Introduction
We only recently met the Zenfone 3 Max from Asus. Imagine our surprise then when we received yet another Zenfone Max shortly after that, and one we were neither expecting nor knew even existed.
The Zenfone 3S Max is now the latest in Asus series of big battery smartphones. Its claim to fame is the massive 5000mAh battery, packed inside a surprisingly compact design. While we have seen big battery phones in the past couple of years, most of them end up being too large and bulky, a pitfall the Zenfone 3S Max gracefully avoids.
Zenfone 3S Max Key features
- 5.2-inch, 1280x720 resolution IPS LCD; 2.5D curved glass
- MediaTek MT6750 SoC, octa-core CPU (4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1GHz), Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
- 3GB RAM; 32 GB storage (expandable to 2TB)
- 13 megapixel rear camera, f2.0 aperture, phase detection AF, two-tone LED flash, 1080p30 video
- 8 megapixel front camera, 720p30 video
- 4G dual SIM, VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS
- Fingerprint sensor
- Mono loudspeaker
- 5000mAh battery
- Android 7.0 Nougat with ZenUI 3.0
As you can see above, the Zenfone 3S Max doesnt really blow your mind with its specifications, with the large battery being the only standout feature. But it would be foolish to dismiss it without giving it a fair chance, so lets take a closer look.
You will notice that this review format is shorter than usual. Thats because this review unit wasnt available at our HQ so we couldnt subject it to our usual standardized tests. Nevertheless, weve worked hard to present our opinion about the most important aspect of using this phone based on our rich experience and we hope you would enjoy the g ood read.
Design
The Zenfone 3S Max design is quite a departure from the current crop of Zenfone 3 devices and it easily stands out in the Asus lineup.
For starters, youll notice that the front of the phone no longer has the capacitive navigation keys below the display. Instead, you now get on-screen controls. You still get a fingerprint sensor on the front, which also happens to be a button. Unlike the sensor on most other Android phones, this one requires you to click on it first to activate it and only then does it scan your fingertip. The button also works as a Home button, which means this phone actually has two Home buttons.
Above the display is the earpiece, front facing camera, light and proximity sensors, and an LED notification light.
Asus ZenFone 3S Max controls
On the right of the phone are the power and volume control buttons that are easy to reach and comfortable to press. On the left is the SIM tray that can hold two SIM cards (mini + nano) or one SIM and microSD.
Clean top and bottom sides
On the top of the phone is a headphone jack, while the bottom has the microUSB port in the middle, microphone on the left and loudspeaker on the right.
The back of the phone has a large metal cover with a plastic lip at the bottom and another small plastic strip at the top. The camera is at the top left with a dual LED flash and microphone.
The Zenfone 3S Max is sized halfway between the smaller 5.0-inch phones and the larger 5.5-inch phones. This means that while it is generally easier to grip and use than 5.5-inch phones, its not a true compact phone that overly easy to work with one hand. The curved sides also dont help when it comes to grip and it feels like youre trying to hold on to a bar of soap.
Build quality does seem good though. Like the other Zenfones, the 3S Max feels a notch above some of its Chinese competitors when it comes to rigidity and general build quality. The display will attempt to pop out if you flex it from the back but nothing much happens after that unless you really put some muscle into it, which we refrained from doing.
The gold color does brings the phone closer in looks to a dozen odd Chinese smartphones on the market with roughly the same design and color scheme. Its a shame because some of the other Zenfones launched in 2016 did have noticeably different designs from the crowd.
Display
The Zenfone 3S Max has a 5.2-inch, 1280x720 resolution IPS LCD. The display isnt the strong point of the phone. After being spoiled with 1080p screens, even at the low-end of the market, the display on the Zenfone 3S Max feels like a blast from the past.
The 5.2-inch size also doesnt do it any favors and the pixel density is just 282 PPI, lower than the iPhone 4 launched back in 2010.
The colors also arent particularly accurate, with greens esp ecially having a distinct yellow shade. Asus also doesnt include its usual color calibration utility on this phone. Even the viewing angles falter considerably when you tilt the screen from side to side. It does get bright enough outdoors, which seems to be the only saving grace.
Connectivity
The Zenfone 3S Max has all the basics covered in this department, even if it skips on some of the extras. The MediaTel MT6750 comes with a decent Cat-4 LTE model, with VoLTE support and theoretical speeds of 150 mbps downlink and 50 mbps up. Having two SIM slots is also a plus, although, it is worth noting, the second one is hybrid, for a memory expansion option.
On the local side, you get Wi-Fi a/c, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and a pretty standard slew of sensors.
Battery
The main highlight of the phone is the 5000mAh battery. As expected, the phone has excellent battery life, with two days of standby time with over 10 hours of screen-on time. This is with the phone s et to the Performance mode, where it doesnt aggressively control the display brightness and with the Intelligent standby power optimization disabled. This is a separate setting from Doze, which is present and works as well as it does on other Nougat devices.
Unfortunately, despite such a massive battery on-board, the Zenfone 3S Max does not have fast charging. This means it takes upwards of four hours to charge the phone with the supplied 10W charger.
Like the other Zenfone Max phones, the 3S can also charge another device with its battery. Unfortunately, this time Asus has chosen not to provide an OTG cable with the phone. In all honesty, however, its not an enormously useful feature considering how slow the charging rate is and the need to carry the OTG adaptor around with you. In times when power banks are so cheap and common, you really dont need to use your phone to charge another device.
Android Nougat with a das h of Zen
The Zenfone 3S Max is the first Asus phone to come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Of course, there is still Asus ZenUI 3.0 skin on top, along with the usual assortment of Asus applications.
ZenUI 3.0
The integration of Nougat features within ZenUI is pretty seamless, for most parts. You get the updated notification system with the option to quickly reply to incoming messages. You can also edit the quick toggles but ZenUI has always had this feature so theres nothing particularly new about it. What is new is the design, with a new interface for choosing the toggles, which opens within the notification menu itself instead of sending you to a separate screen as with previous versions of ZenUI. The toggles themselves look different, with a new animation and translucency effect.
You also get multi-window feature, allowing you to run two compatible apps one below the other simultaneously. Considering the size of the display, it is not an enormously useful feature though. The phone also lets you double tap the multi-tasking key to quickly switch to the previous app.
Other Nougat features include ability to change DPI setting to make UI elements smaller or larger, JIT compiler for faster app installs and updates, and Unicode 9.0 emoji set. Features such as Vulkan API, however, will not be present due to lack of hardware support.
Quick toggles • Quick toggles • Multi-window
Asus also tacks on many of its own features. The touch gestures allow you to double tap to wake up the phone and turn off the display and drawing letters on the lockscreen to directly open the apps, e.g., drawing C to launch the camera app from sleep. The phone also supports motion gestures, and lets you mute the phone by flipping it over. You also get a one-hand mode that lets you quickly double tap the Home button to shrink the display size for one-handed use.
Other ZenUI features include a highly customizable launcher with ability to adjust everything from themes, icon packs, icon size and grid, fonts, scroll effect, etc., Easy mode for a simpler interface, Kids mode that locks out all but select apps, and more.
Of course, being an Asus phone means there is also a big chunk of bloatware installed on the phone, both from Asus and third-party d evelopers. The Asus apps, in particular, are infuriating as they add little to the phones experience and mostly just take up space or nag you with annoying notifications.
You also get all of Facebooks apps pre-installed and they even update themselves on their own in background without your permission, regardless of whether you use them or not. Of course, you cant just simply uninstall them. Its just really frustrating because the other parts of Asus software are quite good and if only the company learned some restraint in packing as many useless applications as it can into its phones then it would be a lot better.
Performance
With a MediaTek MT6750 under the hood, we never expected jaw-dropping performance. And after using the Zenfone 3s Max for some time the mediocre chipset become quite evident.
