The competition for the position of the top budget smartphone is getting tougher and tougher day by day. With various makers coming out with the best they can, it looks like no one will be able to sit on the top of the ladder for long. ASUS has recently made an addition to the list to Asus Zenfone 3s Max. The Asus Zenfone 3S Max comes as an upgrade to the Zenfone 3 Max and will be competing with the likes of Lenovo P2 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. Let us take a look at how Asus Zenfone 3s Max fares with its price tag of 14,999.
Asus Zenfone 3s Max – Display
Starting off with the display of Zenfone 3s Max, the makers did somewhat justice with the 1280 x 720 HD LCD display. While the expectations were of at least a Full HD display, the colors look quite vibrant and hence leaves no scope for complaint.
The display colors look sharp enough at 282 ppi, but upon viewing at an angle, the clarity seems amiss. What is interestingly good is that the display is capable enough to give the users a good viewing experience in direct sunlight as well.
Asus Zenfone 3s Max – Design and Build
If you are looking for something new with respect to design, then you will be rather disappointed with Asus Zenfone 3s Max. The Asus Zenfone 3s Max follows its predecessors in a way, but still manages to be sleek and firm at the same time. The Asus Zenfone 3s Max will feel slightly heavy on the hand, owing to the 5000 mAh battery that it has, but the effect is not at all visible on the size.
The well rounded shape of the device coupled with the matte finish lends the smartphone the exquisite look. Something that has prominently changed with Asus Zenfone 3s Max is the location of the camera. Instead of being in the middle, the rear camera finds iteslf on the top left corner along with the flash.
Asus Zenfone 3s Max – Specifications
The Asus Zenfone 3s Max comes with a 5.2 inch screen which has the 1280 x 720 pixels HD display. The display is well protected with a 2.5D contoured glass. The device is powered by a MediaTek 6750 chipset, which is well supported by a Mali T860 GPU. Memory is certainly not a problem with Asus Zenfone 3s Max as it runs on 3GB RAM and supported by 32 GB internal memory. The device can also handle up to 2 TB of expandable storage via a microSD card.
Something that is really do not like, hybrid SIM slots, is there on the device. You will have to choose between keeping two SIMs (Micro SIM and Nano SIM) or a microSD card. The device also sports 4G connectivity for both the SIM slots, Bluetooth 4.0, Wifi 8002.11ac and more.
The Asus Zenfone 3s Max is decked up power to make things run for long. The device comes with a 5000 mAh battery and can deliver up to 34 days on stand-by mode. When using a 4G network or constant usage on the application, the support is expected to be somewhere around 25 hours. All you have to do for a full charge is deck up the device for just 2 hours.
Asus Zenfone 3s Max – Operating System
The Asus Zenfone 3s Max comes with preinstalled Android 7.0 Nougat. This can certainly be the USP of the device considering, no other device in this range is coming with the latest Android Operating System. The UI as usual looks clean, but sadly Asus has not got rid of the bloatwares that take up quite a considerable amount of internal memory. There is not a lot to point out in this section as nothing really has changed here.
Asus Zenfone 3s Max – Performance
Considering the fact that the device is packed with a MediaTek 6750 processor and a Mali T860 GPU, the device has some serious performance issues. The 3 GB RAM also does not do any justice to the speed related issues. The device has some serious lag trouble. Although normal applications and games run smoothly, high end games like Asphalt faces stop and move issues creating bad experience. A 4 GB RAM would probably have been a good move ahead.
Asus Zenfone 3s Max – Camera
The Camera for me is the biggest disappointment. The Asus Zenfone 3s Max comes with a 13 megapixel Pixelmaster camera, which is not even close to its counterparts. The images come out blurry and the auto focus does not actually focus on the required sections. In case you are looking for good low light images, the Asus Zenfone 3s Max is certainly not for you. The images captured in good light come out just good. The situation is the same with the 8 megapixel front camera. The selfies will really make you look sad.
Asus Zenfone 3s Max – Verdict
There are many smartphones in the price range that are in many aspects better than Asus Zenfone 3s Max. You can always go for Redmi Note 4, but considering the availability issues, Asus Zenfone 3s Max will not be the worst choice. If I was to rate Asus Zenfone 3s Max, I would give it 8 out of 10 just because for its battery and neat and clean look.
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