Asus ZenFone Max Plus M2 and Max Shot: Budget camera phones

Recently, Asus Corporation has released two of its new creations. The announcement of smartphones took place in Brazil, and that's where the ZenFone Max Plus M2 and Max Shot have already hit the stores. Whether they are worthy of their prices will be known at the end of the review. However, the developers made it clear that these devices are designed for a buyer with an average income. Manufacturers also announced the uniqueness of the technical characteristics of their new products. Is this really the case, we will find out in this article.

Brief information

First of all, it is worth noting that the Asus ZenFone Max Plus M2 and Asus ZenFone Max Shot are, in fact, identical smartphones.The only difference between them is the quantity and quality of the main camera modules. Otherwise, there is no difference between them, even in appearance they do not differ at all.

Both models have a slightly outdated USB port, a finger-scanning sensor located on the back of the case, and a dedicated slot for a flash drive. This slot is made quite differently compared to other models. Now it is not hybrid and has a dedicated shape. According to the manufacturers, this has something to do with the installation of a new chipset in future models.

Detailed Specifications

Design

By the standards of 2019, the devices look quite simple, there are no remarkable details in them.To the naked eye, you can see some similarities with the tenth iPhone, as well as a few familiar details borrowed from the previous ZenFone Max M1 model.

Despite their most ordinary appearance, it becomes clear that smartphones are very convenient and reliable. This is due to the quality of the materials from which they are made.

All past Max models were made strictly from a metal alloy, and soon switched to a combination of metal and plastic. In the case of new devices, everything looks completely different. This time the devices are made of armored glass.

In general, the appearance of the devices does not cause any delight, but at the same time everything looks stylish. The body material is quite pleasant in contact with the hand. Despite its relatively low cost (14 thousand rubles), the appearance is made on a solid top five.

The finger-scanning sensor, which is located on the back cover, easily touches the hand and responds instantly. For manufacturers, this is progress, since all previous models were too dumb during unlocking.

In the case of devices, as it should be for all smartphones with a capacious battery, all the necessary ports and connectors are located. There is a 3.5 jack audio jack on the top of the case. Unfortunately, an additional headset is not included with the device.

At the bottom of the device there is a connector for charging the battery. Nearby is a microphone and a speaker hole for hands-free calling. In appearance, the speaker resembles a port for flash drives on old-style smartphones.

Inside the case there is a special slot for two nano SIM cards and a flash drive.The latter is very useful, given the small internal memory of 32 GB. The slot looks sturdy and takes up little space.

Display

The devices are equipped with a good display with an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a diagonal of 6.3 inches. The type of matrix in both smartphones is IPS with full HD resolution. The calculated aspect ratio of the screen allows you to comfortably view your favorite photos and videos in the usual 16:9 ratio, despite the rounding of the case and the existing unibrow.

At the moment, the presented smartphones have the best display in their price category. One of the leading characteristics is the complete absence of a shift in the color balance towards blue hues. The colors here are warm and pleasant, and the picture is rich and bright.

In the system settings, it is possible to adjust and add the level of multi-colored shades to the color balance as you wish. Also in the functionality there is a night mode, which automatically reduces the temperature of the screen for comfortable reading or watching movies before going to bed. This mode can be activated both on schedule and at will.

Unfortunately, the dot density on the display is relatively low, but despite this, and despite the fact that the diagonal for such a density is quite large, the image still gives a good picture with a minimum amount of graininess. Cloudiness on the screen is also not noticeable, even during strong lighting.

It is sad that these devices do not have a display that supports Full HD.

Iron

Both devices are powered by the new generation Snapdragon SiP1 chipset, which has some interesting features, but about them a little later.Thanks to this chipset, the system of the device functions stably, without any sagging and braking, however, the processor pulls heavy games rather weakly.

In terms of the main applications of the system, things are brisk. The system works quite quickly, there are no freezes during the loading of programs, and the main switching on of the device occurs almost instantly.

It is worth noting that stability during heavy applications and games is completely absent. When you start a powerful game, the system produces a very weak picture with minimal graphics settings. Only with such conditions can these smartphones function in the gaming field.

Operating system

The presented devices operate under the leadership of Android 8.1. The operating system comes clean, without unnecessary add-ons, shells and installed applications.

This is very convenient, since a bare OS takes up relatively little space and gives the user the opportunity to independently install all the necessary applications for the user. But a clean operating system has its drawbacks, and they relate to battery life.

Battery capacity

The battery of the described smartphones is arranged in an interesting way. Surprisingly, the battery capacity is 4000 mAh, which in general looks promising. But it was not there. This volume should be enough for at least several days of continuous operation. However, these devices, in terms of operating time, cannot jump over devices with a smaller battery capacity. The situation is not very pleasant and resembles the previous smartphone from the Max pro line, in which the battery had 5000 mAh, but could not fully work out 3500 mAh.

