Asus has upgraded its battery focused Zenfone Max and re-launched it with better specs for the same price. New Asus Zenfone Max is now available for Rs. 9999 from Flipkart. We also posted its unboxing video. In this article, we are adding its initial impressions before publishing the final review.
New Zenfone Max is almost similar in design as compared to previous Zenfone Max. It is of same dimension and same look and feels. Back side offers leather like finishing but it is not the leather. It has the same kind of touch buttons below the display. At right edge, it has the volume rocker and power button. 3.5 mm audio port is on the top side and micro USB is at the below side.
Rear camera, real tone flash, and laser autofocus sensor are at the back side. Speaker placing is also at the below part of back panel. Back panel of this phone is also removable which houses 5000 mAh non-removable battery. Above the battery part, you see two SIM card slots and 1 micro SD card slot.
Also see: Asus Zenfone Max: Top 5 rivals
No notable change in design and phone offers same experience while holding. The Size of display is 5.5-inch and company managed to make comfortable grip with its leather-like back.
It comes with 5.5-inch display which offers good viewing experience. Viewing angles are fine and sun-light visibility is also fine. The Display is also protected with gorilla glass 4. At this price you will not expect better than this viewing experience.
NOTE: This smartphone does not have gorilla glass protection, We Apologise for wrongly mentioned this.
Processor and storage have been upgraded in this phone. Now, the phone is powered by octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor clocked at 1.5Ghz. It will be available in 2 GB and 3 GB RAM models. I got chance to experience the 2 GB RAM model only. I am satisfied with its initial performance. With 2 GB RAM, it was able to handle multiple tasks easily to offer lag-free experience.
It comes with 32 GB internal storage which is expandable up to 64 GB by adding a microSD card slot. USB OTG support is also there to allow you using ITG drives on the go.
It runs on Android 6.0 marshmallow out of the box with Zen UI at the top of it. This is another notable change in this phone. Running latest android is always a good experience. Zen UI offers various customization options by including wallpapers, themes, and transition options. You also get various bloatwares from which few are impossoble to remove.
It comes with 13-megapixels rear camera with real tone flash and laser autofocus sensor. It also offers 5-megapixels camera at front side. Camera of this phone remains the same and is good enough considering the price of the phone. Camera app of the phone is the same with lots of camera modes to enjoy. With laser autofocus, you can quickly capture the photo of any object.
Night mode of the phone also works good and allows you to capture good photos even if the light is not so good.
Connectivity features of the phone are 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro USB and GPS. It is packed with large 5000 mAh battery with options to use battery manager to further enhance the battery backup. With this much of large battery, you can easily get 2 days of mixed usage. Good thing is that the phone can also work as power bank for other phones. So, you can charge other phones with the battery of this phone.
Final words
Company did the right things by upgrading this phone. As the previous Zenfone max was launched in India ealier this year in january, now the phone was become outdated due to better options in the same price segment. By upgrading the specs of the phone, company is now back in fight. Large battery is the main advantage of this phone while other specs are also good.
At this price, this phone is best for those who need good phone with awesome battery life.
