Those who are not attracted by Asus pricing , just stay away for the time being
Probably their prices will drop in next few months ?
Well I am not too bother with their pricing and I had preorder the Ultra model at launch ( only 20 units available than and all sold) for RM 2599
I will do a comparison with my other Huawei P8 Max ( also a 6.8 incher)

Did you try to check it up at the retail outlets ? During the launch it was not stated it isn't available yet except for the Ultra model ( due end Aug/early Sept in market)

Quite good review of the Ultra 6.8 incher

http://pokde.net/tech/asus-zenfone-3-ultra-review/

Some guys are so " intelligent" that they comment on phone performance without actually using or even seeing it. Personally I will never wish to comment on any phone performance until I had actually used it
Comparing it with other similar chipset phone is simply unjustified too unless one had tested both of them

Sorry I am not so smart as you to be able to make any decision or comments based purely on specs
Those who own this phone will know best and better than any of us.


This post has been edited by benny888: Aug 15 2016, 08:28 AM

OMG you are way off point here. We are talking about phones and the debate is how is SD625 vs SD650 or even SD810, SD820 chipset
Personally I had zero experience with SD625 chipset phones and I am unable to even comment how much poorer it is vs say SD650 or SD652. That forumer had openly say it is crappy. I cannot said it is so as I had no experience. It is possibly poorer vs SD650, SD652 but how "crappier" is it ?? Well, I do admit I am not so smart to be able to say anything ( or how poor it is ) about SD625 until I had a chance to test it
I had experience with high end SD820 phones and seriously it is over rated as lower end SD808 is equally good too, The performance increase in SD820 is insignificant to me

Did you try at those Asus main retailers ? Demo sets were available during launch date
Only 20 units ( RM 2599) with some freebies were offered for sale during launch date and all were sold out
I was told buyers should be able to get their sets by end Aug/early Sept

Very reliable. I had bought several phones from them past 3 years
They are in fact more established than Gemfve, Lazada

For those pre orders, got a call the Zenfone3 Ultra can be collected tomorrow evening but I will only collect it on Friday

I am more interested in comparing it with my other Huawei P8 Max, also a 6.8 incher
I will try to give some opinions too vs Mi Max

There is absolutely no lag . My other A9Pro, MiMax 128GB is also using same chipset and there is no lag too

This post has been edited by benny888: Aug 30 2016, 11:28 AM

Camera is quite good and is much better than Mate8, MiMax but is not in the class of say Note7, S7e, LG V10. Even lowlight shots I rate it as above average. Snapping is close to immediate
I deemed it good enough for my usage : for sharing on FB, whatsapp
I would say most casual users will not be unhappy with its camera shots quality
However i will rarely used its camera as this phablet is mainly for entertainment purposes. For my daily phablet it will be my MiMax and at times Note7 or A9 Pro

Best battery life I had experienced to date s Samsung A9pro with SD652 chip n 5000mAh : SOT 13-14 hours vs 9-10 on ZF3ultra, 10-11 on Mate8 n 11-12 on MiMax

I would say the ultra is slightly better. Difference between them is insignificant
If camera is important to you none can match S7e or Note7

These are some comments WA to me by a fellow former using the ZF3 Ultra : quote

Can see 4G+ in Maxis via Ultra 😋👍
Music sound quality was excellent better than Sony.
MKV playback was 👍good
Can record 4K Video beyond 5 minutes limitations
4K Video Playback above my expectation.
Photo captured can fight with Carl Zeiss lens. Above my expectation as well.
Can record 4K Video beyond 5 minutes limitations
Can support 4g advance

This post has been edited by benny888: Aug 31 2016, 07:03 AM

Both MiMax and ZF3ULTRA I consider as different category of phone. The MiMax is a large phablet while the ZF3 ULTRA is a very bigger phone, more of a mini tablet
I only use the ultra as an entertainment gadget. It is simply too gigantic to carry around daily as a smartphone
Display, camera, multimedia features /quality n performance is above MiMax
Whether Worth the extra rm800 is one's individual judgement
I find paying rm2.5k for the Ultra is reasonable though some will think otherwise

This post has been edited by benny888: Aug 31 2016, 09:25 AM

2 weeks using the Zenfone3 Ultra

To guide those who are concerned about SOT - these are my personal experiences on several phones. All are based on mainly internet stuffs ( mix of LTE/WiFi) - browsing, youtube, newsfeed, facebook, tweeter , whatsapp etc with NO gaming. All my phone had same set of apps installed

Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro : 13-14 hours
Xiaomi Mi Max : 11-12 hours
Zenfone 3 Ultra : 9-10 hours
Mate 8 : 10-11 hours
Note7, S7E : 7-8 hours

Here is a very brief experience of me using the Zenfone 3 Ultra ( 64GB version) for past 6 days.
Overall I am very impressed with it . As I don't do gaming on my phones/tablets I am unable to share my experience on gaming with it. However I did test out few games ( Riptide 2, Angry Birds, Asphalt 6 ) and do not faced any significant framedrops or lags at all. As I am an inexperienced gamer I am unable to tell you how good is this phablet for gaming
I would say the only possible negative thing most potential buyers will say is its asking price of RM 2599. This is the price I paid during preorder and with it comes with ASUS 10000 mAh powerbank and an ASUS selfie stick. However I do find the price is reasonable for the features/performance one could get out of it
I will rate each feature at a score of 1-10 ( 10 being the best)

BUILD QUALITY : 9
Its metallic build is simply awesome. It is definitely too big for single handed user.
The only thing I do not quite like is its location of its volume buttons at the back. Using a flipcase with it , it is quite a task accessing it. The volume buttons at the back on the LG V10 is much better as the V10 size is much smaller

UI and in built software: 8
I use Nova as alternative launcher as I am more comfortable with it. I need not take time to setup all my homescreen layout as I could easily restore it from any of my other Android phones. Those supposedly laden bloatware 9/10 are easily uninstalled or disabled. Only issue I don't quite like is its location of its back button on the left. I always prefer it on the right. The MiMax and Mate8 has inbuilt software to change such location
One can double tap on display to shutdown and wakeup - avery good and easy convenient feature

Smoothness and overall performance : 9.5
There is no lag at all and all my daily tasks executed smoothly without any problems. However I can't say that for gaming as explained earlier on
If artificial benchmarks is an important criteria : AnTuTu I got about 78000 and Quadrant 40000
The SD652 chipset I find it more than good enough for me. This chipset performs as well too in my other MiMax and A9 Pro
Operating temperature is good usually in the range of 33 to 38 degree C. You don't really find it warm unlike HTC 10, S6E

Camera shots and Video : 9
The camera shots ( 23MP at rear and 8MP at front) are good enough to satisfy me. I rate it as above average to good. It however cannot match S7e, Note7, LG V10 quality which I rate a close 10. The camera is much better than other phablets such as Mi Max and Mate 8. There are several camera modes - Auto, Manual, Auto HDR, HDR Pro, Beautification, Super Resolution, Children, Low Light (5MP), QR code, Night, Depth of Field, Effect, Selfie, GIF Animation, Panorama, Miniature, Time Rewind, Smart Remove, All Smiles, Slow Motion, and Time Lapse.
Anyway I will rarely used it for its camera as this phablet was bought solely as an entertainment gadget
As for shooting video, the Ultra can record at up to 4K resolution at 30fps.

Display quality : 9.5
Very sharp with good contrast. Seriously I couldn't find any flaws with it
the screen can be further tweaked inside Settings.
Some other added features are : Adjustment of the color temperature or select screen color modes. The Blur-Free Motion which simulates high framerates when watching videos. The result is a more fluid and lifelike video quality
You can have a reduced display size by simply pressing the home button twice but I had never like this feature

Multimedia quality : 9.5
Its audio and video quality is simply superb. I would say its audio quality is as good if not even better than HTC 10. Superb gadget for watching videos

Battery life : 9
With mainly internet based stuffs ( browsing, youtube, whatsapp, newsfeed, tweeter, facebook, mail etc) with no gaming my average is about 9-10 hours. It score slight lower than my other MiMax ( 11-12 hours), Mate 8 ( 10-11 hours)

GPS, Call quality, LTE connectivity : 9.5
No issues here at all

This post has been edited by benny888: Sep 2 2016, 10:13 AM

I had no issue with the fingerprint scanning /recognition at all. It is close to immediate. These days fingerprint recognition had improved very much vs say the older devices such as iphone 6 series, Note 5, LG V10 etc
Placement of front or back depends on users preference. I am fine with both but the Ultra being such a big size phablet, location in the front is more ideal I'd say