First Impression – ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1)

Here’s the brand new ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1). From what we know, it’s going to be officially announced on 31st of May 2018, and sales will presumably start on 1st of June. Because you know, Malaysia is changing GST to 0% effective 1st June.

Of course, that doesn’t stop us from getting our hands on the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1). We had an exclusive first look at the device first alongside with some fine folks over from ASUS HQ to answer our questions on the spot.

At first glance, I’m going to draw one comparison first – the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1) looks awfully alike the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 that was announced about a month ago. Even the core specs are quite identical. The main difference here are the software, camera, battery, and also the SIM/microSD card slot.

As of now, we know the core specs but ASUS has told us that there will be at least two variants coming into the Malaysian market:

• 6-inch 18:9 screen with 2160×1080 resolution
• Snapdragon 636 chipset
  • Octa-core with 8x 1.8GHz Kryo 260
• 5,000mAh battery with 5V2A charger
• Triple slots for dual nano SIM + microSD card slot
• 5 magnet speaker and NXP smart amplifier
• Pure Android Oreo 8.1 experience
• Cameras
  • Selfie camera:
    • 6GB RAM variant: 16MP with LED flash
    • Other variants: 8MP with LED flash
  • Rear-camera
    • 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant: 16MP main camera + 5MP depth sensor
    • 3GB RAM/32GB storage and 4GB RAM/64GB storage variants: 13MP main camera + 5MP depth sensor

A few major points to highlight here during our first impression with the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1). Firstly, the dual-camera setup is nothing out of the ordinary. We’ve seen it before, and at this point of time, any phone that doesn’t have dual-cameras will seem outdated. Since the ZenFone Max Pro (M1) has a secondary camera as a depth sensor, it’s using a stereoscopic dual-camera system. Learn more about it here.

Then we have the pure Android experience. Oh yes – this is a big deal. We know for a fact that ASUS isn’t the quickest when it comes to software updates. To address this issue, ASUS opted to go for the pure Android experience. Zero bloatware, and updates will arrive even faster.

Thirdly, the triple slots that the ZenFone Max Pro (M1) has. We first saw this triple slot tray on the ZenFone 4 Max Pro, and ASUS has been continuing the trend until today. Glad to know that our complaints are being taken seriously.

One nice addition here is that the loudspeaker on the ZenFone Max Pro (M1) is a beefy one. It has a total of 5 magnets and has a smart amplifier to make sure your sound quality is optimal while preventing distortion or overpowering and potentially damaging the speakers.

ASUS has also informed us that it’ll be available in two different colors – silver and dark blue a la the ZenFone 3 Zoom that I’ve personally accustomed to. As for the price, we’ve been told that it’ll be starting from RM799 onwards. We don’t have a solid pricing for it yet, but we kinda expect ASUS to be priced competitively against the Redmi Note 5. We’ll have to wait until 31st May for the official launch.

We’ll be getting our hands dirty with the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1) soon, so stay tuned for the full review.

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