Four hours with ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’

Personally, I don’t put much stock in video game previews. Pre-release gameplay events for major, AAA titles are generally controlled and precise experiences, with scenes hand-picked by developers to show only the best, most complete parts of a game. They’re representative of the studio’s goals, but not necessarily the final product.

However, most preview events aren’t four hours long. For Horizon Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games and Sony opened up the robot-dinosaur-infested world and set me loose for nearly four hours. I played straight through the very beginning, skipped a section that apparently includes some spoilery story points, and then ran around the game’s massive world completing sidequests and following the main narrative. It was a sizable chunk of the game that actually felt representative of a complete experience.

I can’t say, definitively, whether Horizon is a good game just yet. But, after playing it for a few hours, I can say one thing wholeheartedly: I’m more excited than ever to play Horizon when it comes out on February 28th.

To begin with, Horizon is gorgeous. The game will be rendered in 2160p checkerboard (meaning, basically 4K) on the PlayStation 4 Pro, but its graphics shine even in 1080p on the standard PS4. This is the debut of Guerrilla Games’ Decima engine, a new foundation for rendering video games with built-in tools for artificial intelligence, physics, logic and world-building. This is also the engine powering Hideo Kojima’s mysterious Death Stranding, by the by.

Among the rolling vistas of lush wilderness, towering metallic beasts, day-night cycles and a dynamic weather system, one thing stands out as an accomplishment in Horizon: The characters’ mouth movements. No matter how advanced game technology may be nowadays, developers still find it difficult to accurately animate the act of speaking. Mouth movements don’t always line up with the spoken lines, or they’re simply too stiff or repetitive.

Horizon’s Decima engine doesn’t solve this problem entirely, but it’s the closest I’ve seen to realistic speaking motions in a video game. This one feature makes me happier than it should, and it’s representative of the level of polish I experienced throughout my time with the game.

The introduction stars Rost, a burly man in furs and a Viking-style braided beard, as he hauls his charge, the baby Aloy, across a gorgeous valley and up a mountain for a sacred blessing. Rost explains the situation to Aloy as he walks, reminding her that they’re both outcasts in the Nora tribe. He is not Aloy’s father and her mother’s identity is a complete mystery, but Rost raises Aloy like his own, with warmth and respect in his eyes. It’s a special, touching relationship right from the beginning.

The mystery of Aloy’s mother is what truly drives the story forward, though. Motherhood is a central theme in Horizon, from Aloy’s goal of discovering who her mother is and why her birth was seen as a curse, to the hierarchy of the Nora tribe itself.

This is a matriarchal society, where women are honored for their ability to grow and nurture life. Women hold positions of power in their communities, and across the surrounding land, the villages carry names like “Mother’s Heart” and “Mother’s Cradle.” The tribe’s omnipotent god is called the All-Mother.

Before Aloy embarks on a quest to learn about her own mother, she’s presented as a child desperate to be accepted by the Nora community. Members of the tribe are forbidden from speaking to her or Rost, a fate that makes her childhood lonely and frustrating. After an unfortunate encounter with some tribe members as a child, Aloy finds herself alone in a cave-like bunker filled with rats, corpses and the remnants of a long-dead, technologically reliant society.

She’s not scared. Instead, she’s curious — she pokes around the cave until she finds a triangle-shaped piece of technology on the ear of a corpse, and she puts it on her own head. The world comes alive behind a translucent purple dome and Aloy is able to investigate the various broken terminals scattered around the cave system. There are desks, bunk beds and many more corpses, some of which Aloy can tap into to hear their final voice messages.

This society might have been a cult; it might have been a group of people attempting to escape armageddon. The cave is familiar — these people carry names we would recognize and they clearly come from a timeline very much like our own, but with significantly more advanced technology. Members of the Nora tribe speak of a people who perished because they didn’t pay due respect to the All-Mother, and the cave is a testament to these tales.

As Aloy runs around the cave and the sprawling world above, the power of the Decima engine is on full display. Even just the way young Aloy runs, with a child’s bouncing, uncontrolled gait, is completely endearing.

And then, Aloy grows up.

