Back when we’re at the grand launch of the ASUS ZenFone 4 family of smartphones at Taipei, the Max series was a part of it. Within the Max series is the Max Pro. Sure, it’s a niche audience for the Max Pro but how does it fare out against other smartphones? Let’s take an in-depth dive into the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro and see what it offers.
Unboxing
The entire ZenFone 4 series of boxes have so far been good. I’m really liking the more colorful and cheerful vibe that ASUS has given the entire ZenFone 4 series of smartphones. Compared to the previous designs where it’s professionally black, the new design is certainly more friendly and inviting.
Opening up the box reveals the phone itself and a few other accessories. What I like here is the inclusion of a TPU case within the box itself.
Of course, there are also the usuals like the charger and USB cable. However, this time around, just like the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro, the Max Pro has micro USB instead of USB-C. There’s also a pair of earphones and an OTG cable inside the box as well.
Pretty much in line with the tradition of the “ZenFone Max” series of smartphones.
[nextpage title=”Design”]
The entire design of the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro reminds me somewhat of the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom that we’ve reviewed here. It just… looks the same – but the feels different. It just doesn’t feel as solid as the Zoom.
All the buttons, however, are at around the same place as the Zoom. Tactility wise, the buttons are pretty similar too. Instead of having silver buttons on a blue-colored phone, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro comes with blue colored buttons too.
Geometrically, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is a little thicker and rounder on the edge. If used without a case, I find the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is a bit more friendly to my bony hands, but once a case is installed, the thickness is an issue.
I honestly find that the design of the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is a little stale at this point. The previous generation had a little more character with its glass back and glass front, but this time around – it’s pretty boring. From the front, it looks like a typical smartphone straight out of the template that many other smartphones are based upon. Same goes to the Selfie Pro that we’ve reviewed here too, actually.
The ZenFone 4 Max Pro weighs in at 185 grams, by the way.
The TPU case does make the buttons more difficult to press, but hey – at least the case is free. And it’s thick too.
[nextpage title=”Connectivity”]
In terms of connectivity, I’m surprised that ASUS finally took heed of what I’ve been complaining about on both the 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch variant of the ZenFone 3 Max. If the smartphone is about battery life, then I expect it to have a total of 3 dedicated slots. One for microSD, and two dedicated slots for SIM1 and SIM2 respectively.
Surprisingly, this is what ASUS did this time for the brand new ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro! Finally! The ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro now has two nano-SIM card slots and a single microSD card slot – all separated from each other. That’s what I want to see on a smartphone of this caliber!
With that out of the way, the WiFi situation on the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is in a similar situation with the Zoom and Selfie Pro – there’s no 5GHz compatibility and that means it doesn’t support 802.11ac WiFi too. Seems to be a common trend among ASUS smartphones since the ZenFone 3 Zoom, so to speak.
Again, not having 5GHz WiFi connection is not a big issue – but certainly is something to take note of as your large file transfers over WiFi will be agonizingly slow. This time around I can forgive ASUS for not having 5GHz connectivity as the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is meant to be something budget-friendly.
Speaking of the trends among ASUS smartphones, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro doesn’t have USB-C too. Once again ASUS has opted for the older microUSB connection. At least this time it’s quite justified, as the ZenFone Max series never once had USB-C to begin with.
And oh – the included OTG cable is indeed something that’s useful. You can charge other phones by using this little dongle or connect other USB devices like what we’ve shown here.
[nextpage title=”Display”]
Speaking of the screen, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro has a 5.5-inch 720p IPS LCD display that somehow looks a little blueish out of the box. I presume its color calibration is incorrect, and it’s a little washed out, too.
Now, I don’t expect the display to be gorgeous at this price point – but then again, it feels like an excuse to reuse this 720p display. It’s only a matter of time before ASUS jumps over to the FullView display bandwagon for that trendy 18:9 aspect ratio.
The chin of the phone is exactly the same as the ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro, as the fingerprint scanner is now moved to the front and placed in between the capacitive keys. This is definitely reminiscent of the older Samsung days where they have to have the home button at the front.
The debate between front or back fingerprint scanner will forever be ongoing and never will have a definite answer to which is better – it’s a matter of personal preference. For me, I really would prefer it to be at the back instead, and move to on-screen buttons. By doing this, at least the chin can be minimized a little.
[nextpage title=”Camera”]
Oh right, the camera situation. For the entire ZenFone 4 series of smartphones, ASUS has been pretty much focused on the camera. More like cameras – with an “s” – as the emphasis is on the dual-cameras on all the smartphones within the new ZenFone 4 family.
That means the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is no exception – as it has a dual-camera system at the back, and a single camera at the front. Here are the specs for the cameras.
- Rear camera
- Main camera: 16MP f/2.0 lens at 80° with Omnivision 16880 sensor; 25mm focal length
- Wide-angle: 5MP f/2.2 lens at 120° with Omnivision 5675 sensor; 18mm focal length
- Selfie camera
- 16MP f/2.0 lens at 80° with Omnivision 16880 sensor; 26mm focal length
Are the cameras something to be amazed about? Actually, yes. What ASUS has opted for here is a hybrid dual-camera system – the main camera with 16MP sensor and a f/2.0 lens with 80° angle, and the secondary camera that has a 5MP sensor and a f/2.2 lens with 120° angle. They both work independently and do not cross each other’s function.
Rear camera
Like I’ve said before, the rear-camera is indeed a selling point of the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro. Unfortunately, these Omnivision sensors just aren’t that up to par when it comes to quality. The image it produces look extremely noisy in dimly lit locations.
The main 16MP camera takes okay shots outdoors, but the focusing speed is agonizingly slow. Compared to the original ZenFone 3 Max 5.5-inch version that we’ve reviewed here, ASUS has removed laser autofocus and removed dual-tone flash to a single LED.
