Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1:Review

In April, Asus launched its new budget-oriented Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone, along with a Dual Rear camera and high-capacity battery. Asus has launched this Zenfone Max Pro smartphone to compete with Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 smartphone. The company says the Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone offers unbeatable performance while gaming or multitasking. So, let’s get started and see how can Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone offer unbeatable performance.

Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1:Review - theandroidportal.com
As we have mentioned above, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro is a budget-oriented smartphone and can offer unbeatable performance. The Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Soc, with a 14nm based Octa Core Kryo processor.

The pricing of the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone will starts at the (INR) 10,999 for the 3GB – 32GB storage variant and will be (INR) 12,999 for the 4GB – 64GB storage variant. In which, you will also be able to choose favorite color variant between “Black” and “Grey” of this smartphone. As we have mentioned above, the Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone comes in a two storage variant, but if you want faster performance, then we recommend to buy a 4GB/64GB variant of this device.

Inside the box

Page Contents

Inside the box:

In the box, the user will get all the required things such as Power Adaptor, USB to Micro USB charging cable, User Manuals. And a Sim Ejector tool, which can be used to eject the Sim Card Tray. Oh, You will get an Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone too.

Design and Display

When comes to the design, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone comes with a full metal body frame, along with the rounded edges, which provides better grip to your palm.

The rear panel of this smartphone is a fingerprint magnet and catches your fingerprint instantly, whenever you use the device. So, you will need to use a back case cover with this device to avoid it. On the rear side of this device, you will find a Dual vertical Rear Camera setup.

In which, the first sensor is about 13.0 megapixels, and the other one is about 5.0 megapixels, along with the single LED flash. At the rear middle side, you will also find a fast and accurate fingerprint scanner, which can be used unlock your device.

Design and Display

On the right edge, it has Volume rocker keys and a power button. But while the left edge of this device you will find a two sim card and one Micro SD card slot, and the great things about this smartphone is that the user can use two Nano Sim cards and a MicroSD card all together at the same time.

On the top edge of this smartphone, you will get the built-in secondary microphone, that can record the crystal clear audio sound while recording a video. At the bottom edge, you have a MicroUSB port and a speaker grill. Beside the MicroUSB port, you will also get the 3.5mm audio Jack.

In terms of display, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone comes with a large 5.99-inch 2.5D curved glass IPS display and has a resolution of 2,160 x 1,080. The device has an 18:9 ratio Full View Display and can offer up to FHD+ resolution graphics while gaming or multitasking.

Software and Performance

In terms of software, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone runs on Google’s latest Stock Android v8.1.0 Oreo operating system, along with the all Google Apps such as Dialer, Message, Files, Calendar, etc. As we have mentioned know the device comes with the Stock Android Oreo operating system, then you will not find any of Asus’s official apps on this device. And you will also get the latest Android Security Patch level of April 1, 2018, on this device.

Software and Performance

For performance, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Octa Core 64-bit 14nm FinFET-based Kryo Processor, along with the Qualcomm Adreno 509 GPU, that can render up to FHD+ resolution graphics. The 14nm FinFET technology is specially designed to provide long-lasting battery life so that the battery can last for a day on heavy usage.

Camera and Storage

For the photography, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone has Dual Rear Vertical Camera setup on the back. In which, the first sensor is about 13.0 megapixels, and the other one is about 5.0 megapixels, that allows the user to shoot photos in bokeh mode.

Both the sensors on the rear camera has aperture rate of F/2.2 and also has the ability to record videos up to 4K UHD resolution. So that, the user can easily be able to record every special movement in their life in 4K UHD resolution.

In the low light conditions, the rear camera does not perform well, but In the outdoors, it can shoot high-quality, bright and sharp photos and videos. In this price range, the dual rear camera setup will be the best. But while shooting indoor images, then depth effect does not work well, it does also not blur the unwanted areas while shooting the picture in depth effect mode.

Camera and Storage

On the front, you will find 8.0 megapixels of fixed focus secondary camera, which also able to shoot photos in Bokeh mode and Portrait Mode. While capture photo using the front camera of this device in Bokeh mode, the Depth effect still does not works properly, and it can’t be able to blur the completely.

With the front-facing selfie camera, you can shoot up to FHD resolution videos. The 8.0 megapixels front-facing selfie camera also supports other features such as HDR Mode, Beauty Mode, Portrait mode, and Bokeh mode.

Two diffrent storage

For Storage, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone comes in two different 32GB and 64GB storage variants.

On both variants, you will find separate MicroSD card slot, which you can use to expand your device storage up to 2TB via MicroSD card. On the 32GB storage variant, you will get 3GB LPDDR4X type RAM, and on the 64GB storage variant, the user will get 4GB LPDDR4X type RAM.

Connectivity and Battery

For the connectivity, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 has all new latest 4G VoLTE cellular connectivity feature including the backward compatibility and also supports other connectivity features. And these include WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2.5Ghz, Bluetooth v5.0, WiFi Direct, WiFi Hotspot, Cast, USB OTG, MicroUSB, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Sensors on this smartphone include Accelerator, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, E-Compass, etc.

In terms of battery, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone has massive 5000mAh high-capacity Li-ion non-removable battery, which can offer up to 150 hours of Music Playback time(approx). And the battery can last for a day on heavy usage, so you don’t have to worry about the battery on this device. The battery of this device takes about 2 and a half hours to get fully charged from 0% to 100% using the provided power adaptor.

Other features

Face Recognition (Face Unlock): The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone also supports the face unlock feature, so that users can easily be able to unlock this smartphone. But, after you set up the face unlock security on this handset, every time you will need to press the “Power” button, to use the face unlock features on this device.

Because, just like the other devices, it does not recognize your face when the screen is off. That’s the reason that every time you will need to press the “Power” button to unlock your device with your face. Sometimes, the face unlock feature does not work properly, but most time, it will unlock your device when you hold the device in front of your face.

Touch Gestures: With the use of Touch gestures, you can wake up your device screen by tapping twice on the screen. You can also use the “Swipe up to Wake Up” feature to wake up your device’s screen.

By using this feature, you can also assign any letter to any app, so that when you gesture any assigned letter on the dark screen, the device will open up that app instantly.

The Finale Thoughts

In terms of large display, performance, battery, storage, latest & Pure Android, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone is the best budget smartphone and comes with a massive high-capacity 5000mAh Li-ion battery. As we see on paper the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone can easily beat the Redmi Note 5 smartphone, but not from all sides. The biggest drawback of this device is poor camera performance.

If you want to buy this smartphone, then we recommend you to go with the 32GB variant of this device, Because, you can also be able to expand storage using a MicroSD card. If you have already had a 3GB/32GB variant smartphone, and looking for the best smartphone with 4G/64GB storage option, then the 4GB/64GB variant is the best of this device for you.

Here are the few screenshots of the user-interface of this Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone.

screenshots of the user-interface of this Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone
few screenshots of the user-interface of this Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone

few screenshots of the user-interface of this Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone
We hope this review of ASUS zenfone max pro M1 has helped you. Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Lucky Sharma
Lucky is Senior Editor at TheAndroidPortal & an expert in mobile technology with over 10 years of experience in the industry. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from MIT and a Master's degree in Mobile Application Development from Stanford University.