The ASUS Zenfone 8 Hands-On Review: A New Compact Direction
by Andrei Frumusanu on May 12, 2021 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Asus
- Mobile
- Zenfone 8
GPU Performance
GPU performance of the Zenfone 8 is interesting given that’s it’s currently the smallest Snapdragon 888 device we have at hand. We’ve had determined that the Snapdragon 888 is a quite power hungry SoC, so combining this with a smaller phone which has a lesser thermal envelope isn’t quite the recipe for success.
Throughout the benchmark scores, we can indeed see that while the Zenfone 8 outperforms the Zenfone 7 Pro quite easily when it comes to the peak performance, the new smaller phone actually regresses its sustained performance to below the levels of its predecessor once the device heats up and becomes thermally saturated. ASUS has quite reasonable thermals here and the phone doesn’t exceed 42-43°C peak skin temperatures which is a reasonable and good behaviour, it’s just that the resulting power levels here mean that the SoC and GPU have to throttle quite a bit.
The end results aren’t bad, and the phone is still plenty competitive, it’s just that it doesn’t really showcase any performance advantage over the last generation of devices.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
66 Comments
View All Comments
Linustechtips12#6900xt - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
I do get it inefficient and I don't use it other than with dex but it something that's nice I was at a colts game and there was a wireless charging pad available for everyone and it happened to be i was without a charger and at about 20%, its just a convenience like a micro-sd or a headphone jack.nico_mach - Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - link
I think the drawbacks are overstated. I used wireless charging nightly on my s8 and the battery is still fine all these years later. The software, otoh...ads295 - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
I'm really liking this thing by the looks of it. IP rating + headphone jack + compact size + 4000mAh battery is a winning combination. Hope they work on the camera though, I'm sure the mediocrity lies in the software rather than the hardware.skydiverian - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
Can't stand notches or holepunch displays (i.e. I only want displays that are symmetrical on 2 axes - my Pixel 3a tbh still annoys me with rounded corners. Talking of the 3a, it's as big as I want to go. Guess I'll be holding onto it for the next 10 years at this rate. Otherwise this could be a contender for a replacement but I just can't stand that holepunch.Spunjji - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
I hated them at first, but got used to a notch after 2.5 years of owning a phone with one. Now have one with a punch-hole, I'd say it's neither an improvement nor a step back. I'd still prefer a top and bottom bezel and better front-facing speakers, but it's not the end of the world. Might be worth contemplating when it becomes time for a replacement.inperfectdarkness - Sunday, May 16, 2021 - link
This is why I love the Xperia XZ2 Compact. Bezels. The 18x9 form factor just looks better and feels better.c933103 - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
No. A 68-69mm wide phone is not compact. I have tried Xperia X Performance and Galaxy S10e. They don't fit in single hand. Now Zenfone 8 and Xperia 5 series are all trying to pretend they are compact but they aren't. The only option remaining is to spend 700USD to import an Aquos R2 Compact with Snapdragon 845 from Japan, or buy the Xperia XZ1 Compact with Snapdragon 835, for someone in Android ecosystem.ads295 - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
Both those devices aren't even in sniffing distance of 3000mAh battery capacity. Good luck with your battery life. At least the Sony uses 720p resolution which should help battery life, but the Aquos should be really mediocre with that high end chipset, high res display and relatively tiny battery size @2500mAh. I agree that phones could be still smaller but now we're talking about a fraction of an already small percentage of consumer base overall who want small phones.hemedans - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link
xperia xz1 compact has best battery life than most flagship, better than many 4000 and 5000mah phones, usually i get 10+ hrs of on screen time. sd 835 was efficient and 720p help a lot.inperfectdarkness - Sunday, May 16, 2021 - link
2700mAh for xz1 compact. 2870mAh for xz2 compact.