Asus ZenFone 3 Max Review: A Good Phone Marred By a Low-End Processor

Asus ZenFone 3 Max Review: A Rather Odd Device Review: A Good Phone Marred By a Low-End Processor

OUR VERDICT

While the ZenFone 3 Max features a good camera, stellar battery life and a premium design, the decidedly low-end processor and laggy UI pull it down massively.

FOR

• Stellar battery life
• Good camera
• Premium and fashionable design

AGAINST

• Extremely low-end processor
• Overpriced
• Average display
• Heavy and laggy UI

Asus launched the ZenFone Max back in January of this year with an aim to deal with the battery woes faced by most smartphones.

The distinguishing feature of the ZenFone Max was its mammoth 5,000mAh battery unit, which consistent with company claims could deliver up to 914 hours of standby time and 38 hours of talk time.

Now Asus has launched a fresh version of the ZenFone Max, bringing it more in line with its 2016 ZenFone 3 lineup.

The ZenFone 3 line now consists of 4 devices, the ZenFone 3 Max, the ZenFone 3, the ZenFone 3 Ultra and therefore the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, out of which the ZenFone 3 Max is now the entry level model, priced at Rs 13,999/17,999.

The ZenFone 3 Max comes in two variants, one with a 5.2-inch display, a 13MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera, Mediatek's MT6737M processor and therefore the Mali T270MP2 GPU for Rs 12,999 and one with a 5.5-inch display, a 16MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera, the Snapdragon 430 CPU and Adreno 505 GPU for Rs 17,999.

Both variants have 3GB RAM, 32GB of internal storage and a huge 4,100mAh battery. We’ve the 5.5-inch variant for review.

The 5.5-inch version of the ZenFone Max competes in an incredibly competitive segment populated by the likes of the Lenovo Z2 Plus, LeEco LeMax 2, Moto G4 Plus and therefore the Xiaomi Mi5.

Display

The ZenFone 3 Max comes with a 5.5-inch fullHD IPS display which is par for the course and has good viewing angles and punchy colors. Sunlight legibility is additionally decent with a max luminosity of 450nits.

As with the remainder of the smartphone, the display is decent but doesn’t stand call at any way. The blacks aren't as deep as i might have liked and therefore the black border round the display proves to be really distracting with the White color variant.

Design

Aside from the battery, the planning of the ZenFone Max 3 is one among its highlights. With an all glass front and metal on the rear and sides, the smartphone looks and feels incredibly premium and fashionable.

In my opinion, the ZenFone 3 Max actually looks better than its costlier sibling, the ZenFone 3 because of its brushed metal back which doesn't acquire fingerprints and appears very sleek and suave.

The grippy metal finish and therefore the curved edges lend themselves to a superb in-hand feel. The facility and volume keys on the proper are a delight to use, and are very ergonomically placed and not too mushy.

The back panel features a chrome like strip on the highest and bottom which looks quite lot just like the antenna bands on the iPhone 7 and seven Plus. Even the fingerprint sensor gets a chrome surround. Thankfully Asus has not gone overboard with the bling, and therefore the chrome adds an aesthetic touch to the proceedings.

2.5D curved glass adores the front of the smartphone which merges seamlessly into the edges. There are three capacitive keys for back, home and up to date apps underneath the display which sadly aren't backlit.

Hardware/Software

The ZenFone 3 Max comes with a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU that's clocked at 1.4GHz paired with the Adreno 505 GPU, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage which may be expanded via a micro SD card (of upto 128GB).

This is where the ZenFone 3 Max really disappoints. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU has no place during a smartphone that costs north of 10,000 rupees. The Lenovo Z2 Plus, which comes with Qualcomm’s flagship processor, the Snapdragon 820, costs precisely the same because the ZenFone 3 Max.

Asus’s decision to place such a decidedly low-end processor during an 18,000 rupee device baffles me to without stopping. What’s even worse is that the incontrovertible fact that the remainder of the specifications are on par for the course.

What is the purpose of 3GB of RAM and therefore the solid Adreno 505 GPU once they are paired to such a sluggish processor?

To put things into perspective, the Xiaomi Redmi 3S which is priced at just Rs 6,999, comes with the precise same processor!

Unsurprisingly, the day to day performance of the smartphone is nothing to write down home about. It’s fine for basic use like calling, texting, browsing mobile websites then on but you cannot help but notice how sluggish it gets sometimes. Browsing through an important internet site isn't a smooth experience, with slight jitters and jerks abound.

Asus’s heavy Zen UI doesn’t help matters much. Basics like opening the dialer and therefore the messages app take an additional second or two which really adds up within the end of the day. The UI is additionally cluttered with duplicate apps, bloatware and Asus’s own services.

All in all, the skin won’t win any beauty contests and is additionally extremely messy and not optimised well.

Where the device performs well is in gaming because the Adreno 505 GPU is sort of a solid performer. Casual games like Subway Surfers and Candy Crush are handled with aplomb and even heavy duty titles like Modern Combat 5 and N.O.V.A. 3 perform reasonably without too many dropped frames.

Multi-tasking is ok as long as you're doing less intensive tasks. As soon as you begin using the phone intensively, the CPU bottleneck really hinders the experience. Thankfully the ZenFone 3 Max comes with expandable storage making it an honest device for media consumption, especially with its huge 4,100 battery.

Camera

The 16MP rear camera on the ZenFone 3 Max comes with laser autofocus, a contrast detection system also as phase detection autofocus and is a particularly capable shooter. Asus has also packed 3-axis bitmap stabilization to stay videos steady.

The camera performs well in outdoor situations, producing detailed and well balanced images. a bit like the ZenFone 3, the camera is quite capable in low light situations and produces clear and crisp images, albeit with a touch loss of detail and a few noise.

The 8MP front camera is decent at the best. It comes with plenty of capture modes like Beautification, Auto, Night, HDR Pro, Effect, Low Light and Time Lapse and can be adequate for your basic social media selfies.

Videos are an assortment. While the standard isn't bad in the least, with punchy colors, good dynamic range and decent audio, the shortage of optical image stabilisation hurts a touch bit. The 3-axis electric image stabilisation is decent for day to day use but the shortage of OIS is sorely felt.

Battery Life

This is where the ZenFone 3 Max earns its name. While the battery has seen a decrease in size from previous models (4,100mAh as compared to five ,000mAh), it'll still easily last you two days of moderate to slightly intensive use.

The ZenFone Max features a standby time of a whopping 38 days and may even be used as an influence bank. Yes, that’s right, the ZenFone 3 Max can actually be wont to charge other smartphones. This may be very handy subsequent time your friend’s iPhone runs out of battery!

The battery life was the foremost pleasing aspect of the ZenFone Max within the time I used it as my daily driver. i exploit my device very intensively and my personal smartphone, the Sony Xperia Z5 runs out of charge a day by around 8 PM. With an equivalent use, the Max easily lasted me the entire day, sometimes even with quite 40% charge remaining by the time I came home.

Verdict: Should Are Priced Much Lower

The ZenFone 3 features a few positives like stellar battery life, an honest camera and an excellent design but they're all undone by the extremely low-end Snapdragon 430 processor. What pulls the device down further is that the excessively cluttered and unoptimised Zen UI.

The Max, with its decent display, stellar battery life and good camera are going to be an honest buy for those that need a smartphone purely for multimedia purposes.

But those that want to use their phone intensively or for even a touch productive use should steer beyond the ZenFone 3 Max. For an equivalent price, you'll get the Lenovo Z2 Plus or the LeEco LeMax 2 which accompany Qualcomm’s flagship processor - the Snapdragon 820, more RAM and a far better screen.