From a young age, Aloy has a singular mission: Win the Proving, a test of hunting and warrior skill, and she’ll be granted any wish she wants by the leaders of the Nora tribe. She plans to ask for the identity of her mother, of course. She trains with Rost, providing players an opportunity to learn the game’s controls in an environment that feels like a natural progression of the story.

Aloy’s main weapon is a bow and a variety of arrows, including electric tripwires and fire bombs, which she crafts with resources found in the wild. The triangle communicator device remains attached to her head, allowing her to receive information about new threats and creatures. That’s right — here’s where those mechanical animals come into play.

Horizon’s world is overrun with beastly robots: Horse-like creatures crafted out of metal and wires graze the grasses; artificial velociraptors prowl the prairie waiting to pounce on intruders. Eventually, when Aloy leaves the valley to explore the outer lands, she encounters towering long-neck monsters roaming among the mountains. It’s unclear where these metal creatures come from, but the tribes live with them in a tense kind of harmony. Tribe members hunt the smaller robots for parts but otherwise try to stay as far away from them as possible.

Using the triangle communicator device, Aloy is able to see the paths that certain robots take, allowing her to sneak around them in ways that other tribe members can’t. Eventually, when Aloy leaves the confines of her valley, she learns how to tame the horse-like creatures and she’s able to ride one from mission to mission.

Riding a robot horse feels really cool, in case there was any doubt.

Horizon offers players a variety of gameplay options. Lay traps to capture and kill as many metal animals as you can, or use stealth tactics to take down only the prey you need to. Bow and arrow, slingshot bombs, electrified tripwires, a spear — the weapon choices and environments lend themselves to numerous different play styles.

I’m not patient enough for pure stealth, so I found myself leaping around the grasslands, diving away from attacks and laying into monstrous metal creatures with arrow after arrow. The tripwires are incredibly fun to use, but touchy — if you attach one end of the wire to a rock but miss connecting the other end to something solid, that wire disappears from your inventory. It’s safer to quietly lay down some traps and then initiate a fight with a metal beastie (not to mention, it’s incredibly fun).

Horizon is huge. Even after nearly four hours of playtime, I only just scratched the surface of the world map, and I ran into at least six separate sidequests. Horizon’s world feels real and grounded; it’s packed with intriguing characters from a range of backgrounds, all of which feel authentic to the game’s universe.

Of course, Aloy is the most interesting character in the game — which is certainly a good quality for a protagonist to have. She’s a powerful, skilled hunter on a grave and mysterious quest that will undoubtedly reveal more than just her own personal history. There are so many questions in Horizon (Who is her mother? Why is she cursed? Where did the robots come from? Why did the previous society die off?), and Aloy is the conduit for all of the answers.

I’ve been dreaming of Horizon’s world since finishing my playthrough, rolling these questions around and around in my head. But, the main question on my mind has nothing to do with the game’s lore. After playing the preview, I wonder: Will the full game be as gripping as the couple of hours I played?

Just like Aloy, I have hope.

Motherhood, nature and technology in ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’

Horizon Zero Dawn is Guerrilla Games’ first original creation since releasing the original Killzone in 2004. Not only is it Guerrilla’s first foray into a brand-new universe in 13 years, but it’s a completely new genre for the studio: an open-world, action RPG. These are generally massive games with intricate narratives and winding sidequests, as opposed to the constrained, linear nature of most first-person shooters.

In order to make sense of a story in Horizon’s vast open world, Guerrilla brought on Fallout: New Vegas lead writer John Gonzalez. Gonzalez helped create Aloy, Horizon’s protagonist, and the massive landscape that she inhabits — robot dinosaurs and all.

While giant mechanical beasts are cool, the heart of Horizon is Aloy’s quest to uncover her true identity. Aloy has no mother, which makes her an outcast in the Nora tribe, a matriarchal society that prays to an all-knowing goddess.

The identity of Aloy’s mom is the singular mystery driving Horizon’s story.

“As we were exploring this world, as we were imagining the societies that would come into existence, one of the social orders that we wanted to explore was the matriarchy of this tribe,” Gonzalez says. “This ended up being an inspiration for Aloy’s character. Because, if you have a tribe for whom parenting and in particular motherhood — bringing forth life and nurturing it — is the holiest act, the most sacred act that someone can perform, then it would be uniquely painful to not know who your mother was or where you came from.”

Along her journey, Aloy becomes a skilled hunter and warrior, and she is placed on a collision course with events much larger than herself.

“We wanted to combine the personal and the epic, and hopefully by doing that, not just satisfy the curiosity of the player, but also provide a really emotionally powerful experience as well,” Gonzalez says.

The team at Guerrilla Games studied various societies around the world and dove into anthropology textbooks to get a better sense of how a matriarchal tribe might operate. In particular, they drew inspiration from Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.

“It has this idea that one’s geography is destiny, in a way,” Gonzalez says. “The material conditions in which a group of people are living really determine the technologies that they’re going to develop. We tried to use some of that in imagining these groups.”

Aloy’s world is filled not only with sprawling valleys, flowing rivers and craggy mountains, but also with a wide variety of robot-like animals. Their place in the ecosystem is a mystery. Tribe members mention that they don’t know where the mechanical beasts came from or what their purpose is.

The Nora tribe and these robotic animals live in a tense balance. Many of the creatures are hostile, and the tribe members often hunt them down for parts. It’s a stark contrast: Aloy wearing furs, leather and feathers, hunting shiny mechanical animals that stalk her with glowing eyes.

This play between technology and nature isn’t on accident.

“If you look up the definition for nature, it is essentially whatever humans don’t do or make. Which falls apart on the face of it, because we are obviously part of the natural order,” Gonzalez says. “We arise from nature the same way as any other organism. In some ways, I think the concept calls into question whether or not those two forces have to be opposed to one another.”

Gonzalez and Guerrilla Games aren’t trying to force a didactic message about nature, technology or motherhood onto players. These ideas are simply the foundation for all of the game’s action, suspense and emotional depth.

To that end, one new element that Gonzalez helped implement in Horizon is the Flashpoint system. At certain points throughout the game, players can decide how Aloy will respond to a situation, whether with confrontation, compassion or an analytical kind of insight. These choices can end up affecting how the game eventually plays out.

For example, when Aloy is a child, she encounters a sneering young boy from the Nora tribe who throws a rock at her head. She picks up a rock herself and players decide whether she throws it at his head, at the rock in his hand, or if she drops it.

“There’s a moment later on in the game where you’re going to encounter that same kid, where he’s grown up, and what you chose to do is actually going to be reflected in the way that that interaction plays out,” Gonzalez says. “The way we looked at that was, it’s not so much choosing what you want to do, but actually a moment of pausing to empathize with Aloy. It’s like choosing how she’s going to express her personality.”

Guerrilla Games’ focus was always on crafting a compelling story, Gonzalez says. And from the very beginning, Horizon was going to star a young woman — early concept art features expansive landscapes and the tiny image of a girl sitting on a mountaintop or surveying the valley. For Gonzalez, it feels as if Aloy jumped out of the concept art and demanded to be the star of the game.

“It’s the kind of thing that Aloy would do,” he says.

Starbucks’ iPhone app lets you order by talking to it

Starbucks is continuing its efforts to stay on top of technological trends by adding new voice-ordering functions to its iOS app and Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant. Called “My Starbucks barista” on iOS, the service is being rolled out to select customers today as an extension of the company’s Mobile Order and Pay feature, which lets users send and pay for an order ahead of time. At the same time, the company is launching a Starbucks Reorder Skill to the Alexa platform.

My Starbucks barista was previously announced at the company’s Investor Day in December, and uses an AI-powered messaging interface like many existing chatbots. You’ll be able to speak your order, and customize your food and drink to your personal preferences, according to Starbucks. On Alexa, users will be able to re-order a standard, pre-defined order by saying, “Alexa, order my Starbucks.” They will be able to pick up their food and beverage at a pre-determined outlet.

