Asus Zenfone 3 Max (2016) : What’s changed?

Asus launched another iteration to its Zenfone Max smartphone series in India called the Asus Zenfone 3 Max after the launch of the Zenfone 3. This is the second iteration that has been brought to Zenfone Max this year with the same name. To be honest, it is still better than Asus Zenfone Max (2015) and Asus Zenfone Max (2016). Here is a list of what’s changed this time.

Design

Asus Zenfone 3 Max have a much better design language compared to its predecessor. This was the first thing we stalled at when we had the device in hand. It features a metal unibody design with antenna lines running across top and bottom with rounded edges. The phone has a good grip and feels great in hand.

Unlike last time which had a faux leather back cover, this time the smartphone is comparatively thin and much better looking. In short, quite significant improvement here.

Battery

Asus Zenfone Max smartphone lineup have been all about the battery efficiency. Last two iterations had 5000mAh battery capacity which even served as a power bank to other smartphones. This time cutting down to 4100mAh, the powerbank capability is left intact though the battery capacity is down by 900mAh. Compromising battery for better looks and performance is totally accepted. Being an active user, we could easily last one day and a half on a single charge which is totally accepted.

Comparatively less bloatware

Asus ZenUI is quite known about its bloatware. ZenUI comes bundled with a lot of apps and third part partnerships which come pre-installed on its devices. This not only takes up disk space but also affects the memory consumption and CPU performance. Asus Zenfone 3 Max somehow comes with a little less bloatware compared to Asus Zenfone Max from which we had to uninstall a few apps to make it fit for use.

Tech specs

Obviously, being an iteration had to come with some technical advancements. Asus Zenfone 3 Max comes with a 5.2-inch HD LCD display with 2.5D curved glass. It is powered by a 1.2GHz MediaTek MT6737 64-bit quad-core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB on-board storage. With an expandable SD card slot it comes with a hybrid support which can have either the SD card or the secondary SIM. Zenfone 3 Max supports 4G VoLTE and runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The obvious addition includes the fingerprint sensor which though is not that fast.

Camera

Zenfone 3 Max’s camera can’t be said anything improved as such. 13 megapixel rear camera and hybrid autofocus using phase and laser detection additives it can shoot up to full HD videos. But the results aren’t great. We could observe noise in the pictures clicks from the rear camera even in decent lighted surroundings. The 5 megapixel front camera is also merely average. Nothing sharp or lively color reproduction. Overall, Average.

Asus Zenfone this time offers a better balance between design, performance and still being power efficient unlike the last predecessor. Though it doesn’t scale much like the Redmi Note 3 which is cheaper in price but the MediaTek MT6737 SoC ensures the battery is never out until its max run. 3GB RAM makes everything well, and connectivity is not an issue. Asus Zenfone 3 Max have been priced at ₹12,999 takes a lead with its USP. It is close enough to Redmi Note 3 can be a better smartphone with a perspective. Buy it for the battery and do consider Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 once.

The smartphone is available online from Flipkart and Amazon.in.