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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  How is Asus ZenFone 3 Max a better smartphone than its predecessor?
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How is Asus ZenFone 3 Max a better smartphone than its predecessor?

Asus ZenFone 3 Max belongs to the new breed of smartphone that offers big battery without compromising on the form-factor

The ZenFone 3 Max will be available in offline and online stores for Rs 17,999Premium
The ZenFone 3 Max will be available in offline and online stores for Rs 17,999

Android phone makers have been trying out new ways of improving their phone’s battery backup. Some use fast charging so you can charge your phone within minutes, some use battery optimisation tools to minimise battery drain while more of them simply pack in a bigger and denser battery. Taiwanese PC and smartphone company Asus has updated its line-up of big battery phones with the ZenFone 3 Max. Successor to the ZenFone Max, launched in May 2016 and selling at 9,999 onwards, the new smartphone looks more mainstream and attractive. The ZenFone 3 Max will be available in offline and online stores for 17,999.

Asus has also released a smaller variant of the ZenFone 3 Max, which has a 5.2-inch display with 1,280x720p resolution. Priced at 12,999, it runs on MediaTek’s MT6737 quad-core processor with 3GB RAM and provides 32GB of internal storage, expandable to another 128GB via microSD. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera. It also has a full metal body but it weighs just 148g.

Metal replaces plastic

The new phone has all the makings of a premium phone. The full metal body and light form factor (175g) are some of its strong points. The ZenFone Max which has a removable plastic back panel (covering the two micro SIM slots and the micro SD card slot) and metal frame along the spine weighs 203g. The ZenFone 3 Max uses a hybrid SIM tray that can accommodate one micro SIM, or one nano SIM at a time or a micro SIM and a microSD card at a time. It also carries a back-facing print sensor, unlike its predecessor in which you could unlock the phone only through pattern, pin or password.

The new smartphone will be available in Titanium Gray, Glacier Silver and Sand Gold colour variants.

Read more:

Review: Asus Zenfone Max has more than just a big battery

Sharper display

The new ZenFone 3 Max comes with a 5.5-inch display which has a screen resolution of 1,920x1,080p and pixel density if 403ppi. This makes it a tad better than its predecessor’s 5.5-inch display which offers a screen resolution of 1,280x720p and pixel density of 267ppi. This means the display on the new phone is going to look a lot sharper but the difference will be more visible mostly in games and HD movies.

Big enough battery

The new smartphone stocks a 4,100mAh battery, which on paper is smaller than the 5,000mAh battery used in its predecessor. Battery capacity gives an idea of what the phone can achieve, but that doesn’t necessarily mean phone with bigger battery offers better backup.

New hardware

The ZenFone 3 Max runs on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor with 3GB RAM in tow. It is a new processor and was recently seen in Xiaomi Redmi 3s and 3s Prime smartphones. The ZenFone Max is powered by Qualcomm’s two year old but powerful Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor which has been used in a number of mid-range and budget smartphones.

Like its predecessor, the ZenFone 3 Max offers 32GB of internal storage, can accommodate up to 128GB microSD cards and supports 4G networks.

Read more:

Review: Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime is a one-of-its-kind smartphone

Advanced snapper

Asus has packed a 16-megapixel camera with electronic image stabilization (EIS), laser focus and continuous focus. The EIS is meant to keep video recordings on the phone steady, the laser focus allows camera to focus on object by itself, and continuous auto focus keeps the focus locked on moving objects. The camera also has a PixelMaster mode that captures multiple shots and combines them to create a shot equivalent of a 64-megapixel camera. The ZenFone 3 Max comes with a 13-megapixel camera with laser auto-focus and the Pixel Master mode in it can capture an image of 52-megapixel at most.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhijit Ahaskar
Abhijit writes on tech policy, gaming, security, AI, robotics, electronics and startups. He has been in the media industry for over 12 years.
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Published: 10 Nov 2016, 11:47 AM IST
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