud speaker and music output (I might make a video review about the smartphone soon for everyone who is interested). On the upper part you can see the camera with a 13 Mega pixel with f/2.0 aperture, has a laser beside it (the black thingy) that can be used to give the camera a fast auto focus and can be used to measure certain distances from your point to where the laser will hit (For the secondary or front camera the smartphone has 5 Mega pixel and F/2.0 aperture), and on the other side is a dual led flash that I can say IS very bright.
To sum up the Pros and Cons of the phone so far as I am using it are:
Pros:
* Great Primary Camera with 13 MP can go on to manual mode like a real DSLR with HDR and Panorama mode and has a good ISO range up to 800 and shutter speed up to 1/1000 combined with high speed auto focus with its laser and from the front It has a 5 MP secondary camera for your selfie needs. Both camera has a f/2.0 aperture so you can practice a good photography and selfie skills in this smartphone.
* Great GPU and CPU for playing 3D games less lag for high graphic settings for some 3D games and big screen for your wide range of viewing. Also combined with a 3GB RAM for a better gaming experience.
*Speakers are A-OK great quality sound but much better bass output with the earphones that is included with it, over all the total audio is great because it also has like an audio equalizer / mixer app from it.
*Battery is great and would depend how heavy you use the smartphone from games to Wifi or Mobile data. (and I think we all know by now which apps and program eats the battery fast.)
*Body? the smartphone looks really sturdy at the same time looks classy with its back cover and a little lighter weight compared to any other 6 inch smartphone available right now, combined with a slick Gorilla Glass 4 screen protection you just have to wipe away the smudges your hands are placing on it.
*32 GB internal storage who wouldn't want a 32GB internal storage for a worth of P11,995? and the memory card slot is still expandable up to 128GB bundled with a great amount of RAM (3GB man 3GB!!!) and an Octa-core CPU that runs on 1.7GHz!
Cons:
*Yes the backlight issue when you are outside is really true, the backlight of the phone is not that good when you are outside with a heavy sunlight but its still visible and can be seen depends on how you put on the intensity or brightness of you screen light from dim to very bright.
*Camera output is a little noisy or should I say grainy when light is not in your favor or you have very low light and want to capture a high detail image of your subject (based when am shooting on auto mode by the way, and moving to manual mode to capture a great detail in low light is a pain).
*Charging time is like 2 hours or so but I can say its worth it for its long lasting battery time but hey 2 hours is still a long time to charge specially when you're always on the go.
*Pre-installed apps are like there and always processing so you have to manage it a little remove some you don't need and shut off some running apps that you don't usually use, some call these apps bloatware and consumes your battery as long as they are active and processing
Well am still thinking about making video reviews for this so stay tuned. That's all for now!