AIDA64 system readout
Except in some apps the phone consistently feels sluggish. Opening apps has a bit of delay and scrolling can get stuttery at times. The 3GB RAM does help with multi-tasking and even when you are running two apps side by side but theres only so much the RAM can do when the CPU is the bottleneck. The single-core performance on MediaTek chipsets continues to be embarrassing even compared to the low-end Qualcomm chips and this shows in apps that are still by and large single-threaded.
GeekBench 4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
4456 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE5 52KL
4053 - Lenovo P2
2965 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
2441 - Meizu m5
2428 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
2040 - Huawei Honor 5X
2035 - Lenovo K6 Note
2027
GeekBench 4 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
1546 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
843 - Lenovo P2
840 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
641 - Lenovo K6 Note
635 - Huawei Honor 5X
616 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
592 - Meizu m5
592
The GPU performance too is disappointing but the saving grace here is the 720p resolution, which helps make up for the lack of sheer GPU power. Most of the games we tried ran surprisingly well; better than they would on Snapdragon 430 devices with 1080p screens.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- LeEco Le Max 2
129461 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
85162 - Vivo V3Max
76170 - Lenovo P2
63493 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
63358 - Huawei P9 Lite
52768 - Oppo F1 Plus
51299 - Lenovo Moto G4
46949 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
45474 - Lenovo K6 Note
44972 - Meizu m3 note
44898 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
43957 - Meizu m5
40831 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
39439 - Huawei Honor 5X
35469 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
27487 - Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL
25778
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- LeEco Le Max 2
2063 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
1728 - Huawei P9 Lite
1242 - Lenovo P2
1235 - Oppo F1 Plus
1092 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
1018 - Huawei Honor 5X
874 - Meizu m3 note
852 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
830 - Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL
624 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
532 - Lenovo Moto G4
341 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
295 - Lenovo K6 Note
288
Other aspects of the performance too werent impressive. The phone struggles with 720p60 YouTube videos, with consistently dropped frames. It may have something to do with the player loading the WebM version of the video instead of the more common MP4, which isnt hardware accelerated, but there is nothing that the users can do about it at their end and is entirely up to YouTube to decide which version to serve and its possible the YouTube app was having a hard time detecting the chipset on the phone and was serving the wrong version of the video. 30fps videos, however, worked fine.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- LeEco Le Max 2
44 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
15 - Vivo V3Max
14 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
9.9 - Lenovo P2
9.8 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
8.5 - Huawei P9 Lite
7.8 - Oppo F1 Plus
7 - Lenovo K6 Note
7 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
6.9 - Lenovo Moto G4
6.5 - Huawei Honor 5X
5.6 - Meizu m3 note
5.4 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
5.3 - Meizu m5
5.2 - Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL
1.8 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
1.8 < /ul> - LeEco Le Max 2
28 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
15 - Vivo V3Max
14 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
11 - Lenovo P2
10 - Meizu m5
10 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
9.7 - Huawei P9 Lite
8.3 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
7.9 - Oppo F1 Plus
7 - Lenovo K6 Note
7 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
6.9 - Lenovo Moto G4
6.8 - Huawei Honor 5X
6.1 - Meizu m3 note
5.4 - Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL
3.9 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.8 - LeEco Le Max 2
28 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
9.5 - Vivo V3Max
9.4 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
6.2 - Lenovo P2
6.2 - Huawei P9 Lite
4.6 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
4.4 - Lenovo K6 Note
4.4 - Lenovo Moto G4
4.2 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
4 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
3.5 - Meizu m5
3.4 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.3 - Meizu m3 note
2.5 - LeEco Le Max 2
15 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
9.4 - Vivo V3Max
9.1 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
8.7 - Meizu m5
7.9 - Lenovo P2
6.7 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
6.1 - Huawei P9 Lite
4.9 - Lenovo Moto G4
4.5 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
4.4< /span> - Lenovo K6 Note
4.4 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
