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Asus Asus Zenfone 8 / 8 Flip, Compact Beast & Innovative Flip Cam

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TheodoreRBR
post Oct 19 2021, 01:17 AM

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QUOTE(Steponlego @ Oct 15 2021, 09:07 PM)
what's the screen on time with the latest update? say, like from 100% battery to 20%.

i might be interested.
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I've set charging limit to 80%, so going down to 16%, it is 65% total usage. This much usage gives me 4h 50m SoT.
If you do the math, 100% usage should give you around 7h. This is pretty consistent with a lot of reviewers too.
I provided the AccuBattery numbers as well in case anyone is interested, though I'm aware AccuBattery is not accurate.

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user posted image

After watching many reviews, I can tell you that XDA Developers' lengthy written review is the one that most accurately described the phone. They even got worse battery endurance because they have 5G. I kinda regret not reading it first. Some popular YT reviewers can be misleading.

The auto refresh-rate in this phone is not up to my expectation. From the looks of it, S21 has the best adaptive refresh rate, followed by realme GT. As for iPhone 13 Pro, their ProMotion is also facing issues that should be fixed in a later update.

In the end, I set my screen to a constant 90Hz. Going to 120Hz should lose only several minutes of SoT because brightness, background processes, always-on display and usage habits play a bigger part. Since it is hard to tell the difference, I decided to stay with 90Hz.

ZenFone 8 is a decent buy, provided you are keen to tweak the device, and backup your data regularly. I followed the advice to disable some of the battery optimization settings that did more harm than good, manually prevented a few apps from auto-start, set dark mode, adaptive brightness, but left always-on display enabled. The always-on customization is disappointing. Good news is Android 12 will come included with better always-on display themes, but not sure how long we need to wait, unless we enroll as beta tester.

This is not a Samsung or iPhone that you can just leave all your trust blindly to what their default settings will do for you.

Anyway, compared to the competitors in this compact flagship segment:

- S21 - If it comes with SD888, it will be an easy decision, but Exynos... and the limited stock.

- iPhone 13 - Best gaming performance in this form factor, but still don't have always-on display. Already so expensive, yet still need to top up to Pro model for 120Hz ProMotion and better battery endurance.

- iPhone 12 - Price didn't really drop that much. 60Hz.

- Xperia 5 iii - So expensive, might as well buy iPhone.

- Xperia 5 ii - Local official stores still putting high price.

If the screen on time is important, consider iPhone 13 Pro or a bigger phone.
TheodoreRBR
post Oct 19 2021, 03:47 AM

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QUOTE(Steponlego @ Oct 19 2021, 02:59 AM)
Nice detailed review. I just want a small android phone, but most androids now are 6.5" brick. Too big for me.

Currently I'm using iphone SE2. I can get 4 hours screen on time from 80% down to 20% or 5-6 hours from 100% to 20%. I thought that the zenfone 8 would have double the battery life with its 4000mah battery.  sweat.gif  Guess I have to stick with this iphone then.. the battery is stupidly small, but I can easily charge the phone from anything and it consistently charges 50% in 30 minutes.  And for some reason I didn't notice the Sony Xperia 10 III before purchasing this SE2... really regretting my purchase here lol.
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When it comes to iPhone, it's never a straight comparison because their OS are so efficient.

You can try looking at Kimovil website. Can sort phone models by battery score. However the database may be outdated. For example, both S21 and ZenFone 8 in Malaysia have prices slashed by RM500 recently.

Yes, Xperia 10 iii should get the job done if you don't need gaming performance.
TheodoreRBR
post Nov 9 2021, 09:13 AM

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QUOTE(johnnyenglish123 @ Nov 8 2021, 11:49 PM)
Was tempted to buy this phone from direct d RM 1900.

But theres a few issues
Ramdump (bricking the phone at unexpected times)

Optical FP scanner not as reliable as ultrasonic or conventional physical FP scanner

Top portion of the phone heats up quite quickly (tested in direct d outlet today, it heated up while i was exploring the menu etc.., online forum does mentioned it as well)

Auto refresh rate is not as adaptive.

