[ZenFone 2 General] flappjaxxx:
I must admit I have a renewed admiration for the ZF2.

A case can really make a difference. The first case I got just made the phone so bulky and cumbersome. The following is the first case I got and yes I gave it a 1 star review.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XC10YDW/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_V7RFvbE0VEKE5

I hate this case. The rubber inside sleeve is decent enough but the outside hard shell is just total junk. My previous complaints about phone size were really my complaints against the case and not the phone.

I replaced it with the following.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WUKLPX4/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_G.RFvbVEJGWC4

Provides in my opinion good enough protection without all the bulk of the first case I bought. In fact it gives the phone very little added weight or bulk at all. Never have I had a case ruin my experience like the Evily case did. Also if you look on Amazon you'll see several different brands but the exact same case.

Anyway enough about the cases. I've been in the hospital for five days now and I brought my ZF2 with me as opposed to my OnePlus One. I must admit I really do have a new love for the ZF2.

It's really snappy. I've managed to freeze a bunch of the Asus bloat with Titanium Backup and it has made my experience much better. I am using the ZenUI Beta Launcher as much as I love Google Now Launcher I figured I should give Asus a chance with their home cooked launcher. So far I like it! Themes are cool, very responsive and just like ZenUI in general it really isn't that far off from the Google experience as far as functionality. I like that they haven't cooked so much crap into the framework etc like HTC and Samsung have done with Sense and Touchwiz. Freezing those apps/bloat has dramatically improved my battery life. Since I didn't have my charger the first night I was here I turned the Power Saving app to Ultra Saving mode and this thing performed just fine for surfing, texting etc and totally just sipped the battery. Impressive! I've heard complaints of low speaker volume and while yes the OPO is LOUD as hell, the ZF2 volume is just fine for me. Compared to the OPO it may seem low but compared to other devices it is just fine. As much as I've gotten used to on screen navigation I do like the little bit of real estate gained with the capacitive buttons. I do appreciate that Asus didn't deviate from the standard layout of those capacitive buttons.

Now. On to the minor annoyances.

The capacitive buttons not being backlit is minor but a little disappointing. Fortunately since they are laid out correctly according to most of us, it really makes this non issue just that. A non issue that is a tiny but annoying.

The screen could be a little brighter but I have read some reviews saying it is so dim it can't be read in the sun light etc. Put some polarized sunglasses on the try to view this screen, you'll really not be able to see it. Like I said this screen could be a little brighter but I've had no issues not being able to read it.

This seems to be a software issue, and since I don't have another device here to confirm, Hangouts rotation gets stuck sometimes. I'm pretty sure this is a software issue and not anything to do with the ZF2

I love this phone. It took some getting used to but I'm pretty sure this is going to be my daily driver for a while