ASUS ZenFone Max review: The king of battery performance

Overview 

Given the success of its ZenFone lineup last year, it's only natural that ASUS wants to milk the branding for all it's worth. This led to the launch of more ZenFone-branded devices such as the ZenFone Selfie, ZenFone 2 Laser, ZenFone 2 Go and the ZenFone Max. Each device has a unique proposition and the ZenFone Max focuses on a long lasting battery with more capacity than most other phones pack. Here's a quick look at the recent ZenFone models and where the ZenFone Max stands - in a nutshell, a ZenFone 2 Laser with a 5,000mAh battery:-

Design & Handling 

If you've seen the other ZenFone devices, you will be familiar with the ZenFone Max's design. Depending on how you view it, sticking to the design language ensures a familiar and consistent experience if you're upgrading from a much older ZenFone device, or it can be seen as uninspiring.

You get the same touch-sensitive navigation buttons below the 5.5-inch display, which do not lit up even in the dark and is the same bug bear we had with other ZenFone devices to-date. The metallic buttons - volume controls and power - are located on the right side of the device, and are fairly easy to access though.

The rear cover of the ZenFone Max reminds us of the ZenFone Zoom although the texture feels different. Described as having "the look and feel of embossed leather", the rear cover provides enough grip to handle the 5.5-inch device with ease. It's fairly easy to remove the rear cover for accessing the dual micro-SIM card slots and microSD memory card slot. Both SIM card slots support 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity although 4G connectivity is limited to one SIM card at any point in time.

Overall, the handling of the ZenFone Max does not differ much from the rest of the ZenFone family except for its weight. At 202g, the ZenFone Max is one of the few phablets to breach the 200g barrier. The heft may provide a solid feel in the hands, but it will bog down your front jeans pocket. 

Display 

The ZenFone Max sports a 5.5-inch HD (1,280 x 720 pixels) IPS display which is reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The benefits of Gorilla Glass 4 include 2x more drop-damage resistance, 85% less likelihood of breakage and 2.5x more retained strength as compared to competitive glasses.

For web surfing and most normal usage scenarios, the HD resolution should suffice although the pixelation could be an issue for users who have handled devices with higher resolution displays. However, for its price tag, there is really nothing to complain about. 

Similar to all recent ZenFone devices, the ZenFone Max has a blue light filter option in its display settings. The function of the blue light filter is to make the screen less glaring when using at night and in doing so, it helps you sleep better as your eyes are less fatigued. You also can toggle between a balanced screen color mode and a vivid mode. 

There is also a range of touch gestures such as double tapping to turn on the screen, and various alphabets to launch preset apps. 

ZenUI on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop

The ZenFone Max ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop and ZenUI, which is a customized Android overlay developed by ASUS - similar to HTC's Sense and Samsung's TouchWiz. You can check out the core features of the ZenUI here: 5 notable features of the ASUS ZenUI. Over the past year, ASUS has added more than 1,000 new features to the ZenUI which include ZenMotion, ZenUI launcher, Themes and SnapView. Some of the features were discussed in our review of the ZenFone 2.

With the next Android version launching soon, it is disappointing to see the ZenFone Max still running on a two-year-old Android OS. The Android security patch level is dated 21st October 2015 which is almost a year outdated! As malware attacks become more common among mobile devices, it may not be advisable to buy a device with little or no guarantee of regular software updates.

Performance benchmarks

The ZenFone Max is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core 1.2GHz processor and 2GB RAM. The choice of using a three-year-old processor could be influenced by ASUS' decision to lower costs and offer an affordable, entry level smartphone for consumers. For this review, we compared other budget phablets that compete with the ZenFone Max such as the ZenFone 2 Laser, ZenFone Selfie and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.

Quadrant

Quadrant evaluates a device's CPU, memory, I/O, and 3D graphics performance. Due to similar specs, the performance of the ZenFone Max is comparable to that of the ZenFone 2 Laser, which also means that it is trailing the competition.

3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited

3DMark Ice Storm is designed to test the gaming capabilities of a device, putting its GPU through a rigorous OpenGL ES 2.0 benchmark test that uses fixed off-screen rendering with high quality textures and post-processing effects. The Unlimited version of the benchmark disables v-sync, display scaling and other OS factors, making it ideal for chipset comparison.Since all the recent flagship smartphones max out the scores for the Standard and Extreme tests, we will only be comparing results for Ice Storm Unlimited. Having said that, the ZenFone Max clearly lags behind the Redmi Note 3 and ZenFone Selfie where both of these devices don't cost much more than the ZenFone Max, but are better equipped.

SunSpider JavaScript

SunSpider JavaScript measures the browsing performance of a device when processing Javascript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience. Given the performance streak of the ZenFone Max so far, we weren't surprised by the below-average performance turned in.

Number crunching aside, the ZenFone Max offered a decent user experience although switching between apps wasn't as smooth as we expected.

Camera performance

The ZenFone Max has a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, 0.03-sec laser autofocus, a dual-color Real Tone Flash and PixelMaster technology. You can find out more about PixelMaster in our dedicated article here. On the front is a 5-megapixel camera sensor with f/2.0 aperture and 85-degree wide angle lens. For an entry-level smartphone, these imaging specs seem really good!

Battery performance

Our standard battery test for mobile phones includes the following parameters:

• Looping a 800 x 480-pixel video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

In our standard video battery test, the ZenFone Max lasted a whopping 19 hours and 35 minutes, which is by far the best battery mileage we've seen in any of our smartphone reviews. Compared to the ZenFone 2 Laser, the ZenFone Max outlasted the former by about 68%! In case you aren't aware, the ZenFone Max with its massive battery capacity is able to double up as a power bank for a secondary mobile device via the included USB OTG cable. Its excellent battery life is attributed to the phone's entry-level specs with a HD screen resolution and a 5,000mAh battery, which has resulted in a low power draw and enabled the phone to last longer than expected. 

Portability

We measure the portability of a device by calculating its battery life to (weight x volume) ratio. Although the ZenFone Max is the heaviest among the phones compared, its superior battery mileage placed in a very favorable position in the Portability Index.

Conclusion

At S$249 without line contract, the ASUS ZenFone Max is a no-brainer for consumers who prioritize battery life above everything else. It certainly does a far better job than the 6,300mAh battery equipped Leagoo Shark 1 smartphone.

However, ASUS' attempt to milk the ZenFone series could backfire as the different ZenFone models could potentially confuse consumers. What sets the ZenFone Max apart from the ZenFone 2 Laser is most definitely its battery capacity. The price difference of S$30 may initially make some consumers scratch their heads, but the choice boils down to whether one is willing to accept a long lasting battery life over a lighter device. As for the ZenFone Selfie, the device is targeted mainly at consumers who love to take selfies, but don't want to pay a price for a premium flagship smartphone that delivers a similar camera performance.

Overall, it's a decent and respectable phone, but it's also in competition with the more modern entry-level smartphone from Xiaomi. At just S$299, the Redmi Note 3 is worthy of your consideration as it boasts a higher resolution display, smoother performance, a fast fingerprint sensor and a more premium design for only a little more than what the ZenFone Max commands. But you won't get a phone that lasts anywhere near the ZenFone Max, which is clearly the ultimate in battery life performance.

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