First impressions

At first glance, the Symphony ZVIII does not seem too remarkable. The colors are safe, the shape is safe; it's a very conservative design compared to last year's cross-hatch textured plastic back cover, but that certainly does not have to be a bad thing. Keep the ZVIII in between two OnePlus 3's and they'll look like a happy awfully-similar-looking family. The display is a 5 inch FHD IPS unit with the 2.5D glass on top offering slightly curved edges for a more comfortable feel. Build is solid as it is always with the Z-series from Symphony, with a glass front and an almost entirely metal, non-removable back. 

Display and hardware

The 1080p resolution on the 5-inch display makes for a sharp display, boasting over 440ppi. Blacks are quite dark, with colors appearing too saturated at times. Visibility under the sun is decent, and Symphony have finally fixed their annoying brightness issue that dimmed the screen, yet was still quite bright even at its lowest brightness setting. A minor caveat is that there is a light pink tint on the whites on lower brightness settings.

The ZVIII is built on a foundation of specs solid enough for everyday use. Power comes from a 1.4 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 430 chipset paired with 3GB of RAM, very similar to what powered its predecessor. Multitasking is smooth, with decent loading times with graphics-intensive apps. Games like GT Racing 2 and Asphalt 8: Airborne ran smooth thanks to the Adreno 505 GPU.

Battery backup with the 3000mAh battery is decent. Having used this device as my daily driver for the better part of a week, I had to plug it in at around 8 at night, almost every day. A regular day of smartphone usage for me generally involves a lot of surfing through Instagram, Youtube and Facebook when stuck in traffic or fighting boredom in classes involving mathematics, leaving mobile data and location services turned on throughout the day with the brightness set all the way up. Considering the relatively heavy usage (I tend to have a lot of math classes), the phone was decent, charge-wise.

Software

Symphony's software skin on top of Android Marshmallow is a nice new welcome. The interface is pretty much stock Android minus the app tray, with a somewhat flat icon pack keeping things nice and clean. I didn't detect much lag or stutter in my brief time with the device. The fingerprint scanner is easy to set up and is quite snappy to wake the device up. Double tap to wake and the gestures to perform specific tasks are still present, although it's now a common feature in most phones in this category.

Camera

The 13MP unit at the back is equipped with autofocus, a dual-LED flash, smile detection and a nifty anti-flicker mode for reducing flicker of indoor lights. Photos taken in broad daylight come out above average, with colors a bit on the saturated side. Autofocus takes a while to lock in poorly lit conditions, but works well if there's plenty of light. Details are good but you'll need to be very steady if you want sharp pictures indoors.

Video on the ZVIII is better than ever before on any Z series phone, frame rates are decent and the camera automatically acts fast to changes in light with smooth transitions.

Secondary camera is an 8MP unit with a tiny front-facing flash that will allow you to take selfies in every lighting condition imaginable. If being unable to take selfies at night was a problem in your life, the ZVIII has got your back. I was pleasantly surprised by how sharp the photos from the selfie camera were.

SPECS

Display: 5" FHD IPS 2.5D

CPU: 1.4 GHz Octa Core Snapdragon 430

OS: Android Marshmallow 6.0

ROM: 16 GB

RAM: 3 GB

Camera: Front: 8 MP, Rear: 13 MP

Battery: 3000 mAh

Features: Fingerprint, Battery Optimisation, Eco Mode (Super Power Saving) etc

Price: Tk. 13,990/-

VERDICT

It looks okay, performs well and is quite handy in this day and age of humongous phones. The design will allow people to get used to quite easily, and will very easily blend in with many other phones in the market. It feels good for a change to be able to pull down the notification tray on a phone without having to jostle the phone half-way down my hand. The fingerprint sensor is a good addition and works very well most of the time. Brightness needs to be set all the way up most of the time, in turn taking a toll on the battery life. The camera does not take breathtaking photos but you can't expect much better than what the Symphony ZVIII has to offer at this price point.

Photos: Rahin Sadman Islam