Here's My Battery Experience with the ZenFone Max Pro and I Think it's Great

So as you may have already know, ASUS Philippines let me borrow one of their "Battery King" smartphones - the ZenFone Max Pro with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. And as you also may have already know, ASUS' ZenFone Max series is one of their offerings that I really like, thanks to long lasting battery packs, improving designs and enhancing performances over the years, and most of all, very affordable and reasonable price tags.

Having that said, here let me share with you my whole day experience using the newest ZenFone Max Pro.

A Full 24-hour period with ASUS ZenFone Max Pro

Battery capacity is one of the highlights of ASUS ZenFone Max Pro. The Taiwanese company promises this phone's massive 5000mAh battery to last you with up to 35 days of 4G standby, 12 hours of gaming, 20 hours of YouTube playback, 42 hours of 3G talktime, and 28 hours WiFi web browsing.

Of course I put that to the test based on my own usage routine and see if this would really last me longer (and for how long) than I usually do with my other main smartphone that has a much smaller battery pack.

The night before

So the night before, I zeroed out the power on this smartphone like I used it until it died on me. Then in the following morning, while at the office, I started charging the phone at exactly 8:30AM. I took note of the time I started because ASUS said they included a fast charging technology on this one, which is if proven to be true, is definitely a nice addition to it. Because you know, the larger the battery is the longer it also takes to charge the device back up, especially if using a regular charging kit. Based on the company's website, users like you and me should be able to fully charge this phone from zero to one hundred percent in about two hours and forty-five minutes.

And to my surprise, yes it did really take roughly that amount of time charging this particular ZenFone Max Pro unit that I have. I finished charging at exactly 11:13AM. In case you are wondering, I charged the phone from 0-100% while being turned off.

As soon as it hit 100%, I unplugged it and immediately started using it. While at the office, there is really not much I could do with the phone except checking my social media accounts from time to time, replying to my messages or PMs, and emails. During my lunch time I used the phone at the nearby restaurant taking a few photos and videos of ourselves and everything we were eating. Then back at the office, I watched a couple of YouTube videos with less than 10 minutes each, and checked my Facebook and Instagram accounts whenever I could until I logged out at 6PM.

Now going back home from the office, I usually just walk as it only takes me about 30 minutes to do so (exercise na rin, tipid pa sa pamasahe hehe). Whenever I walk, I always listen to my favorite podcasts on Spotify all the way from stepping out of the office building up to taking off my shoes at home. So that day I did my usual after-office routine. 

At home

When I got home, turned off Spotify, checked the battery percentage, there was around 60% left.

Before having my dinner, I tried downloading the latest Asphalt 9: Legends on this phone, I heard the game was awesome and this ZenFone Max Pro is a gaming-centric budget-level smartphone, thanks to its Snapdragon 636 processor and Adreno 509 GPU. So I wanted to try that and see how it would go.

Unfortunately, I didn't know if the problem was coming from my DSL connection, from Google Play, or from this device itself. But I was not able to successfully download the game to this phone. What was happening was, the download would smoothly start and go all the way up to a little over 1GB, the game size is 1.5GB, then it would suddenly stop and tell me there was an error downloading the game and I could "try it again later". I did that continuously for several times or a couple of hours, re-downloading and re-downloading everytime the error screen showed up while I worked on the blog and used my other device. So from 7PM until 11PM, that was the scenario on the ZenFone Max Pro, with the screen being turned on all throughout the process. By the time I surrendered, there was approximately 25% left on my phone.

Realizing what time it already was, 11PM, I was already completely amazed by how "kunat" the battery life is on this ZenFone Max Pro. It already had a long day with me, it had served me way beyond my usual daily usage pattern at work and at home just for today. I had to admit, I was impressed with its 5000mAh battery's longevity. But it did not end there, at least yet.

Before calling a day "a day" I always see an episode or two of the current series I watch on Netflix. This week I have been being hooked on The Dragon Prince, a Netflix Originals animated series of 9 episodes. Two episodes down, with 18 percent left on the phone, I was done for the day.

One last thing... before closing my eyes I tried to re-download the Asphalt 9 for the last time hoping that it would finally go through since nobody was already using the internet and all the bandwidth was all available for this phone to consume.

The morning

I woke up in the morning at 7AM. Checked the phone which was lying right just beside me. There was 8% battery, and the Asphalt 9 game... still failed to download.

If it was not because of those failed Asphalt 9 download attempts, the phone would have lasted at east until lunchtime the next day at work.

With 6% left, I recharged the phone back at the office. 

Final words

I used to own the very first version of the Max which was simply called the ZenFone Max and it also had the same 5000mAh. It was one of the best value for buck smartphones back in the day, but my only complain with that phone was that it's taking almost 5 hours to fully charge using its default charger. Now personally seeing and witnessing how fast the ZenFone Max Pro can charge and still how long-lasting the battery life is, I think it's great. Knowing its specs, design improvements (now much thinner and lighter) and its Php9,995 price tag, for those features alone, I can definitely recommend this device for anyone who are looking for smartphones that can last the longest without compromising overall user experience.

I am still working on the ZenFone Max Pro review, which I plan to publish on Monday next week. There I will be talking more about other specs, features, and my overall impressions of the device and its performance. In the meantime, you can check out my ZenFone Max Pro unboxing post and video here.

Just to add, the ZenFone Max Pro with 3GB RAM/32GB storage is currently available on Lazada Philippines as well as at select ASUS kiosks and concept stores for an SRP of just Php9,995. The other one in 4GB RAM/64GB ROM with 16MP + 5MP dual rear camera is available at ASUS stores nationwide for Php13,995. 

UPDATE:

The 4GB variant of ZenFone Max Pro is now Php1,000 more affordable, priced at Php12,995.