ZenFone Max M1 and Lite L1 hands-on review

Software

Both phones have identical software installed. Both come with the Asus ZenUI running on top of Android 8.0 Oreo.

ZenUI Launcher

The ZenUI experience here is similar in most ways to that on more expensive phones. The general UI looks identical but you don't quite get all the apps and features. This, in a way, turns out to be an advantage, as Asus does have a tendency to go overboard with features with its flagship phones.

ZenUI Settings

The Max and Lite, however, do get more than adequate number of features and customization options to keep most users happy. As a plus side, the phones come with only three third party apps out of the box (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) and all three apps could be uninstalled on our review devices, which usually isn't the case with Asus phones. In other words, we're glad how lean this phone is.

ZenUI Features

The overall software experience on these phones was generally really good. Asus arguably doesn't quite have the best-looking UI out there but in terms of usability and functionality, you have pretty much everything you need here and it works well. It's not quite as feature-rich as MIUI, where Xiaomi does a lot of customization, including some local ones, but as mentioned before, this could turn out to be a feature to some who prefer a simpler UI experience free of unnecessary features and bloatware.

Performance

Both the ZenFone Max M1 and ZenFone Lite L1 come with identical Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset with 1.4GHz octa-core Cortex-A43 CPU and Adreno 505 GPU. They do differ in terms of memory, with the Max packing 3GB RAM and 32GB storage while the Lite having 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Both phones have expandable storage with a separate, third slot for the microSD that doesn't require you to sacrifice your second SIM.

Performance on the Max M1 is pretty respectable. The power from the quad-core CPU kept things moving along at a decent pace and the phone rarely felt slow or unusable. Quite the opposite, in fact, the performance was quite good for the price and those upgrading from a basic feature phone or buying a smartphone for the first time should be perfectly happy with it.

The Lite L1 isn't quite as good. Although the CPU performance is identical, the low RAM does mean the phone frequently runs out of memory for multitasking and has to keep flushing apps from memory. This does tend to slow things down, such as opening and closing apps.

Neither phone is particularly suited for gaming. We suppose you could play some games at their lowest setting but we would recommend spending a bit more if gaming performance is important to you.

The audio performance is adequate on both phones but neither is stellar. The speakers get plenty loud but sound a bit thin and tinny. Both phones also have a headphone jack but don't come with any in the packaging.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 1
  5741
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  4918
• Xiaomi Redmi 5
  4018
• Realme 2
  3881
• Xiaomi Redmi 6
  3639
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A
  2450
• Asus ZenFone Max (M1) (ZB556KL)
  2434

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 1
  1511
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  1329
• Xiaomi Redmi 6
  820
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A
  819
• Realme 2
  790
• Xiaomi Redmi 5
  766
• Asus ZenFone Max (M1) (ZB556KL)
  667

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Realme 1
  138524
• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  119428
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  115195
• Realme 2
  75434
• Xiaomi Redmi 6
  75182
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A
  61660
• Asus ZenFone Max (M1) (ZB556KL)
  57845

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 1
  20
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  16
• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  16
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  9.9
• Xiaomi Redmi 6
  9.6
• Xiaomi Redmi 5
  9.4
• Realme 2
  9.3
• Asus ZenFone Max (M1) (ZB556KL)
  7
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A
  6.3

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  29
• Realme 1
  20
• Xiaomi Redmi 5
  18
• Xiaomi Redmi 6
  17
• Realme 2
  16
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  15
• Asus ZenFone Max (M1) (ZB556KL)
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A
  12
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  9.7

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  14799
• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  13873
• Realme 1
  10880
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  10446
• Xiaomi Redmi 5
  9953
• Xiaomi Redmi 6
  8036
• Asus ZenFone Max (M1) (ZB556KL)
  7606
• Realme 2
  6703
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A
  5193

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Realme 1
  1940
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  1925
• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  1868
• Xiaomi Redmi 5
  1222
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  1050
• Realme 2
  1039
• Xiaomi Redmi 6
  957
• Asus ZenFone Max (M1) (ZB556KL)
  895
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A
  837