ASUS ZenFone Max Plus M1 Hands On and First Impressions

Every year smartphone manufactures come with awesome features and improvements. 18:9 aspect ratio display have been very well received by smartphone enthusiast. Unfortunately, most models that incorporate this tall and narrow format are high-end devices which cost a lot of money. ASUS also introduced their new 18:9 display smartphone ASUS ZenFone Max Plus M1. Although it closely similar to ZenFone 4 Max or Pegasus 4s (Chinese Market) a few month ago. Luckily Zenfoneblog had a hands on opportunity, here are our initial thoughts about this device.

ZenFone Max Plus M1 big display

ZenFone Max Plus M1 using 5.7 inch HD+ display with a resolution 720 x 1440 which translate to 281 ppi. The screen looks good and the viewing angle also good enough for non FullHD display. The color reproduction also good in my eye. The display also covered with 2.5D curved glass that make the display feels great in hand. Also in the front there are 16 Megapixels camera with F2.0 aperture, ear speaker and light sensor. No button on the front so ASUS can put 5.7 inch display on 6 inch tall device.

Power and volume button

On the right side we have power button and volume rockers, while on the left there is dual-SIM and SDCard, ZenFone Max Plus M1 using non hybrid so we can use dual SIM without sacrificing SDCard slot.

Dual Camera and fingerprint reader on the back

On the back of the phone there are two camera, the first one is 16 Megapixels telephoto lens with F2.0 aperture and the second camera is 8MP 120° wide-angle lens. At the back there are LED flash and Fingerprint scanner for unlock device. 

Up top there is 3.5mm headphone jack and at the bottom of ZenFone Max Plus there are microUSB port, mic, and mono speaker.

ZenFone Max Plus M1 using unibody design

The phone has metallic finish and unibody design, it's look premium but quite slippery in hands due to its smooth metallic finish. Also the back of the phone is fingerprint magnet and easy to get dirt.

ZenFOne Max Plus M1 CPU-Z

ZenUI 4.0 and Antutu Benchmark score

ZenFone Max Plus M1 powered with Octa-Core processor Mediatek MT6750, 4GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage. Scrolling through menu and opening apps was fast, smooth, and responsive. ZenFone Max Plus M1 use ZenUI 4.0 on top of Android 7.0 Nougat.

One of the new feature on ZenFone Max Plus M1 is Face unlock. ZenFone Max Plus M1 capable to unlock device using your face, it's not much secure like fingerprint scanner but it's nice to have one.

Choose telephoto lens or wide-angle lens

ZenFone Max Plus M1 rear camera using 2 lens with different mode, first is telephoto lens and the second camera is wide-angle lens. ZenFone Max Plus M1 camera PixelMaster modes include Auto (with low light and HDR features), Beauty, Pro, Super Resolution (64 megapixels), GIF Animation, Panorama, Time Lapse (with power saving), 9 various filters.

Overall ZenFone Max Plus M1 is quite good when it come for looks and battery, especially because it's budget 18:9 display smartphone. For around 220 US$ you get big display and big battery in compact chassis. The performance for daily use also great. The only downside is the quality of camera is not decent compare to previous generation like ZenFone 3, but you get another wide-angle lens for more creativity to take picture.

ASUS ZenFone Max Plus M1 specs:

• 5.7-inch HD+ IPS display @ 1440x 720
• 2.5D curved glass
• 1.5GHz Octa-core 64-bit MediaTek MT6750
• Mali-T860MP2 GPU
• 4GB RAM
• 32GB internal storage
• expandable via microSD
• Dual 16MP f/2.0 + 8MP f/2.4 wide angle AF rear cameras w/ LED flash
• 8MP front camera w/ screen flash, Face Unlock
• 4G LTE
• Dual SIM Dual standby
• WiFi
• Bluetooth 4.2
• GPS, A-GPS
• Gyroscope
• Fingerprint scanner
• ASUS ZenUI 4.0 (Android 7.0 Nougat)
• 4,130mAh battery
• 152.6 x 72.7 x 8.8 mm
• 160 g
• Colors: Black, Silver, Gold

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ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro First Impressions

ASUS introduced their dual camera budget phone ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro. The current craze for dual camera smartphone was predictable after Huawei did in P9 Leica and iPhone 7 plus. It's easy to find flagship smartphone with dual-camera today. But it's affordable? I think ASUS take advantage of the dual camera craze but with cheaper price for everyone.

Yesterday ZenFoneblog got some time with the new phone. At first glance, the ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro looks similar to the last year ZenFone 3 Max. Except there is new second wide camera lens, and fingerprint sensor on the bottom of the screen.

