Ever since the announcement of the ROG Phone, everyone has had questions whether Asus can infuse the ROG DNA inside a smartphone. The Razer Phone 2, Xiaomi’s Black Shark and the Nubia Red Magic Mars are the ROG Phone’s competitors, but on paper, the Asus smartphone trumps them with more powerful hardware including an overclocked Snapdragon 845 processor, Air Triggers and a lot of accessories to enhance the experience.
The Asus ROG Phone packs top-of-the-line hardware which warrants it a flagship status, and then ups the ante with a host of gaming-centric additions. Let’s take a look at the Asus ROG Phone’s hardware:
As you can see this is flagship-grade hardware all-around, and the retail package is also quite good.
Asus ROG Phone: Box Contents
Asus ROG Phone: Design and Build Quality
Some might call the ROG Phone ’s design over-the-top, but I find it refreshing and faithful to the ROG gaming legacy. It stands out from the crowd and more than once, I had strangers ask about the phone, intrigued by the very distinct look.
The rear panel is protected by a layer of 3D Corning Gorilla Glass and has a space grey finish to it, but it easily attracts fingerprints and gets smudged. There are silver lines running across the main elements adds to the eye-catching design with sharp corners and angular lines.
Asus ROG Phone: Display
The gaming smartphone’s display is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 6, which means it can withstand a few falls from waist height. However, the display gets scratched really fast, so you better apply a screen protector to guard it.
Asus ROG Phone: Software and ROG UI
But most importantly Game Center is where you can create separate profiles for each game by adjusting the CPU clock speed, refresh rate of the display, activating anti-aliasing and enabling automatic memory cleaner. All these settings will be applied as soon as you launch a game.
While they are primarily built for gaming, Air Triggers are not merely restricted to games. For example, you can squeeze the device to activate the X Mode when the ROG Phone is unlocked or do so to activate the one-handed mode when the smartphone is locked. Additionally, you can also tweak the Air Triggers’ force level and program them to launch specific apps among other things.
Now, let’s talk about the one thing that the ROG Phone was truly meant for – delivering unparalleled performance. Having tested the smartphone comprehensively, I can say that Asus succeeded in achieving that to a large extent.
The ROG Phone’s hardware screams ‘flagship’, and so is the case with day-to-day usage. The user experience is snappy with no lag at all, even if you are running 10-12 apps in the background which also includes heavy games. Launching and switching between apps on the ROG Phone is a breeze with no lag or stutter whatsoever.
Asus ROG Phone: Antutu Benchmarks
Benchmark scores are not necessarily the true indicators of a smartphone’s day-to-day performance, but when it comes to hardcore gaming, the numbers matter. But for a device like the ROG Phone and the whole marketing holler around an overclocked flagship SoC ticking inside it, I can’t help but check out its benchmarks performance and compare it against a few flagships out there. Following are the Geekbench, AntTuTu and 3D Mark scores of the Asus ROG Phone.
Note: The ROG Phone’s benchmark scores in the table above were taken when the device is working in normal mode i.e. X-Mode is turned off.
Pulling out the 8X scope and nailing a perfect headshot in PUBG Mobile? Check. Executing a sick drift and performing a perfect nitro in Asphalt 9: Legends? Check. Hammering down opponents and then destroying them with a super move in Injustice 2? Check.
But aside from cooling the device, the AeroActive cooler bring a huge relief when it comes to ergonomics. You see, the AeroActive Cooler connects with the proprietary port on the ROG Phone’s left edge, but it comes equipped with a USB Type-C port as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack, which makes it really easy to plug in a charging cable and a wired earphone while playing games in landscape mode.
Accessories
Aside from the AeroActive Cooler, Asus also offers a host of accessories for the ROG Phone which are sold separately such as the GameVice Controller, TwinView Dock, Professional Dock, and the Desktop Dock among others. However, if you plan to buy all the accessories, get ready to fork out a pretty sum as they will collectively set you back by a whopping Rs. 1,18,994.
