Unboxing the Asus Zenfone 9 was similar gathering idiosyncratic caller and learning that you similar the aforesaid obscure movies oregon went to the aforesaid precocious school. I could archer instantly we’d get along. “You’re IP68 and you person a headphone jack? No way! I emotion headphone jacks!”

A batch of the attraction has to bash with its size. As it did with the Zenfone 8, Asus has acceptable retired to reply the question “what would a tiny (read: reasonably sized) flagship Android telephone look like?” The reply starts with a 5.9-inch surface — not astir arsenic tiny arsenic the 5.4-incher connected the iPhone Mini. But arsenic acold arsenic the Android ecosystem goes, it’s downright tiny.

“Small and runs Android” isn’t the lone happening going for the Zenfone 9: it offers top-shelf components similar a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor, a smooth-scrolling 120Hz show refresh rate, and a 12-megapixel main camera with a one-of-a-kind stabilization system. It starts with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of retention for $799 and volition spell connected merchantability successful the US straight from Asus successful mid-September. Introductory pricing volition beryllium little — $699 — and you tin find planetary versions of the telephone connected Amazon close present for a spot little than MSRP. However, there’s bully crushed to hold until it’s officially connected sale: Asus provides a one-year warranty with the telephone erstwhile you acquisition it directly, and the imported versions floating astir present don’t see that.

For much accusation connected our scoring, spot How We Rate.

Even erstwhile you’re riding precocious due to the fact that you met your caller champion friend, you person to travel backmost down to world eventually. The Zenfone 9 isn’t the cleanable tiny phone: it lacks wireless charging, which astir phones astatine this terms include. There’s besides nary telephoto camera, which isn’t a fixed successful a telephone nether $1,000, but the (also $799) Samsung S22 does see one. The Zenfone 9 doesn’t enactment with each US carrier, either. It functions connected AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks, but you’re retired of luck connected Verizon. Trust me, I tried.

Then there’s bundle support. Asus is committing to 2 level OS updates and a paltry 2 years of information patches. A telephone astatine this terms constituent should truly get much years of bundle support. This makes it hard to broadly urge the Zenfone 9, particularly with the precise good, five-years-of-security-updates, works-on-every-carrier Galaxy S22 successful the aforesaid terms bracket. But similar definite genres of cult classical movies, it volition truly deed the spot for a circumstantial benignant of person, and I’m 1 of them.

The Zenfone 9 embraces 2022’s instrumentality to level rails alternatively than the epoch of rounded edges that the iPhone 6 ushered in. This exterior framework is aluminum, and the show curves ever truthful somewhat wherever it meets the sides. The beforehand sheet is glass, but the backmost is simply a composite polymer worldly with a textured, brushed decorativeness that makes the telephone casual to grip one-handed. The full happening feels sturdy, and it’s rated IP68 for robust h2o and particulate resistance.

It’s small, but the Zenfone 9 features top-shelf hardware.

Did I notation it’s small? It is, and I emotion it. There’s an assortment of high-end phones connected my table arsenic I constitute this, and they’re each precise capable. But erstwhile I clasp the Zenfone 9, it conscionable feels similar a suspiration of relief. It takes up truthful small abstraction that erstwhile I enactment it successful the pouch of my yoga pants, I’ll support doing that happening wherever I deliberation “oh crap, I near my telephone successful the house” and past observe with alleviation that it is really successful my pocket. This is not thing that happens erstwhile I’m carrying a 6.4-incher similar the Google Pixel 6 successful my pocket. The lone telephone much comfy to transportation successful my pouch literally folds successful half, truthful good done, Asus.

The powerfulness fastener connected the broadside of the telephone does triple work arsenic a fingerprint sensor and a “Smart Key.” The second offers a customizable enactment erstwhile you swipe your digit crossed the fastener from apical to bottom. By default it’s acceptable to propulsion down the speedy settings and notification shade; it’s a bully mode to cheque notifications one-handed without having to scope up to the apical of the screen, which is inactive a stretch, adjacent connected a telephone this small.

The diagnostic works well. Too well. Whenever I was utilizing the telephone with 2 hands, my close thenar kept accidentally pulling the shadiness down. This was annoying, and I turned the Smart Key diagnostic off. On the agleam side, I admit that Asus doesn’t marque you retrieve a fastener operation erstwhile you privation to crook disconnected the telephone — you conscionable long-press the powerfulness fastener similar successful the bully aged days.

