Budget smartphone segment may be filled with plenty of options, but slightly high-end segment of 20 – 25k price bracket has a scarcity of good options if seen from value-for-money perspective. There’re only a few countable devices that compete head-to-head in this segment, and choosing one above another may often be quite challenging.
OnePlus One and Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML are two such devices. Both provide tremendous value for money, and also have very similar specs in many departments. That’s why we decided to compare both of them together, and here’s what we found:
Our friends at DigitBrunch have written an article about flip covers for Asus Zenfone 2. I think it would be very helpful for you, if you decide to buy Zenfone 2.
Performance:
While OnePlus One is loaded with 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and 3GB of RAM, Zenfone 2 is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Atom Processor and 4GB of RAM. So performance-wise Zenfone 2 is more powerful than One, thanks to its RAM size.
Camera:
Mathematically both these smartphones have same lenses on both flip and front sides. Both have got 13MP main camera and 5MP secondary camera, which are actually quite good for everyday photography. Aside from these numbers, both devices also have some unique software tricks up to their sleeves, so it’s a tie in this department.
Display:
Here too numbers look the same. Both smartphones proudly flaunt 5.5-inch full-HD displays, which means same pixel density and almost same level of clartity for both devices.
Storage:
Okay, so now we’re talking about a real differentiator. As you may know already, OnePlus One comes in storage options of 32GB and 64GB. Zenfone 2 also comes with internal storage of 32GB, but fortunately Asus added something unique to its advantage. And that is, as you might’ve guessed already, a microSD card slot! Zenfone 2 easily wins in this department.
Operating System:
OnePlusOne comes with Cyanogen 11S OS, which is based on Android 4.4 KitKat. Though Cyanogenmod has released Cyanogen OS 12 based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, it has been found to be full of bugs, after which many users who updated their phones are awaiting the next update to get the bigs fixed. Others, who didn’t update, have decided to skip the update instead.
On the other hand, Zenfone 2 comes with Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, and is free from all the headaches mentioned above. Needless to say that Zenfone 2 wins in this department too!
Conclusion: Looking at all these factors, Zenfone 2 definitely looks like a better option than OnePlus One. It trumps One in three important departments – processor, storage and operating system. If you’re gonna spend 22k bucks on OnePlus One, why don’t you spend a thousand bucks more and get the latest and greatest thing available in that range? I strongly recommend Zenfone 2 above OnePlus One. And yeah, you may also want to consider one more option – waiting for the launch of OnePlus Two!
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