A few weeks ago Asus has revealed its two new smartphones for the Indian market known as the Asus Zenfone Max M1 and the Zenfone Lite L1. The two devices were aggressively priced so that they can compete with the preexisting players including Xiaomi, Honor, etc. On Gizmomaniacs we’ve already done a complete review of the Zenfone Max M1 and now its time for the much cheaper Zenfone L1 Lite. On paper, the specifications of the handset look satisfying, so without making any delay let’s know more about it.
In our previous tests, we came to know that Zenfone Max M1 suffers because of that underpowered lower mainstream chipset i-e Qualcomm Snapdragon 430. Asus has powered the L1 Lite with almost identical internals so the performance here might be disappointing. The direct competitor to the L1 Lite handset is Redmi 6A from the house of Xiaomi. So, in our today’s write up we will find out that buying a Zenfone L1 Lite over its competitors is a good decision or not.
Design
The design of the device looks quite inspired by its bigger siblings. Asus Zenfone L1 Lite is constructed entirely out of Plastic which may be a point of concern for most of you. The rear panel of the device has been curved from the edges which in the end leads to a better in hand feel. The device feels solid when hold but that plastic build might bother some of you. There is a SIM tray on the left side which can incorporate 2 nano-SIM cards and a micro-SD card. It features a 3.5mm audio jack on the top while the regular USB 2.0 port for charging is present at the bottom of the device. In all, considering the price tag we can say that Asus has done an appreciable job.
Display
At first, a glance a user may notice its display, there is a 5.45(inch) HD+ IPS Display with a resolution of 720 x 1440 Pixels. The Display offers 18:9 aspect ratio along with 295ppi. The display offers ample brightness to be viewed in the normal lighting conditions, however, you may have to face some difficulties when it comes to harsh daylighting. The display is okayish for the price and offers decent colors. Asus Zenfone L1 Lite measures at 8.2mm and weighs at 140 grams. The display lacks in 2.5D curved glass and retains a considerable amount of bezels.
Performance
The device comes powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430(64 bit) Octa-Core processor clocked at 1.4Ghz coupled with an Adreno 505 GPU. In case you guys don’t know this is an age-old processor and as per 2018 devices, it lacks in a number of departments. The device will only be made available in one variant i-e with 2GB of RAM+16GB ROM. The internal storage of the device can be extended up to 256GB’s via micro-SD card. We’ve tried playing PUBG as well and the device managed to run it in the lowest settings with minor settings. The device often shows lags when performing multitasking. In the end, we can say that it is not meant for gaming.
Camera
On paper, the main rear Camera sensor looks identical to that of the Zenfone Max M1. Asus Zenfone Lite L1 sports a 13MP rear snapper while in the front a 5MP selfie shooter is given. The Aperture value of the rear camera is F/2.0 while for the front camera it is F/2.4. The device comes with LED Flash for lighting up the scene and it can record videos up to 1080p resolution at 30fps. The images captured shows grains and to improve it HDR could be used. The device features Portrait mode, beautify mode, timelapse, filers through both front-rear shooters, however, the edge detection is poor. When capturing macro shots we came to know that the device fails to focus the close objects.
Battery and Miscellaneous
Asus Zenfone Lite L1 features a 3000mAh battery with a regular USB 2.0 port. The device runs on ZenUI based on Android Oreo out of the box. It packs with 3000mAh battery which comes with optimization features. The device features all basic features including GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.0, FM Radio, etc. The device comes in two color variants: Gold and Black. Face recognition is available as well, however, is not 100% accurate.
Conclusion
Asus Zenfone Lite L1 is priced at INR 6,999 through during festive deals you can grab it for as low as INR 5,999. Our final verdict is that if performance is your major concern then buying Realme C1 or Redmi 6A will make more sense. In all, the device delivers a decent day to day performance and the output from both cameras is also satisfying for the price.
