SUMMARY
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max ZC553KL mobile features a 5.5 inches (13.97 cm), Full HD, 401 PPI, IPS LCD display and runs on Android v6.0 (Marshmallow) operating system. The device is powered by a Octa core (1.4 GHz, Quad core, Cortex A53 + 1.1 GHz, Quad core, Cortex A53) processor paired with 3 GB of RAM. As far as the battery is concerned it has 4100 mAh, No Quick Charging, Non-Removable. Over that, as far as the rear camera is concerned this mobile has a sensor and the front snapper is powered byMARKET STATUS:AVAILABLEMRP:₹ 16,849CRITIC REVIEW
Asus Zenfone 3 Max review: The prowess lies in battery
NEW DELHI: If you have been following the Taiwanese tech company Asus, then you would've noticed that its Zenfone 3 series comprises handsets boasting of different features as key highlight. While Zenfone 3 Laser is camera-focussed, the Zenfone 3 Ultra and the Zenfone 3 Deluxe focuses on immersive display and high-processing power. The company unveiled these smartphones in India in August this year. Now, there's another smartphone from the series -- Asus Zenfone 3 Max.
As the name suggests, the Zenfone 'Max' handsets offer a long-lasting battery as its key feature. The newest in the series, the Zenfone 3 Max comes in two variants based on display. The 5.5-inch version costs Rs 17,999, while the 5.2-inch display version is priced at Rs 12,999 in India. The smartphone takes on other battery-focussed smartphones like the Galaxy A9 Pro, Gionee Marathon M5 and even its own sibling, the Asus Zenfone Max (2016).
I have been using the Zenfone 3 Max (5.5-inch variant) for a week now and feel that along with a long-lasting battery, the smartphone also offers few minor design enhancements. But, is the smartphone a good buy at a price tag of Rs 17,999? Let's check out ...
Design and display
The Zenfone 3 Max's design and build falls in line with the company's rest of the Zenfone 3 lineup. It flaunts a metal unibody design with 'diamond cut' chamfered edges and a 2.5D glass covered front panel. And like I've said for the Zenfone 3 and the Zenfone 3 Laser before, the Zenfone 3 Max has an impressive look and feels premium. We got the Titanium Grey colour variant, which looked amazing.
The smartphone measures almost the same as its siblings and can be used easily with one hand. However, it could be slippery at times. While using it, the device slipped out of my hands at least 5-6 times. However, it is sturdy enough to resist drops from couple of feet. Also, it is recommended to apply a screen guard as the 2.5D display can easily get minor scratches from the corners.
Since the Zenfone 3 Max has a massive 4100mAh battery, don't be surprised if you find it slightly heavier than other handsets. The smartphone weighs 175 grams, slightly more than he Zenfone 3 (155 grams) and Zenfone 3 Laser (150 grams), but is not bulky enough to bother you. Understandably, the smartphone is 8.3mm thick, which is more than others in the same price tag.
The Zenfone 3 comes with the usual set of sensors and front-facing camera above the display along with three non-backlit (unfortunately) capacitive buttons placed below the display, volume and power buttons on the right, headphone jack at the top, micro USB port and speaker at the bottom and microSD card/dual SIM card slot on the left. The back panel has a camera placed at centre with dual-tone LED flash and autofocus sensors on either side.
There's a fingerprint sensor placed right below the camera setup. The sensor however, has a squarish shape, which is different from the rectangle-shaped sensors found in other Zenfone 3 smartphones. However, this brings absolutely no difference to its response time or setup process. The sensor was quick and worked almost all the time. It can also recognise 360-degree fingerprints. We recommend you to keep the sensor and the fingers dry as it sometimes fails to recognise fingerprints when in wet condition.
As also noticed in Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 3 Laser, the position of ICEpower enhanced Mono speaker isn't ideal as it gets covered while watching videos or playing games in a landscape mode. Hope Asus gets this part right with the Zenfone 4 range. However, the speaker was loud enough, especially after we tweaked the sound output using the Asus AudioWizard app.
As for the display, Asus Zenfone 3 Max features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution IPS display. As mentioned above, the display is covered with 2.5D glass, which is prone to scratches if not protected with a screen guard. Asus claims the smartphone has 73% screen-to-body ratio, which is slightly less than its sibling, the Zenfone 3 Laser (77%). But I found the overall experience impressive given the price tag and the package. Also, the screen bezels are tad bit lesser than others at 2.25mm.
There was hardly any change in colours while viewing it from acute angles and the performance in bright daylight was also decent. We have no complains about the display of the Zenfone 3 Max. Similar to other Zenfone models, the Zenfone 3 Max also has a 'Splendid' app to customise screen temperature and even use the Bluelight Filter for less strain on the eyes.
