With its budget-friendly tag price, ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) has easily landed on this author’s shortlist for an urgent mid-range smartphone purchase. Upon doing pre-purchase research, the Battery King was falling short in comparison with two other contenders on the list, but it has victoriously stood out in factors that matter to me most.
On the first week of using this smartphone, the initial verdict is that it stands out with several features that could almost be considered as common qualities of a flagship device. ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) easily counters its minor setbacks with its impressive specifications that are not typical of smartphones in its category.
Initial impression was set by its slim body. The premium metal finish is complemented by curved front edges—a slick exterior design that brings about easy grip. In my case, I chose the Deepsea Black body over other available colors—Sunlight Gold and Azure Silver.
Display and performance
Reduced bezels of the smartphone pave the way for the overall size of the display at 5.7 inches. It comes with an 18:9 aspect ratio and Full HD+IPS display. Notable is the screen’s good viewing angles and accurate colors. Thus, ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) facilitates more immersive as well as full viewing experience, to the user’s instant delight.
The tech community was initially disappointed upon knowing that this smartphone is equipped with MediaTek’s MT6750T octa-core processor, which considered a budget chipset. However, with the 4GB of RAM paired with 32GB of expandable storage, performance is not compromised. Playing Android games on the device is still a breeze, though at times, there is a need to adjust graphical settings to achieve smoother and more consistent frames. Multitasking is still very much possible and can run smoothly.
ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is a great smartphone for playing mobile games, watching videos (downloaded or streamed online), browsing, chatting on social media messenger apps, and even playing excellent online casino games. The author even finds it as among the most ideal for live casino gaming—right on a mobile. Interestingly, aside from the great screen and fast upload, being a ‘Battery King’ does wonders as uninterrupted and continuous play is assured, making it a recommended smartphone for online and live casino gamers.
Camera and security
Not surprisingly, the camera is another impressive factor that makes ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) stand out. Its main shooter comes with a 16MP standard view (with f/2.0 aperture lens) plus an 8MP panoramic wide-view rear camera. For the purpose of taking selfies, it has 8MP front camera (also with f/2.0 aperture lens). These are even complemented by the most useful supporting features, including the exclusive ASUS Selfie Master app, which facilitates instant creation of collage and transition to video recording.
ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is one of the first smartphones from ASUS that has the face unlock security feature. Though this may be subject to lighting limitations, it is always easy and better to switch to fingerprint scanning to lock and unlock the phone.
Long battery life
Living up to its ‘Battery King’ moniker, ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) has a whopping 4,130mAh battery, which can provide power to the device for up to 26 hours on standby and online talk time, 21 hours of browsing, and 13 hours of continuous video playback. Incredibly, the smartphone can even be used as a handy power bank (especially in times of emergency) to possibly charge other devices. That is how power-packed it is.
Overall, we find the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) as a good deal. With all its amazing features, it is sold across the country for just P11,995.