ASUS ZENFONE 3 MAX OFFERS PHENOMENAL DESIGN GREAT BATTERY LIFE

Asus held the launch of new Zenfone 3 Max event in New Delhi today and it was at the famous Taj Hotel. We attended the event and had the first-hand experience of the new Asus Zenfone 3 Max. I would be soon be sharing detailed review of the device.

Asus has today launched the new Asus Zenfone 3 Max in India Priced at Rs.12,999 (5.2 inch) variant while the 5.5 inch variant is priced at Rs. 17,999.

The smartphone comes with a premium metallic build, a much better build quality compared to the previous Asus Zenfone 2 Max.

Asus Zenfone 3 Max sports a uni-body metallic design and offers looks which is a reminiscence to the OnePlus 3. The smartphone is robustly build and the unit we tested was grey with precision cuts and contours, tight finish for volume and power buttons.

Asus has moved away from the concentric circles design, and have embraced a more subtle plain look.

With the new Asus Zenfone 3 series Asus is changing from a brand with a more mass market pricing to a premium positioning. Asus has previously launched the Asus Zenfone 3 and the Asus Zenfone 3 laser, both are premium build smartphones and we can expect more such devices from Asus in near future.

The Key highlight for the Asus Zenfone 3 Max is the enormous 4100 mAH Battery.  The Asus Zenfone 3 Max has a surprisingly low weight and thin profile. It was bit surprising to believe that the device holds a 4100 mAH capacity battery.

The 5.2 inches Zenfone 3 Max has a very similar form factor as my own Samsung Galaxy S7. The Zenfone 3 Max don’t feel bulky or like previous gen smartphones which had a large battery but felt bloated. It is a good job done by Asus engineers to fit in such a large capacity battery and still keep the thickness below 8.6 mm and 148 gram weight.

The Asus Zenfone 3 Max also retains the feature of reverse charging. You can charge any other smartphone with the Zenfone 3 Max using a reversible charging cable. The Asus Zenfone 3 Max comes with normal USB cable and don’t utilize the USB Type C which Asus has used in the Asus Zenfone 3.

ASUS ZENFONE 3 MAX (5.2 INCH):

The smartphone comes with 5.2 inch IPS LCD display and has HD resolution with 1280*720 pixels resulting in 282 PPI. Not one of the highest but passable.

The Zenfone 3 Max uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor clocked at 1.3 GHz to take care of graphics intensive Apps and games.

The Zenfone 3 Max comes with 3 GB RAM and there is 32 GB of internal storage which can be expanded to 32 GB using the Micro-sd card slot.

It is not a power horse of a processor and I ran the Antutu benchmark on the review unit and score is close to 30,000. (More on performance and UI when share the full review).

The smartphone is equipped with a 13 Mega Pixel rear camera which comes with LED flash and Autofocus. The rear camera comes with f/2.2 aperture and low light mode.

There is also a 5 Mega Pixel f/2.0 aperture based front camera which looks sharp in the initial testing. The smartphone has a fingerprint scanner at the back for quick unlocking.

The Zenfone 3 Max runs on  the Android Marshmallow 6.0 along with the Zen UI 3.0.The Zen UI has also got improved compared to the Zen UI 2.0 with more aesthetic design and less annoying UI elements.

Both the smartphones are Dual Sim comes with 4G LTE support to work with most of the telecom companies in India.

ASUS ZENFONE 3 MAX (5.5 INCH):

The Asus Zenfone 3 Max with 5.5 Inch display is priced at Rs. 17,999. There are some differences between the two units apart from the screen size.

The larger variant comes with Full HD display in comparison to the HD Display on the Asus Zenfone 3 Max (5.2 Inch variant). The smartphone is powered by a slightly powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor and comes with 3 GB of RAM and onboard 32 GB storage, expandable to 128 GB using a micro-sd card. There is Adreno 505 GPU for playing games.

We would have liked a better processor  for both devices. Like a Snapdragon 650 for 5.5 inch variant and the 5.2 inch variant could have got the Snapdragon 430 instead.

The smartphone also has enhanced camera capabilities compared to the smaller variant, it comes with a 16 MP rear camera and there is an 8 MP front selfie camera to click life like selfies.

The rear camera comes with tri focus technology (laser, phase detection and conventional contrast detection) and can focus on object as fast as 0.03 seconds and has f/2.0 aperture to click images in low light.

The larger 5.5 inch variant also has the same battery capacity of 4100 mAH but this is slightly thinner measuring 8.3 mm in thickness. The smartphone weighs 175 grams.

Both the smartphones will be available in Titanium Gray, Glacier Silver, Sand Gold.

The Asus Zenfone 3 Max (5.2) inch variant competes with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, Huawei Honor 5X and the Lenovo Vibe K5 Note. While the larger variant will get some tough battle from the Lenovo Vibe 2 Plus , Vivo V3 Max , Samsung J7 Prime and the Oppo F1s.

More About the Asus Zenfone 3 Max in the Upcoming review on Sunday.

Peter Chang, Region Head – South Asia & Country Manager for ASUS India said, “We understand the needs of the mobile consumers who are constantly on the move and require access to everything at the tip of their fingers. Through Zenfone 3 Max, we have been able to combine high-end aesthetics, a great photography experience, as well as a battery that ensures that users can enjoy their smartphone experience for longer durations without having to look for a plug point.”