Performance and camera
Performance is one section where I found the Asus Zenfone 3 Max lagging behind its competitors. The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, with Adreno 505 GPU, which launched last year. It also includes 3GB RAM, which is quite sufficient for average use. But the results were not much convincing.
Like in the case of the Zenfone 3 Laser, which features the same processor + RAM combination, this too shows up some lags while trying to multi-task. The glitches are not a regular issue but you can spot them quite a few times during the day. You'll find the most stuttering during unlocking the handset or playing around with the notification tray and quick settings. However, we are happy that at least the device didn't show any signs of heating up while charging or while being used heavily.
If you already use an Android smartphone, then understanding 6.0.1 Marshmallow running with Zen UI 3.0 should be a cake-walk. But as usual, there are unnecessary add-ons like Do It Later, Gallery, Laser Ruler, MiniMovie, Mobile Manager, PhotoCollage, Quick Memo and other apps, which you cannot uninstall. It would've been better if Asus ditched apps, such as Weather, Quick Note, Quick Memo, and Gallery since Google already offers its apps like Keep, Google Photos and others.
However, on the other hand, features like parallax scrolling, RAM boosting, power saving, and the presence of extra themes made the interface better and handset efficient. There is so far no word on Zenfone 3 Max receiving the latest Android 7.0 Nougat update.
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max has 32GB inbuilt storage, of which users get 23GB for storing apps and other media content. But fortunately, there is a support for a microSD card slot as well. The device can support up to 128GB of storage. Not to forget, while switching on the device you get 200GB of Google Drive cloud storage as well for 2 years.
As for the camera, the Zenfone 3 Max was just about decent. The 16MP rear camera with 0.03 seconds focusing speed clicks well saturated colours in daylight and is crisp when zoomed in. The autofocus is quick enough and the overall camera interface is not difficult to handle. The low-light shots are not the best we have seen but is good enough for general usage.
The interesting bit I noticed is that the battery-focussed handset has a 16MP camera, while the company's camera-focussed smartphone, the Zenfone 3 Laser comes with 13MP rear camera and same 0.03 second autofocus system. So this gives the Zenfone 3 Max a slight edge.
There are also different camera modes. Some of the Pixelmaster 3.0 modes include Manual, HDR Pro, Beautification, Night, GIF animation, Panorama, Time Rewind, Slow Motion, Time Lapse and more. The camera also has EIS for stabilization in video recording, Phase Detection Autofocus, and f/2.0 aperture.
We found the front-facing camera of the handset better than its siblings and a few others from rival companies too. The 8MP sensor captured decent images in dim lights and was quick to takes shots. You also get Beautification, HDR and Lowlight modes for the front camera. Fingerprint sensor can also be used as a shutter button for clicking selfies.
Battery
As already mentioned, Asus Zenfone 3 Max's prowess lies in its massive 4100mAH battery. The smartphone won't disappoint you on this particular front. I have used the Zenfone Max (2016) and the model before it too, and I am as impressed with this one.
The smartphone easily runs for one full day on an average use. My typical "average" day includes hours of browsing online, playing heavy games for couple of hours, staying connected to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G constantly, streaming music for 3-4 hours a day, working on cloud documents for some time and voice calling. Light users can easily stretch the battery life to the next day.
Although the battery life and performance is almost the same as the Galaxy A9 Pro or the Gionee Marathon M5, I would give extra points to Asus Zenfone 3 Max because of the price tag it carries. In addition, there are power saving modes to further stretch the battery life of the device. These modes included are Performance mode, Normal mode, Power saving mode, Super Saving mode and Customised mode. While the Performance mode unleashes the handset's power to its fullest for best experience, the Normal mode works on default smartphone settings. The other three are pretty self explanatory.
The Zenfone 3 Max is not just a smartphone but a portable battery charger as well. It comes with a USB OTG cable, using which people can connect another smartphone with the Zenfone 3 Max and charge it. The company claims its device can deliver 38 days of standby time, 17 hours of VoIP talktime on 3G and 18 hours of playback.
Verdict
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max is no doubt one of the best handsets in the particular series I've come across so far. It has a huge battery capacity of 4100mAh, which is not the highest but good enough to keep the device running for over a full day of use. There are other battery-focussed handsets too in the market but are priced higher.
Besides a massive battery, you are getting a good display, premium build, average processing power and a decent camera. Priced at Rs 17,999, the device is not as powerful as other battery-focussed competitors but I would recommend it to those who are looking for a budget-friendly overall package.
But who doesn't like options? You can check out some other handsets in the same price bracket. Some of them are LeEco Le Max2, Oppo F1S, Moto X Play, Gionee S6S. You can also buy the Zenfone Max 2016 that is priced at Rs 9,999. But if you liked the Zenfone 3 Max but still find it priced high? You always have the 5.2-inch HD (720x1280) display variant of the model priced at Rs 12,999. The variant, however, misses out on laser autofocus sensor and features a 13MP rear camera, 5MP front-facing camera and MediaTek octa-core processor.
