Asus launched a new Zenfone Max model in the beginning of this year. The aim of introducing this new model was to deliver the maximum possible battery life to the customers, without making too many compromises. The outcome was a decent package that balanced the price and its performance. This phone is the successor to Asus’ own Zenfone Max. The original Asus Zenfone Max came with a 5000mAh battery and this new Zenfone 3 Max pack in smaller 4,100mAh unit, though. There are two units of the Asus Zenfone 3 Max available in the market, one model is a 5.5-inch variant with a Snapdragon 430 and the second is of 5.5-inch variant MediaTek chip, therefore, the smaller one is known as the Zenfone 3 Max 5.2 and the larger one is called the Zenfone 3 Max 5.5. In this article, you will get the review on the Zenfone 3 Max 5.2-inch model.
In the Box: Handset, Battery, Adapter, User Manual, OTG Cable, Standard USB Cable, Warranty Card.
Design and Display
Beginning with the design, the Zenfone 3 Max has a 5.2-inch screen, a full high definition (720p) display that has limited its maximum brightness to 400nits. The Zenfone 3 Max is slimmer than the earlier version and it has managed to keep the thickness of the smartphone to the minimal despite the big battery. As it is not a bulky device, it’s easy to carry it in the pocket. Though it is very potent display but the colors look a bit washed off. For the quick physical overview of the phone, the back of the smartphone, features a 13-megapixel rear camera, fingerprint sensor, speakers and a LED flash. It has gentle curves on the edges of the phone. On the top of the device, there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the right side of the smartphone, you find the power button and volume rockers. On the left side of the device, you get the hybrid Dual SIM and microSD card tray. It features a metal unibody and full HD display. On the front of the smartphone, there is an earpiece, proximity sensor, front-facing camera of 5MP and ambient light sensor, it also has Gyroscope and accelerometer on the phone. It has a good design and builds quality with a vibrant display and capable cameras.
Camera
The smartphone has two cameras, one is a rear camera and the second is a front camera. Zenfone 3 Max has a 13-megapixel rear camera and front camera of 5MP. It has backlight (HDR) mode, low light mode, night mode, real-time beautification mode that makes it work pretty well in different light modes which is a good feature. The camera of the device also has features like fix focus, autofocus and LED flash. This smartphone has a pretty decent camera.
Hardware, Battery, and Connectivity
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max comes with a 4100mAh battery which is non-removable. If we talk about the Asus Zenfone Max, it had a 5000mAh battery but the battery performance of the Zenfone 3 Max is much better than that although it is slightly smaller than the previous one. This 4G dual SIM smartphone has a battery backup of almost two days, so the phone will not die once it is fully charged. Well, to maintain the battery for longer, it takes a little extra time to charge. You get the usual Wifi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth V 4.0 +EDR and GPS with A-GPS as well. It features OTG support, it means you can play movies, songs or view documents from pen drive directly. Reverse charging is a unique feature that let you charge the battery of your second phone, in case you use multiple phones. Zenfone 3 Max can be used as a power bank to the other phone by using the OTG cable provided to the user.
Software, Performance, and UI
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The processor of the phone is Quad-Core, the chipset of Mediatek MT6737M and GPU is Mali T720MP2 that let you perform decent activities from day to day life. This phone is not meant for the heavy games as it is not configured that way. The internal storage of the Zenfone 3 Max is of 16GB with 2 GB RAM or 32GB with 3 GB RAM and the memory is extendable up to 256GB with microSD. The audio quality of the phone could have been much better. LED notification makes the phone very useful, with this type of alerts, you can’t miss any important notification.
Quick Verdict
It is a good option for those who are looking for a smartphone that is well-built and can be last longer to perform day to day activities including social networking, SMS, calling, etc.