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HANDS ON REVIEW

ASUS ZENFONE MAX

Words Shahriar Rahman Photos: Rahin Sadman Islam
SPECS
Display: 5.5 inches,1920 x 1080 (400 ppi) with
Gorilla Glass 4
CPU: Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU: Adreno306
OS: Android OS, V5.0.1, upgradable to Marshmallow
RAM: 2 GB
ROM: 16 GB
Camera:13MP + 5MP
Battery: 5000 mAh
Connectivity: 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc
Price: Tk. 16,290/-
Buying a smartphone can be a gruesome task now these days. Whenever someone asks me which phone they should buy, I ask them back: what kind of phone are you looking for? What are you going to use it for? And most importantly: What's your budget? The phone we are reviewing today is ASUS ZenFone Max. If you are looking for a phone with a big screen, hefty battery life and above average performance on a budget then you should certainly thoroughly go through this review:
Like all the other ZenFone models in the market, ASUS ZenFone Max is the rehash of the 2nd gen ZenFone design formula. It comes in two colours: white and black. We are reviewing the white one. The back of the phone has a leathery texture of plastic finish. The edges are rounded, power button & volume rockers on the left, 3.5mm port on the top and charging port on the bottom. It has three capacitive android function ' . buttons right below the screen. It supports dual SIM or one SIM with a SD memory on the hybrid SIM tray.
The ZenFone max comes with a 720p HD display on a 5.5 inch phone making it a sheer disappointment. In a market full of Xiaomis and Lenovos and Meizus we think
a Full HD screen was a must for ZenFone max. Being just an HD screen, the pixels aren't the r sharpest; the colour reproduction isn't the very best; the brightness was however impressive. The quality of the screen is great. It offers a good viewing angle and from the display option you can adjust temperature, hue, and saturation. The gorilla glass 4 provides excellent protection if your often carrying keys and coins in your pocket. The touch response was up to the mark too. The performance of the phone was good. We played Angry Bird Transformer easily. All the regular apps ran fine.
Interestingly the ZenFone Max we got had Android Marshmallow out-of-the-box. But it also had the ZenUI which we are not particularly fan of. We felt like ASUS could do much better with the Vanilla Android. Not only the UI was full of bloatware but also it made the phone a bit slow. Honestly, at this day or age now one needs any of the following apps: ASUS Mobile Manager, ASUS Support, AudioWizard, Auto-start Manager, Do It Later, MiniMovie, PhotoCollage, Laser Ruler, MyASUS, Share Link, Splendid, Weather,
WebStorage, ZenCircle, and ZenTalk.
The battery is the key highlight of this phone. The ZenFone Max comes with a humongous 5000mAh battery. ASUS claims you would no longer need to plug in your phone mid-day or you would have to carry a power bank. And to our utter surprise that claim's weren't misplaced. On a single charge we were able to run the phone two day straight. Up on heavy usage, it lasted an entire day and a bit more. By heavy usage we mean phone running on full brightness, data always on, constant messaging on FB, whatsapp, emails, music playback for hour and binge watching tvshows. The battery performance can be further enhanced by toggling between several built-in battery modes based on your usage — performance, normal, power saving, and super power saving. If you want to customize you have that option too. The phone also gives you an OTC cable to use the phone as a powerbank. Awesome, right? But it has an annoying side as well. No fast charging folks, so you have to make sure your phone gets a full night of charge. We earnestly hope that ASUS replaces the standard 1A/5V bundled charger in its next iteration.
Camera isn't a strong suit for ASUS. A 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera - comes as a standard in the phone. Being a budget smartphone, the phone doesn't offer the best snaps on this price range. But then again it doesn't mean you don't get decent pictures and selfies.
VERDICT:
Undoubtedly, ASUS ZenFone Max is a great bargain if you want a phone that will last an entire day and more; even after extreme usage. In order to fit the huge battery and make the phone available on a budget, ASUS did cut some corners. It doesn't have a full HD display nor does it have a metal unibody. However, for a price tag of BDT. 14K, the phone offers good build quality & decent performance that can run all the apps you would use everyday and take pictures that are good enough for Instagram.