The voice-based ordering service will be available to one thousand users at first, and the company intends to continue rolling out the feature in the US through summer this year. An Android version is also in the works, but if you don’t want to wait to use your voice to make an order, you can always dial the company’s toll-free phone number.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Starbucks

‘Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin’ will launch on February 21st

It’s been a long time since the first Psychonauts was released — more than 10 years, in fact. However, developer Double Fine announced in late 2015 that it was bringing the series back with a pair of game: Psychonauts 2, a proper sequel, and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, a game for PlayStation VR meant to bridge the two titles. The latter title is just about ready to drop: Sony and Double Fine just announced that it’ll be released on February 21st.

If you know anything about the original Psychonauts, it sounds like you’ll be right at home here — Rhombus of Ruin picks up right where the original game left off. But rather than playing the latest title as a platformer, Rhombus of Ruin is a 3D, first person adventure in virtual reality. Fortunately for those of us who might not have played the original title, which came out way back in April of 2015, Sony says that the PS4 exclusive should be pretty accessible whether or not you’ve played the original.

And if you’re not feeling up for a VR experience, Psychonauts 2 sounds like it’ll retain the original third-person platformer feel that original used. But it’ll be a while before you get to check that one out — it still doesn’t have a release date as of now. But with Rhombus of Ruin just about ready to go, we imagine Double Fine will be working hard to get the next title in the series out the door before too long.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Dropbox SmartSync lets you collaborate across Mac and Windows PCs

Last year, Dropbox introduced an interesting new feature called Project Infinite, which promised to let you view and access all of your files, whether they’re on your hard drive or in the cloud. The idea here is that all your files will appear right there in your desktop, and you can view and make changes to them without having to launch Dropbox’s web interface. Several months later and Project Infinite has left its beta state. Now, it’s called SmartSync, and it’ll be available to all Dropbox Business users starting today.

A particularly useful highlight of SmartSync is that it’ll work on both Windows and Mac (backwards compatible with Windows 7 and up, or Mac OS X 10.9 and higher). Rob Baesman, Dropbox’s head of product, says that this cross-platform and backwards compatible system is an “industry first.” “You’re free to collaborate with whoever you want,” he said. “You don’t have to think about space the same way you did in the past.”

Another Dropbox product that’s finally making its public debut is Paper, which has been in beta for almost two years. A Google Docs replacement of sorts, Paper is touted as an online collaboration tool with several other office-centric features thrown in. You can create a to-do list and assign them to team members, set due dates, organize content by projects, and of course do all the usual writing and editing too. A few months ago, Dropbox released mobile app versions of Paper for Android and iOS, which lets you do all of this on-the-go.

As part of its general launch, Dropbox is introducing a few new features to Paper too. There’s Presentation Mode, a “Smart Meeting Notes” feature that sends everyone at a meeting the same document (provided you hooked Paper up to your Google Calendar), plus general usability improvements like improved search and better accessibility for screen readers. The company is also working on mobile offline capability in the coming months.

While SmartSync won’t be available to general users just yet, Paper is open to everyone with a Dropbox account starting today. It’ll be available in 21 different languages.

‘Fallout 4’ visual upgrade demands a monster PC

Fallout 4 is already a good-looking game (insofar as a nuclear wasteland can look good, anyway), but Bethesda is about to kick things up a notch. An update rolling out next week will add a High-Resolution Texture Pack that adds an absurd level of visual detail for PC players — check out the rust and scratches on the power armor above if you need evidence. To say that this will demand a beefy system is an understatement, though. The developer recommends at least a 2015-era desktop Core i7 chip, 8GB of RAM, and a monster graphics card — you should have either a GeForce GTX 1080 or (until Bethesda pulled mention of it) the as yet unreleased AMD Radeon RX 490. And did we mention that you need an extra 58GB of storage for all that new art?

Don’t fret if you prefer to play on a console, though, as there are also some perks coming to the PS4 Pro. Sony’s newer system will play Fallout 4 at 1440p resolution if you have a 4K set, and everyone should notice both a greater draw distance for objects and improved “godray” lighting effects. It’s not the native 4K upgrade you might’ve hoped for, but it could give you a good reason to revisit the game if you haven’t touched it in a while.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Bethesda

Apple’s ‘One Night on iPhone 7’ Ad Campaign on Display in 25 Countries Starting Today

Apple has introduced a new “Shot on iPhone” campaign called “One Night on iPhone 7” that will be on display in 25 countries starting today.

Jennifer Bin sought to show a different perspective of Shanghai
Apple enlisted a group of photographers to capture photos on one night—November 5, 2016—to showcase the low-light capabilities of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus cameras. The photographers traveled around the world, ranging from the clubs of Johannesburg in South Africa to the rooftops of Shanghai in China.

Some of the photographers tackled extreme climates in search of the perfect shot. Chicago-based photographer Reuben Wu ventured to Java, Indonesia to photograph the 130 active volcanoes, using an iPhone 7 attached to a drone to capture breathtaking views of Gunung Karang’s lava flow after dark. Ruairidh McGlynn traveled to Iceland to photograph the foreboding terrain of the Arctic, traveling overnight by dog sled.

The photos will presumably be displayed on billboards and other advertising mediums in a number of cities around the world.

A collection of seven photos in the campaign can be downloaded from the Apple Newsroom.

Tags: Apple ads, Shot on iPhone
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Square Offering $350 of Free Processing Fees to Small Businesses Supporting Apple Pay

Electronic payments company Square today announced a new partnership with Apple that will allow small businesses to obtain free processing fees with Apple Pay and compatible Square Readers. Starting today, eligible small businesses across the U.S. will have the chance to process over $12,000 worth of Apple Pay payments for free (based on the 2.75 percent contactless transaction fee charged by Square), totaling $350 worth of savings in Square processing costs.

To receive the free processing discounts, merchants will have to order a discounted $29 Square Reader, which comes with a free Apple Pay marketing kit. The kit includes various stickers and marketing ephemera that promotes the businesses’ support of Apple Pay, as well as staff training materials. Once the merchant has their counter set up with all of Square’s marketing kit display material, a simple picture sent to Square will then allow the business to start processing Apple Pay transactions for free.

In the press release, Square mentioned that it hopes the new small business-focused effort will continue to educate both business owners and customers about the benefits of Apple Pay. After a focused campaign by Square took place in Portland, contactless payments “tripled over the course of the campaign.” On Apple’s side, the company is constantly adding new financial institutions and retailers to its Apple Pay “Where to Use” page, encouraging growth of its mobile wallet since its launch in 2014.

Increased awareness for Apple Pay is also driving traction at major festivals and events. Across Kanye West’s Life of Pablo pop-up shops in August there was significant usage of contactless transaction in cities across the U.S., from San Francisco (28%), to Dallas and Houston (both 14%). Together with Apple Pay, Square is taking this approach nationwide to help move the payments industry forward through initiatives that educate sellers and customers.

“It’s no secret that chip cards can be slow, which is why we built our reader to also accept contactless payments, a faster and safer way to pay,” said Jesse Dorogusker, Square’s Hardware Lead. “Anything we can do to make a seller’s experience faster and safer, including working with Apple to encourage Apple Pay usage, is an investment worth making.”

For each business taking part, today’s offer lasts until the business reaches the $350 cap of free Apple Pay processing fees, or a year passes from the time they enroll in the offer, “whichever occurs earlier.” After either of these contingencies is reached, the standard processing fees will begin to apply. Merchants have all year to take advantage of Square’s offer, with enrollment deadlines hitting December 31, 2017.

Square updated its line of payment solution devices in 2015 with a reader that supports NFC payments, letting locations which previously could not support Apple Pay — due to the lack of a required contactless reader — begin allowing customers to pay with the service. Apple has supported the Square Reader since early 2016, when it began selling the NFC reader both online and in Apple retail stores for $49.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Square
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Apple Seeds First Beta of watchOS 3.2 to Developers With SiriKit, Theater Mode

Apple has seeded a new beta of of an upcoming watchOS 3.2 update to developers for testing purposes. watchOS 3.2 comes more than three months after the release of watchOS 3.1, the first significant update to the watchOS operating system, and a week after the release of watchOS 3.1.3.

The watchOS 3.2 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software Update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone. iOS 10 or later and the proper configuration profile are required.

watchOS 3.2 requires an iPhone running iOS 10 to install and will only be available to developers. Apple does not make watchOS betas available to the public as there is no way to downgrade the software on an Apple Watch.

Ahead of releasing watchOS 3.2, Apple shared some details on what’s included in the update with developers. watchOS 3.2 includes a “Theater Mode” designed to let customers mute the sound on their Apple Watch and disable Raise to Wake, preventing the screen from lighting up with arm movement.

Theater Mode, originally introduced in watchOS 3.1.3, is being made available in watchOS 3.2. Customers are still able to receive haptic feedback-based notifications, and information can be viewed by either tapping the screen or pressing down on the Digital Crown.

watchOS 3.2 also brings SiriKit to the Apple Watch, allowing customers to ask Siri to do things like send messages, send payments, book a ride, log a workout, make a call, or search through photos. SiriKit has been available on iOS devices since the release of iOS 10, but is new to the Apple Watch.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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ASUS ZenFone 3s Max (ZC521TL): First Impressions

It’s only been three months since ASUS launched the ZenFone 3 Max, but that hasn’t deterred the Taiwanese company to follow it up with an incremental upgrade, the ASUS ZenFone 3s Max (ZC521TL).

ASUS launched the first ZenFone Max in 2015 with a focus on marathon battery life. Now, the ZenFone 3s Max packs in a 5000mAh battery compared to the 4100mAh of its predecessor. There’s also slightly better internals and minor design changes for us to get interested.

With the entire ZenFone 3 portfolio, ASUS has upped the ante in design and positioning and instead of focusing on hardware specifications, aims to bring premium experience to its users. That also means that most of their latest phones are not exactly run-of-the-mill value-for-money devices, but differentiate themselves in design, camera, battery life, etc.

But does ZenFone 3s Max offer a well-rounded smartphone experience while delivering its promise of long battery life? Let’s find out!

Ahead of the formal launch, I’ve been using the ZenFone 3s Max for over a week now. However, the following review is incomplete since we don’t know the price of the device. Therefore, it is difficult to judge if certain attributes of the phone are value for money or not. Also, I can’t just yet make a final opinion on the device and if I should recommend the same. We’ll update the post at the launch.Show More

Design

With the ZenFone 3 line-up, ASUS finally brought all-metal design to its smartphones much later than when most people would’ve liked. Even entry-level budget smartphones in 2016 boasted of an all-metal design.

Like its predecessor, the ZenFone 3s Max sports a metal unibody design – there’s nothing extraordinary about the design, but neither is it run-of-the-mill. The homogenous design language of the ZenFone series is apparent, a premium one at that. It is well-built and the aluminum chassis gives it a solid feel.

With this device, ASUS has done away with the capacitive navigation buttons, introducing on-screen buttons. Also, the fingerprint sensor has moved to the front below the display, instead of the back.

Since the ZenFone 3s Max is smaller than the ZenFone 3 Max (5.2-inch display instead of 5.5-inch), the former has a compact form factor. That combined with its slim bezels and rounded edges gives it nice ergonomics and it feels good to hold in the hand.

Unlike the original ZenFone Max, this one is not a brick and neither does it sport big bezels – boasting of pretty good 75 per cent screen-to-body ratio. It’s not very slim at 8.85mm, and at 175 grams, it’s not the lightest smartphone out there. Yet it is one of the lighter phones to pack a big battery, and there’s no apparent heft to it.

Display

The ZenFone 3s Max sports a 5.2-inch HD (720p) IPS display with a 2.5D curved glass on top. The display is sharp with rich colors and the 450 nits brightness is very good, offering great sunlight visibility. The viewing angles too are quite excellent. The contrast ratio though is just average, and even on higher brightness levels, the colors are not as vibrant as I would’ve liked. 

It is, however, disappointing that the ZenFone 3s max sports only an HD display when other phones in the same – and even lower – price range feature a Full HD display. It’s good that the device packs in a smaller display, so this does not become a showstopper for a lot of people. Of course, it looks a poor sight on the specifications sheet.

