Before the "five" will officially hit the local tech stores, we were still able to grab the latest in the fourth gen of Asus Zenfone which I think to put more attention than on the Max Plus M1 for us mainly for their choice of processor and price.
This is the Asus Zenfone 4 Max Lite (Z4ML) with the front view of the box
Before we check the phone, inside the box there is a pair of earphones, cables, 5V 2A charger, OTG cable and protective case
In case that you may be looking at the specs sheet, you may check our previous blog post here
Here are the views in different angles of Z4ML. We already seen this set-up mostly from the previous Zenfone 3 line-up with dual nano SIM + microSD tray at the left, power/unlock button and volume rocker at the right, 3.5 mm. audio jack at the top and pin hole mic, speaker and micro USB port at the bottom. Not sure if this is the official set-up (as we waited for over a month just for this review unit) that the front view does not have pre-applied screen protector. If this is true, it is already a downer for us especially for those who are about to start their first smartphone or do not have that acccess to get a third-party screen protector in their area. They mentioned that it has 4,100 mAh battery which it does not have that bulk feel at all. Looks like the body was made on plastic in that metal-colored paint job. The build quality though is quite ok
Connecitivity department - Z4ML did a good job in our calls, texts, mobile data, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi and OTG
UI - Before we started a week ago, we did not get a software as it was based on December 2017. The ZenUI became a bit lighter thanks to less Asus bloatware. One noticeable thing is they shifted to Android Messages for handling SMS. That familiar animation that we seen from Zenfone four years continue on this one which might annoy you in some time. Good thing, some of Nougat functionality like multi-window mode worked fine on us.
Benchmarks - the phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB ROM combo. There were enough sensors on this handset and adequate numbers on Antutu for the given SoC
Battery - they also added this one as the "battery king" which it can be for some people. In our video battery rundown test, the phone with 4,100 mAh battery lasted for 18 hours and 5 minutes. In real-life heavy usage for us with around 6 hours of average screen on time with 20% brightness, it is usually a 36-hour Android device for us. Charging time took me usually at 2 1/4 hours.
Camera - Z4ML is another affordable Zenfone with dual main cam system which like in one of their models, the 2nd main cam acts for a 5 MP wide angle shooter. The wide angle photos are only recommended for daytime environment. On it's primary rear cam, somehow the phone was a bit better compared to the Max Plus M1 (quite a good decision to us to skip it). Image processing time was on average. Same fate as I do not recommend it to shoot on low-light situations. The selfie cam is quite servicable
Normal shots
Wide angles
Extras - Since the Zenfone came out in the country, it was an "under-the-radar" characteristic that this phone line-up was one of the best in terms of implementation of double tap to sleep and wake. With the front fingerprint sensor already, I chose to only enable the double tap to sleep but for a lot in instances, the phone has a bug that it will wake up only in my pocket and my usual stroll/walk. Another thing that I will try to ask, why Z4ML chose to remove the FM radio? I am accepting the fact that high-end phones will not gonna it but it is a low midrange phone which already a must-need. Some of the masses might gonna pick it for the brand recognition, big battery and right price so it was pretty a downer
Their choice of processor (I favor the SD 425 over the MT6750 in their Max Plus M1), big battery and good battery life, lighter ZenUI. servicable cameras and price (as to compare with another SD425-powered international smartphone with only qHD display and 1,600 mAh less on battery) were the strengths of Asus Zenfone 4 Max Lite. Some might be bitin on the 2 GB RAM/16 GB ROM combo but some of the glitches in the ZenUI and their choice to remove the FM radio (I will not gonna count for now if the phone does not really have a pre-applied screen protector). I will gonna give Asus Zenfone Max 4 Lite at 3.75 out of 5.
