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Asus has regularly experimented with different gadgets in developing its space in the market from net-books, wearables, tablets and obviously cell phones. However, many brands have come in as competitor in the greater electronic market. Asus is attempting to backpedal to its line of trusty purchasers with gadgets that come with premium highlights at inconceivably reasonable costs. It is now harder for Asus than how it was before; however, with more alternatives and feature variations, purchases have high chances to tip its scales. The Zenfone Max Pro M1 has been created particularly for India. Its main intention is to thump the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro off their present status and with its beginning cost of 10,999 rupees; we are really crossing our fingers.
Having set the premise for this launch, we are ready to explore the technical and creative aspects of the Zenfone Max Pro M1 with an unbiased and honest review.
Design
An invariably attractive exterior, the phone comes in two colour variants, Midnight Black or Gray. A smooth and non-slippery surface, it also has a glass with rounded on its front. According to Asus, they have used good quality glass of high durability, although there is no brand name for it.
There is an aluminium frame and a backplate made of metal. It has no risky or sharp edges. The camera’s module is adjusted at the level to the surface. One issue is the manner in which severely the back gets fingerprints marks on it easily. The width of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 is 8.61mm making it quite thick and to some degree substantially heavy, weighing at 180g. In light of the size, the user will not have the capacity to access the full screen with just a thumb while it is overwhelming when writing with the two thumbs at console level.
There is the 5.99 inch screen with adjusted corners and tight fringes on both sides. The volume and power buttons are strategically placed within simple reach just like the unique fingerprint sensor at the back. The Micro-USB port along the base as opposed to Type-C is surprising. The audio socket is 3.5mm in radius and comes with single speaker. Its sim-card tray has space for a couple of Nano-SIMcards and in addition, space for one microSD card.
The box comes with a 10W charger, USB cable, warranty card and basic manual and a surprise, the Max Box. It is a foldable stand on which the phone is placed that coordinates and amplifies sound. The phone however, does not come with a headset, which is a setback.
Software and Specifications
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636 processor and a 5000mAh capacity for the battery are the highlights. A 5.99 inches tall screen, an aspect ratio of 18:9 and 1080×2160 resolutions are quite impressive. Asus righteously claims a 450 nit brightness at1500:1 contrast ratio and 85% multiplication of NTSC colour array. There is the night mode and a colour temperature alteration in its Settings application.
You can pick between two variations of Zenfone Max Pro M1: a 32GB storage and a 3GB of RAM at 10,999 rupees or the one at 12,999 rupees that has 64GB and 4GB respectively.
Capacity is expandable to 2TB. One may use both their 4G SIM cards at once, however just a single will keep using 4G speed but the other one is restricted to only 3G. VoLTE too, is supported. There is Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n of single-band range. Bluetooth 5 present with apt X sound. The model is an Android 8.1 and comes with all Android Oreo highlights.
Performance
Applications run easy on the Zenfone Max Pro M1 with prompt Android UI. It is a truly decent telephone for amusement, in spite of the fact that the back gets marginally warm after rigorous use. Overall, the scores are high, all because of its Snapdragon 636 processor.
Battery Life
The battery life is quite impressive that last throughout a day of average use. The battery test lasted a 13 hour 29 minutes video playing time which is a major-turn off. Box comes with the 10-Watt charger and takes about 3 hours to round off a full 100% charge from zero.
Speaker
The phone’s single speaker is loud but sound distorts at its highest volume. The Max Box has a base that transfers sound. The impact is a little amplified while playing music or during calls but is of no use with videos in the landscape mode.
Camera
Zenfone Max Pro M1 has a 13-mp camera. The phone also has a 5-mp depth sensor on the back and combined they are the prerequisite for double cameras. The front cam is an 8mp camera with flash. The app controlling the camera confuses the user. For instance, the settings for the flash reside within the menu that requires three taps to turn off or on. It has a toggle for depth-mode and no portrait mode. It likewise takes three quick taps to go into its video mode to start recording. It isn’t a manual mode but some features for beautifying a picture or shot.
The back camera records 4K video however for reasons unknown and has two resolution choices, 4K UHD and 4K DCI. There are choices for CIF (352×240) and QVGA (320×240) resolutions which are sparingly used.
Under natural lighting, colours are well defined with good close-up clarity. At night, focusing is a bit more challenging, although not totally a failure for the camera.
Video quality is good too. The front camera fares well; however, the flash is harsh.
Final Verdict
So far, the grades are good for this particular model, especially because of the price range. With the camera quality and battery life a little under expectations, the achievement is quite commendable. The affordability and the features that is comes within this price range, the drawbacks can really be forgiven and forgotten. Overall, we are looking at a product that could potentially become the ‘It Phone’ in the 15000 budget smartphone circle. We really have high hopes from this model and hope Asus can restore its lost popularity in the Indian electronics market with a bang.
