The smartphone was launched in India last month. It supports Samsung Pay Mini. Some other key features include f/1.7 aperture and Android Nougat. Samsung Galaxy On Max is priced in such a way that it competes with many popular handsets in the Rs 20,000 price segment. Is Samsung really capable of giving a strong challenge? Let’s try to find out.
Samsung Galaxy On Max design
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For a long time, Samsung phones have been criticized for having the same design in every price segment. It seems that the company took 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 as well.
Galaxy On Max looks more premium than its price. You will definitely like it at first glance. This 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 slim border on the sides enhances the beauty of the display. On the front panel there is Samsung’s signature oval home button which is also a fingerprint sensor. Capacitive back and overview buttons are given on both sides of it.
Unfortunately, the capacitive buttons are not backlit. This means you will have trouble using them in the dark. The power and volume buttons are positioned in a way that makes them easy to use. You get separate slots for SIM and microSD card. The camera is present on the back with a square protrusion which is common in Samsung phones. The 3.5mm audio jack is on the top and the micro-USB port is at the bottom.
The On Max is 8.1mm thick but feels slim for its size. It weighs 179 grams. You will feel its heaviness during phone calls. Also, you would not want to use the device with one hand for a long time. The curved edges make it easy to use with one hand but the metal is quite slippery. During the review, the Galaxy On Max almost slipped from our hands once while taking a picture and the reason for this was the metallic back. We would suggest you use a cover for protection.
We like the fact that Samsung has paid attention to the little details of the Galaxy On Max. Some people may find this phone too big. The metal unibody makes it slippery in the hands. There should have been a notification LED as well which is missing. Also, the display is quite fingerprint-like. We had to clean the screen several times. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy On Max may not have a unique design but it does feel premium compared to its price. The handset has been launched in Gold and Black colours. We got the Black variant for review.
Inside the retail box of 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
Samsung Galaxy On Max has a 5.7 inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) screen. It uses an octa-core MediaTek Helio P25 processor. It comes with 4 GB RAM. The inbuilt storage is 32 GB and you can also use a microSD card up to 256 GB.
The company has made big claims about the camera performance of Galaxy On Max. This phone comes with 13 megapixel sensors on the front and rear panel. There are LED flashes on both sides. The company says that the aperture of the sensor on the rear 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, 3.5mm audio jack and micro-USB port. The battery is of 3300 mAh.
You will get Android 7.0 Nougat. Samsung’s custom OS UX has been used on top of it which has improved compared to last year. The number of unwanted apps in Samsung phones has also reduced now.
One important software feature on this phone is Samsung Pay Mini, which was launched in India in June alongside the Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro and Galaxy J7 Max. The Samsung Pay Mini app comes pre-installed on the device and lets you make UPI payments and also has an integrated mobile wallet. Unfortunately, you won’t get NFC and tap to pay features on the mini version of Samsung Pay. We tried Paytm and Mobikwik wallets on Samsung Pay Mini and found it to be functional. But we did miss card payments. Wish we could leave our debit and credit cards at home.
As expected, the Galaxy On Max comes with all the features of Nougat like split screen multitasking, quick toggles and a new Settings app. We liked the technology like 3D Touch, which lets you long press the icon of a selected app and bring up several options in the form of shortcuts.
Users who feel that the 5.7-inch screen is too big can use the one-handed mode. This will reduce the display area. You have to activate this mode from the Settings app. You will get the 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 been given a place in Galaxy On Max. You will be able to keep photos, notes and apps safe in Secure Folder.
You also get a few more shortcuts. The camera can be activated at any time by double-tapping the home button. Ultra Data Saving mode restricts apps that use data in the background. Samsung has also included face recognition. This is the first device in this price range to come with this feature. Our unit did not support Google Assistant earlier. But after an update, this feature was also added to the phone.
Samsung Galaxy On Max performance and camera
In daily use, Galaxy On Max works well. It handles multitasking easily. There is no problem in switching from one app to another. You will always get 1.8 GB of 4 GB RAM free. We used Galaxy On Max extensively for GPS navigation, photography, gaming. During this time 4G data was also active. But the phone never got too hot.
The only time the phone falters is with games that require powerful graphics like Asphalt 8. We noticed that the phone would freeze at times, but it managed to recover after a while. Benchmark results were decent as well.
The Galaxy On Max’s full-HD screen was a great experience to use. The brightness is good and the colours are punchy. The display can go very bright as well as very dim. We enjoyed watching videos on the phone’s screen. The sample videos also played flawlessly. The speaker on the right produces adequate sound. However, the sound tends to get distorted at the highest volume. We liked the placement of the speakers, but stereo speakers would have been better.
We liked the face recognition feature. We were able to unlock the device using our face. Samsung should be commended for including this feature in this price range. However, it only works when there is adequate lighting. Don’t expect this feature to work in low light. In this situation, a fingerprint scanner would be a better alternative to face recognition.
The phone supports VoLTE. We were able to make calls on the Jio network with its help. We found that the phone easily connected to 4G networks when available. Call quality on the phone was good.
The 13-megapixel rear camera performs well in a variety of conditions. Daylight sample shots came out with good texture and adequate detail. Focusing was fast and results were accurate. Colours were varied and exposure was accurate. There was no lack of detail in macros and landscapes.
The aperture of the rear camera lens is F/1.7. This setup was seen in the flagship Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8. The company says that users will be able to take better pictures in low light. The camera took decent night shots. There is some noise in the pictures taken in low light, but it takes better pictures than other phones in this price range. Focusing works fast in daylight. It is not that accurate in low light.
You will be satisfied with the selfie taken with the 13 megapixel front camera. In the camera app, you will get the facility to change the 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 videos from the phone. You will not be disappointed with this. By the way, we wanted 4K video recording. But it is currently limited to flagship devices. We found both the cameras to be excellent in color reproduction and photography in low light.
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 also be able to use real-time stickers while taking pictures.
Samsung Galaxy On Max battery life
The 3300mAh battery on the Samsung Galaxy On Max lasted for 16 hours with heavy usage. The Galaxy On Max has several power saving features The Galaxy On Max comes with several power saving features. With the help of these options, we were able to use the handset for more than a day.
In our standard HD video loop test, the battery of Samsung Galaxy On Max lasted for 10 hours and 7 minutes. Considering the battery capacity, this result cannot be called good. Other smartphones with similar battery capacity have given better results. Samsung has not mentioned about fast charging capability in this phone. But we found that the battery got fully charged in 90 minutes with the charger present in the phone.
Our verdict
Samsung Galaxy On Max is available on Flipkart for Rs 16,900. You will not be disappointed with its performance. You will never feel weak. The display is big which is good for media entertainment. In our opinion, Galaxy On Max is the best camera phone available in this price range. If you are looking for a smartphone that comes with a great camera, then Galaxy On Max should be the first choice. Samsung also gave the experience of Android Nougat this time. And the interface was more polished than before. Samsung Galaxy On Max has a powerful camera. Many useful software features have been provided. The display is excellent and the processor is also very capable. This is an all-rounder 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 too much, the Moto G5 Plus, Xiaomi Mi Max 2 and Oppo F3 are good options.
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