Almost clicked on the buy button on direct d.. i think the major concern is the ramdump issue.. The only fix as for now, seems to be replacing the mother board.
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It is risk you have to take because the closest competitor at this compact form factor is 50% more expensive. Are you willing to lose all your precious data and miss the phone for a few days while it gets repaired, in exchange for saving RM1k? Personally, I wouldn't have taken the risk, because I could actually afford a more expensive phone model (just didn't think those were worth it, e.g. iPhone still doesn't get always-on display) and I'm not getting good vibes about Asus aftersales service in Malaysia. I didn't read the forums before I purchased. Now I know it is inevitable, though thus far I have taken the phone to three road trips and it survived being on GPS and plugged to the car charger, etcetera. Anyway, nobody knows the specific usage patterns to accelerate that problem. It happens to any unit after around two to five months. It could be various problems but all with the same "matrix screen" symptom because perhaps this is the only way this phone knows how to react to any kind of failures.

FP is also indeed a problem. I am already familiar with its "sleepy mood" now and seemed to have found out that I could overcome it by waking the screen first before scanning. The entire week being on road trips, I only had to input my passcode once. I have my right-thumb prints set up twice. Left-thumb set up once.

I watched Twitch for two hours, it certainly doesn't heat like that. Certainly not by exploring menus only. I think that display unit didn't have the latest updates.

Yes, that Auto refresh rate is an imposter. All it does is setting itself to either 60 or 90Hz depending on the app. However, I've been using fixed 90Hz mode and still getting 6~7 hrs screen-on times.
TheodoreRBR
post Nov 10 2021, 04:20 AM

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QUOTE(johnnyenglish123 @ Nov 9 2021, 09:43 AM)
Thanks for your feed back.. I appreciate it.

I really almost bought it yesterday, rm 1900 is just too hard to resist for a sd888 device with 120hz display.
Tbh i can live with the fp scanner being that unreliable. But the ramdump is such a turnoff zz. I guess i am going with samsung s21 at 2k+..

Btw if you leave 120hz on with always on display 'on', can it last a full day for you?
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Roughly I can guess where you are buying that. I also tried to buy S21 US/China model but stock didn't arrive after one month until I had to initiate refund and settled for Asus instead. I think global chip shortage heavily affected shipments from US. Many of them in the hunt for xmas gifts since September.

Difference between 90Hz and 120Hz probably just several minutes. I recorded two usages of going from 90% battery level down to 10%. On both usages, Dynamic mode and all battery/power optimization settings turned off unless stated.

First picture shows more aggressive usage of driving to and hanging out in a mall, with GPS and streaming music over mobile data for over an hour while in the car. Turned off Adaptive Battery (Limit battery usage for infrequently used apps). Notice that Lazada is a very poorly optimized app.
With 4h 34min screen-on time for 80% drain, doing the math should estimate to 5h 42min for 100% drain.

Second picture shows more conservative usage of watching youtube videos and general surfing over wifi at home, with much lower brightness. I also disabled Lazada from auto-start. Turned on Adaptive Battery.
With 6h 13min screen-on time for 80% drain, doing the math should estimate to 7h 46min for 100% drain.

I doubt turning off Adaptive Battery and higher refresh rate impacted the times. It should be more heavily impacted by mobile data connection, brightness, and poorly optimized apps. Moving forward, I will even keep the 120Hz setting.

user posted image

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TheodoreRBR
post Oct 18 2022, 03:52 PM

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QUOTE(kykylala @ Sep 29 2022, 09:41 PM)
Hey all. Wanna ask about the Zenfone 8. Wanna pull the trigger coz of of the price but saw the ramdump problem popping up when searching for common problems. Does the problem still exist? And is it covered under phone warranty?
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Using for a year already. No issues.

Pocket-friendly. Let's you set charging limit to 80 or 90 percent, so I can hook it up to my wired Android Auto without worrying about over-charging. Since upgrading to Android 12 the RAM consumption reduced. Never used more than 5GB RAM so I think the 16GB option is a waste for non-gamers.

 

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