ZenFone 4 Max Pro design
The metal unibody and 2.5D curved-edge glass at the front make it look good. The rounded corners are comfortable in the palm. Aluminum-alloy with sandblasted finish looks good and premium. When you see the ZenFone 4 Max Pro, the most noticeable thing is definitely it's size 5.5 inch same way as on last year ZenFone 3 Max, but the resolution now only HD not FullHD.

The front is bare of any branding, which we think looks good. You'll see the ASUS logo towards the middle of the rear. The ZenFone 4 Max does have a whole new design language with ZenFone 4 Series signature dual camera and fingerprint reader on the front. The software experience is definetely not different with last year model ZenUI, but now with less pre-loaded apps.

ZenFone 4 Max Pro specifications and software
The ZenFone 4 Max Pro seems like ASUS weapon to their key market in South-East Asia against Oppo and Vivo. The ZenFone 4 Max Pro features a 5.5 inch HD display with 2.5D glass. It is powered by octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. It also has 32GB of storage and support microSD card. The ZenFone 4 Max Pro has triple slot for 2 SIM and 1 microSD. There's a fingerprint scanner on the front. The smartphone also has a microUSB port and 5000 mAh non-removable battery.

One of the most marketed features of ZenFone 4 Max Pro is its cameras. It sports two cameras, one with 16-megapixel sensors F2.0 aperture and the other wide angle camera 120° with 5-megapixels sensors.

The ZenFone 4 Max Pro supports 4G LTE as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3.5mm audio jack. Much like many ASUS smartphones, the ZenFone 4 Max Pro also support USB OTG.

In terms of software, ZenFone 4 Max Pro runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat with ZenUI 4.0. ZenFone 4 Max Pro also has some ASUS signature software such as ASUS Mobile Manager, Beauty Live, and ASUS Theme.

ZenFone 4 Max Pro Camera
The dual-camera, for me is the most notable feature. These are some shot using ZenFone 4 Max Pro first lens which is normal camera and the second lens or wide-angle camera.

ZenFone 4 Max Pro Main Camera

ZenFone 4 Max Pro Wide Angle Camera

ZenFone 4 Max Pro Battery
ZenFone 4 Max Pro equip with 5000 mAh lithium-polymer battery. With big battery and low profile processor ASUS claim ZenFone 4 Max Pro can standby in 4G for 46 days, watching 720p video for 22 hours and 26 hours web browsing with Wi-Fi.

ZenFone 4 Max Pro initial thoughts
ZenFone 4 Max Pro is an absolute scorcher in terms of battery lifespan. The phone responded well to our touch inputs. The HD display is not sharp enough but still use-able. The dual-camera is ok, but i think the wide-angle camera is just a bonus because it's not sharp with only 5-megapixels sensor.

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ASUS ZenFone Zoom Camera Comparison vs Sony Xperia Z5, LG G4, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, iPhone 6S, and HTC M9

Today Asus Zenfone Blog will share about ZenFone zoom camera versus another flagship.  ASUS Zenfone Zoom which become world's thinnest optical zoom smartphone versus  Sony Z5, LG G4, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, iPhone 6S, and HTC M9 which is better? you decide..

These photos taken in same environment and condition. These photos taken by Nanako0625 from mobile01 forum.

Smartphone	Specifications	Features
LG G4	16 MP, f/1.8, 28 mm, laser autofocus, OIS, LED flash	1/2.6" sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR
Samsung Galaxy Note 5	16 MP, f/1.9, 28mm, OIS, autofocus, LED flash	1/2.6" sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR
HTC M9	20 MP, f/2.2, 28mm, autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash	1/2.4" sensor size, 1.2 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR, panorama
ASUS Zenfone Zoom	13 MP, laser autofocus, 3x optical zoom, OIS, dual-LED (dual tone) flash	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDR
Apple iPhone 6S	12 MP, f/2.2, 29mm, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash	1/3" sensor size, 1.22 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/panorama)
Sony Xperia Z5	23 MP, f/2.0, 24mm, phase detection autofocus, LED flash	1/2.3" sensor size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama

Camera Comparison:

Auto Mode:                                                                                                

ASUS Zenfone Zoom

Sony Xperia Z5

LG G4

HTC M9

iPhone 6S

Close Object:                                                                                             

ASUS Zenfone Zoom

Sony Xperia Z5

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

HTC M9

LG G4

iPhone 6S

Indoor:                                                                                                    

ASUS Zenfone Zoom

Sony Xperia Z5

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

HTC M9

iPhone 6S

LG G4

Low Light:                                                                                                  

ASUS Zenfone Zoom

LG G4

HTC M9

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

iPhone 6S

Sony Xperia Z5

HDR:                                                                                                        

ASUS Zenfone Zoom

LG G4

iPhone 6S

HTC M9

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

Sony Xperia Z5

Credit to Nanako0625 from mobile01 

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Unboxing and Review ASUS Zenpad 8 Z380KL

Today ASUS Zenfone Blog will review about ASUS ZenPad 8. Asus has been one of the earliest Android tablets maker. They started with Transformer series, Nexus, Memopad series and FonePad series. And now the Taiwanese company brought its "Zen" brand to their new tablet range, ZenPad series. Will it bring success like the ZenFone Series ?