Performance

Powered by 64-bit MediaTek MT6750 processor clocked at 1.5GHz paired with 3GB of RAM, the ZenFone 3s Max chugs along nicely while multitasking offering a smooth Android experience. However, the chipset isn’t powerful enough as the ones powering some of the competitors. In 2017, it is a shame ASUS didn’t go for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, a terrific SoC for mid-range smartphones. Clearly, the device is geared towards casual smartphone users – and that is where it excels.

Of course, the USP of the ZenFone 3s Max is its long battery life. There is a considerable increase in the battery capacity of the Max this time around – from 4100 mAh to 5000 mAh. The device, with the hardware it packs and the software optimizations that ASUS has done, offers phenomenal battery life. With moderate usage, I was easily able to get two days battery life on the phone, which is quite good. Using the built-in power saving features, you can even squeeze more than that! Even in random observations, like a long media streaming session or more than few races at Asphalt 8, I noticed only a drain of few percent. 

Hardware

The ZenFone 3s Max comes with 32GB of internal memory, further expandable by up to 2TB via a microSD card slot. The dual SIM smartphones features a hybrid slot, so you can either use the second SIM or the microSD card, but not both. The phone supports reverse charging, and can be used to charge other devices via OTG.

The fingerprint scanner can be used to answer incoming calls, launch the camera app, or take a picture. While the authentication is just fine, the recognition is a tad miss-and-a-hit. In first couple of days with the device, I would never get it right in the first try. Of course, with impulse you get used to placing the thumb exactly where the sensor wants you to, but one would expect a little flexibility there.

Camera

The ZenFone 3s Max sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash. Outdoors in daylight, the camera performs decent. While the color reproduction is mostly accurate, the photos lack details. The photos aren’t sharp enough, which is more pronounced when I viewed them on a 32-inch display. For most people though, who just share photos on social media, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Indoors or in low-light conditions, only some of the shots come out decent, but mostly they are very noisy with messed up metering.

On the front, there is an 8-megapixel camera that manages to click detailed selfies outdoors, and just about okay ones indoors.

The camera app on the Zenfone 3s Max is the same as on the company’s flagship ZenFone 3 smartphone. While the options are great to tinker around, including a manual mode and a super resolution mode that takes four photos to combine into one 52MP image for superior details, the camera on the ZenFone 3s Max is just average.

Software

The first Nougat device from ASUS, the ZenFone 3s Max runs Android 7.0 out of the box with the new version of the company’s proprietary ZenUI 3.0 on top of it. Virtually, every nook and corner of the Android experience gets a fresh coat of paint.

Right up, that’s a good thing. The older versions of ZenUI were plagued with bloatware and gimmicky UI elements that marred the overall user experience. The latest version is a complete makeover, and offers a clean UI with subtle animations. There are several nifty utilities, but there’s still a plethora of ASUS-branded apps that I’ve hardly seen anyone using really. Unfortunately, only a few of these can be uninstalled and while you can disable most others, they still occupy storage space on your phone.

ZenUI 3.0 features an app drawer, and there’s a built-in search functionality. You can swipe down the screen and search the Web or your apps and contacts, and view your frequently used apps. There’s an all-new Theme Store from which users can download free as well as paid themes, wallpapers, icons, and ringtones to customize their smartphone.

The latest version of ZenUI is fluid and aims to offer stock Android-like experience while offering additional functionalities. And, it succeeds in doing that. It’s one of the better UIs out there in terms of ease of use and feels polished. Better internals would’ve made it even smoother on the ZenFone 3s Max. ASUS has reduced the bloatware this time around, but still has a long way to go in that positive direction.

Specifications

Gallery

Pricing and final thoughts

The ZenFone 3s Max aims to pimp up the Max range with a premium design while improving the internals from its predecessor. It succeeds there, but there’s little else.

Like the entire ZenFone lineup, the ASUS ZenFone 3s Max is a decent smartphone. It looks good on paper, but the real-world performance is limited – and would only meet the demands of less discerning users. Yes, there’s the fantastic battery life, and that’s the sole reason one should go for this device.

The device hasn’t been officially launched yet, and no pricing information is available. We will update the review at the launch. Meanwhile, tell us your thoughts on the ZenFone 3s Max, and if you’d be interesting in picking one up.