Asus Zenfone Max: 5 Hits and 5 Misses of this big-battery smartphone

By Harshita

| Published: Monday, December 14, 2015, 13:51 [IST]

Battery life is a constant concern of most smartphone users today, which has lead many smartphone companies to come up with big-battery handhelds. A couple of months back, Asus also unveiled a big battery Android phone to cater to those consumers who want their smartphone's battery to stay juiced up for longer. The company announced the Zenfone Max ZC550KL lower mid-ranger in the company's Zenfone lineup, though it did not confirm its launch and availability details. It seems that Asus is now all set to launch the smartphone soon, as it has started teasing the phone online.

Asus unveils Zenfone Max with 5.5 inch HD display and huge 5,000mAh battery Asus unveils Zenfone Max with 5.5 inch HD display and huge 5,000mAh battery

The USP of the Asus Zenfone Max is its huge battery which is also reflected with its name. This mid-range smartphone has been touted as a phone that allows you to 'See your world with ultimate energy.' The question is that is this phone just about its battery, or does it have more to offer? Here we take a look at its top 5 specifications and features, and other 5 features which we found missing on the phone.

Here is why your Android phone's battery takes longer to get charged Here is why your Android phone's battery takes longer to get charged

Let's start with its top 5 features and specifications.

Battery:

Starting with the battery itself, Asus Zenfone Max houses a battery of 5000mAh capacity, which as per the company can hold charge for up to 38 days on standby and 37.6hours of talk time. Moreover, the phone can double up as a power bank, allowing you to charge other devices by connecting the two using a USB OTG cable. The weak point of the battery could be that it is non-removable. Well, we will give our opinion on its battery performance when it passes our test during our review of the phone.

Camera:

ZenFone Max sports a 13MP PixelMaster rear camera with Toshiba sensor, and 5P Largan lens. The camera has f/2.0-aperture, ultra-fast laser auto-focus and Low Light mode to capture more light during low-light conditions, and is paired with Dual-LED real tone flash. The front adorns a 5MP selfie camera with 85 degree wide angle lens and f/2.0 Aperture.

Software:

The smartphone runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, wrapped under Asus' native ZenUI, which brings several customization and features.

Connectivity options:

Considering that 4G LTE services are now available in India and many smartphone makers have come up with compatible devices, Asus Zenfone Max smartphone is not left behind in the list. The phone offers dual SIM support and comes with 4G LTE support across bandwidth.

Display:

The phone features a 5.5-inch HD IPS dispay offering 720x1280 pixels resolution topped with Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The display is powered by ASUS TrueVivid Full Screen Lamination technology and offer 178˚ viewing angle.

5 Features it Lacks:

Well, the phone seems to carry a huge battery with impressive life, if we go by the claims made by the company. However, the battery cant removed by users as it is attached to the phone's body. We think a removable battery could have made it exceptional.

Octa-core processor:

The Zenfone Max is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core chipset, which is good for its capacity, but considering that most of the latest smartphones in mid-range category are powered by octa-core chipset, we wish this phone too housed an octa-core chipset inside.

Higher RAM:

Now that we have budget smartphones with 3GB of RAM, we think the Zenfone Max could have been a better offering if it offered higher RAM. The phone has 2GB of RAM which should work fine for multitasking and smooth performance of the phone, but a higher RAM would have been even better.

Water-resistance capability:

Like many other smartphones, the Asus ZenFone Max also lacks water resistance capabilities which could have helped it score extra otherwise. This is one feature that we think most of the smartphone lack.

Quick charge:

A big battery could have been supplemented with quick charging capability but sadly that is missing from the phone. Quick charging tech would have allowed user to charge the battery faster.