Quick review on the Zenfone 10 as a replacement

For those of you still deciding on potential replacements. Purchase price was around £475 ($590) so a fair bit more expensive than the £300 ($375) paid for the Pixel 4a a few years back but phones in general seem to have gone up.

Pros:

-Size: Almost identical sizing to the 4a - the screen is about 1mm narrower and 1mm taller and it's definitely chunkier but otherwise feels the same.

-Build quality: feels solid with aluminium frame and sleek buttons which feel really tactile. It feels slightly heavier but not noticeably heavy in the pocket - this actually gives it a nice premium feel

-Battery: Exceptional - easily lasting 2 days with fast-charging and the option to wirelessly charge. After the 4a drama this is the biggest relief never worrying about charging

-Side-fingerprint reader on the power button (where volume rocker is on Pixel 4a as the two are flipped) which is very fast - not quite as good a place as the rear-mount but is still ergonomic if you use your thumb and has swipe gestures like the 4a

-Some optional ASUS style-options added to OS - main benefit is you can have Quick Settings similar to Android 11 (more than 4!) which is much better

-Responsiveness: super snappy overall and running Android 14 now

-Camera: I'd say roughly on par with the 4a overall perhaps have to be a little steadier as the focus is perhaps not as intuitive. Overall "good" quality pictures but obviously never going to be as detailed as the latest high-end Iphones/Pixels/Samsungs. Some examples here: Zenfone 10 Photo/Video Samples Megathread : r/zenfone

-Accessories: comes with a fast-charger power-brick in the box which is a plus (most new phones seem to omit any adapter for environmental reasons so coming from the old adapter in the 4a it's good to get one in the box) and also a free case (not the most protective and very slippy but nice until you find a new one)

Cons:

-Price as mentioned is fairly high for what is a mid-2023 phone. It's not back to £575. As of today the Samsung S24 is just £20 more which may be a better deal for most people (only downsides of S24 being a worse battery, glass-back and in-screen fingerprint sensor). On battery Gsmarena have the Zenfone as +1hr active battery use in tests but most YT comparisons show a pretty significant difference like this one.

-Only has Security/System Updates until mid-2027

-Camera takes a second to open however there are optional setting to double tap the volume button from locked to either open the camera OR take 3 pictures straight-away - still takes a second to do these options though.

-The back panel (bioplastic) feels a bit delicate and porous (sort of like craft-paper/card-stock) when I hoped it would be more rubbery. It's also a bit "hollow" in the middle (I think this is because there are sensors under it for an optional fingertap gesture feature). Not really an issue when using a case though

-Most minor point ever - the alarm tones are all atrocious (the default sounds like an angry circus) so downloading the nice headspace ones!