Asus ZenFone Max Philippines Price is Php 8,495 : Launched in Cebu, Out Now Nationwide!

Last January 16, 2015, Asus Philippines took me as well as other bloggers and members of the media to Cebu to join them in celebrating Sinulog Festival 2016 and in launching their new smartphones for the first part of this year.

I had a blast in my two-days stay in Cebu! Cebuanos are beautiful people; They are amazing!

I'd like to thank Asus Philippines for my first Sinulog experience. Viva Santo Niño! Pit Señor!

One of the handsets that the Taiwanese company introduced during the event is this, the Asus ZenFone Max.

Crafted for mobile warriors who hate always charging their smartphones in the middle of the day just to make sure that it will have enough power left during the drive home, this handset is powered by a massive (albeit non-removable) 5,000 mAh battery pack that's big enough to deliver 37.5 hours of talk time, 22.6 hours of video playback, and - get this - almost three days of web-browsing on WiFi!

Believe it!

And what's even more incredible is that despite having such a high capacity battery, Asus ZenFone Max only measures 10.55 millimeters at its thickest point, which is still relatively slim for a phablet with this special hardware feature.

Also, it weighs just 202 grams, which is just 10 grams more than the weight of Apple iPhone 6S Plus that has same screen size but with a far smaller battery pack.

The combination of its ergonomics, large 5.5-inch IPS HD display (267 ppi) underneath scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 4 touchscreen, 13 MegaPixel PixelMaster camera with Laser Autofocus and Dual Tone LED flash for more natural-looking colors, 5MP wide-angle selfie cam with advanced beautification features, Full HD video recorder, USB-OTG support, and the ultra-large battery pack giving the phone powerbank functionality truly make Asus ZenFone Max a perfect companion for users who are always on-the-go and want a device that can perfectly complement their active lifestyle.

Not to mention, the phablet looks very attractive as well. ZenFone Max features a metallic band running down its sides giving it an air of elegance. The Black version has a back plate with faux leather texture while the rear cover of the White variant comes with a matte, ceramic-like look.

As for the internal hardware, ZenFone Max is largely similar to the budget-friendly Asus ZenFone Laser 5.5-inch phablet released last year. Both models run their Zen-UI-2.0-flavored Android 5.0.2 Lollipop operating system with a 64-Bit 1.2 GHz Quad Core ARM Cortex A53 and Adreno 306 based Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset, have 2GB of RAM for multitasking, and come with 16GB of ROM (11GB user available) that's expandable via microSD card slot supporting up to 128GB. In terms of connectivity, this Dual SIM Dual Standby device supports 4G LTE (both microSIM card slots), WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.0.

While you can't call the ZenFone Max a powerful phablet with top-notch gaming and multitasking performance (Asus ZenFone 2, ZenFone 2 Deluxe, and ZenFone Zoom are still the best models for that), this release nonetheless gives unbelievable value for just Php 8,495. Imagine: For that amount, you already get a smartphone with such large display, above average low light imaging performance, great selfie camera, useful set of software innovations via Zen user interface for Android, attractive design language, and a very large battery that gives you peace of mind anywhere you go. I think it's a winner!