Zenfone 5 And Zenfone Max Pro M1 Official Launch – Best Value Smartphones Of The Year!
ASUS Malaysia has finally lift up the lid on their highly anticipated devices, the Zenfone 5 and the Zenfone Max Plus M1, which is set to cause a storm in the mobile market with the price and specifications that they offer.
Zenfone Max Pro (M1) & Zenfone 5
First up is the Max Pro M1. The phone offers a whopping 5000mAh battery, 6-inch FHD+ display as well as a dual camera system. If that wasn’t enough, it packs an energy-efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset. All this combined, makes the perfect mobile gaming experience.
In addition to running pure Android 8.1 Oreo, there are three storage variants available for the device; 3GB RAM+32GB, 4GB+64GB, and 6GB+64GB. You can also expand the storage up to 2TB worth of internal storage, if you aren’t satisfied enough.
ASUS has said that you can charge its big 5000mAh battery from 0% to 100% in just 2 hours and 42 minutes. This is rather fast as there some devices out there with 4000mAh batteries that need well over 3 hours just to reach its full charge.
For the phone’s camera, it comes with a dual rear camera at 16MP+5MP (13MP+5MP for the 3GB variant) that offers phase-detection autofocus as well as a bokeh mode. Meanwhile, the front camera will be sporting a 16MP (8MP for 3GB variant) shooter for your selfie purposes. Video wise, the phone offers full 4K UHD video recording at 30fps.
Over to the Zenfone 5, it offers a 6.2-inch display with dual cameras (12MP+8MP) and is also the first ever Zenfone to come with the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Chipset wise, it also offers the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 due to its smooth, and power-efficient performance. Zenfone 5 has an intelligent dual-camera systems that adapts and learn, meaning you’ll love it even more the longer you use it. It uses Sony’s flagship IMX363 image sensor in its cameras that captures up to 5 times brighter and clearer photos in low-light conditions. Its 120-degree wide-angle secondary camera has a field of view that’s twice wider than a standard smartphone camera, making capturing expansive landscapes a breeze.
As mentioned earlier, the Zenfone 5 features AI and with its ASUS AI Boost, it can help to optimize performance for games or demanding tasks. Battery wise, it offers a 3300mAh battery under the hood that comes with ASUS BoostMaster fast-charge. There’s also the introduction of AI Charging, where it adjusts the charging rate by monitoring the user’s charging habits, which slows down the battery’s ageing process.
It’s 6.2-inch Full HD+ display is a thing of beauty. which supports DCI-P3 color space, making vivid image reproduction. As for the audio of the Zenfone 5, it supports DTS Headphone:X for 7.1 channel virtual surround sound.
Not to forget, ZeniMoji is the latest new addition to the Zenfone series, letting users animate avatars using their own voice, facial expressions and head movements.
ASUS ZenFone 5 and ZenFone Max Pro (M1) Specifications
[table style=”table-hover”]
| ZenFone 5 (ZE620KL) | ZenFone Max Pro (M1) | |
| CPU/Chipset: | Snapdragon 636 (4 x Kryo 260 @ 1.8 GHz + 4 x Kryo 260 @ 1.6 GHz), 14nm FinFET | |
| GPU: | Adreno 509 | |
| RAM: | 4GB LPDDR4X | 3GB/4GB/6GB LPDDR4X |
| Display: | 6.2″, FHD+ (2246×1080) 19:9 All-Screen Super IPS+ display 550nits Brightness 100% DCI-P3 / 96% NTSC colour gamut coverage 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass |
6.0″, FHD+ (2160×1080) 18:9 Full View IPS display, 1500:1 contrast ratio, 85% NTSC color gamut, 450 nits, 404ppi, 10-points multi-touch |
| Storage: | 64GB eMCP 5.1 (expandable via microSD up to 2TB) | 32GB/64GB eMCP 5.1 (expandable via microSD up to 2TB) + 100GB Google Drive storage upgrade for 1 year |
| Camera: | Main Camera 12MP f/1.8, 4-axis Photo OIS / Video EIS Sony IMX363 Sensor, 78° viewing angle, 6-element lens LED flash, RGB sensor, HDR, 4K video Secondary Camera 8MP f/2.2, 120° viewing angle Omnivision 8856 sensor, 5-element lens Front Camera 8MP f/2.0, 84° viewing angle Omnivision 8856 sensor, 4-element lens, RGB senso |
Main Rear Camera 13MP f/2.0, PDAF Single LED flash, 4K video Second Rear Camera 5MP bokeh camera for depth-of-field Front Camera 16MP with Softlight LED flash |
| OS: | Android 8.1 Oreo with ZenUI 5.0 | Pure Android Oreo 8.1 |
| Connectivity: | Wireless Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4GHz & 5GHz) LTE CAT12 (up to 600mb/s data transfer) Bluetooth 5.0 w/ A2DP / aptX Audio / Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) Human Interface Device (HID) Personal Area Network (PAN) Object Push Profile (OPP) FM Radio Wired USB 2.0 Type-C 3.5mm combo audio jack |
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz) with Wi-Fi Direct Bluetooth 5.0 with HID GSM, WCDMA, FDD-LTE (Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20), TD-LTE (Band 40), VoLTE |
| SIM: | Dual nanoSIM (2nd SIM doubles as MicroSD slot) | Dual nanoSIM + Dedicated MicroSD slot |
| Battery: | Li-ion 3300 mAh (non-removable) | 5000 mAh (non-removable) |
| Weight: | 155g | 180 g |
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The Zenfone Max Plus M1’s price varies for each variant. RM699 (3GB RAM+32GB), RM849 (4GB+64GB), and RM999 (6GB+64GB). If that doesn’t seem attractive enough for you, well wait there’s more. You can get the 3GB variant at just RM599 during their June’s Flash Sale on Lazada and the 4GB variant at a lesser RM799 if your pre-order the device on Lazada. Meanwhile, the ASUS Zenfone 5 is available in Midnight Blue and Meteor Silver. It is priced at just RM1,299 with pre-orders exclusively starts at Lazada on the 4th of June 2018.
So that’s about the two devices. If you haven’t checked out our reviews on the Max Plus M1 or the Zenfone 5, what are you waiting for?! Do read them if you are planning on getting them or want to know the full specifications.
