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The Zenfone 10's main camera features a 6-axis hybrid gimbal system, apparently stabilizing the phone up to 1.5 degrees in any direction when you record video. Testing video capture capabilities against the S23 revealed that this pays off, reducing the bobbing effect as I walked with both phones to make my panning motions much smoother on the Zenfone. On days when I used the phone less, battery life got even better – in fact, I managed to go from Friday afternoon to Sunday night on a single charge. On any other phone, a 4,300mAh battery would throw up red flags: this mid-sized battery wouldn’t normally support a mobile with a top-end chip, 5G connectivity and high-refresh-rate display for very long at all. Thankfully, the Zenfone’s small screen lets it skirt around this issue, and it ends up having a pretty standard battery life.
The phone’s selling point is its size. At 146.5 x 68.1 x 9.4mm, it’s one of the smallest modern mobiles on the market, with only the iPhone SE being smaller. This is reflected in the weight too, with the phone being nice and light at 172g. Still, the Asus Zenfone 10’s main selling points aren’t its looks, but rather its high-end specs in a compact size. That 5.9-inch screen size we mentioned has already been confirmed by Asus, proving an early rumor of the Zenfone 10 having a 6.3-inch screen wrong. High-end power and a 200MP camera
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In theory, the size would make the Zenfone incredibly comfortable to hold, but Asus balances this by following the flat-edge phone trend that’s become popular in the last few years (despite common sense). The corners of the handset, therefore, dig into the palm and fingers a little when you’re holding it. From a distance, I think Samsung's more lively colors sell its phot better. But when you zoom in, there's more detail to be found in the Zenfone shot. The folds of the female figures' dresses are visible in the S23's image, but the Asus phone shows them off much more crisply. Proximity Sensor, Hall Effect Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope Sensor, Accelerometer (G-Sensor), Magnetometer, Fingerprint Sensor New to Asus’ Android 13 skin is the ability to customise the phone’s always-on display with GIFs and other custom images, as well as improvements to Game Genie to boost game performance and the ability to take long screenshots. The latter feels surprisingly overdue.
Sure, the Zenfone is still ever so slightly narrower than the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, but there isn’t as much in it as Asus might have you believe. That’s more frustrating when you realise that the small trade-off in dimensions means a reduction in screen size at 5.9 inches. Previous leaks, meanwhile, point to a choice of 256GB or 512GB of storage, up to 16GB of RAM, water resistance, a 5,000mAh battery with 67W charging, and a 200MP primary camera (up from 50MP on the Zenfone 9). You can easily pull down the notification shade by sliding down with your finger on the power button, and you get the ability to launch the camera, take a screenshot, make a call, toggle Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or on off, and so much more. The sheer amount of features available here makes the button a lot more versatile than the standard power key you'll find on most phones, and ASUS deserves credit in this area.As stated, there are quite a few color options for the Asus Zenfone 10, making it a rare exception to the modern rule of boring phone shades. We tested Aurora Green, though from Asus’ images, red seems like the real vibrant standout. The short version is this – the Zenfone 10 is absolutely fantastic in use. Everything is snappy and responsive, with no notable lagging. If you've ever used a phone with the 8 Gen 2 processor, you'll know this is fairly standard fare, but it's nice to see it translate here. I played lots of Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile to test the phone, and ran into multiple problems. On-screen icons were, by default, way to small to be reliably pressed at a moment’s notice, and resizing them only goes so far to fix this. My hands also ended up covering lots of the screen, my thumbs would frequently smash into each other when I was trying to run one way and look the other, and even short gaming bouts resulted in some serious hand cramp from grasping this tiny mobile – gaming on this device was really tough (somewhat ironic as Asus also makes the best gaming phone on the market). The Asus Zenfone 10 is a real dead ringer for the Zenfone 9 – the one small tweak is the design of the camera system, but even I didn’t spot this minor change before reading the company’s comments pointing it out.
Stereo Speakers, aptX-HD Support, aptX Support, Dirac Virtuo, Hi-Res Audio, Hi-Res Wireless Audio (HWA) In our testing we comfortably used the Zenfone 10 for a full day of use without needing to charge it up, which is what you expect from the average mobile. It won’t serve you for two days – realistically no phone will – but you won’t need to worry about it running out of charge over the course of just one. Alongside Asus’ usual HyperSteady mode, a new adaptive EIS function is available on the Zenfone 10, with AI Object Sense and HyperClarity – which ensures detail preservation at high magnification – among the other new photographic additions. Oh, and you’ll also now get an extra 2x magnification Portrait Mode. It's hard to find anything comparable for a phone this size. The next smallest Android phones we'd recommend would be the 6.1-inch Google Pixel 7a or basic Samsung Galaxy S23, or perhaps the Galaxy Z Flip 4 since that foldable device can close up small when needed. But while these phones at least match the Zenfone in most areas, they're either more expensive, not as powerful or not as power efficient. Unless you prioritize photo quality more than compactness, the Zenfone comes out on top against all of these devices. If you like a well-protected phone, you’ll be at home here: there’s an IP68 rating against water and dust, and the frame is made of plastic, which may not feel too premium in the hand but it’s certainly more durable than glass.The only downside is the charge speeds; it’s capped at a rather slow 30W when compared to other flagships like the OnePlus 11 and its 100W charging speed. I’ve found that a full charge is possible in around 1 hour and 20 minutes when using the supplied 30W HyperCharge adapter, which is fine, but can be a little slow for those last-minute top-ups. It's unclear how big the demand is these days for sub-6-inch phones. But I'm more certain of the fact that the Zenfone 10 has pretty effectively cornered it.
The dimensions of the Zenfone 10 are really interesting to me. Sitting beside my iPhone 13, there's very little between them. Sure, it's a smidge slimmer, but not enough that you'd mark it out as being overly different. More generally speaking, the 50MP main lens is a capable one. The capture process is impressively swift, and while the resulting images showcase a delightful vibrancy, it’s worth noting that they don’t have the same degree of contrast intensity commonly found in Samsung’s offerings.
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The combination of a highly efficient chipset, a small display and a fairly decent 4,300mAh battery means you won’t really have to worry about battery life with the Zenfone 10 – in my experience, at least. The camera also gets an upgrade, though perhaps not the one we were expecting. The selfie camera and ultra-wide are both given a bump, up to 32MP and 13MP respectively. The main sensor is the same Sony IMX766 found last time out, though. What does that mean for you and me? In theory, it should combat the blur when taking photos with a shaky hand more than the competition. In reality, it doesn’t quite eliminate blur in all scenarios, but I’d argue that the stabilisation is up there with some of the best around, with far fewer blurry shots than some phones I’ve tested recently. As you'd imagine, the Zenfone 10 has zero issues on the performance front; the software is optimized to take full advantage of the hardware, and I didn't see any slowdowns whatsoever in the month I used the device. As noted above, the Zenfone 10 is particularly great for gaming, and you won't run into any frame rate limitations on this phone. That's great to see on such a small device, and while you don't get a massive screen, it doesn't miss out on any hardware features.
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