Upon checking updates manually on my Asus ZenFone Max Plus (M1) I received the notice to update to the new version 14.02.1804.57. I am surprised that it came before May when the security patches from Google arrive. Another surprise is its size – the download was 471,78 MB in size, which is three times more as the previous update.

471 MB of patches should include plenty of fixes and new features.

The official update page has this update already listed as published yesterday. Here are the release notes:

ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) Software Image Version: WW-14.02.1804.57 For WW SKU only*
Improve Items?
1.Update google security patchs
2.Optimization front camera of preview clarity and focusing sensitivity.
3.Update Asus apk version

Again, let’s look at my list of expected (and wanted) features:

• Update Google security patches. As noted in my report to Asus (also see the screenshot) there were 10 patches missing, and 68 test were not conclusive. I think the report will be much better after I install the upgrade.
• Resolve battery issues. The phone is still called “Battery king” in marketing materials, but people in the Asus forum have noticed that the battery doesn’t even last a day, drains very fast, shuts down the phone at 5% and even has lower capacity as stated. Definitely not something that Asus should postpone fixing.
• Fix for phone freezes when turning Bluetooth on and off.

The list of features, that are coming at some not yet specified time (and some are never coming) are:

• Upgrade Android to 7.1.1. or 8.0 (Asus people from the forum have confirmed 8.0 is in the works, but they didn’t give any estimated times when).
• Ability to save default data to SD card memory instead of internal memory (people from the forum have confirmed that this feature will NOT be available, but failed to provide a reason why not – actually, it was removed from previous versions which supported it).
• Ability to schedule phone turn on and off.