Asus is known for offering value-for-money phones. Recently, they also launched some premium phones in the range, but their focus has always been on different aspects of the phone. For instance, the Zenfone 3S Max offers users a large battery for talk time but loses on other aspects of the phone.
This candy bar shaped phone is an update to the Zenfone 3 Max. Featuring a 2.5D glass and a metal back makes this phone look good. The highlight of the phone is the 5000mAh battery that it comes with. As mentioned earlier, the focus of this phone is to provide maximum uptime of the phone to the users.
Unlike other Zenfone devices, Asus decided to move the fingerprint sensor on the front of the phone, which is a good sensible move.
In terms of specifications, the phone features a 5.2-inch display with HD resolution. It is powered by MediaTek processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. You can use microSD cards up to 2TB. This is a dual-SIM phone with a hybrid slot, meaning you can either use two SIMs or one SIM with a microSD card.
All the Zenfone series feature PixelMaster cameras. This one features 13-megapixel rear camera with the 8-megapixel front camera. The rear camera also features a dual-LED flash for low-light conditions. Out-of-the-box the phone comes with Android 7.0 running on ZenUI on the top. We believe that Asus can do a better job with Zen UI and make it light on resources. In this aspect, Xiaomi has come a long way with MIUI 8. The UI performance of the phone is good but not great. At times we felt that there was a lag in the performance.
The camera offers decent picture quality. We expected the Asus PixelMaster to make a difference, however, as compared to other phones at this price range, the Zenfone 3S Max camera was not up to the mark. The selfies from the front camera and video recording are pretty decent.
The phone is targeted at people looking for more than a days usage and Asus Zenfone 3S Max offers just that. In our test, the phone lasted for around 2 days. It also features reverse charging, this means that you can use the device as a power bank to charge other devices. Asus bundles a Mobile Manager in the phone that helps you change the charging mode of the phone.
The Zenfone 3S Max does what it says, however, at this price there are other alternate phones that offer best of both worlds. In our opinion, you can buy this phone only if you are dedicatedly looking for a 5000mAh device that can run easily for a couple of days.
The Asus Zenfone 3S Max is priced at Rs. 15,000.
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