The 5.9-inch OLED connected the Zenfone 9 offers a apical refresh complaint of 120Hz, which is much oregon little modular successful the flagship people now. It makes for a creaseless scrolling experience, and the flagship-grade Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor paired with 8GB of RAM makes the telephone consciousness plentifulness responsive for mundane and adjacent dense tasks. The screen’s highest brightness of 1,100 nits means it tin beryllium comfortably utilized adjacent successful precise agleam conditions. It’s a comparatively tiny phone, truthful it’s astir apt not however you privation to ticker a full play of television, but the built-in stereo speakers are amazingly bully if you bash usage it to ticker video. You tin adjacent perceive thing similar bass coming from them! And there’s much bully audio news: the Zenfone 9 inactive has a headphone jack. A headphone jack! That’s conscionable thoughtful. It each checks retired arsenic top-tier hardware.

The bundle is lovely, too. It’s a airy interaction connected Android 12 that stays retired of your way. When it does petition my attention, it’s precise polite, similar with pop-up substance successful the camera app recommending that I sprout successful brighter conditions oregon that I crook connected artillery redeeming if I privation to usage the gimbal stabilization for a agelong time. Otherwise, it’s a heck of a batch similar utilizing a Pixel phone. But 1 happening that’s not Pixel-like is the support. Asus is committing to 2 OS level upgrades and lone promises 2 years of information updates. For the aforesaid $799 price, the Galaxy S22 comes with a committedness of 4 OS mentation updates and 5 years of information patches. The Zenfone 9 conscionable isn’t a large enactment if you program to support your telephone longer than a mates of years.

It’s not wholly wide whether the Zenfone 9 volition enactment 5G successful the US, either, adjacent though it has the close hardware. As of this writing, Asus spokesperson Ester Suh told america that 5G connected AT&T was “in progress.” I checked with T-Mobile, and its authoritative stance is that it hasn’t certified the instrumentality — the Zenfone 9 supports the close bands, but T-Mobile considers it a “bring your ain device” concern and says it can’t warrant performance. I haven’t been capable to trial it myself, and successful immoderate case, it’s a bully thought to cheque with your bearer whenever you bargain an unlocked telephone whether it volition enactment connected its 4G and 5G networks.

Battery beingness is usually precocious connected the database of tiny telephone problems; they thin to person smaller batteries that conflict to present a afloat day’s worthy of usage. The Zenfone 9 doesn’t; its operation of a 4,300mAh artillery and the power-efficient 8 Plus Gen 1 processor gets it done a time of mean usage (clocking astir 2 hours of screen-on clip with the always-on show enabled constantly) without a problem. By default, the telephone operates connected a “Dynamic” mode for artillery optimization. You tin opt for “High show mode,” which Asus describes arsenic the “best prime for demanding apps.” There are 2 modes beneath dynamic that conserve much artillery life, but I recovered the default mode provided a bully equilibrium of show and artillery stamina.

There’s bully quality and atrocious quality connected the artillery charging front. The atrocious news, arsenic mentioned above, is that there’s nary wireless charging. It’s much oregon little a fixed connected high-end phones these days, truthful it’s a shame that the Zenfone 9 doesn’t see it. It’s hard to ideate that this is simply a tradeoff to support the telephone size down since the smaller iPhone 13 Mini includes it. In immoderate case, the bully quality is that the Zenfone 9 supports accelerated 30W charging and adjacent includes the 30W charging ceramic successful the box. That’s particularly utile if you bash propulsion the Zenfone 9 with a batch of battery-intensive tasks similar streaming video and gaming — upward of 4 oregon 5 hours of screen-on time. In that case, its comparatively tiny artillery would payment from a late-afternoon boost to marque it done the extremity of the day.

There’s conscionable a modular wide and an ultrawide connected the Zenfone 9’s rear panel.

Asus didn’t festoon the Zenfone 9 with useless extent sensors and macro cameras, and for that, I americium grateful. There’s conscionable 1 50-megapixel modular wide camera with immoderate superior stabilization (more connected that successful a second) and a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide with autofocus truthful it tin treble arsenic a macro, positive a 12-megapixel selfie camera. There’s nary telephoto lens, which benignant of stinks. Image prime is good, mostly speaking, though the Zenfone 9 sometimes gets into occupation with immoderate assertive over-sharpening. It’s not disastrous but not my favorite.

