Powerful, fast and affordable to all
Asus comes up with a low-cost smartphone that does the job
MORE THAN affordable at just Bt6,000, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (ZB602KL) smartphone comes with a surprisingly fast eight-core processor for its price and a large 5.9-inch display with good resolution of 2160x1080 pixels. It also boasts a large battery and a quality camera.
There are three versions of Zenfone Max Pro M1 each different memory and storage size. I got my hands on the version with 3-gigabyte memory and 32GB storage. The two higher versions have 4 GB and 6 GB RAM and 64 GB storage respectively.
The model I tested was far from slow, with both its touch screen and its apps responsive.
The Zenfone Max Pro M1 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 65-bit octa-core processor with Qualcomm Adreno 509 GPU. It runs on Pure Android 8.1 operating system without a third-party user-interface on top of it. The smartphone comes with LTE 4G connection. I tested it on TrueMove H’s LTE network and found it had fast Internet connection.
I checked the speed with Ookla Speedtest app and the smartphone got a download speed of 45.2 Mbps and upload speed of 29.3 Mbps.
It even supports High-Resolution Audio of 24bit/192kHz format with good sound quality. I tested the Hi-Res Audio with Sony MDR-1ABT headphones and was pleased to find it gave off good musical details and a strong bass.
The display has a high contrast of 1,500:1 and with full HD+ resolution, it’s good for watching HD video clips and looking at photos. I enjoy watching YouTube clips and movies and TV programmes streamed with TrueID TV app during the test.
The version that I tested comes with 13 megapixel rear camera and it uses a secondary 5 MP camera to help add more data for creating beautiful portraits with the bokeh effect.
You can use Auto mode or select one of several provided scene modes, including Landscape, Portrait, Sports, Flowers and Sunset. You can also select bokeh effect together with beautification effect to achieve beautiful portrait shots with blurred background.
The smartphone has a fingerprint reader on its back. It allows the phone to unlock in just 0.3 second and it can scan and save up to five fingerprints.
The Zenfore Max Pro M1 has an impressively large battery with 5,000 mAh capacity. With this capacity, you can play mobile games for 11.5 hours continuously or you can play music for 199 hours or eight days and seven hours continuously. Or you can stream YouTube clips for up to 17.8 hours or watch Netflix for 20 hours.
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage retails for Bt5,990. The version with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage goes for Bt6,990 while the version with 6GB RAM and 64 GB storage costs Bt7,990.
>> Networks: GSM, WCDMA, LTE (Cat13)
>> OS: Android 8.1
>> CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 64-bit Octa-core Processor
>> Memory: 3GB
>> Storage: 32GB, expandable with microSD card by up to 2TB
>> Display: 5.9-inch Full HD+ (2160 by 1080) 18:9 Full View IPS display, 1500:1 contrast ratio, 450nits brightness
>> Cameras: 13MP+5MP dual-camera for rear camera with 25mm equivalent focal length, 8MP front camera with 26mm equivalent focal length
>> Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 5.0
>> Navigation: GPS, AGPS, GLO, BDS
>> SIM slots: dual nano SIM slots plus separate slot for microSD card
>> Sensors: Rear fingerprint sensor, Damp finger recognition, Accelerator, Gyroscope, E-Compass, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
>> Battery: 5,000 mAh
>> Dimensions: 159x76x8.45mm
>> Weight: 180g