The accessories haven’t gone on sale yet, but we’ll keep you informed as and when they become available. See them in action in our video below:
Asus ROG Phone: Cameras
Asus ROG Phone Camera Samples: Daylight
Let’s start with daylight shots. The ROG Phone’s camera clicks some really detailed photos when it comes to capturing images under natural light. The dynamic range and the depth are good, but color accuracy is something that is not its forte. There is some oversaturation in photos clicked in auto mode, but overall, the picture quality is good enough to post on social media platforms.
Asus ROG Phone Camera Samples: Indoor
The ROG Phone’s camera produces a mixed bag of results when it comes to images clicked under artificial light. The depth sensing won’t disappoint you and so the phone captures good detail. But the overprocessing done to bring out the colors takes a toll on the overall quality when you zoom in, making the highlights look somewhat overblown, especially in the case of human subjects.
Asus ROG Phone Camera Samples: Portrait Shots
As I said earlier, the ROG Phone’s rear camera is quite good when it comes to capturing depth, and this becomes particularly evident when you click bokeh photos. You can adjust the depth-of-field effect while capturing the images, which is certainly a good thing. The focus lock is fast and the color reproduction is vibrant, especially if there is abundant light. But the biggest flaw here is the faulty edge detection.
Asus ROG Phone Camera Samples: Selfies
The selfies captured by the device are good and capture ample amount of details. But if you are a fan of natural skin tone, then the ROG Phone will disappoint you. There is a lot of smoothening going on here which makes the images look over-processed at first sight, which they definitely are. In natural light, the true skin color is preserved to an extent, but selfies clicked in well-lit indoor conditions exhibit a lot of smoothening and lack of fine details.
When it comes to clicking portrait selfies, the ROG Phone’s front camera not only misses out on details and falters with the skin tone, it also tends to blur the edges inaccurately.
The ROG Phone’s overall performance when it comes to capturing still images is good, but it falls just short of being regarded as great due to faulty image processing. And unless you are very particular about the minute details in your photos, the Asus ROG Phone’s camera will serve you just fine.
When it comes to video recording, the ROG Phone can shoot 4K videos at 30FPS or 60FPS and employs 4-axis OIS and 3-axis EIS, while slow-motion video recording at 240FPS is also on the table. Here’s a sample 4K video recorded at 60FPS by the ROG Phone.
The video was shot while I was sitting in a cab, and despite that, the 4K video shot at 60FPS turned out to be super smooth without any light flickering, visual distortion and shaky effect at all. This is one area where the ROG Phone’s camera truly shines and delivers results that are in the same class with high-end smartphones. As for 1080p videos, below is a Full HD Video sample shot at 60FPS:
Just like the 4K video, the 1080p video at 60FPS shot by the Asus ROG Phone turns out to be smooth with minimal distortion and nice colors with an ample amount of light. To sum up, what the Asus ROG Phone lacks in still photography prowess, it makes up for it when it comes to recording videos at high frame rates and resolutions.
I played a few songs of multiple genres like EDM, R&B as well as some classical music in a closed room, and found the ROG Phone’s audio output to be quite impressive. Just don’t expect the rumbling bass, thumping beats, and crystal clear vocals you’ll get from a dedicated surround sound system. But when it comes to watching casual YouTube videos and movies or listening to music, you won’t find yourself complaining.
Asus ROG Phone: Battery
Keeping up with its demanding hardware is no easy task, but the ROG Phone’s 4,000mAh battery is capable of handling the pressure to a large extent.
But is that enough to recommend the Asus ROG Phone as your daily driver? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons before we arrive at a conclusion:
- Gorgeous 90Hz display
- Blazing fast performance
- Large battery with fast charge support
- Great stereo speakers
- Innovative Air Triggers and excellent haptic feedback
- Plenty of useful gaming features
- Unique design
- Additional ports and clip-on cooler
Cons:
- Huge and bulky with a polarizing design
- No wireless charging
- Good camera brought down by inconsistent performance
- Heats up really fast
- Quick battery depletion when X Mode enabled
- Lack of expandable storage
- Not all games can utilize Air Triggers and support 90FPS gameplay
