Asus ZenFone 3 Ultra Review

What is the ideal size for a smartphone? The answer is of course subjective, but there has been an obvious trend towards going larger. Models with 5.5-inch screens have dominated the Android market for quite some time now. In fact, it’s pretty hard to find a mainstream Android model with a screen smaller than 5 inches, but there are quite a few larger models at various price levels. We recently reviewed the mid-range Lenovo Phab 2 Plus (Review) and Xiaomi Mi Max (Review), and today we have with us the gargantuan Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra.
Blurring the lines between smartphones and tablets, Asus’ latest launch aspires to be a the only digital device you carry around with you. It could replace a lot of the other screens in your life, but is that really what buyers want? We aim to find out, in our review.

Asus ZenFone 3 Ultra look and feel
Obviously, your main consideration with this device should be whether or not you can handle its sheer size. With dimensions of 186.4x93.9x6.8mm and a weight of 233g, it is awkward and difficult both to carry and to handle. It stuck out of all the pockets we tried fitting it into, and will only really work if you carry it around in a handbag or backpack.
You’ll also need two hands to hold and use it securely, because there’s simply no way to reach every part of the screen with your thumbs, without moving your entire hands up or down. One-handed balance is difficult unless you’re just reading or watching a video, and the width and weight of this phone also make long calls fatiguing.
In terms of build quality, Asus has done an excellent job. The ZenFone 3 Ultra could hold its own against any of today’s premium smartphones. The front and back are totally flat, and the metal band around the sides is curved for comfort. The body doesn’t twist or flex at all, and there’s Gorilla Glass 4 over the front. The shiny chamfered metal edges and ring around the Home button remind us of Samsung’s designs from a few years ago, but we’ve seen this look on hundreds of phones by now, and it still works.
The left side is completely blank, while the right has the power button in a very convenient spot. There are also two individual trays; one for a Nano-SIM and the other for either a second Nano-SIM or a microSD card. There’s a USB Type-C port between two speaker grilles on the bottom, and a 3.5mm audio socket on top.

The volume buttons are on the back, and while we don’t usually like this arrangement, it actually works better on this phone when on voice calls, because it’s impossible to both maintain a grip and shuffle your thumb around. No matter which hand you use, your index finger will hit the volume buttons easily. You’ll also see the camera with its flash and laser autofocus window on the rear.
The ZenFone 3 Ultra looks expensive, but not especially exciting or modern. Our review unit was silver, which looked like a warm champagne colour in daylight. Asus supplies a bulky 18W charger, a USB Type-C cable, and a set of boxed ZenEar earphones in the package.
Asus ZenFone 3 Ultra specifications
Asus clearly prioritised visual impact with the ZenFone 3 Ultra, because apart from its metal body and massive screen, the specs are decidedly mid-range. You get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC, which has four ARM Cortex A53 cores and four A72 cores, all running at 1.8GHz, plus integrated Adreno 510 graphics. You get a generous 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, while microSD card support goes up to 200GB. You also get 100GB of Google Drive space free for two years.
The giant screen has a relatively low resolution of 1080x1920. Everything on screen is still crisp and clean, but at this price level, we would have liked a 1440x2560 panel instead. Asus promises a 4K TV-grade image processor, 178-degree viewing angles, and 95 percent NTSC colour gamut reproduction. Incidentally, the USB Type-C port allows for DisplayPort video output as an alternate mode.

LTE is supported on Indian bands, and while Asus does list support