ASUS has flooded the market with different smartphones especially the Zenfone Max family and recently, they launched their most exciting smartphone in the Zenfone Max family – the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1. I know, the naming scheme of ASUS is a little bit odd and confusing but I promise you, the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 is an exciting one.

Hardware and Design

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 doesn’t have a design and build that can really drop your jaw but the design of the smartphone is enough to say that the smartphone has a solid build that you will appreciate especially for a mid-range smartphone.

The Zenfone Max Pro does have an ergonomic build despite its thick structure but you don’t have worry too much about it as the smartphone comes with a jelly plastic case.  The back is made up of metal while the sides are plastic. It’s a little bit heavy but again, the smartphone is still ergonomic for me but I highly suggest that you use the jelly case.

At the back of the smartphone is where you can find the dual lens camera and below it is the LED flash. The fingerprint scanner of the smartphone is also located on the back of the smartphone and it can easily recognize my fingerprint.

On the right is where you can find the power button along with the volume rocker of the smartphone while on the other side is where the triple card tray is being housed. The smartphone also has a micro USB port below along with the 3.5mm headphone jack. Yep, still using Micro USB instead of USB-C.

There’s face unlock on this smartphone despite running on Android Pure and no, it’s still a hit-and-miss for me even at well-lit conditions but again, there’s a fingerprint scanner at the back of the smartphone so there’s really nothing to worry about that.

The smartphone’s speaker is just average. It’s just what you can expect from the smartphone at its price range. Nothing too special about it but it will do just fine even if you’re just into playing battle royale games like PUBG.

Display

One of the best things about the smartphone is that the smartphone isn’t sporting a notch and it has a Full HD+ display on the 5.99-inch display with 18:9 display aspect ratio. The display of the smartphone is actually pretty good, especially for its price.

The colors were good and the viewing angles were fine. Actually, the display of the smartphone is really bright. It definitely has one of the best displays on its price range.

Gaming on the smartphone is one of the best things to like about it as the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 features an 18:9 display which means that you can have wider and more immersive experience compared to other smartphones, also, the 5.99-inch display is large enough for games like PUBG Mobile

Battery Life

The ASUS Zenfone Max smartphone series is very popular as the smartphones in this family sports a large battery and with the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1, you can get a large 5000mAh battery which means that not only you can have a good performance on gaming on the smartphone but also a long battery life that can probably last more than a day depending on your usage. In our test using PC Mark, we were able to get a score of 11 hours and 42 minutes which is pretty good especially if you’re a heavy gamer.

Charging the smartphone isn’t really a problem as I was able to fully charge the smartphone at around 2 hours.

Performance

Performance is one of the best things about the smartphone. Again, it features a Snapdragon 636 processor along with 3GB of RAM. But of course, the smartphone also comes with a better 4GB RAM variant and with a larger storage and camera but we’re gonna focus on the 3GB variant which is exclusive to Lazada here in the Philippines.

First of all, the Snapdragon 636 processor is a really decent processor whether you want it for gaming or for normal daily usage. The temperatures of the processor are mostly fine even at heavy usage. The smartphone does get warm after a long time of gaming but frame drops weren’t really that drastic on the smartphone.

I was able to play PUBG Mobile on the smartphone at balanced settings with high frame rates. I would suggest not to set it at the highest settings as the game needs more optimization and you will notice some frame drops at HD graphic settings. But most of the time, the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 will do just fine. In other games such as Asphalt 8, Rules of Survival, and NBA 2k18, you won’t have any problems with those games and you would enjoy high frame rates on those mentioned games.

When it comes to benchmarks, I was actually happy with the results that I got, in Antutu, I got a high score of 115298 which is expected on a smartphone with this specifications. This definitely proved that the Snapdragon 636 processor inside it is really powerful.

OS, UI, and Software

This is probably the best feature that I really love about the smartphone. Actually, this is a surprising move from ASUS. The company decided that the smartphone will run Android Pure which means that the smartphone is almost stock Android. It’s different from the Android One devices but you can experience a buttery smooth and vanilla android on this one. There’s no ZenUI bloatware on the smartphone and everything is really fast on the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1.

But of course, ASUS has included some apps including FM radio, sound recorder, and calculator aside from the Google apps that are pre-installed on the smartphone. Is it a bad thing that ASUS has opted for Android Pure? No. Is it really good? Yes, it’s actually great. It’s still user-friendly and it’s really damn fast.

Camera

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 features a dual lens camera and for the 3GB variant, you’re getting a 13-megapixel rear camera with a secondary 5-megapixel sensor for depth sensing instead of a wide-angle lens which we mostly see on ASUS smartphones. While the UI of the camera is a bit confusing, the camera quality of the smartphone is better than I expected.

It’s actually a hit-and-miss depending on the conditions but most of the time, I get a decent shot on the smartphone’s rear camera. It captures fine details even at indoors, however, I noticed that at low light, it gets a little bit blown out. But again, overall, it’s still a fine camera for a smartphone at its price. Check out the shots that I took using the smartphone

Verdict

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 is a great mid-range smartphone. Every aspect of the smartphone is really good for its price. We got a decent display that produces great colors, a powerful processor inside that is even used by smartphones including the ASUS Zenfone 5, and a battery life that can last a day even at heavy gaming.

The camera of the smartphone might be a hit-and-miss for some but it is still mostly good. The face unlock of the smartphone isn’t as fast as before too and some people might not be a fan of Android Pure but it was really damn fast.

To answer the question, yes, the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 is the best mid-range smartphone for gaming. Why? It’s affordable but you get a decent power thanks to the SD636 processor and also a long battery life thanks to the 5000mAh battery.

Overall, I would love to have this smartphone if my budget is sub-Php10k. However, the smartphone is only available at Lazada. But if you want to get this smartphone with a better camera, bigger RAM, and larger storage then you can get the 4GB variant that is priced at Php13,995.

You can get the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 3GB for Php9,995