Buddy Refuelling – Asus Zenfone Max (2016)

Performance It is the 5000mAh battery that is the highlight in this device and it goes on and on. It easily lasted us over two days on a single SIM with moderate use, and could have easily gone even further with the power-save mode activated. Asus also bundles an OTG cable that allowed to use the juice from Zenfone Max’s battery to charge other devices. However, everything is not hunky-dory. You need a fast charger to max out the 5000mAh battery but Asus has bundled a slow one that takes about five-six hours to charge the battery completely. In terms of performance, the new Zenfone Max is handled by Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor and 2GB RAM. So it should come as no surprise that the performance is satisfactory. The phone has a 5.5-inch 720p IPS display, unchanged from the older version of the phone. Though we would have liked a screen with higher resolution, considering what the competition has started offering at the same price range. The 13MP rear camera could be considered as, at the most, satisfactory. It does shoot some decent pictures and is equipped with PixelMaster 2.0 tech that helps to improve low-light shots. Autofocus is too slow and erratic at times. Auto White Balance performed well under Daylight and Shade, but produced distinct casts under artificial inconsistent light sources. Native print size is 10.2 x 13.6 inches at 300 ppi. At 25 percent of this screen size, images were noisefree up to ISO 400. ISO 800 was noisy, especially the colour noise. At 50 percent enlargement, the images remained free of noise up to ISO 100. We observed slight noise at ISO 200. At 100 percent view, the images were noisy at all ISOs. The 5MP sensor at the front handles selfies well. On the software side, the phone runs Android 6, but is heavily customised with ZenUI, which remains largely unchanged if you have ever used Zenfone in the past. Zenfone Max is a device that does most of the things that other similarly priced phones can do but its shining feature is its gigantic battery. The disappointment lies is the slow charging time. If you can overlook that, then the Zenfone Max doesits job well. Value for Money The Asus Zenfone Max retails at, an MRP of Rs.9,999. At this price, the phone is fair value for money. |SP FINAL SCORE                                                                                                      76% Design and Build Quality                                                                                16/20 Key Features                                                                                                        15/20 Ergonomics                                                                                                         15/20 Performance                                                                                                      14/20 Value for Money                                                                                               16/20 PLUS • Amazing Battery Life • Price MINUS • Disappointing Camera • Bundled charger is under-powered VERDICT The Asus Zenfone Max is a champion when it comes to battery life, but the bundled charger disappoints a lot. The camera performance is average, and hence we wouldn’t recommend this device for photography. Kunal Gangar