The ASUS ZenFone Zoom is an Android smartphone that comes with a camera that's capable of 3x optical zoom. Check out how it fares when it comes to figurine photography!

I cringe every time I watch someone pinch-to-zoom on their smartphone's screen right before snapping a photo. The seemingly simple act of zooming in on an object, despite what the screen on the phone displays at the time, almost guarantees the end result will be a pixelated, garbled mess of a photo.

Your phone has been lying to you. Every time you zoom in to catch that perfect shot of that expensive hamburger, you're not actually zooming in. The software in your phone is really just cropping the image and blowing it up like Patricia Arquette in CSI: Cyber.

Asus Zenfone Zoom is a phone known for its zoom capability and it surely dominates the market on this factor. Though it's a metal build Zenfone 2 at its core, even on the camera front (unless you use the optical zoom), the lens arrangement has surely got many smartphone makers' mind churning.

Tough and unique build; Intelligent lens arrangement; Fast and full time AF on video rec; 128GB on board storage

Heavy and pricey; Average battery backup

Asus smartphones are indeed not known for their cameras, with a majority of them being budget to mid-range. The Zenfone range provides decent image quality but do not stand a chance against flagship devices coming from Samsung, Sony or Apple.

ASUS has taken the the already impressive ZenFone 2 and turned it into something fun for anyone who enjoys the control of a DSLR camera but isn't planning on walking around with one every day.

Amazing performance; Great battery life; Leather back feels nice; Shutter buttons rock

Camera bump adds bulk; Camera sensor is mediocre; Software is filled with bloat; Android 5.0 in 2016 is unacceptable

The Zoom ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop , which is starting to feel a bit long in the tooth now that Android 6.0 Marshmallow is showing up on more devices . Asus has confirmed that the ZenFone 2 line will get Marshmallow.

3x optical zoom; Manual camera controls; Premium build

Sluggish camera app; No 4K video; Unimpressive battery life; Dated UI with heavy skin and lots of bloatware

The idea of integrating a DSLR-like camera isn't being a new stuff to us since we already have seen the Lumia 1020 and a couple of smartphones from Samsung highlighting the cameras with optical zoom and now ASUS has stepped into it making a smartphone with a DSLR-like camera.

Asus zenfone ZOOM is really & REALLY OVER-HIGHPRICED because in such a big price it is offering only 13 mega pixel at back and 5 mega pixel at front....which has been the same type of mega pixel with the Asus earlier phones of low budget....

*2.5

#2.5

Do you need a zoom lens on your phone? For years, consumers have been more than satisfied with the default focal length of iPhones and Android handsets. It's a wide - but not too wide - view that feels very natural.

Premium look and feel; microSD card support; Great dedicated shutter button

The camera itself is lacking; Too many useless apps; Average battery life