The ASUS ZenFone Max is a smartphone that ASUS touts strongly about, particularly on its battery. I ain’t even mad, because it’s something that I would like in any of the upcoming smartphones out there. Let us take you on a ride that is the review of the ZenFone Max.
The ZenFone Max has the same packaging style that is found on all of the other ZenFone series of smartphones (except the ZenFone Zoom) and we’ve seen it a little too many times here at Nasi Lemak Tech. However, if you’re new to ASUS’s family of ZenFones, here’s the packaging.
Still the same clean packaging. There’s also a flap at the front too, which you can hold and open it up to reveal the ZenFone Max itself. Beneath the ZenFone Max is all of the other contents, which in this case ASUS included a charger, micro USB cable, user guide and warranty card, the ZenFone Max itself, and an OTG cable. There is no earphones in them at all.
[nextpage title=”Design”]The ZenFone Max here takes ASUS’s latest smartphone design and gave it a twist. It looks nearly identical to the ZenFone Zoom which we reviewed here, but made out of different material.
The back for example, is made out of embossed polyurethane leather to give that feel instead of using real leather. However I should point out that the back cover actually feels very similar to the ZenFone Zoom.
Both power and volume positions are also placed are similar locations, as they both have their buttons placed on the left side. The feel of both buttons however are totally different. I’ve stated before that the buttons on the ZenFone series of smartphones that came out after the original ZenFone 2, had upgraded buttons which now feels absolutely comfortable. The ZenFone Max however has a sort of in-between feel. It’s not as mushy as the ZenFone 2, but it’s not as tactility isn’t as good at the latest ZenFone Max.
Serious,y you can see the similarity of chassis between both the ZenFone Max and the ZenFone Zoom, why didn’t ASUS use the exact same buttons?
While comparing both, the ZenFone Max is slightly smaller and thinner than the ZenFone Zoom. Not by much though.
Opening up the back cover shows off the next section of the ZenFone Max.
[nextpage title=”Connectivity”]Hear me out here. The physical looks, is very similar to the ZenFone Zoom. Other than that however, is nearly identical to the ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch version, which we also reviewed here. The thin PU leather back cover can be opened as it is held by a few plastic clips, revealing the innards.
Sure, the positions might have differed a little from the ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch but my point stands – they’re both nearly identical. Both of them have dual-SIM card slot, and a single micro SD expansion slot. The battery is also not removable.
Other than that’s there’s the standard 3.5mm audio jack at the top, and the micro USB port at the bottom.
Also, lacks NFC. Pretty standard here for a smartphone of this range.
[nextpage title=”Screen”]This is another thing that I think is an exact copy paste from the ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch version. It still has a 720p display, with the same colours and everything else is also the same. Oh by the way, same screen size too.
It’s still a very bright screen, although the PPI from a 5.5-inch 720p display is a little lacking in crispness obviously. Still is quite beautiful for me, since I’m always using my phone by at least 20cm to 25cm away from my eyes at all times.
I’m not complaining it at all. If it works and there’s a great balance between all of the hardware and the price, it’s okay – that’s what makes the one smartphone unique.
[nextpage title=”Camera”]
In this case, I couldn’t find any difference between the this and the ZenFone 2 Laser or the ZenFone Selfie, or the ZenFone 2 for that matter. I think they’re using the same sensor for the rear-camera, and AIDA64 seems to be confirming that. However, the front-facing camera seems to be upgraded on the ZenFone Max in comparison with the original ZenFone 2 Laser.
I’ll tell you this outright – the camera still performs the same as any of the previous ZenFone series of smartphones I reviewed previously (ZenFone 2 ZE551ML version, ZenFone Selfie, ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch, ZenFone Zoom). I personally have no issues with ASUS taking up the overstocked sensors they have and putting them in good use, and here’s a simple photo sample which you can have a reference of.
Overall, the picture quality is very similar to the ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch which we reviewed here, so if you want to see more picture samples, head over to that review instead. In summary, looks great on cropped under decent lighting conditions, quickly detereorates to a very noisy image in dimly-lit conditions.
Also, I still love the laser autofocus here. Although a little stale now, but I still love this feature a lot.
[nextpage title=”Performance”]For what I can tell, the performance of the ZenFone Max is pretty decent, albeit similar to the ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch version. They both sport the exact same hardware – Snapdragon 410 chipset with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and Adreno 306 GPU, packed with 2GB of RAM.
In the usual test suite – firstly Epic Citadel. It scored identically to the ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch version, which I am again, praising it because of the value that these two smartphones have.
Then comes the Vellamo tests. It scored within the margin of error as compared to its near-identical twin, and yet again I’m mentioning this – it’s an okay performance for such price.
Thermals wise, it is also identical to its twin, throttling at about 50°C.
[nextpage title=”Battery”]This is where things get interesting. The ZenFone Max has a 5,000mAh battery. Yes, five flippin’ thousand mAh battery. That’s really humongous – and the only other found I know that has such a large battery is the Lenovo Vibe P1.
I can tell you, that the battery life on this phone can survive for a day and a half with no issues at all – that’s when I played quite a number of sessions on Angry Birds 2 too. If I don’t game on it, 2 days, no problems. Done deal.
One thing I am quite surprised though is ASUS not including fast charging for the ZenFone Max. Not even its compatibility. Once I plugged it into my 9V;2A-compatible charger, the ZenFone Max still charges only at 5V 2A at most. This is obviously nitpicking, because I always leave it overnight to charge instead of rushing for a quick charge on my phone in the morning or while I’m outside. That said, let’s talk about charging times.
To charge at 5.2V at 1A will take a very long time – we’re talking at about 4 hours from somewhere near 10% of battery left in the ZenFone Max, all the way to a completely full 100% battery level. Yeah I understand that it’s excruciatingly long – but remember this, it’s a 5,000 mAh battery. A few percent of that is quite a huge amount of juice you’re gonna have. This also brings us to the next feature that the ZenFone Max has – being a power bank.
Having 5,000 mAh and being able to share with other people is a great addition to the ZenFone Max. Remember that included OTG cable? Use that and charge other phones instead. Not every hero wears cape. Be the hero.
I tried using the ZenFone Max to charge my ZenFone 2. Using my handy USB power meter, the output from the ZenFone Max that I got is about 4.5V at somewhere near 0.5A. It’s not a bad way of a dying smartphone to hook on a lifeline to prolong its undeniable death, and potentially save it enough to get home.
Charging at 4.5V 0.5A is a little slow, but yes, it does charge.
[nextpage title=”Wrap up”]
Here’s the deal. The ZenFone Max is kind of an in-between model, with the physical looks, shape, and quality of the ZenFone Zoom, but with the hardware from the ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch version. It’s a decent smartphone for those who don’t need much performance, but needs a lot of juice in their smartphone.
This is the brand new ZenFone Max. To be honest, I love it. The ZenFone 2 Laser 5.5-inch now breathes new air with a brand new design and a bigger than ever battery. If you want to get yourself a smartphone within the RM800 budget, please do yourself a favour and just get this. There are some stores in Lazada selling it at RM700 only – click here to get that deal right now!!
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