As the name suggests, the Zenfone 'Max' handsets offer a long-lasting battery as its key feature. The newest in the series, the Zenfone 3 Max comes in two variants based on display. The 5.5-inch version costs Rs 17,999, while the 5.2-inch display version is priced at Rs 12,999 in India. The smartphone takes on other battery-focussed smartphones like the Galaxy A9 Pro, Gionee Marathon M5 and even its own sibling, the Asus Zenfone Max (2016).
I have been using the Zenfone 3 Max (5.5-inch variant) for a week now and feel that along with a long-lasting battery, the smartphone also offers few minor design enhancements. But, is the smartphone a good buy at a price tag of Rs 17,999? Let's check out ...
Design and display
The Zenfone 3 Max's design and build falls in line with the company's rest of the Zenfone 3 lineup. It flaunts a metal unibody design with 'diamond cut' chamfered edges and a 2.5D glass covered front panel. And like I've said for the Zenfone 3 and the Zenfone 3 Laser before, the Zenfone 3 Max has an impressive look and feels premium. We got the Titanium Grey colour variant, which looked amazing.
The smartphone measures almost the same as its siblings and can be used easily with one hand. However, it could be slippery at times. While using it, the device slipped out of my hands at least 5-6 times. However, it is sturdy enough to resist drops from couple of feet. Also, it is recommended to apply a screen guard as the 2.5D display can easily get minor scratches from the corners.
Since the Zenfone 3 Max has a massive 4100mAh battery, don't be surprised if you find it slightly heavier than other handsets. The smartphone weighs 175 grams, slightly more than he Zenfone 3 (155 grams) and Zenfone 3 Laser (150 grams), but is not bulky enough to bother you. Understandably, the smartphone is 8.3mm thick, which is more than others in the same price tag.
The Zenfone 3 comes with the usual set of sensors and front-facing camera above the display along with three non-backlit (unfortunately) capacitive buttons placed below the display, volume and power buttons on the right, headphone jack at the top, micro USB port and speaker at the bottom and microSD card/dual SIM card slot on the left. The back panel has a camera placed at centre with dual-tone LED flash and autofocus sensors on either side.
There's a fingerprint sensor placed right below the camera setup. The sensor however, has a squarish shape, which is different from the rectangle-shaped sensors found in other Zenfone 3 smartphones. However, this brings absolutely no difference to its response time or setup process. The sensor was quick and worked almost all the time. It can also recognise 360-degree fingerprints. We recommend you to keep the sensor and the fingers dry as it sometimes fails to recognise fingerprints when in wet condition.
As also noticed in Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 3 Laser, the position of ICEpower enhanced Mono speaker isn't ideal as it gets covered while watching videos or playing games in a landscape mode. Hope Asus gets this part right with the Zenfone 4 range. However, the speaker was loud enough, especially after we tweaked the sound output using the Asus AudioWizard app.
As for the display, Asus Zenfone 3 Max features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution IPS display. As mentioned above, the display is covered with 2.5D glass, which is prone to scratches if not protected with a screen guard. Asus claims the smartphone has 73% screen-to-body ratio, which is slightly less than its sibling, the Zenfone 3 Laser (77%). But I found the overall experience impressive given the price tag and the package. Also, the screen bezels are tad bit lesser than others at 2.25mm.
There was hardly any change in colours while viewing it from acute angles and the performance in bright daylight was also decent. We have no complains about the display of the Zenfone 3 Max. Similar to other Zenfone models, the Zenfone 3 Max also has a 'Splendid' app to customise screen temperature and even use the Bluelight Filter for less strain on the eyes.
Performance and camera
Performance is one section where I found the Asus Zenfone 3 Max lagging behind its competitors. The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, with Adreno 505 GPU, which launched last year. It also includes 3GB RAM, which is quite sufficient for average use. But the results were not much convincing.
Like in the case of the Zenfone 3 Laser, which features the same processor + RAM combination, this too shows up some lags while trying to multi-task. The glitches are not a regular issue but you can spot them quite a few times during the day. You'll find the most stuttering during unlocking the handset or playing around with the notification tray and quick settings. However, we are happy that at least the device didn't show any signs of heating up while charging or while being used heavily.
If you already use an Android smartphone, then understanding 6.0.1 Marshmallow running with Zen UI 3.0 should be a cake-walk. But as usual, there are unnecessary add-ons like Do It Later, Gallery, Laser Ruler, MiniMovie, Mobile Manager, PhotoCollage, Quick Memo and other apps, which you cannot uninstall. It would've been better if Asus ditched apps, such as Weather, Quick Note, Quick Memo, and Gallery since Google already offers its apps like Keep, Google Photos and others.