Apparently, the result of such low-quality power consumption is a type of display that cannot fully cooperate with the existing processor. For normal operation with such a screen, there must be a processor that will work much faster, and only then the system will consume less energy.

Another culprit may be the firmware version and a clean operating system. The fact is that due to the lack of special software installed by default in most operating systems with the manufacturer's shell, energy consumption occurs without proper control.

Regarding Snapdragon SiP1

According to Qualcomm, the announcement of a new generation of chipsets took place back in 2018.

In system language, SiP stands for “System on Package,” which is actually a huge difference from SoC (System on Chip) configuration. The difference lies in the fact that all the main system components, the number of which exceeds four hundred units, are located on one module during soldering. This move was made specifically to save space in the smartphone case, which will come in handy during the development of design and configuration of other parts.

Other details include a dedicated flash memory slot. In both smartphones, you can easily install several SIM cards and a special memory card at once. The memory card is designed up to 256 gigabytes.

Regarding the Snapdragon SiP1 chipset, things are quite interesting. In technical terms, the same Snapdragon 450 opens up before the user, only this time it is equipped in a different configuration. The new chip is equipped with a powerful processor of eight Cortex A53 cores, which operates at a frequency of 1.8 GHz.The standard 14nm technical process contributed to the production of this chipset. The chip functions in conjunction with the Adreno 506 GPU.

Device cameras

As mentioned earlier, the main differences between the Asus ZenFone Max Plus M2 and Asus ZenFone Max Shot smartphones are the system and quality of the cameras.

Asus ZenFone Max Shot

This device has a main camera with three high-quality modules and excellent functionality. In addition to the three modules of the main camera, the composition includes a wide-angle and a depth sensor.

The main camera module is powered by a sensor from Sony and has a resolution of 12 MP. The aperture is F/1.8. The next module is wide-angle and has 8 MP. Thanks to the wide-angle module, it is possible to shoot with viewing angles of 120 degrees. The third module is optional and is designed for portrait photography. Its resolution is 5 MP.

Pictures on the main camera are decent. The image comes out clear, brightness and saturation are normal, and noise and graininess are practically absent. In poor lighting, of course, the pictures are a little worse, but still watchable.

With the front camera, things are also not bad. With good lighting, it is capable of producing quite acceptable pictures, and more is not required of it.

Asus ZenFone Max Plus M2

In fact, it is the camera that is considered the strongest node in this gadget. Although this is a budget option, the image quality cannot compete with powerful cameras, but for such a price, the result justifies all expectations. Even with poor lighting or dark nights, images come out decent and with a natural level of color.If compared with other smartphones, for example, take the same Xiaomi Redmi 6 or Honor 8, then this one will show the best level of image quality.

The main camera has two modules. The main module, like that of the partner, comes with a sensor from Sony and has 12 MP. The aperture is the same - F / 1.8. The second module is wide-angle and has a resolution of 8 MP.

The front camera in the device is slightly weaker than that of a partner, but can also produce good pictures. The main factor in working with the front camera is good lighting. Provide the device with light, get good photos. In addition to the front camera, there is an enhancement module in the functionality, with the help of which the pictures taken are amenable to special processing. Finished photos are pretty and do not catch the eye with the effect of over-processing.

The disadvantage of the camera is the recording of videos. Despite the fact that the system has the ability to record video in 4K format at 30 frames per second, the camera shoots material outrageously disgusting. The thing is that during the shooting, the clarity begins to increase, and at this time the stabilization begins to lose its balance and the result is an unbalanced frame.

At night, it is better not to shoot at all. Not only do the videos turn out to be muddy, but you will have to use a special tripod to shoot them. Even with the stand, the system constantly tries to adjust the level of sharpness (very often at times) and confuses the operator. If we compare the materials shot on this video camera, they are more like videos made on a video recorder.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Good display with rich colors;
• Decent camera with good photo quality;
• Improved chipset;
• Low cost - 14 thousand rubles;
• Good appearance;
• Convenience and reliability of the device;
• Ability to install two SIM cards.

• Small autonomy of the device;
• Terrible video quality
• Weak support for heavy games.

Conclusion

The opinion about these smartphones is ambiguous. It makes no sense to compare them on the battlefield with direct competitors, since they could not particularly surpass their predecessors either. If you look without bias, then in the arsenal of new devices there is the same speed of programs, the same poor quality of graphics in games, the same low battery life as in previous models. Almost the only improvement is a good camera. It turns out that the new representatives of the line of budget smartphones, in fact, are the same as the previous versions of smartphones.

You can only emphasize a decent camera and quite a good display. The latter has almost one worthy side, except for the pixel density. But this does not spoil the overall picture.

What is the result? The cost of fourteen thousand rubles at the time of release suggests that in the near future these state employees, with their existing characteristics and reputation, will lose several thousand more. In the end, the user will be presented with a mid-level smartphone for the amount of 10-11 thousand rubles. A very reasonable price for such a device.