That secondary wide-angle lens is indeed something worth noting – as it widens up the view by a whole lot. However, the wider angle lens means you’ll be using another sensor, and it can only taking 5MP pictures at most, which is quite a bummer.
For social media usage, I find the camera is quite adequate in outdoor conditions. Better yet, that 5MP wide-angle camera does perform admirably even in indoor conditions. Of course, framing the shot is important as the fisheye-like lens distortion is obvious when it comes to pictures with geometries.
In my opinion, the white balancing and exposure between both cameras are not that good. For one, the white balance tends to go a little more blue-ish than it should be, and the 16MP camera tends to be underexposed whereas the 5MP is slightly overexposed.
Here are some of the shots from the rear camera. Most pictures here are comparing between the 16MP main camera and the 5MP wide-angle camera.
Selfie camera
Let’s be honest – having a 16MP selfie camera is quite the norm these days. Using this camera doesn’t feel anything special from other smartphone’s selfie cameras.
Quality that comes out of it is okay – nothing spectacular as the Omnivision sensors just aren’t up to par with Sony’s sensors.
For all I can say, the live viewfinder is slow in indoor conditions and I think it needs a little more refinement in the software side of things. Other than that, it can take some nice selfies in bright conditions.
Again, I think smartphones these days should have an autofocusing selfie camera.
[nextpage title=”Software”]
For whatever reason, ASUS decided to not give the ZenFone 4 Max Pro its latest and greatest software just yet. It’s still using the previous version of ZenUI, just like the one we showed here for the ZenFone 3 and ZenFone 3 Zoom.
How did I know? because the App Twin feature isn’t there.
Here’s a quick rundown on what app twinning is all about. Essentially, enabling app twinning duplicates another copy of the supported app, so you can login one account to each copy of the app. That means if you enabled app twinning for WhatsApp, you can login to two different WhatsApp accounts in one phone. However, that feature is not available on the ZenFone 4 Max Pro – yet.
Honestly, I’m not sure what ASUS is thinking. I mean, you have two dedicated SIM card slots but don’t have the app twinning feature? What gives?
[nextpage title=”Performance”]
Let’s talk about performance. The ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is indeed aimed towards the lower end of the market with its selling points being the ultra-long battery life and dual-camera system. Let’s take a look at the list of specs on what the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro truly has.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset (28nm process, not FinFET)
- 1.4GHz Cortex-A53 octa-core
- Adreno 505 graphics
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB eMMC storage
- 5,000mAh battery
In terms of its specs, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro is pretty basic. The Snapdragon 430 chipset pretty much set the stone in determining what type of performance does it give and what target audience is this phone aiming for.
Onward to some benchmark scores, shall we?
The chipset performed alright on Epic Citadel. Given that it’s pretty much an entry-level chipset, coupling it with a 720p display is actually a justified reason.
Vellamo test reveals that the Chrome browsing experience is acceptable for this price point. It’s never going to be as smooth and snappy as high-end smartphones, of course.
[nextpage title=”Battery”]
I have to say, ASUS did take heed of my complaints regarding the previous generation’s ZenFone 3 Max 5.5-inch version having a small battery. This time around, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro has a massive 5,000mAh just like its sibling, the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom.
Nothing much can be said about its battery life other than a job well done, though again I wonder why ASUS would opt for such an old chipset and not opt for the Snapdragon 450 chipset instead. FinFET is important, and we’ve explained why.
With that said, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro performs admirably on our standard battery life test. What I’m most impressed is that PCMark for Android didn’t crash after about 11 hours. There’s always a first time for everything, I suppose.
What PCMark for Android tells us is that the battery life can definitely last for a day of intense usage – all thanks to that 5,000mAh battery.
Charging
This is the most agonizing part when it comes to the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro. It’s not the first time I’ve felt this agony as the ZenFone 3 Zoom has the same issue too. That massive 5,000mAh will take an excruciatingly long time to charge.
ASUS, for some reason, doesn’t like to enable QuickCharge on their smartphones even though the chipsets are compatible with it. Both ZenFone 3 and ZenFone 3 Zoom are compatible with QuickCharge 3.0. Even this ZenFone 4 Max Pro is compatible with QuickCharge 3.0. For some unknown reason, ASUS decides to say nope and just disables it outright.
Without any sort of fast charging technology in hand, the absolute maximum power that the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro to charge its battery is 5V at 2A – a total of 10 watts. That’s it. It’ll take a total of 5 hours to charge from about 5% to a 100%. Five freaking hours.
Again, this is not an issue because I expect everyone using a smartphone like the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro to just plug it in and go to sleep.
[nextpage title=”Wrapping up the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro review”]
Let’s be honest here – in terms of the physical look and feel of the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro, it’s bland and generic. I don’t mind the fact that ASUS recycled the body of its previous phones, but come on – at least make improvements.
I have to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if ASUS just came up to me and say “hey, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro has the same body as the ZenFone 3 Zoom”, because technically, they’re the same. Though, I don’t really mind it since the ZenFone 4 Max Pro is indeed aimed towards the budget market who wants a humongous battery. Yet ASUS delivered it excellently, thanks to that two independent nano SIM card slot plus a single dedicated microSD card slot and coupled with a massive 5,000mAh battery.
At the price of RM1,099, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro is a pretty good deal.
- Pros:
- Dedicated dual-SIM slot + microSD card slot
- Massive 5,000mAh battery
- Wide-angle + main camera system
- Great slew of accessories included
- Good price point
- Cons:
- Screen color calibration is off
- Very slow charging
- Cameras need improvement
- Using an older chipset that is not fabricated with FinFET tecnhology
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