Testing the Zenfone 9: a giant among mini smartphones
26.10.2022
Translation: Katherine Martin
The Asus Zenfone 9 is little as hell, but has no trouble keeping up with larger high-end models.
The display of the Zenfone 9 measures in at 5.9 inches diagonally. A few years back, this would’ve made it a large smartphone. Today, it counts itself among the smallest of models.
Asus has also kitted it out with some features intended to make the phone easier to use with just one hand.
5.9 inches is small by today’s standards
The 5.9-inch display of the Asus Zenfone 9 is surrounded by a narrow bezel, which helps keep the smartphone on the small side. At 169 grammes, 146.5 millimetres long and 68.1 millimetres wide, the phone fits wonderfully in your hand. I don’t struggle to hold on to larger smartphones either, but the Zenfone 9 feels perfect.
The matt back looks as if it’s been covered with textile fabric, and is nice and easy to grip. The Zenfone 9 doesn’t slide around and it doesn’t attract any fingerprints. The only place for those is on the power button, which has a finger print reader for unlocking the phone.
With a resolution of 2400 × 1080 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 hertz, the AMOLED looks really good. It supports HDR10 and HDR10+, and according to the manufacturer, it covers 112 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour space and 151.9 per cent of the sRGB colour space. Compared to a larger display, hardly any content is lost.
The maximum brightness of up to 1,100 nits ensures you’re able to see the screen easily, even when it’s sunny. Darkness, however, is when the always-on display comes to the fore. Activate it, and you’ll still be able to see the time and notification icons when the display is off. The screen, incidentally, is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.
Android 12 optimised for use with just one hand
The Zenfone 9 comes with Android 12 by default. Asus has also used its Zen UI to adapt the smartphone for one-handed use. After all, even a 5.9-inch display isn’t small enough for me to be able to reach every part of the screen with just the one hand. That all changes with one-handed mode. After activating it in your settings under «Advanced», you swipe down near the bottom of the screen. After that, the smartphone only uses the lower half of the display. This way, everything’s just a thumb movement away. If I want to see more, swiping upwards is enough for the Zenfone to start using the whole screen again.
Buried in the settings, there are other helpful controls. The edge tool allows you bring in an element at the edge of the screen, giving you access to pre-selected apps at any time. You can assign the power button as a «smart button» for two apps, causing them to open when the button is held down or pressed twice. Double-tapping the back of the Zenfone 9 can also take a screenshot, open the camera, turn the torch on and off, launch Google Assistant, start or stop an audio recording or control music and video playback. This even works on the case included with the phone, but only when the smartphone is unlocked.
The preinstalled bloatware, which goes beyond the usual Google apps, is kept to a reasonable level with Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Netflix. Each one of these apps can be uninstalled. Beta testing with Android 13 for the Zenfone 9 is ongoing, but it’s not yet clear when the update will be available.
Small but mighty
Having a compact build doesn’t prevent the Zenfone 9 from being kitted out with a top processor. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is supported by 8 or 16 gigabytes depending on the model, making the little smartphone one of the most powerful of its kind.
The Zenfone 9 achieved top scores in the Geekbench 5 benchmark test. Incidentally, the smartphone doesn’t run on full power during normal use in order to conserve the battery. The peak rates were measured in high-performance mode. Each of the four figures surpassed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which can be found in the OnePlus 10 Pro, Xiaomi 12 and Sony Xperia 1 IV. Even during normal use, the smartphone had more than enough power to meet my needs.
| Geekbench 5 | Single-/Multi-core | OpenCL / Vulkan |
|---|---|---|
| Asus Zenfone 9 (Standard) | 940 points / 3656 points | 6502 points / 6207 points |
| Asus Zenfone 9 (high-performance mode) | 1324 points / 4415 points | 6479 Punkte / 7052 points |
| OnePlus 10 Pro | 1259 points / 3474 points | 5854 points / 5406 points |
| Sony Xperia 1 IV | 1164 points / 3402 points | 5913 points / 5764 points |
| Xiaomi 12 | 1239 points / 3729 points | 5905 points / 6279 points |
Decent cameras in a small smartphone
The Zenfone 9 has two cameras on the back. The 50-megapixel main camera with its Sony IMX766 sensor merges four pixels into one as standard. This is what gives the photos a resolution of 12.5 megapixels. I didn’t find an option to use the full resolution – as is often the case with other smartphones which use pixel binning. The ultra-wide-angle camera comes with a Sony IMX363 sensor capable of twelve megapixels and a 113-degree viewing angle.
The photos produced by the main camera are just above average. While they don’t have that wow factor, they don’t detract from the quality of the camera either.
The camera makes light work of contrasts, the colour rendering looks natural and there’s a high level of detail.
The wide-angle camera is on par with the main camera in terms of image quality despite having a smaller aperture of f/2.2 instead of f/1.9. The difference commonly observed between these two cameras isn’t evident in this phone.
The level of detail displayed in double zoom is still passable. At the zoom’s maximum level of 8×, however, it’s just a digitally enlarged hodgepodge of pixels.
When it’s dark, night mode doesn’t just serve to brighten images up – it also creates a noticeably higher level of detail. It’s the same story when you’re using the wide-angle camera and double zoom. That said, the main camera still comes up trumps in terms of image quality in the dark.
The front camera uses a Sony IMX663 to take 12-megapixel selfies. They’re rich in detail and colour – selfies made for sharing. In the dark, the quality takes a downward turn. The image noise is more noticeable than when using the rear camera, as is the case when using it in night mode.
Headphone jack and small battery
With a capacity of 4300 mAh, the battery of the Zenfone 9 seems relatively limited. But it’s not like you’re going to find a whopper of a battery in such a small smartphone. In light of this, it helps that its smaller display doesn’t use up as much power. Charging it just once is enough to get me through the day. The adapter included with the Zenfone 9 can charge it up with 30 watts. This really is considered fast charging, and does the trick.
The Zenfone 9’s 128 or 256 gigabytes of internal storage can’t be expanded. Instead, the smartphone can accommodate two SIM cards, and on the top, you’ll find a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Verdict: it’s a no-brainer
If you want a small smartphone, you can go for the Zenfone 9 without hesitation. Unlike with some other small phones, there’s no compromising on performance or features in service of its handy size. Asus also enables one-handed use with special features. The camera isn’t up there with those of the elite models. That said, it is above average, so that’s no reason not to go for the best mini smartphone out there right now.
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.