ZenFone Max Pro

ZenFone Max Pro looks to restore your hopes in the series by bringing in revolutionary changes in their set. Priced at Rs. 9,999, the ZenFone Max Pro gives you maximum power at a budget price and is a go-to phone for people who have a tight budget but wants good performance.

The phone does not look forward to stun you with looks, nor does it have a great camera. However, inside the device, the powerful processor and juicy battery amps up the game making this a competent fighter in the flagship competition.

The design of Asus ZenFone Max Pro has undergone some changes from the redundant ZenFone Max. Rounded-edged glass and lighter than the weighty predecessor, ZenFone Max Pro feels good, is non-slippery and easy to handle. Though Asus claims to have used “high-quality durable glass”, it isn’t branded or reinforced. The aluminium frame and the metal backplate makes the phone quite sturdy. The camera is barely protruding out which makes it a good competitor with its flagship rivals. The fingerprint scanner is also placed conveniently at the back and is easy to reach. The only problem is the few finger smudges that the camera lens and back panel attracts. It retains the headphone jack and microSD card slot which is a tradition enjoyed by most mainstream users, but the Micro-USB port looks outdated compared to the modern Type-C USB that most flagship models are moving towards.

Arriving with a rare notch-free display, ZenFone Max Pro has upgraded to a 5.99-inch screen with a delightful 8:9 aspect ratio and resolution of 1080×2160. Asus claims that it provides a reasonable 450 nits maximum brightness with a good contrast ratio of 1500:1. The colour reproduction is a wonderful 85% on the NTSC colour gamut. The screen is bright – and it can be easily taken outside without facing any loss of legibility. The colours on the phone is vibrant and viewing angle do not suffer a blow. The ZenFone Max Pro display is a necessary upgrade over ZenFone Max and it fares well in the fierce competition of the flagship market.

Powered by the Snapdragon 636 Chipset, the performance of the phone is lovely. Redmi Note 5 Pro is equipped with the same chipset but does not come with the power-packed battery of ZenFone Max Pro. On benchmark scores, AnTuTu gave 114,096 points which beats the flagship competitor, Redmi Note 5 Pro’s score 112649. Even GFXBench put it at 34 fps, which is excellent for the price range. For an entry-level phone, the ZenFone Max Pro gives a reasonable performance.

ZenFone Max Pro has a dual rear camera-set consisting of a 13MP camera and a 5MP depth sensor. The daytime shots are vibrant and detailed but only if you capture it at a close up.

Distant images lose a lot of sharpness and captured a bit of noise. Focus is fast to lock on but even then, you could get washed-out images. Details become fuzzy at night and the focus is much slower than daylight.

The camera app however, is confusing. The controls are not very well-laid and it becomes difficult to understand which mode is enabled and how many taps switch it off or changes mode. Plus, the Beauty Mode can lag. The Bokeh effect is not impressive either, failing to understand which part of defocus and which subject to bring out to light. The front 8MP camera has its own flash and captures reasonably good selfies. However, the flash does not provide soft illumination and is too harsh leading to a loss of natural effects of the face. Both day and night video captures are reasonable though there can be a lot of focus shifting. On the whole, considering the price range, the camera is decent.

The battery powering the performance of ZenFone Max Pro takes the largest piece of cake. Equipped with a whopping 5,000 mAh battery, it is bulky power bank will last for three to four days. It’s a worthy match to the powerful processor. You can binge on gaming for the whole night without facing a dreaded ‘Low Battery’ caution. However, while Asus’ claim was that it could last for 25 hours straight on a continuous video loop, it did not stand in real-time tests that found it lasting for 13 hours 29 minutes, lower than Redmi Note 5 Pro. Another upgrade to the battery is the rapid charge. While Qualcomm Quick Charge is not advertised with the set, it does display ‘charging rapidly’ message and can go from 0% to 15% in 10 minutes, going full power under three hours. For a killer battery, it is an impressive recharge time.

With the ZenFone Max Pro, Asus pulls off a massive achievement. It has brought in some necessary changes in the device and stands in fierce competition with Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 Pro. However, it comes at a lower price, has a bigger battery and a dedicated micoSD slot. If a great camera is not your preference, then ZenFone Max Pro has everything that could make it your desired phone at a low price. However, if you consider cameras as your extension and a better real-time battery performance, then Redmi Note 5 Pro is worth considering.