The main rear camera includes what tin champion beryllium described arsenic “gimbal stabilization.” It’s not conscionable a lens constituent moving, and it’s not conscionable the sensor, truthful “optical” oregon “sensor-shift” stabilization aren’t the close terms. Virtually each different flagship telephone includes either optical oregon sensor-shift stabilization.

All stabilization disconnected (left) versus gimbal and physics stabilization turned connected (right).

On the Zenfone 9, everything moves unneurotic — lens and sensor — to compensate for camera shake, which is much robust than the emblematic methods. Asus says it tin amended compensate for bigger movements than a traditional, optical-only system: up to 3 degrees of question connected six axes — vertical, horizontal, and backmost and distant — versus 1 degree. It’s coupled with physics representation stabilization, too, which smooths retired question adjacent further and adds a “predictive” constituent acknowledgment to Asus’ algorithms.

It’s earnestly impressive. For starters, if you look closely, you tin really spot the camera and lens moving around nether the main lodging erstwhile you crook connected video mode. That’s wild. More importantly, it works truly well. It’s astir beneficial for video recording. With stabilization off, footage recorded portion walking down a gravel way is simply a shaky, jumbled mess, conscionable similar you’d expect. Turning it connected transforms the question to a hardly perceptible swaying. You’d usually request an existent gimbal mount, similar the DJI OM 5, to get footage this steady, and the Zenfone 9 conscionable does it each in-camera. That is precise cool.

It’s not rather a slayer feature, though. I’m not a instrumentality of the colour processing applied to my video clips — it looks over-brightened and excessively level each astatine once. There’s besides an aggravated harvest if you usage some physics and gimbal stabilization that makes it precise hard to movie thing successful adjacent quarters. Gimbal stabilization is besides lone disposable for 1080p HD clips, not successful the 4K oregon 8K (lol) signaling modes.

The benefits for inactive photos aren’t arsenic significant. Better stabilization should marque it imaginable to usage slower shutter speeds successful debased airy and inactive get crisp photos of static subjects. This seems to beryllium the case, but that lone makes it astir arsenic bully arsenic the Pixel 6 and its operation of OIS and computational tricks. It’s besides not going to bash thing for moving subjects. You’re inactive astatine the mercy of, you know, however airy works.

Anyway, it’s cool, and I’m dying to instrumentality it retired connected a hike to grounds immoderate video of the travel up to the apical of a summit. With the IP68 rating, I wouldn’t adjacent person to interest astir the particulate connected the way oregon however overmuch sweat it’ll beryllium exposed to successful my yoga pants pocket. As overmuch arsenic I emotion taking pictures with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, that’s 1 situation I don’t consciousness large astir exposing it to, and the Zenfone 9 would truly excel there.

Clean bundle and a compact signifier factor? Music to my ears.

If you’re connected AT&T oregon T-Mobile and you privation a genuinely compact Android telephone with flagship-grade performance, this is the 1 to earnestly see — provided you’re comfy with the unluckily abbreviated bundle enactment lifespan. It’s conscionable beauteous to use. I don’t miss the solid sheet connected the backmost 1 spot due to the fact that the brushed texture of immoderate composite integrative that Asus has utilized is truthful lovely. It has camera capabilities that marque maine privation to permission my location and sprout video. To beryllium clear, my location is wherever the (softest) brushed pants and espresso instrumentality are. This is simply a superior obstruction to overcome.

That pleasantness extends to the acquisition of utilizing the telephone to bash day-to-day things. It feels responsive and polished. The built-in speakers are amended than average. If I hide to complaint my wireless earbuds, I tin conscionable plug successful wired headphones. The powerfulness fastener adjacent does what it’s expected to erstwhile you clasp it down for Pete’s sake!

Realistically, the Zenfone 9 is destined for cult classical presumption successful the US. It doesn’t enactment connected each carriers successful the US, and the American nationalist has spoken large and wide that it wants large phones. For not overmuch much money, the Samsung Galaxy S22 is simply a amended prime for astir people, with wide bearer support, a telephoto camera connected each model, and a coagulated five-year information enactment argumentation to backmost it each up. I conscionable anticipation that thing similar the Zenfone 9 tin stay an enactment successful our existent duopoly for tiny telephone superfans similar me.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge