Looking for a solid smartphone on a budget? You should go for the ASUS Zenfone Max M1 at Rs.7,499 after reading our detailed review on it
ASUS recently launched its budget end smartphone Zenfone Max M1 at Rs.7,499. What has made this smartphone so special is its solid offerings at the budget smartphone?
In our daily lives, we always look for a smartphone that has enough RAM to handle all our apps efficiently, decent enough processor, and a great battery life.
When we have a budget of around Rs.7,000, we cannot expect a smartphone to have a mind-blowing camera. But, it’s boon to us if we get a good camera.
Keeping all these things in mind, and on basis of user interests, we decided to do a detailed review of the ASUS Zenfone Max M1.
Before our thoughts, let’s give a quick overview of the specs of this smartphone:
- 13.84 cm (5.45 inch) HD+ Display
- 13MP Rear Camera with f/2.0 aperture
- 8MP Front Camera with f/2.0 aperture
- 4000 mAh Battery
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Processor
- 3 GB RAM | 32 GB ROM | Expandable Up to 256 GB
- Zen UI 5.0 on top Android Oreo 8.0
- Face Unlock and Fingerprint Sensor
Honestly speaking, I was surprised when I started reviewing this smartphone. Here’s what I have dug out after using it for 15 days:
Display
The first main feature of the smartphone that you’ll notice is its HD+ display. It has a 5.45 inch HD+ IPS display with 18:9 aspect ratio that seems sharp and vivid. Though it does not has the best viewing angle, but for a budget smartphone, it is ok.
The 2.5D glass around the corners makes the screen look cool as well. The screen seems to be bright enough with 400 nits of max brightness.
Design
The smartphone is a sturdy one that feels good when you hold in your hand, and it is much like its brother Zenfone Max Pro M1. The build quality is great, though it’s not stylish its a decent one. Because of the metallic finish and unibody design, it feels quite premium as well.
Performance
When it comes to performance, you get the real benefit of having the 3GB RAM. Housed by an old but good enough Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor, day-to-day tasks seems buttery smooth.
Well, it does lack the Snapdragon 450 as you see in Realme C1 or the Helio P22 in Redmi 6, but at Rs.7,499 it does a pretty good job. The 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage help you boost your daily performance.
An octa-core processor with 3GB RAM helps you do play games like FIFA Mobile, Clash Royale and even PUBG Mobile at low settings.
Camera
The surprise element of this smartphone is the camera, as because at Rs.7,499 this packs some awesome rear as well as front cameras. The Zenfone Max M1 packs a “too common” 13MP primary camera with f/2.0 aperture, so it takes a lot of light and details as well.
I was surprised to see that this smartphone captures a great portrait shot through its single lens using software optimizations. The daylights shots are absolutely great while night shots look promising as well. The colours in the pics seem natural and bright. Here are some of the sample shots:
[metaslider id=9212]
Overall it has a great rear camera compared to its price. You can even record 1080p videos with this smartphone with great details and colours.
The 8MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture to looks fair enough, and you also get modes like Beauty, Portrait, Selfie Panorama, GIF Animation.
Battery
The feature that stands out for the smartphone is its insane 4000mAh battery that lasts much longer mostly because of its clean UI. It can easily last for 1-2 days with normal usage and even more with lesser use. It does not support fast charge but gets fully charged by 2-3 hours.
Software & other features
The feature I felt the best about the smartphone is its clean UI. ASUS’s own Zen UI 5.0 on top of Android Oreo 8.0 is very light and fast, making the smartphone much more efficient.
Interestingly the smartphone features both the Face Unlock and Fingerprint Sensor. Both seems fast and accurate but face unlock takes a few milliseconds more time than the fingerprint sensor.
So, having listed all our views, one thing that is clear is that this smartphone packs in some serious features that are hard to find in the price range. It is a solid smartphone with modern amenities and has some great looks. Here are the pros and cons of the smartphone:
Pros:
- Great build quality
- Good cameras
- Huge battery
- Clean UI
- 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage
- Only costs Rs.7,499
- Has both the Face Unlock and Fingerprint Sensor
Cons
- No notch(if you need one then)
- No dual camera(though it does great for portrait mode)
- Old Snapdragon 430 processor
To be precise if you are on a budget and need a solid smartphone with good cameras and great battery life, ASUS Zenfone Max M1 as the best choice. I would rate a 4.2 out of 5 for the smartphone.
Buy the ASUS Zenfone Max M1 from here: http://fkrt.it/W351GKNNNN
Do check out: Lenovo Z5 Pro debuts with Snapdragon 710 & bezel-less slider design
We thank Sohom Chakraborty for helping us with this review.
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