Asus ZenFone 3 Users Rejoice: Nougat Is Rolling Out Today!

March 08 12:00 2017 by Alexei Rivera Print This Article

Chalk this one up to the Asus software team, but the ZenFone 3 (ZE520KL / ZE552KL) is one of the first few relevant, midrange devices to get a Nougat update – and even just around the same time or earlier than big brands like Samsung. That’s right, you read that loud and clear: one of the best phones from last year is getting a Nougat update – while surprisingly the rest of the phones from 2016 and even new phones coming out are still stuck in Marshmallow – or worse Lollipop. So let’s all give the Taiwanese company a round of applause for the support before we talk about the update in more detail.

The Asus ZenFone 3 ZE552KL / ZE520KL Nougat update started rolling out today, March 8, 2017, and should be available to most users. Upon hearing the news, we immediately checked our 5.5″ unit and got the prompt to download the new firmware. It takes up a total of an extra 1.5GB out of your 64GB allocation, and is a rather large 1.3GB download. But it should be all worth it in the end just to get the better battery performance, and much anticipated split-screen multitasking features.

Here are some more changes to expect among other things (like better battery life), as detailed in this ZenTalk post on the Nougat Update:

1. Enable’s FET VoLTE and VoWiFi (Voice over LTE and Voice over Wifi) – this allows you to call using 4G networks and WiFi instead of 2G / 3G.
2. Removal of “Share Link” – This is an Asus pre-installed app that shares files over LAN via link. It won’t work on Nougat.
3. Removal of “redundant” apps like “Audio Wizard”, “Splendid”, “System Update”, and “Flashlight” from apps menu. – All accessible from Settings still, just no longer dedicated apps
4. Changing the Recent Apps Key hold to the new Split-Screen Multitasking button for Nougat
5. Quick Settings (pulldown bar) is now paginated
6. Different Ringtone and Notification volume sliders instead of just one
7. Removed “Shake Shake” from ZenMotion – this was a screenshot gesture if we remember correctly
8. Removal of old incompatible Live Wallpapers (Holo Spiral, Bubbles, Black Hole, Phase Beam) – The end of an era for these iconic live wallpapers. But honestly the best wallpaper is our BTS Wallpaper anyway!

We’re currently downloading our update right now and really quite excited finally be on the Nougat side of the fence. We’ll likely do a more in-depth review of the changes soon, but for now feel free to check if your phone already has the update. Unless you’re willing to wait and see if there are bugs / issues. (Which is probably wise anyway, but we can’t wait though.)