The number of ‘selfie phones’ coming out would make you think there’s little else young people do but feed their narcissism. But walk into any mall or any public place, in fact, and you’ll inevitably find yourself having to quickly get out of the way of someone’s camera. Taking selfies has become a national pastime, though the cynic in me thinks it’s the marketing that’s made it happen. Vivo, Oppo, and so many other phone makers besides Asus are using the camera angle to make a play for customers in a crowded market. Most of the time, the camera tricks are just that -- gimmicks.

Slim and light

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro — which anyone will agree is a bit of a mouthful of a name — immediately shows its cameras on the front and top of the device in an array of little circles and a slit, looking somewhat untidy, I have to say. You can see why the device needs its broad bezels. On the back, there’s also a big noticeable camera, which looks more elegant and protrudes ever so slightly though nowhere near as much as to cause a problem. The back looks pretty enough, actually. The unit I got was that pale silver-gold that’s been so predominant this year. The metallic smoothness does not show fingerprints and that’s really rather nice as you can probably do without a case. It’s neither slippery nor difficult to grip. In fact, its ergonomics are really rather good. It’s light and has a satisfying slim flatness that makes it feel quite good in the hand.

For all its elegance, the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is basically an unimaginative design. Remove the logo on the back and you’ll never know which phone it is — they all look so similar. What does look really good is its 5.5-inch display. It’s bright and vivid with deep punchy colours. With its auto-changing wallpapers, it’s quite a pleasure to look at each time you pick up the phone. It’s quite smooth and responsive to the touch as well. But what’s on top of Android 7.1.1 is Asus’ own unexciting skin. There’s nothing specially likeable about it and Asus would probably find it to its advantage to let go of it and head for pure Android. This phone works with a mid-range but reliable processor -- the Snapdragon 625 with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage expandable with a memory card. The phone turns out a lag-less performance though it warms up a little with processor-intensive tasks.

Go outdoors for a selfie

Asus has an armamentarium of specs for its camera setup, especially the dual front cameras. One is a 24 MP ‘Duo Pixel’ camera with a Sony IMX362 sensor, f/1.8 aperture,1.4um, EIS, and 4K video recording. The second is a 5 MP, f/2.2 aperture, 120° camera with a wide view angle. Asus calls it the most advanced selfie camera in the world and confidently gives spec-to-spec comparisons with rivals. Setting aside all the jargon, I found that in outdoor light, the front cameras took bright clean shots. Of course, there’s a beauty mode to make yourself look better than you happen to, but even otherwise, the images were crisp and balanced. Indoors was a different matter. Inevitably the picture is grainy and the soft light LED flash or the light from the screen itself gives an artificial look. The front camera has the now ubiquitous portrait effect, wide angle selfies for groups, GIF animations, mini movies and a whole lot more in an app that’s slightly complex, really.

The rear camera is a 16 MP with a Sony IMX351 lens and an f/2.2 aperture. It has PDAF, EIS, 4K video recording, Raw file support, etc. It’s just an ‘okay’ camera, very grainy in indoor and low light, washing out colours from most angles. The Portrait mode, popularised by Apple with that name, is on all cameras and extends to video recording as well, but it’s just short of pleasant to look at. It’s a slight blur and don’t let anyone tell you it mimics a DSLR camera’s results.

Because of the price bracket, the Selfie Pro has put itself somewhere in the league of the older OnePlus devices, which you can still get. While those have top notch specs they do also sport a good camera and have the advantage of purer software. So look around at various options before you decide on what to snap yourself with.

Price: Rs 23,999

Pros: Lovely vivid bright display, slim and elegant, very light, good ergonomics, bright clear selfies in outdoor lighting

Cons: Middling battery life, heats up a little, bloatware and nagging notifications, very grainy in low light, complex camera app, unpopular software customisations, pricey for its midrange specs

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