Asus' Zenfone series brings the best of both world's, performance and quality. The Zenfone 4 is no exception here. Although equipped with a dual-core Intel Atom processor, it comes with hyper-threading enabled which enables faster multi-processing aided by 1 GB RAM, 4-inch WVGA display clad in Gorilla Glass 3 alongwith a healthy 1600 mAh battery. On the graphics front, the Zenfone 4 is powered by the PowerVR SGX-544 MP GPU and it remains to be seen how the combination of Intel and Imagination Technologies works out.
Gaming Review
We played several games on the Asus Zenfone 4 including Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 4 (MC4), NOVA 3, GT Racing 2, FIFA 14 as well as Dead Trigger 2, Frontline Commando: D-Day, Riptide GP2, Subway Surfers and Temple Run 2. Earlier we were of the view that app-data was not movable as apps would always install on the internal storage and if you tried to sideload games they won't work. But Asus has found a third option, you have to install apps in the internal storage and then move the app as well as app-fata to the external SD card. Therefore, you need to have enough internal storage free to install the game you want and later on after installation move it to the SD card.
Coming to the gamplay part, the Zenfone 4 is able to play all games we threw at it with decent framerates. There was that occasional lag or framedrop here and there but that's just nitpicking. We could have done with a brighter display with better color reproduction and a louder speakerphone but considering the overall package, the Zenfone 4 gives a lot more than you paid for. But the excellent touch-response and accuracy of the touch-screen makes you forget about the shortcomings of the display.
Conclusion
The Asus Zenfone 4 is overall an excellent smartphone with good gaming capabilities considering the price. The display could have been a bit better and the speakerphone louder but those really are not a major concern. For the best part the Zenfone 4 can play games without much fuss and that's what you should expect from an entry-level smartphone.
