A year since I last travelled abroad, I was excited to visit Thailand. The Southeast Asia nation I haven’t really explored. This was also my birthday trip and I wanted to try travel differently this time. Skimmed down my gear by not bringing my tripod this time. I did still bring my main camera but I was shooting more with my Asus ZenFone 4 Max 5.5 in Thailand. I have always wanted to try to minimalize and focus more on the travel experience than the gear I have.
Sleek Design
There’s the convenience of just pulling out my Asus ZenFone 3 Max 5.5 from my pocket and quickly capture images or document events. It’s incredibly slim. The design sleeker with its rounded edges. The fingerprint sensor is now incorporated on the main front button making the back clean looking and minimal with only the dual-camera and LED light on the upper left. The 5.5-inch HD IPS is a pleasure for viewing too.
Nougat Efficiency
A lot of my travel documents and apps are stored on my fone. Copy of flight tickets, hotel vouchers, itineraries and notes. The Android Nougut came with the ZenFone 4 Max 5.5 out of the box. Powered by SnapDragon 430 octacore and 3G RAM, apps performed smoothly. From my google maps, booking apps, inBox and even my social media apps.
Dual-Sim Handy
When I got into Thailand, I made sure I stay connected and brought a Traveller’s SIM. It’s very handy to have a dual-sim so I can keep my roaming number and also use the local number. Internet connectivity never had problems using the 4G connection.
Long Lasting Battery
I guess my favorite feature of the Zenfone 4 Max 5.5 is the 5,000mAh. For a slim device, packing this large capacity battery is such a feat. My 12–13 hours train ride wasn’t so boring as I can still get connected, listen to my spotify playlist or watch a few movies. I rarely had the need to use my brick of a powerbank throughout my 9-day trip.
Decent Wide Angle Dual-Camera
One of the major improvements in the Zenfone 4 line is they all incorporate a dual-camera. The Zenfone 4 Max 5.5 have a dual-camera: a 13MP for the regular focal length and a 5MP 120-degrees wide angle lens. I’ve shot a lot with the ZenFone 4 Max 5.5 and I found the images okay for good light but not much on low light. The wide angle is quite useful to cover more ground though quality quickly drops. Images become mushy and resolution lowers.
Zenfone 4 Max 5.5 for Travel?
Definitely! It shines where its good at – long lasting battery life. Didn’t have to worry about finding outlets to plug and recharge or bringing a powerbank. Performance delivers where it matters. The camera is decent for this one but only general use. I won’t be leaving my main cameras just yet. Probably ,the Zenfone 4 Max Pro or the camera-centric Zenfone 4 Pro would be better a bette choice.
Video and photos (except the phone shot) on this post were shot with the Asus Zenfone 4 Max 5.5. SRP Php 9,995 at Lazada.
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
