The smartphone was launched in India last month. It supports Samsung Pay Mini. Some other important features include F/1.7 aperture and Android Nougat. The price of Samsung Galaxy On Max has been kept such that it competes with many popular handsets in the Rs 20,000 price segment. Is Samsung really capable of posing a strong challenge? Let’s try to find out.
Samsung Galaxy On Max Design
For a long time, Samsung phones have been criticized for having similar designs in every price segment. It seems that the company has taken this into consideration and started making changes with its premium model Samsung Galaxy S6. After this, Samsung Galaxy S7 came and looking at Samsung Galaxy S8, it seems that the company has made revolutionary changes. The good thing is that the company has not forgotten the mid-range segment. Some changes have been seen in this price range also.
The Galaxy On Max looks more premium than its price. You will definitely like it at first glance. The handset has a 5.7-inch display but it feels like a 5.5-inch device and looks smaller than the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus. The beauty of the display gets enhanced due to the slim border on the edge. On the front panel, there is Samsung’s signature oval home button which is also a fingerprint sensor. Capacitive back and overview buttons are provided on both sides.
Sadly the capacitive buttons are not backlit. This means that you will have difficulty using them in the dark. The position of the power and volume buttons is such that they are easy to use. You will get separate slots for SIM and microSD card. The camera on the back is present with a square bulge which is common in Samsung phones. The 3.5 mm audio jack is at the top and the micro-USB port is at the bottom.
The thickness of On Max is 8.1 mm, but feels slim for its size. Weight is 179 grams. You will feel its heaviness during a phone call. Apart from this, you would not want to use the device with one hand for a long time. Due to the curved edges, it is convenient to use it with one hand, but the metal is more slippery. While taking pictures during the review, the Galaxy On Max once almost slipped out of our hands and the reason for this was the metallic back. We would suggest you use a cover for protection.
We like the attention Samsung has paid to the little details on the Galaxy On Max. This phone may seem very big to many people. Due to the metal unibody, it slips in the hands. There should have also been a notification LED which is missing. Apart from this, fingerprints get printed very easily on the display. We had to clean the screen again and again. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy On Max may not have a unique design, but it feels more premium than its price. The handset has been launched in gold and black colors. We received the black color variant for review.
Inside the retail box of the Samsung Galaxy On Max, you will find earphones, charger, Micro-USB cable, SIM ejector tool and instruction manual.
Samsung Galaxy On Max specifications and software
The Samsung Galaxy On Max has a 5.7-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) screen. Octa-core MediaTek Helio P25 processor has been used in it. Also available is 4 GB RAM. Inbuilt storage is 32 GB and you can also use microSD card up to 256 GB.
The company has made big claims regarding the camera performance of Galaxy On Max. This phone comes with 13 megapixel sensors on the front and rear panel. There are also LED flashes on both sides. The company says that the aperture of the sensor present on the rear part is F/1.7 and due to this, photography will be excellent in low light. A sensor with F/1.9 aperture will be available on the front panel. For connectivity, Samsung Galaxy On Max has 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3.5 mm audio jack and Micro-USB port. The battery is 3300 mAh.
You will get Android 7.0 Nougat. Samsung’s custom OS UX has been used on top of this, which has improved compared to last year. Now the number of unwanted apps has also reduced in Samsung phones.
An important software feature in this phone is Samsung Pay Mini which was launched in India in June with Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro and Galaxy J7 Max. The Samsung Pay Mini app will be pre-installed on the device. With its help you will be able to make UPI payments and mobile wallet is also integrated in it. Sadly, you won’t get NFC and Tap to Pay features in the mini version of Samsung Pay. We tried Paytm and MobiKwik wallets on the Samsung Pay Mini and found that it worked. But we missed card payments. If only! We can also leave our debit and credit cards at home.
As expected, the Galaxy On Max comes with Nougat’s features like split-screen multitasking, quick toggles, and a new Settings app. We liked technology like 3D Touch. With its help, long pressing the icon of a selected app brings up many options in the form of shortcuts.
Users who feel that the 5.7 inch screen is too big. They can use one-handed mode. This will reduce the display area. You have to activate this mode from the Settings app. You will get dual messenger feature which will automatically activate with apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram and Gmail. With its help, users will be able to use two accounts simultaneously on the same device. Secure Folder has also found a place in Galaxy On Max. You will be able to keep photos, notes and apps safe in secure folders.
