ASUS ZenFone Max Pro ZB602KL

Advantages: There are advantages and disadvantages. I switched to this device with ZenFone 4 Max (ZC554KL) in pursuit of more memory and power. As a result, both of them fully met their expectations, the phone is very smart, does not slow down and does not heat up at all (the previous one heated up significantly during a long conversation). A lot of places and the ability to stick a 2 terabyte card is generally super. A bright screen and a VERY louder sound, both in the external speaker and when talking on the phone. The camera works fine. I didn’t try to shoot at night, but during the day, it perfectly shoots video and photos. I give an example of a photo made on a very cloudy day without applying any settings, just bent down and clicked a flower. In my great quality. If someone doesn’t have enough, they already need a camera with a real-life aperture, shutter speed and a stabilizer, and I don’t need to demand more quality from a smartphone.
As for the cover, on all known ali I bought a cover that fits perfectly in size and all the holes.
Above all praise work and placement of the sensor for the fingerprint. It works without a single glitch and is very conveniently located when you take the phone in your hand, the finger itself falls into it.
The battery, with intensive use of the device, works honestly for 2 days, and unlike the previous model, it charges clearly faster.
NFC earned immediately without dancing with a tambourine. Guided instructions on the site of Sberbank.
The Ekaterinburg transport e-card cannot be used via a smartphone, despite the presence of NFC. This is due to the fact that in order to emulate a transport card with a phone, it is necessary to have an SE (closed memory area) in it. But you can recharge the transport card using the NFC smartphone.

Disadvantages: Now the list of disappointments.I am not so well versed in phones to judge the matter of software or hardware features. Many emphasize the presence of pure android as an achievement. But if at the same time there are not some pleasant familiar options, then you begin to regret the old shell. ZenFone 4 Max (ZC554KL) already had out of the box working Automatic call recording and automatic redial to a busy number. And although the app store has both, the lack of familiar programs was unpleasantly surprised. Not so flexible customization of the desktop, there is no possibility to flip the tables in both directions - left only Google tapes and that's it. Produce tables can only be to the right (this is a trifle of course .. but a lot of settings are trimmed). No built-in TwinApps. In the old he was and allowed to use two vibers and two watches at the same time (the phone is still dvuhsimochny)
On past models, the three buttons below were physical, even though they were touch-sensitive and could not go anywhere. All swore that the asus did not think to make them with illumination and in the dark they are not visible ... Well, well, .. now they are visible for they are now part of the screen. It seems to be fine, but the fact is that in some applications they are modestly hidden so as not to interfere with the open program. And to cause them to have to fumble around the screen with your fingers causing these buttons. And when viewing photos through the gallery, these buttons are superimposed on the photo control buttons, and not always the smartphone understands what you want to click. In the second photo an example of such a lining, the duller three buttons are back, home and the latest programs. And on them brighter - delete, turn and the choice of editors. It is treated by turning the phone to the side (example of photo number 3) or by downloading another gallery
The dialing panel is very inconvenient, the panel of the callee or caller is also ugly made, the subscriber's photo has been reduced much ..
You cannot set up a quick call on the dial pad with one long press, this is generally unpleasant.
The screenshot on the previous model was made with one button, now there is no such

Comment: In general, a lot of positive emotions and negative. But the overall impression is still positive, since negative emotions are mostly just minor quibbles. Most of them are treated by downloading third-party applications. For example, the application for recording a conversation found on the Google applet turned out to be much better working than the regular one on the old phone.
Included charging.
On the purchase did not regret, I recommend to purchase.
If something is wrong, please write who knows what.

