ASUS Zenfone 3 Max Hands-on, First Impressions

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Apart from the Zenfone 3 Laser, another new member of the Zenfone 3 family is the Zenfone 3 Max. This is the successor of the famous Zenfone Max known for its big battery capacity. Here’s our quick hands-on and initial impressions of the device.

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To start, the Zenfone 3 Max now has a smaller display at just 5.2-inches but still retains a 720p resolution giving it a tad sharper 282ppi pixel density. It’s still not as sharp as we wish it to be but the lower resolution helps keep it chugging longer. There’s a 5MP selfie camera above along with the earpiece and necessary sensors. Unlike its predecessor, it now uses onscreen buttons for UI navigation.

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The right-hand side has the usual pair of power/lock buttons and volume keys.

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The left side of the device has the hybrid card tray for two Micro-SIM cards or a microSD card for storage expansion.

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The top side just has the 3.5mm headphone jack leaving the bottom end to house the microUSB port for charging and data connectivity and microphone pinhole.

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Coming from a faux-leather back panel, the new Max now has an aluminum shell sealing the battery inside. Since it has a smaller body, the battery is reduced to 4100mAh capacity. That’s 800mAh shy from the original Max. The main camera though is still a 13MP shooter with an LED flash but the laser AF sensor is nowhere to be found. In return, you’re getting a rear fingerprint scanner.

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Powering the Zenfone 3 Max is a MediaTek MT6753T quad-core chipset clocked at 1.5GHz and is paired with a Mali-T720 MP2 GPU. There’s an upgraded 3GB of RAM and a staple 32GB of expandable storage. That being said, the new Max on Antutu v.6.1.4 benchmark was able to score 40190. The change to a MediaTek chipset puts a question mark on the battery life of the phone. We’ll see how it fairs when we get our own unit.

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The camera department, in terms of megapixel count, has not changed. We still have a 13MP main shooter but with the exemption of the laser AF and a 5MP selfie camera. Here are a few initial samples:

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: Selfie

Judging from the samples above, photography is not surprisingly the feat of the Max, especially in low-light. We weren’t able to take some samples in daylight so we’re not jumping to extreme conclusions here.

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So what has changed after a half-year existence of the original Zenfone Max? It now has a better aluminum body, a more attractive design, and has a fingerprint scanner on its back. The dismissal of the Laser AF is not actually a concern since this handset is more focused for road-warriors rather than mobile photography enthusiasts.

ASUS Zenfone 3 Max specs:
5.2-inch IPS LCD @ 1280 x 720 pixels, 282ppi
1.5GHz MediaTek MT6753T quad-core processor
Mali-T720 MP2 GPU
3GB RAM
32GB internal storage
Expandable via microSD (uses SIM2)
13MP autofocus rear camera w/ LED flash
5MP front-facing camera
Dual SIM (Micro-SIM)
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1
GPS w/ A-GPS, Glonass
Fingerprint scanner
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

The new ASUS Zenfone 3 Max is expected to be officially launched next month along with a number of incoming ASUS notebooks, convertibles, and smartphones. Pricing is still a blur, well locally, but Vietnam is having it for 4,490,000 VND (~Php9,500). We’ll be covering the Philippine launch of the new Max, stay tuned for more updates.

Daniel Morial

This article was contributed by Daniel Morial, a film school graduate and technology enthusiast. He's the geeky encyclopedia and salesman among his friends for anything tech.

http://www.yugatech.com

10 Comments

burn says:

8 years ago

hi, alin po ang tama? MediaTek 6737T o MediaTek MT6753T?
paki ayos po, salamat

Powering the Zenfone 3 Max is a MediaTek 6737T quad-core chipset clocked at 1.5GHz and is paired with a Mali-T720 MP2 GPU.

ASUS Zenfone 3 Max specs:
5.2-inch IPS LCD @ 1280 x 720 pixels, 282ppi
1.5GHz MediaTek MT6753T quad-core processor
Mali-T720 MP2 GPU
- Reply
Johnny says:

8 years ago

Ang pogi ni Daniel Morial sa selfie huhuhu, gusto ko siya maka-one night stand. One night lang, kasi pag more than one night baka ma-in love ako sa kanya.
- Reply

gardo versuso says:

8 years ago

sistah ang hilig mo talaga sa jackhammer trulalu!
Puke mo-mon says:

8 years ago

ako din…. libog na libog ako sa kanya… ishare mo naman si papa daniel sakin.. share your blessing naman…
kabebegirl says:

8 years ago

I’m late to the party. Yaasss si Bae Daniel.

Atong says:

8 years ago

Was there any info for the charging time?
- Reply

ZenMaxUser says:

8 years ago

I will sell my ZenMax2 to buy this one if it has FastCharge capability…

Norven says:

8 years ago

Should we call this “Upgraded” zenfone max, or simply “another version” zenfone max? Maybe the latter is more appropriate. You can’t upgrade a phone by sizing down the display and battery, eliminating the useful Lazer AutoFocus camera and replace it with the more on luxury side Fingerprint Scanner. In my opinion.
- Reply
Ako says:

8 years ago

Yes! may bagong picture si Papa Daniel. Pogi yummy!!
- Reply
Zaph F. Castillo says:

8 years ago

http://www.phonearena.com/news/MediaTeks-MT6735-SoC-beats-the-Snapdragon-410-chipset-in-benchmark-tests_id68455
- Reply