ASUS ZenFone Max Plus packs a 5.7" display into a 5.2" body

ASUS has taken the wraps off the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) smartphone for the North American market, saying this compact 5.7" handset will be available to purchase within the region starting next month for $229 USD. The phone will be offered in two color options: Deepsea Black and Azure Silver. The big selling point for this phone is its compact nature — ASUS says it has squeezed a 5.7" display into a phone body the same size as typical 5.2" smartphones.

The ZenFone Max Plus is one of ASUS's high-capacity smartphones, and the first in the new ZenFone Max Series. This is the first time ASUS has packed a 5.7" full-view display into such a compact phone body; despite that, the company says buyers get an "expanded viewing area" in addition to other notable features like dual real cameras and a 4130mAh battery.

ASUS uses an 18:9 aspect ratio display, which has become increasingly common, hitting a solid 80-percent screen-to-body ratio. The phone body is made with a premium metal finish, as well as 2.5D-curved front edges. As mentioned, this model as a dual-rear camera module, which includes a 16MP PixelMaster main camera (f/2.0 aperture) alongside a 120-degree wide-angle camera with a 200%-wider FOV.

The rear camera has phase-detection auto-focus with focusing accuracy down to 0.03-seconds. Joining that is the front-facing camera, which is said to have an f/2.0 aperture, though exact megapixels weren't stated.

The 4130mAh battery, meanwhile, offers up to 26 hours of standby time or 3G talk time, plus up to 21 hours of web browsing if you're on WiFi or 13 hours of playback time when watching video. If you'd like, the ZenFone Max Plus can also function as a power bank to charge other USB devices.

This is the first ZenFone model to sport ASUS's Face Unlock feature, which takes a page out of Apple's book by allowing users to easily unlock the handset using their face instead of their finger.