Asus finally launched the smartphone that will keep you connected for a longer time, they are serious in calling this new phone as the "Battery King" of smartphones. I've been hearing a lot of buzz about the term "battery king", and the thing that came into my mind is that, maybe the new Zenfone is carrying a big battery on its big phone body. But looking at the phone on my hand, I was right and I was also wrong.
I got a chance to try Asus' Zenfone Max Pro M1 and I will be posting my first impression and also an unboxing here in my new post.
The Zenfone Max Pro M1 is priced at PHP9,995, is considered as the new budget smartphone from Asus with a big battery inside. Yes I was right that the battery capacity is 5000 mah – One of the biggest battery I have heard in smartphones, and also I got the wrong impression because I thought the phone is big, but the phone got only a 5.99 inches screen and that’s quite a common size for a handy smartphone.
Phone users will have more option if they want a bigger phone or a budget handy phone with a large battery capacity. Some may consider to look for the RAM or the storage, the camera specs and also the screen. The phone can be for gaming or for regular or personal use, for photography or video, but what if the phone can do both and can provide you more function? Now that’s a very interesting feat because in my few days hands on use of the Zenfone Max Pro M1, I can say that I’m already impressed.
Hold on, I will post a main review soon, but for now, check out the unboxing and first look of the Asus’ Battery King!
TECH SPECS
5.99-inch Full HD+ (2160 x 1080) Full-View IPS Panel
83% screen-to-body ratio, 2.5D arc glass panel
Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 64-bit octa-core CPU (8 x Kryo 260 cores)
Pure Android 8.1 Oreo with future upgrade to Android P v9.0
Adreno 509 GPU
RAM - 3GB LPDDR4
Storage - 32GB EMCP
Rear dual camera - 13MP, F2.2, 80 degree view angle with Omnivision 16880 sensor with Phase Detection AF and 5MP Secondary dedicated depth sensing camera for accurate bokeh effects
Front camera - 8MP, F2.0, 85.5 degree view angle
Both camera with LED soft light flash
NXP smart amplifier
Dual nano Sim tray and microSD card in one tray
Metal body with 2.5D contoured display glass panel
Face Unlock, Fingerprint unlock with 5-finger recognition
Micro USB slot
LTE ready
5000 mAh Battery
Body color available in Meteor Silver and Deepsea Black
SRP - PHP 9,995
Exclusive sale at Lazada
Here’s what’s inside the box
- Zenfone Max Pro M1 unit
- manuals
- plastic casing
- Sim card tray pin (not in pic)
- microUSB cable
- Charger plug
- earphones
- extra earbuds
I didn't did some research about the specs of the Zenfone Max Pro M1, at first I thought that I was holding the early version - Zenfone Max Pro and I didn't noticed the "M1" on the box label. Im impressed that its very handy, the phone is not too big and its perfect for anyone's palm.
The phone also uses a slim and compact metal chassis. Zenfone Max Pro M1 has a better protection for the back body and it will require heavy beating to damage the battery and processor inside. The Zenfone Max Pro M1 metal body will give you no worries.
I installed a new wallpaper, because this phone doesn't have any wallpaper and its so boring to see a plain blue color on the phone. So I manually downloaded some wallpaper JPEG from the net and used it for this phone.
The 5.99 inches display is also beautiful and I like the compact size but with a much wider display.
Take note that there's no Gorilla Glass protection on the screen. I suggest adding a tempered glass filter on it will help you to add more protection.
A look on the left side, you'll see the nano Sim and micro SD tray
Two nano SIM can be used and be activated at the same time, plus you can add a micro SD card for additional storage
At the bottom of the phone, you'll see the earphone jack, the microUSB slot, the audio speaker and tiny mic hole.
At the right side, the power button and the volume rocker
The front camera with 8MP, F2.0, 85.5 degree view angle
Rear camera with 13MP and 5MP, for the bokeh photo magic , you need to activate the camera’s setting to use the dual camera in taking photos.
In common nature of smartphones, they usually have a HOME button at the front of the screen, they use the Home button for the finger print scan recognition to unlock the phone, early models place the finger scan at the front of the screen.
But for the Zenfone Max Pro M1, the finger scanning activity will be at the back of the phone. You use your pointy finger for the finger print scan registration and for the unlocking via the circular sensor.
Im a big fan of Google Now Launcher theme, but I may no longer use that for the Zenfone Max Pro M1 because the UI theme is much better, I no longer need to press a button, All I need to do is swipe up to view the app menu.
Btw, the home screen is now on the lower part of the main screen, not on the bezel of the phone.
I did some test shot using the dual cam and the front came of the Zenfone Max Pro M1, Im impressed on the bokeh effect and its color balancing. I was taking photos of food on the table for my food blog feature, and I noticed that the Zenfone takes better photo than my DSLR, so I kept my bulky DLSR in my bag and used the dual cam of the Zenfone Max Pro M1 for taking photos of food for my blog. The result is good!!!
I will post samples and review of the camera in my next blog post.
Its been 3 weeks that Im using the Zenfone Max Pro M1, At first I didn't charged it in full and I used the stock charged on the battery, the phone survived for 2-3 days in heavy use and when it reach the 30% battery, I decided to give it a full charge.
Then I left it at home and see if the stand by mode will consume more power, Then I use the phone for online surfing, gaming and also taking photos, The result is that the phone is still in good battery condition.
Check the note on the Battery section, it says that my last full charge was 11 days ago and the Zenfone Max Pro M1 still have 29% battery power left. Wow!!!!
For travel bloggers--- you should check this phone! no need to carry more power bank when we travel around.
For the processor, the Snapdragon 636 is fast and I didn't encountered yet any sluggish moment in using the phone. I tried playing PUBG on it and it was much better and the graphics is smoother and bright, its better than the tablet that Im using, I will do more test and see if other heavy games can run on the phone even if it have 3GB RAM.
Thank you for reading my tech post today!
Watch out for my next post and video test of the camera and my over all review of the phone.
