Asus ZenFone Max M1 Review

Asus is launching many different smartphones this year that is the real performer on the stage. Out in the wild, it has been the ZenFone 5Z which actually gathered the audience for the ZenFone Max Pro M1. These two devices did quite well in the market this year and gathered a lot of audience and tentative customers for their upcoming products.

Recently they also came up with the top of the line gaming product the ROG series device. But today we are not talking about a device which is made to perform out in the wild, but a phone which is available for cheap and will suffice the need of every third person maybe as a secondary phone, or as a primary phone. It is the Asus ZenFone Max M1, which we are going to review today. Let us have a look at the device in detail and see if it can survive the game against other devices in the same category.

Design & Build

Talking about the Asus ZenFone Max M1 we have the front with a 5.5” display which is having bezel both at the top and at the bottom in a symmetric manner. The bottom bezel is only to give the device asymmetric look and doesn’t even hold an Asus or ZenFone Max M1 branding onto the same.

At the back of the device, we have a dual camera setup that is on to the top left side of the device. We get the Asus branding on the bottom center and have the speaker grill, micro USB port, and the microphone grill at the bottom of the phone.

The whole device is made up of aluminum which makes it a unibody design, at the front we get a glass which is most probably a Gorilla Glass 3 unit. Overall the phone gets a good amount of fit and feel, and there is no clumsiness in the device while holding the same.

The device does look tough build and the same feel is transferred in the hand. But at the end of the day when you are comparing it with another top of the line devices, the build of the device does feel a bit dated. Overall it is good at the price point, but it won’t be able to suppress drops to a large level.

Display

Asus has put a 5.5 inched unit on the smartphone which comes at a resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels which makes the phone to have a unique aspect ratio of 16:10 which is quite unique at least in 2018, as we haven’t seen any other device with similar numbers.

Coming to the resolution it is actually an HD+ number and all of this translates to a pixel density of 245ppi which is actually quite less in numbers and for sure we are going to get to see the pixels out in the wild when we are using the phone. At the end of the day, the front part of the phone is covered by 84.4% with the display which is quite an interesting number.

Viewing the display in the daytime is not an issue as it can get really bright while viewing in the night also is not an issue as the phone can get really dark and that will not hurt the eyes to another level.

Overall quality of the display is good and we are going to get good colors and a good amount of saturation in the images and movies that you are going to watch. As the panel is an IPS LCD one hence it is going to showcase its downsides still you can easily watch the movies set in a darker background without much of a problem.

Performance

This particular device comes with two different setups on the processor and RAM. On the first setup, we have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chip which is developed on the 28nm platform and comes with Adreno 308 GPU. This particular model is offered with 2Gigs of RAM and an option to 16GB or 32 GB internals.

While the other setup is having a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset which is again developed on the 28nm platform and comes with Adreno 505 GPU. This setup is offered with 3Gigs of RAM and only 32GB of internal storage.

If you are looking for a device that can actually make you happy using the phone for normal usage, you can easily use it for nominal gamin which includes Subway surfer, any board game which is not much CPU or GPU intensive one. Rest of the work via the device is quite found and you don’t get any issue using the phone. You can easily look after the multi-tasking experience without any lag on the 3Gig variant, but on the 2Gigs one, you will surely need to compromise a bit.

Camera

Asus ZenFone Max M1 is loaded with a 13MP main camera that comes with a f/2.0 aperture value. On the secondary sensor, we have an 8MP one which is a really wide one at 17mm hence you can easily capture the surroundings without any issue.

When you are talking about the bokeh’s too it will surely help with its wide-angle view. On the front, we get the phone with an 8MP unit but this time it is only 25mm wide, but still will surely be helping you out taking group selfies.

Taking pictures and recording video on the phone is quite a great experience. We get EIS on both the front unit and the rear unit which is quite a great experience in using the mobile phone while recording some videos. Talking about the pictures we do get a good amount of color reproduction and a good amount of saturation on to the pictures.

If you are going to use the phone for photography then you are going to get disappointed, but for occasional clicks, it is quite good. Same is the case with the phone in the daytime and nighttime clicks, as in night time you are going to get issues clicking the sharpest of photos without grains.

Battery

Asus loads the Asus ZenFone Max M1 with a 4000mAh battery which is more than sufficient to suffice the needs of a normal user. As this phone is made about sole usage of calling, social media, and others without any hardcore gaming hence it is for sure that we are having a good time using the built-in battery. Battery life easily hovers around 22 – 28 hours depending on your usage, hence overnight charges are welcome on this device. Charging does take a bit of time hence do note that you must get a good amount of time to charge the device to its fullest.

Verdict

Asus ZenFone Max M1 is a great device and does make sure that we are having a nice time using the phone. This phone comes with a good amount of build quality and a good amount of performance for daily usage. This device is for someone who is looking forward to using the phone for normal daily usage which counts the calling and social media. What do you think about the all new Asus ZenFone Max M1? Do let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.