Asus has had a Zenfone Max before. It was a big phone with a big battery. And this time around, it's new and improved -- and still as value-for-money as ever for a mere Rs 9,999 or Rs 12,999 for a variant.
Big BatteryThe Zenfone Max is all battery. 5,000 should be more than anyone needs. It lasts about two days and could even be stretched further depending on usage. Standby time is nice and long.
Given the fact that it has such a colossal battery, you'd have expected the device to be really heavy. It isn't light, but it's entirely manageable.
The battery isn't removable, even though the back cover is and nor should one expect it to be, really. It's 5,000mAh and you're unlikely to be able to easily get another one to swap. It's got enough charge, in fact, to charge another phone and there's even a cable provided for that in the box.
Standard AsusNot only is the design recognisably Asus, which is a sort of tough no nonsense look, but it looks almost like the previous Zenfone Max. The back panel seems to come in black, blue and orange and it's textured, doesn't hold on to fingerprints, and is anyway easy to clean. If you find one with a in orange, you're in luck because the material takes colour very well.
Also standard Asus, unfortunately, is the huge amount of bloatware on the device. The fun of Android is being able to choose your own apps, even ones that integrate with the system, but the number that Asus has loaded on is a sheer annoyance, to be sure.
Everything ElseThe Zenfone Max has good enough specs. There's a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor with 2GB/ or3GB RAM variations and 32GB internal storage expandable up to 64GB. The device is no mean machine and not the one to choose if you're going to game the day way, but it's good enough for less intensive tasks.
The Zenfone Max works on Android 6.0.1 which is really rather nice as many budget phones are still on Lollipop. It supports 4GLTE, has dual SIM slots, and a micro-SD card slot.
The cameras include a 13 Megapixel with f/2.0-aperture and dual-LED flash, Laser Auto Focus and the front camera is a 5 Megapixel, f/2.0-aperture camera with 85? wide-viewing angle. These make good daylight cameras.
A really solid phone, it's an excellent second phone for those who want a reliable device to make endless calls on and use to the hilt without the battery running out the way they do on other phones.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
_20240816145558_original_image_26.webp)