On this post we will talk about ZenPad 8, Zenpad 8 launched at June 2015. Running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC, the specs is quite same with ZenFone Selfie but have bigger battery, so it's bring ZenFone experience with larger screen.

Look and Design

The ZenPad 8 Z380KL has a thin and slim design which is fairly comfortable and easy to carry. The Zenpad 8 dimension is 209 x 123 x 8.5 mm and 350g in weight. The Zenpad 8 has an 8-inch screen display with 1280x800-pixel screen with 16:10 aspect ratio. ZenPad speaker is at the top which supported by DTS sound.

ZenPad 8 comes with leather style back cover which made by plastic and has a thin metalic strip around the screen which gives luxury look. The power button and volume buttons are on the right side of the tablets, micro USB and 3.5mm ports are on the top. The rear cover is removable for accessing microSD and SIM slot.

Under the back cover there are micro-SIM slot which support 4G connection and microSD slots, as well as a connector for Audio Cover which you can buy separately. 

Example of ZenPad Audio Cover (From Zenpad Z370)

Specifications

ASUS ZenPad 8 Z380KL Specifications
Operating System	Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
Display	8" LED Backlight WXGA (1280x800) Screen
	IPS Panel
	10 finger multi-touch support
	Corning® Gorilla® Glass1
	Anti-fingerprint coating
	Full lamination
	ASUS Tru2Life Technology
CPU	Qualcomm® MSM8929 Octa-Core, 64bit
	Qualcomm® MSM8916 Octa-Core, 64bit
Memory	1GB/2GB/3GB
Storage	8GB/16GB/32GB
	5GB Life Time ASUS Webstorage Space
	100GB of Google Drive space for 2 years.
Graphic	Adreno 306 (MSM8916)/405(MSM 8929)
Network Standard	2G
	EDGE/GSM
	3G
	WCDMA
	850MHz(5)/900MHz(8)/1900MHz(2) /2100MHz(1)
	LTE(CAT4) Mbps
	4G
	LTE
	800(20)/850(5)/900(8)/1800(3)/1900(2)/2100(1)/2600(7)
Wireless Data Network	WLAN802.11 b/g/n
	Bluetooth V4.0
	Support Miracast
Camera	2 MP Front Camera
	5 MP Rear Camera with Auto focus*1
	8 MP Rear Camera with Auto-Focus*1
Audio	1 x Front Speaker with DTS HD Premium Sound, Supports aptX®
Interface	1 x Micro USB
	1 × 2-in-1 Audio Jack (Headphone / Mic-in)
	1 x Micro SD Card Reader, up to 64GB SDXC
	1 x Micro SIM Slot
Sensor	G-Sensor/ E-compass/ Hall sensor/ light Sensor
Battery	10 hours battery life; 15.2Wh Li-polymer Battery*3
Navigation	GPS, GLONASS & AGPS
Color	Black, White, Aurora Metallic
Dimensions	209 x 123 x 8.5 mm (LxWxH)*5
Weight	350 g

Benchmarking 

Benchmark score on ZenPad Z380KL is quite good, with arround 29.000 on Antutu benchmark.

On 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited ZenPad 8 Scores 7580

CPU Z Information

Camera

We don't expect much from tablet camera, but ZenPad 8 equipped with 8MP camera without flash. The result is good too for Tablet camera, ZenPad 8 also has camera features like Zenfone series.

User Interface

ASUS ZenPad 8 runs Android 5.0 with ZenUI overlay. The interface is same with another ASUS Smartphones. The UI is comfortable to use, fast, and lag free. Thanks to 3GB RAM which makes this Tablet can do a lot multitasking without lagging.

Gaming Test

We do some gaming test, ZenPad 8 runs well with a little bit lag on Asphalt 8 but still playable and Mortal Combat X Runs very well without lag. You can see on video below :

Verdict

ZenPad 8 Z380KL is a decent tablets with luxurious style and good performance. Even who use tablets without having smartphones will happy with this device. Also you can buy the Audio cover to make this tablet to media device which you can watch movie or listening to music with it's DTS technology. ZenPad 8 use ZenUI interface which easy to use and very good in response. Zenpad 8 also support USB OTG, MicroSD up to 64GB.

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