Advantages: Excellent running time
Good screen
Convenience settings
NFC availability
Fingerprint scanner
No extra uninstallable applications
Price

Disadvantages: Average camera
Easy to scratch case and screen
Small glitches in voice communication
Lack of wifi 5GHz

Comment: In my opinion - the best smartphone in terms of price / quality ratio today.
It works quickly, without thinking, in all applications (did not run only the game). Keeps charge with not very active use and constantly working wi-fi, mobile internet and GPS for a little more than 4 days. I liked the lack of Asusov and other unnecessary applications - mainly Google services and Facebook were installed. Perhaps not very broad individual settings, but everything is very convenient - for example, you can choose which calls and notifications to be voiced by a signal at night, and which ones are not. There are no complaints about the fingerprint scanner, there is still an untested FaceID function. NFC reads Troika, GooglePay hasn’t experienced the possibility yet - according to rumors, there are temporary problems.
I was upset by the quality of the pictures - there is a very noticeable difference with my previous old Samsung S-series, but on the whole - not everything is so bad. It would be foolish to wait for the quality of the flagship camera for such money.
A scratch quickly appeared on the back cover, I think the glass is also not very strong - I advise you to attend to some kind of protection.
A couple of times in two weeks of use, the sound disappeared while receiving a call - the interlocutor did not hear me, I had to call back. While watching this problem.
To keep because of the size, of course, is not very convenient, but this is a common problem of modern models of smartphones.

Advantages: Price, battery, performance.

Disadvantages: A very thin metal on the back cover - there were already a couple of slack drops - nicks appeared.
The mobile network catches noticeably worse than the previous Nokia 5.
Unsuccessful polarization coating on the screen - in my sunglasses in a vertical position the screen is very dim - it is extremely difficult to use.
We have to remove glasses.
Also, the protective glass is very soft. Immediately began to appear terrible scratches and scuffs.

Comment: Comparing with Nokia 5, I can say that this smart is superior to Nokia in all respects except for those indicated in the flaws.
If this does not bother you, feel free to take it.
The lack of 5 GHz is not a disadvantage, since 5 GHz, at least with my router, covers rooms worse than 2.4 GHz, and 2.4 has enough head speed.
As for MicroUSB, I forgot about connectors in mobiles since I bought several USB cables with a set of magnetic plugs (Type C, Micro USB, Lightning).
The camera also seemed to me quite good compared to Nokia 5. It works quickly, pictures are better.

If Google pay does not work, payment in public transport, etc. - you need to roll back to Google pay version 1.59 .... Everything worked right away in my magic way. We are waiting for fixes for GPay

Advantages: Productive smartphone with a bare android for an adequate price. Is this not a dream? The screen is beautiful, the memory is full, everything flies (I launch very resource-intensive applications), the battery lasts for two days of active use (surfing, calls, correspondence). Charges quite quickly from the usual USB port in the computer.

Disadvantages: It is necessary to understand that this is a state employee - of course there are compromises. Yes, there is no WiFi 5GHz, but I decided that I would survive it. Yes, there is no USB-C, but so far there is only one problem with it. They say that the camera shoots badly, but I don’t need it. Those. deficiencies that I did not know before the purchase, I have not yet found.

Addendum: a very significant flaw was found for some - the screen glass was made polarized for some reason. Because of this, when driving in a car in dark glasses with polarization, if the smartphone is standing upright, the screen becomes unreadable, it is impossible to use navigation.

Comment: This is my first "budget", before that there were always "flagships". This smartphone completely suited me by the characteristics, the custom “reviews” of the bloggers didn’t scare me, so I bought it half an hour after the start of sales on the official website (left without a smartphone, so I didn’t wait for thoughtful reviews). I own only four days, so I can’t share a serious experience, it usually appears after a year when the smartphone is no longer interesting to anyone. For me, the main criterion is the bare android and high performance. And in Asus it is. Yes, no design, but I need to go, not checkers. He does not cause rejection, and all right. But silver still looks more impressive, and took it. It is convenient in the hand (and it is not very big with me), not slippery, not easily soiled (hello to the ubiquitous glass in the back). This is my first smartphone with a finger sensor behind, afraid that it would be inconvenient, but no, the finger easily finds it. Bloggers say that unlocking is slow - they lie. But in advertising they don't lie - he really understands wet fingers, unlike my previous flagship. Disappointment from the purchase is not, and then we will see.