You will also get some more shortcuts. The camera can be activated at any time by double tapping the home button. Ultra Data Saving Mode restricts apps from using data in the background. Samsung has also given place to face recognition. This is the first device in this price range that comes with this feature. Our unit did not support Google Assistant at first. But after an update this feature also came in the phone.
Samsung Galaxy On Max performance and camera
In daily use, Galaxy On Max performs well. It handles multitasking with ease. There is no problem in switching from one app to another. At all times you will get only 1.8 GB RAM free out of 4 GB. We used Galaxy On Max extensively for GPS navigation, photography, gaming. 4G data was also active during this period. But the phone never got too hot.
The phone falters only in games with powerful graphics like Asphalt 8. We noticed that the phone would freeze occasionally. But managed to recover after some time. The benchmark results were also decent.
The experience of using the full-HD screen of the Galaxy On Max was fantastic. Its brightness is good and the colors are punchy. The specialty of the display is that it can be very bright or very dim. We enjoyed watching videos on the phone screen. The sample video also played without any problems. Adequate sound comes from the speaker present on the right side. But at the highest volume the sound starts bursting. We liked the speaker placement, but it would have been better to have stereo speakers.
We liked the face recognition feature. With its help, we were able to unlock the device with the help of face. Samsung should be praised for including this feature at this price. However, this only works when there is suitable lighting. Don’t expect this feature to work in low light. For this situation, fingerprint scanner will prove to be a better option for face recognition.
The phone supports VoLTE. With its help we were able to make calls on Jio network. We found that the phone smoothly connected to 4G networks when available. Call quality on the phone was good.
The 13-megapixel rear camera gives good performance in different conditions. Sample shots in daylight came out with good texture and adequate detail. Focusing was fast and results were accurate. Colors were extremely diverse and exposure accurate. There is no lack of detail in macros and landscapes.
The aperture of the rear camera lens is F/1.7. The same setup was seen in the flagship Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8. The company says that users will be able to take better photos in low light. The camera took decent night shots. There is some noise in photos taken in low light, but it takes better photos than other phones in this price range. Focus works fast in daylight. It is not as accurate in low light.
You will be satisfied with the selfies taken with the 13-megapixel front camera. In the camera app, you will get the facility to change skin tone, slim the face and enlarge the eyes. Some users may like this feature. We found that the front flash was very effective in low light. You will be able to record 1080 pixel video from the phone. You won’t be disappointed with it. By the way, our desire was for 4K video recording. But this is limited to flagship devices right now. We found both cameras to be excellent in terms of color reproduction and low-light photography.
The camera app on the Samsung Galaxy On Max is easy to use. The smartphone also has a social camera mode. With its help, you can share photos on social media sites in a jiffy. You will be able to use real-time stickers even while taking a photo.
Samsung Galaxy On Max Battery Life
The Samsung Galaxy On Max’s 3300mAh battery lasted up to 16 hours on heavy usage. Galaxy On Max has many power saving features. Galaxy On Max has many power saving features. With the help of these options, we were able to use the handset for more than a day.
The Samsung Galaxy On Max’s battery lasted 10 hours and 7 minutes in our standard HD video loop test. Considering the battery capacity, this result would not be called good. Other smartphones with similar capacity batteries had given better results. Samsung has not mentioned about fast charging capability in this phone. But we found that the battery was fully charged in 90 minutes with the charger present in the phone.
our decision
Samsung Galaxy On Max is available on Flipkart for Rs 16,900. You will not be disappointed with its performance. There will never be a feeling of it being weak. The display is large which is good for media entertainment. In our opinion, the Galaxy On Max is the best camera phone you can buy at this price point. If you are looking for a smartphone that comes with a great camera then Galaxy On Max should be your first choice. This time Samsung also gave the experience of Android Nougat. And the interface was more polished than before. Samsung Galaxy On Max has a strong camera. Many useful software features have been provided. The display is excellent and the processor is also very capable. It is an all-round handset. Apart from gaming performance, you will be satisfied in every department.
However, the company’s own Samsung Galaxy J7 Max comes with better specifications at a slightly higher price. If you don’t want to spend a lot, the Moto G5 Plus, Xiaomi Mi Max 2 and Oppo F3 are good options.