However, on the other hand, features like parallax scrolling, RAM boosting, power saving, and the presence of extra themes made the interface better and handset efficient. There is so far no word on Zenfone 3 Max receiving the latest Android 7.0 Nougat update.
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max has 32GB inbuilt storage, of which users get 23GB for storing apps and other media content. But fortunately, there is a support for a microSD card slot as well. The device can support up to 128GB of storage. Not to forget, while switching on the device you get 200GB of Google Drive cloud storage as well for 2 years.
As for the camera, the Zenfone 3 Max was just about decent. The 16MP rear camera with 0.03 seconds focusing speed clicks well saturated colours in daylight and is crisp when zoomed in. The autofocus is quick enough and the overall camera interface is not difficult to handle. The low-light shots are not the best we have seen but is good enough for general usage.
The interesting bit I noticed is that the battery-focussed handset has a 16MP camera, while the company's camera-focussed smartphone, the Zenfone 3 Laser comes with 13MP rear camera and same 0.03 second autofocus system. So this gives the Zenfone 3 Max a slight edge.
There are also different camera modes. Some of the Pixelmaster 3.0 modes include Manual, HDR Pro, Beautification, Night, GIF animation, Panorama, Time Rewind, Slow Motion, Time Lapse and more. The camera also has EIS for stabilization in video recording, Phase Detection Autofocus, and f/2.0 aperture.
We found the front-facing camera of the handset better than its siblings and a few others from rival companies too. The 8MP sensor captured decent images in dim lights and was quick to takes shots. You also get Beautification, HDR and Lowlight modes for the front camera. Fingerprint sensor can also be used as a shutter button for clicking selfies.
Asus Zenfone 3 Max ZC553KL | VS | LeTV Le Max 2 |
| Octa core (1.4 GHz, Quad Core + 1.1 GHz, Quad core), Snapdragon 430, 3 GB RAM | PERFORMANCE | 2150 MHz, Dual core, 6 GB RAM |
| 5.5 inches (13.97 cm), Full HD, 401 PPI, IPS LCD | DISPLAY | 5.7 Inch, 515 ppi |
| 32 GB | STORAGE | 64 GB |
| 16 MP Primary Camera, Dual-color LED Flash, 8 MP Front Camera | CAMERA | Main: 21 MP, Front: 8 MP, Dual-color LED Flash |
| 4100 mAh, No Quick Charging, Non-Removable | BATTERY | 3100 mAh, Li-Polymer |
| 3 GB | RAM | 6 GB |
Battery
As already mentioned, Asus Zenfone 3 Max's prowess lies in its massive 4100mAH battery. The smartphone won't disappoint you on this particular front. I have used the Zenfone Max (2016) and the model before it too, and I am as impressed with this one.
The smartphone easily runs for one full day on an average use. My typical "average" day includes hours of browsing online, playing heavy games for couple of hours, staying connected to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G constantly, streaming music for 3-4 hours a day, working on cloud documents for some time and voice calling. Light users can easily stretch the battery life to the next day.
Although the battery life and performance is almost the same as the Galaxy A9 Pro or the Gionee Marathon M5, I would give extra points to Asus Zenfone 3 Max because of the price tag it carries. In addition, there are power saving modes to further stretch the battery life of the device. These modes included are Performance mode, Normal mode, Power saving mode, Super Saving mode and Customised mode. While the Performance mode unleashes the handset's power to its fullest for best experience, the Normal mode works on default smartphone settings. The other three are pretty self explanatory.
The Zenfone 3 Max is not just a smartphone but a portable battery charger as well. It comes with a USB OTG cable, using which people can connect another smartphone with the Zenfone 3 Max and charge it. The company claims its device can deliver 38 days of standby time, 17 hours of VoIP talktime on 3G and 18 hours of playback.
Verdict
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max is no doubt one of the best handsets in the particular series I've come across so far. It has a huge battery capacity of 4100mAh, which is not the highest but good enough to keep the device running for over a full day of use. There are other battery-focussed handsets too in the market but are priced higher.
Besides a massive battery, you are getting a good display, premium build, average processing power and a decent camera. Priced at Rs 17,999, the device is not as powerful as other battery-focussed competitors but I would recommend it to those who are looking for a budget-friendly overall package.
But who doesn't like options? You can check out some other handsets in the same price bracket. Some of them are LeEco Le Max2, Oppo F1S, Moto X Play, Gionee S6S. You can also buy the Zenfone Max 2016 that is priced at Rs 9,999. But if you liked the Zenfone 3 Max but still find it priced high? You always have the 5.2-inch HD (720x1280) display variant of the model priced at Rs 12,999. The variant, however, misses out on laser autofocus sensor and features a 13MP rear camera, 5MP front-facing camera and MediaTek octa-core processor.
ASUS ZENFONE 3 MAX ZC553KL SPECIFICATIONS
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