Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 VS. ASUS Zenfone 3 5.5: Which is better?

Obviously, I love smartphones. That’s why I review smartphones. Duh. Anyway today, we’ll be checking out the ASUS Zenfone 3 and the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016. Both are great smartphones for its price so what are we gonna do today? Let’s compare them!

Hardware and Performance

Both smartphones are good. I mean, look at that, they both pack a metal and glass build which makes the smartphone really premium to hold. Both are solid, premium and really nice to touch. I love both smartphones when it comes to build and hardware quality.

The ASUS Zenfone 3 packs fingerprint sensor that is placed at the back and also capacitive buttons on the front instead of hardware buttons. But unlike the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016, this one has a USB Type-C which is future proof and also the new standard.

The ASUS Zenfone 3 packs a Snapdragon 625 processor and a 4GB of RAM. It scores around 60k in Antutu and almost any games that you install on the smartphone would run at high settings. Also, the 64GB of storage is very spacious too

While the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 features a design similar to Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The home button also serves as the fingerprint sensor but unlike the ASUS Zenfone 3, the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 features a Micro USB.

Inside the smartphone is an Exynos 7850 Octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM. The hardware isn’t as powerful as the Snapdragon 625 but it is already enough for heavy games and apps but don’t expect the same experience on the ASUS Zenfone 3. Also, there’s only a 16GB of storage which is quite small these days

Again, both smartphones have a really good design and build but the ASUS Zenfone 3 squashes the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 when it comes to performance. Also, the ASUS Zenfone 3 packs a bigger storage so yeah, the score will go to the ASUS Zenfone 3 for this round.

Display

The ASUS Zenfone 3 packs a Full HD Super IPS+ display. It’s really nice to look at. The color accuracy is good and the viewing angles are pretty good too. I’m pretty sure that you could appreciate the display once you look at it.

But with the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016, you’ll get a Full HD Super AMOLED display, a display that I personally love. The colors are really vivid and the display of the smartphone is really bright. This round easily goes to the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016.

Camera

This is where it gets tough. I mean, both smartphones are good and both of them have a pretty good camera and has its own advantages. The Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 got a f/1.9 aperture which means that my shots are brighter and then there’s the ASUS Zenfone 3 that has better manual controls. The Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 has a 13-megapixel rear camera while the ASUS Zenfone 3 has a 16-megapixel rear camera. Check out my shots that I took with both smartphones.

While both smartphones can take good shots and they are almost on par, I prefer the ASUS Zenfone 3 because not only this smartphone has better manual controls but most of my shots are better on the Zenfone 3. Also, you can shoot videos in 4K with the ASUS Zenfone 3.

ASUS Zenfone 3 Shots

Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 Shots

Battery life

What I like with these smartphones is that both of them packs a pretty large battery that can last really long. The Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 has a 3300mAh battery while the ASUS Zenfone 3 has a 3000mAh battery but despite Samsung’s advantage when it comes to numbers, I was able to get a better battery life on the ASUS Zenfone 3 with around 10 hours of my average use before dying. But of course, the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 wasn’t a disappointment as I was still able to squeeze in less than 9 hours but less than 10. Not bad still.

Software

The ASUS Zenfone 3 5.5 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box while the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 runs on Android 5.1.1 and both smartphones also sport their own skin, the ASUS Zenfone 3 5.5 sports the ZenUI while the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 sports the Touchwiz UI. Between the two, ZenUI has more bloatware over the other. Also, the TouchWiz UI on the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 is faster and has some features that I really like including the multi-window.

So yeah, this round goes to Samsung.

Verdict

Both smartphones are good. Both smartphones have its own advantages but after reviewing both smartphones, it was clear that the ASUS Zenfone 3 5.5 has more advantages than the Samsung Galaxy A7 2016. Also, the ASUS Zenfone 3 5.5 is much affordable at P18,995 compared to Samsung Galaxy A7 2016’s P20,990 price tag.