Advantages: 1. Pure android 8.1 - the lack of third-party firmware gives +10 per karma and +50 performance;
2. For its size it lies very well in the hand, the scanner is exactly where you need it;
3. Build quality at a height except for one moment (see below);
4. The screen with rounded corners is a direct space, I really liked this feature;
5. Autonomy - 1.5 days without letting go. The battery is large and is not spoiled by fast charging according to the 3.0 kvalkomosvsky, it will not be killed in 1-2 years.

Disadvantages: one.Jamb with nfc. Not critical, but still a minus, it is treated by installing the apk google pay application version 1.59;
2. Lyuftit tray lid, also not a critical point, but sometimes it unpleasantly crunches;
3. Not the fastest fingerprint scanner and unlocking on the face, hardware moment, I think will fix it with the following firmware;
4. The camera, for 16k, you don’t need to rely on the quality of shooting as an apple x, the camera shoots at a solid 3+, if you dig into the settings, so it turns out quite well, the video failed, the sound is not very good, the picture is soap
5. Maybe someone else has this, it seems that the forums looked like there was no such problem, the standard plug out of the box is very bad, I wanted to charge the battery for 6 hours.

Comment: I took it as a replacement for the dead battery in honor of 8. I am satisfied with the purchase. I recommend to everyone

Advantages: The ideal price / quality ratio.
Excellent performance, high-quality assembly, elegant autonomy, a full-fledged tray for simok and memory, with the ability to shove as much as 2TB and NFC, like a cherry on a cake.
Naked androyd - no special chips, but also no rubbish (only a couple of applications from Asus, but they are rather useful: a voice recorder, a calculator, a radio and tech support for Asus), works quickly and without delay.
The camera, of course, is not Nikon, but if you treat the device as a phone with a camera, and not as a camera with a phone, it is very, if not higher than expectations, although the "trick" with background blurring works unevenly, it may even be improved .
Fingerprint scanner works quickly and clearly. I do not really understand the nature of the claims to the speed of his work, everything is just as in advertising - 0.3 seconds, maybe a little longer if the finger is dirty / dusty / wet. Wet fingers recognize quite successfully. The truth is very wet, right from the tap, about 50 to 50.
By the sound - I expected the worst. The previous Galaxy S3 had an excellent audio chip, which is why it took it then. I didn’t find any specific information on the local audio chip, but it doesn’t yield to quality and significantly exceeds volume (it swings 35 ohm ears quite well, no complaints, I don’t know what will happen to the heavier ones). The external speaker is loud, sometimes too much: in the car (not the newest and not the most soundproofed) you have to set the volume to half so that the navigator does not hit the ears with his instructions.


Charging in the kit is not the worst, as it turned out.
I was given a load of 100GB on a googledisk, which personally turned out to be very useful for me, I was just about to pay for work needs. Trifle, but nice.

Disadvantages: The screen could be made even brighter - in the bright midday sun you have to strain your eyes a little.
Black noticeably basks in the sun, which is expected. Especially in the navigator mode under the windshield. Perhaps silver is suffering from this less.
Did not get the headphones.

Comment: Here and on the forums, many have problems with NFC, I have one too. For about an hour, he couldn’t force the unit to read the top three and see its fellows - read once out of ten, or gave a reading error. NFC was one of the criteria for choosing a smartphone, so I was already thinking about returning. Everything turned out to be simple - the NFC module antenna in the device is not just in its upper part, but at the very top, so you shouldn’t believe the instructions on “attach the card / smartphone to the back cover”. Perhaps I’m not one such fool and it will be useful to someone =) Specifically, Google Pay has not been able to test yet, alas.
In general, the device is pleasant, especially for such a price.