ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser Review: Affordable, Unlocked, Great Camera

The ZenFone 2 Laser has a lot of features you don’t often see in an unlocked smartphone that costs less than $250, including dual SIM slots, a very good camera with tons of extra features and laser auto-focus, and a microSDXC expansion slot. In addition to these features, the ZenFone 2 Laser also has an attractive design that looks much more premium than many of today's mainstream smartphones.

ZenFone2Laser apps

Although the ZenFone 2 Laser didn’t perform very well in our standard benchmark tests, its real-world performance was satisfactory. This phone is probably well suited to the average, everyday-user who just wants to make calls, check emails, surf the web, and take quality pictures, etc. Users who want to push their phone to the limit by playing graphically rich games and using other demanding applications, probably shouldn’t be looking at a budget-friendly handset such as this one.

ZenFone2Laser quicksettings

There’s a good amount of bloatware on the ZenFone 2 Laser as well, but it didn’t seem to interfere with our ability to use the device effectively. And for some users, some of these added applications may actually be useful. If the number of pre-installed apps bothers you, however, ASUS provides the option to hide, uninstall, and disable many of them from the Applications menu.

ZenFone2Laser back

After spending time with the ZenFone 2 Laser, you can tell ASUS put considerable thought into the design and feature set, in an effort to strike a good balance between form, function, and a budget-friendly price tag. We were really impressed by the camera options and features found on the ZenFone 2 Laser and the construction and styling of the device is also solid and attractive in our opinion. Overall, we feel ASUS did an excellent job at finding a good balance of price, performance, and features with the ZenFone 2 Laser. The phone has a lot to offer, particularly at its budget-friendly price point.


     
  • Affordable
  • Dual SIM slots
  • Good camera
  • Removable battery
  • Expandable storage
  • Unimpressive benchmark scores
  • Lots of bloatware


Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer grew up around technology. From an early age, she was curious about all things related to computers. As a child, Jennifer remembers spending nights with her dad programming in BASIC and taking apart hard drives to see what was inside. In high school, she wrote her senior term paper on her experiences with building custom computers.

Jennifer graduated from the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. After college, she began writing full-time for various PC and technology magazines. Later, she transitioned to the Web. In these roles, Jennifer has covered a variety of topics including laptops, desktops, smartphones, cameras, tablets, and various consumer electronics devices. When she's not playing with or writing about the latest gadget, Jennifer loves to spend time with her family, capture memories with her camera, and scrapbook.

Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.

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