The Best Compact Phone? [ASUS ZenFone 10 Review 2023]

The ASUS ZenFone 10 packs in flagship specs (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) - into a compact 5.9-inch form factor! For £749 - is it worth buying?

#ZenFone10 #NewPhone #SmallPhone

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[Thetechchap]

Hey Chaps! Do you prefer bigger or smaller phones??
CORRECTION: At 1:12 I pick up the iPhone 13 Mini (not the SE) - sorry!

[rafsanulislam]

Can we appreciate how beautiful the design of the phone is?

[rufixorg]

Slow charge is acceptable for me.
Camera will be better with updates.
I don't mind bezels.
No expandable storage - 128 GB is more than enough for me. I backup and wipe phone's memory twice a year - keeps it running better.

[TheChiraagG]

For me the 512GB storage is the tempting part over the 9. The lack of autofocus on the selfie is also a concern on the ultrawide where it is also omitted! They have changed the UW camera this year with a wider FOV, but some bizarre choices here. That said, I want to go back to a smaller phone so this looks like the way.

[flat-out]

Funny some of those features I have in my LG G8 that I'm still rocking since 2019. That's how good LG phones were. I wish LG comes back in the phone business instead of focusing on vacuum cleaners and fridges...their TVs are great and competition to Sony but we need LG phones again.

[strangestparticle]

my five-year-old Moto G6 Plus also has a 5.9 screen, so it's so weird to me that that's now considered a small screen

[Invincibleagent]

Hi Tom - do you not have the normal Galaxy S23 to compare it to or something? Surely that is the most appropriate comparison. They are basically the same size! It's the only other flagship compact phone in the Android space (Pixel 7 doesn't count, it's significantly bigger)

[CLMP]

ZenFone 10's biggest competitor is Samsung's S23, which is about the same size, weighs even less, has smaller bezels and a better camera setup including a 3x optical zoom. Asus gets some points for the stock Android experience and better battery life, but I think I'd go with the S23 instead.

[dazkgoodwin]

Great review, it's not enough for me to upgrade my Zenfone 9, although wireless charging is a bonus. I've generally been happy with photo quality on Zenfone 9, but clearly not enough as I bought a Pixel 7a on promotion just to use as my main phone for photos (I'm torn which phone I prefer, they're both great and both compact)

[michaelcorcoran]

I think it's more exciting than something like the s23. Bigger battery, much a nicer design in my opinion. The cameras in the Zenfone 9 outperformed the s22 in MHKBD's blind test. A gimbal stabilization mode.

And at least they've increased the software support to 4 years of security patches. I can live without Android 16 in 3 years.

[Megabeboo]

Even though I'm desperately looking for a new phone with the form factor of a Pixel 4A the two years software updates are an absolute deal breaker for me

[TechnoLadz]

At 1:12, isn't it the iPhone 13 Mini; not the SE?
Additionally; dimension-wise, isn't it most similar to the S23 + 14 (Pro) non-Plus/Max variants. (Based on 1:32)

[Austria]

5.9'' is nice and small, but I think 6.1'' is still handy enough, but would provide more space for a bigger battery.
Imho thats the biggest weakspot for the Zenfone. Im not a smartphone gamer at all but Im on the go all day and what i need is battery life and a phone i can use with on hand without dislocating my finger joints.

[pudinichigo]

If you buy Zenfone 9 now then you will get last android update this year with android 14 since this phone come with android 12 last year, so if you care about software update you either need to buy Zenfone 10 or just go with other brands like S23 which is more cheaper than Zenfone 10 but way better software support with 4 years of os update

[jaywalkerro]

i prefer this size. quick questions: does it have slowmo? does it have touch shutter? does it have notification led or something? how can you know if you have new sms or missed call? how is the flash photo and video? and how is the brightness in sunlight? can you see something on the screen? i think it's a great phone design and specs and back material a little expensive though but that's me :)

[UnkemptBushell]

Glad you did a detailed review on the camera. Some reviewers have seemingly glossed over it. It was the deal breaker for me and I ended up returning it. Such a shame because I love so much about this. May pick one up again if there's a Black Friday deal and the Pixel 8 isn't anything special.

As great as Asus ZenFone 10 is, I would love to see Nothing adopting this form factor, and creating MiniPhone (1), while keeping those uniform bezels and of course, the Glyph Interface of the original Phone (1).

[cool-j]

Considering I’m presently using an iPhone 13 Mini i wouldn’t consider the Zen Phone 10 as too small as some people categorize it as, in fact i see the iPhone X 5.8inches display as the ideal size for a smartphone, maybe because I’m just 5 feet 9 thou…

[e]

Love the size. But 2 years of updates is not enough, I buy a new phone every 4 years.

[robertoacj]

2:10 do you think it will wear off as easy as the 9's back?