Disclaimer: I have used the review unit of the new Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1(3GB RAM variant) for about 10-12 days.
Specifications:
Snapdragon 636 SOC(Octa Core Processor)
RAM - 3GB & 32GB Internal Storage
5.99" IPS LCD Full HD+ Screen with 18:9 Aspect Ratio
Dual Nano SIM and dedicated microSD card support
Rear Dual Camera 13 megapixels+ 5 megapixels
Front Camera 8 megapixels
5, 000 mAh Battery
Android 8.1 Oreo
What I Liked:
PERFORMANCE: It has SD636 which is way more powerful than the SD625 and even SD630. The processor optimization has been done very well and the performance of the device is also up to the mark.
BATTERY: It has a massive 5000mAh battery. For casual to heavy users it can easily last more than one or even one and a half days. For normal users it can last up to 2 days also. The device is also not heavy.
SCREEN: The screen quality is also very good for this price point. It has a contrast ratio of 1500:1 which is pretty impressive. It is also easily visible under direct sunlight. Asus has done a great job in putting such a good quality screen at this price bracket.
CELLULAR CALL QUALITY: It has great signal reception even in weak signal areas. The earpiece is adequately loud and clear. I didn’t have any problem regarding voice calls on both VoLTE and LTE networks. It has a dual antenna setup.
SPEAKER: It has a single bottom firing speaker and it is louder and clearer than most of other smartphones at this price. Asus also bundles a amplifying box with the smartphone to amplify the sound via the speaker a little bit.
HEADPHONE JACK: I used the headphone jack with some earphones and even some heavy headphones and the sound signature via the jack is very good. It has a little depth and bass in it. So, no problems regarding the headphone jack.
DUAL 4G SUPPORT: It has true dual 4G and VoLTE support i.e., it supports 4G and VoLTE on both the SIMs simultaneously. It is really amazing and yes, it really works.
SENSORS: I’m happy to say that it has all the necessary sensors including the gyroscope sensor.
UI: It runs on the new ZenUI and it’s almost close to stock android. Using this device, you would feel like you are using pure vanilla andorid. Asus is also promising bimonthly android security updates and update 2 upcoming versions of android.
RAM MANAGEMENT: After a couple of OTA updates the RAM management on this device has improved incredibly. It keeps the apps open in memory for long period of time which is very good for this 3GB RAM variant.
GAMING: I did play some casual to heavy games on this device and it ran them very well. Even while playing Asphalt 8 I did not notice any issue. After extended heavy gaming the back becomes warm but there is not any overheating issues, thanks to the powerful SD636 SOC.
REAR CAMERA: The pictures taken from the rear camera are very good. In outdoor and natural lighting, the pictures came out to be very pleasing having very good colour reproduction and a lil bit of saturation. In artificial lighting also the pictures were fine but in very low lighting, the camera struggled a bit to produce good photos.
What I didn’t Like:
FRONT CAMERA: It has a 8 megapixels shooter at the front and I have to say it is very average.(It was a below average camera before the last OTA update. Now the colours are little more accurate than earlier.) It also supports portrait mode but again, the front camera performance could have been better.
FINGERPRINT SCANNER: The fingerprint scanner’s performance is also a bit slower than other devices like the Honor 9 Lite and even the Redmi Note 5. The device takes half a second to unlock which a bit slower in my liking.
CONCLUSION: It is sort of value for money device. I would suggest if you are looking for a phone with a price of around 11K, then you must go for it if you are comfortable with the weak front camera and fingerprint scanner(which might get better with future OTA updates). Apart from that, it has a very good quality screen in 18:9 aspect ratio, a decent dual rear camera and a massive 5, 000 mAh battery.