There is a demand for enduring battery life for our mobile devices particularly smartphones. As a traveler who’s usually on the go, there isn’t always a chance to charge our smartphones especially in transit. Asus Philippines gave us a chance to try out their latest battery power behemoth, the Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL. The Asus Zenfone Max boast a 5,000mAh lithium-polymer battery boasting a 38-day standby time. While I haven’t full tested its standby time, I had the Asus Zenfone Max gone through the demands of travel on a festival weekend in Cebu.
Asus Zenfone Max Specs
The Asus Zenfone Max follow the same award-winning design mold of its zenfone line which sports a sleek rounded corner body. In fact, it’s like the big brother of the Zenfone 2 Laser 500KL and buffed up twin 550KL sharing almost the same specs and the ZEN UI interface. The noticeable difference is the thickness and the added weight. Here are the key specs of the Max
- 5.5-inch HD IPS display protected by the tough and tested Corning Gorilla Glass 4.
- IPS 1280×720 HD IPS display has viewing angles of up to 178 degrees occupying 72% of the phone body.
- Dual-sim phone with LTE Connectivity. Runs in Android 5.0.2 Lollipop skinned by their native ZenUI interface.
- 16GB internal memory expandable with MicroSD slot of up to 64gb capacity.
- Supports USB On-the-go
- 2GB RAM
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (quad-core) 1.2ghz
- 13MP and f/2.0 5-element Lens with Dual Tone Flash and Laser Autofocus
- 5MP f2.0 front camera
- PixelMaster Technology
- 5000mAh non-removable lithium-polymer
- 202g
48 Hour Battery Test
So I decided that my official test would start at 6:00am Saturday of the weekend. I had already fully charge the battery the night before and unplugged before the said time. It was the Sinulog festival weekend in Cebu so I expect a lot of shooting too. Here’s a breakdown of hours and corresponding activities.
6.24 hours. 87% battery 12:24pm. Considering this is a new phone, I did a lot of tinkering and exploring. Getting to know the UI and also installing new apps that I would use for social media updates and photo editing.
12.4 hours. 76% battery 6:40pm. It was a busy afternoon of shooting the festival and more on real-time updates of the event.
19.37 hours. 60% battery 1:37am Sunday. Just got back at the hotel after an evening of meeting up with friends in Cebu. In between dinner and meetups. Used social media, messaging, phone calls and even a few night shots.
24.45 hours. 57% battery 6:45am. Normally I would already push the panic button and charge my phone but seeing the pattern on battery consumption I just let it be. Used the phones alarm and took photos of breakfast.
32.47 hours. 33% battery 2:47pm. We were already at Mactan Airport at this time headed to Manila. Spent the morning shooting the Sinulog parade and in between accessing my data for social media updates.
36.39 hours. 20%% battery 6:39pm. Already arrive in Manila from a flight from Cebu.
40.28 hours. 16% battery 10:28pm. Regular browsing on social media apps and posting updates in Instagram.
47.27 hours. 11% battery 5:27am Monday. Still alive and kicking.
49 hours. 7:00am. Decided to finally plugin to charge at work.
Summary and sample photos on the next page…
Summary
The Asus Zenfone Max sure keeps on going and managed to have enough juice to last more than 48 hours on heavy use. Quite a feat really. On regular days, I find using it without charging for more than 4 days. This power-packed phone is quite handy especially for travel. Very practical as it also works as powerbank when used with a USB OTG cable.
Feel and performance is very similar to the ZenFone 2 Laser which I liked. The major difference is the placement of the buttons which on the Asus Zenfone Max is on the right side and the added heft. The 2 GB RAM and Qualcomm Snapdragon 410(quad-core) 1.2ghz isn’t a performance beast and can struggle on multi-tasking once in a while. But for general use like multi-media (videos and music), social media and a few not too intensive games the phone has an above average performance.
One of the qualms I had with the ZenFone 2 Laser is the speaker was too weak but the headset audio was surprisingly excellent. The Asus Zenfone Max has a much better speaker. Loud and could fill up the room. Though I noticed that there’s a drop on the quality of the audio headset output though.
If you’re tired of constantly looking for an electric socket to plugin in your phone charger or want to loose that extra weight from a powerbank, the Asus Zenfone Max is the closest solution for a smartphone with enduring battery life. The 5,000 mAh delivers on its promise. The combination of a well-designed hardware, above average performance, decent camera, max power and an affordable price tag makes the Asus Zenfone Max a smart option for anyone or a traveler like me more so.
What I liked
- Long lasting 5,000 mAh battery life
- Well thought out design
- Above average performance
- Loud speakers
- Decent laser-focus and F/2.0 camera
- Works as a powerbank (with OTG cable)
What I didn’t care for
- Longer charging time with supplied charger
- Heavy and thick
- Non-replaceable battery
- Audio quality for the headset degraded
- ZEN UI bloatware
The Asus Zenfone Max is available in the Philippines with an SRP of Php 8,495.00.
Sample Image Gallery
Disclaimer: The Asus Zenfone Max was provided by Asus Philippines for the author.
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