Review: ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1) – The Best Value Smartphone
8 min read
ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1)
RM 699.00
Pros
- Great build quality
- Good display
- Loud and clear speaker
- Excellent battery life
- Great performance
- Value for money
Cons
- Slow fingerprint scanner
- Subpar camera app
- Slow charging
Build Quality & Design
Design
The ZenFone Max Pro revisits the classic Max series & Zoom series design with the solid and grip-friendly chassis. The combination ofof plast and metal body provides a robust build while keeping the cost low. I know this is not the first time ASUS have a phone with 5000 mAh battery but still, packing a huge battery while maintaining the size and weight is a feat where many other phone manufacturers would say “impossible”.
The fingerprint at the back is noticeably slower than other ZenFones and honestly speaking, being someone who is used to fast and responsive fingerprint scanners, it really requires some time to get used to it. ASUS has informed us that a software update will address this. This power and volume buttons have slightly longer travel distance but that doesn’t really affect the overall usability. The solid “click” feedback for each keypress is pretty satisfying, to be honest.
The most noteworthy feature here is no other than the triple slot tray – dual SIM and micro SD card slot.
Display
The display at the front is a 5.99-inch IPS LCD display. While 18:9 aspect ratio may seem very 2017, especially the lack of a notch. Nonetheless, it offers the practicality of more screen real estate over fanciness. At 1080 x 2160 resolution, images and text are sharp and I have nothing to nitpick on this aspect.
The display’s colour reproduction also has been drastically improved from the Zenfone 4 Max series. From what I previously reviewed, I have complained that the ZenFone 4 Max Pro has chosen to take up a lower grade 720p IPS display and the colour reproduction is not what I would describe as good. Therefore, I can see that last year’s Max Plus (M1) definitely has a positive impact on the decision to move to better components.
Speaker
Most of the time I won’t be mentioning about the speaker unless they are really good. The speaker on the Max Pro (M1) is crazy loud. While I did experience the speaker’s loudness during the special media hands-on session, but due to the crowd, I couldn’t really get a grasp on how loud would it be, until I played a music at full volume in my room.
ASUS is not bullsh*tting when they claim the 5-magnet loudspeaker would blow us away. It is not just loud, in fact, the sound clarity and details are well preserved even when playing music at high volume.
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