3.9 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.3 - Meizu m3 note
2.5 - LeEco Le Max 2
16 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
5.4 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
3.4 - Lenovo P2
3.4 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.8 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.6 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.5 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
2.4 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
1.9 - Meizu m5
1.8 - LeEco Le Max 2
8.8 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
5.4 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
4.3 - Lenovo P2
3.7 - Meizu m5
3.7 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
3.4 - Huawei P9 Lite
3 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.8 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
2.4 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.4 - LeEco Le Max 2
33874 - Vivo V3Max
15430 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4< br />13666
- Lenovo P2
10472 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
8540 - Huawei P9 Lite
7681 - Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
7510 - Lenovo K6 Note
7480 - Lenovo Moto G4
6932 - Oppo F1 Plus
6204 - Huawei Honor 5X
5009 - ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
4991 - Meizu m5
4767 - Meizu m3 note
4567 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
2180 - Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL
1844
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)
Higher is better
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
Audio quality was also not impressive. While the headphone audio is fine, the 5-magnet mono loudspeaker tends to get very shrieky at the last few notches. Considering that it does get fairly loud means we actively tried not to max out the volume on this phone to avoid the unpleasant sound.
Basemark X
Higher is better
The fingerprint sensor was also bit of a hit or miss at times, with it failing to recognize fingers occasionally, especially when used at odd angles. The problem could be a result of the initiation process where you add your prints, where it doesnt let you properly scan parts of your fingers and then those areas are never really stored on the phone for it to recognize later. The tips of index fingers, for example, arent scanned properly while saving them so they are never recognized later when you try to unlock the phone. It seems like a small detail but it adds up to the general level of frustration with the device.
Camera
The Zenfone 3S Max has a 13 megapixel camera at the back with f2.0 aperture and phase detection autofocus. It can also record videos in 1080p resolution at 30fps. A two-tone dual LED flash has been provided for illumination.
Busy camera UI
The Camera application on the phone is quite comprehensive, with several modes, including a Manual mode that lets you manually control the shutter speed, white balance, ISO, and focusing. The controls are all well laid out and if youre in the Auto mode the app will also suggest you to switch to an appropriate mode such as HDR or Night depending upon the situatio n and provide a quick switch at the bottom that you can just tap to switch to that mode instead of digging through the Mode menu.
Zenfone 3S Max camera samples
The image quality is a bit of hit or miss. At first glance the images look fine, with good colors, contrast and decent dynamic range. However, closer examination reveals overly soft images with little fine detail that almost look like their are out of focus. This is due to the noise reduction algorithm that aggressively blurs out the image to stamp out any noise.
HDR off • HDR on
The camera app has many modes but the two we ended up using the most were HDR and Low Light. The HDR mode really doesnt do much. You can see from the samples that there is hardly any recovery in the shadowy regions of the image. The Low Light mode works by combining the output of four pixels on the sensor to create one pixel of the image. This helps reduce noise in the image but it does come at the cost of detail.
1080p video quality is decent, with a fair amount of detail and quick focusing but the re is no stabilization.
Verdict
The Zenfone 3S Max is undoubtedly a one-trick pony. It has the biggest battery you can get in a device of this class that provides days of battery life without the actual device being massive in size. If thats all that matters to you, then the new Asus mid-ranger passed the test with flying colors.
Unfortunately, if you are a more demanding user you are also bound to see plenty of disappointment with it. Battery aside, there isnt a lot to commend here, with the display and device performance being major weak points for this phone. Even the camera isnt really worth writing home about. And while its good to finally see Android Nougat on an Asus phone, the ton of Asus bloatware on top really spoils the experience a fair bit.
At the time of writing, the phone is yet to get an official price, which should happen on February 7 If priced aggressively, the Zenfone 3S Max might still be a good buy for those who are just looking for a long lasting battery. Otherwise there are better options available out there, including from Asus itself.
! ( hope useful)
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