this is why smartphone nowadays to me does not differ
much one with the other. for example, with the auto-start manager thing - you can get apps for it if you don't already have it. the apps will have different features, sure, but you basically get it to do the same things. on the extreme end, you can modify the software and strip it down so that they all become essentially the same.
once you "match" all the apps, the main differentiating factors that remain will be the design (physical) and its specs.
SD625 is no doubt on the lower end of the midrange group. however, i have a feeling it was designed that way so that qualcomm has an option for SOC that leverages power-efficiency, instead of just "power"
I have a feeling Asus took the decision to use SD625 consciously. I mean, they probably were aiming to make the ZF3 power efficient. for performance, they covered it with other ZF3 variants.
however, for people who don't actually make use of the more powerful socs like SD650 or even SD821, like me obviously, SD625 is just the right choice. only thing is, I think that ZF3 is overpriced. I'd like to buy it, but I refrain from it since I can get the Mi 5 (xiaomi official version) for 1399 now.
i agree the price of ZF3 is a bit on the high side. But not that terribly expensive. Cause it really have good quality built and SD625 is really not that bad.
I got it from Digi with subscription packages so had some discount on the phone. That is worth it for me else I would not have bought that phone.
Comparing between mi5 and zf3 5.2", I would not mind going for zf3 cause it is better looking than mi5 and personally, I am not a fan of miui.