The dawn of gaming smartphones has started and one of the gaming brands that is really popular is the ROG brand of ASUS and this year, the Taiwanese company has finally made a smartphone made for gaming that is branded as the ASUS ROG Phone. But is it a gamer’s dream smartphone? Well, do check out our review of the smartphone below.

The ROG design

By just looking at it, you’ll already feel that the design of the smartphone is familiar as the ASUS ROG Phone shares the same design philosophy of ROG products. It features some sharp looking designs with an additional Mayan pattern at the back.

There’s no notch in here but the ASUS ROG Phone is made up of glass on the front and the back and if you love the ASUS ROG design, you’ll surely love the ROG Phone’s gamer feel. Despite its unique design, the ASUS ROG Phone is really ergonomic as it features a curved back and it has a side mounted ports so you can game on the smartphone without the hassle of the cable blocking your gaming experience. But of course, those side mounted ports are also used for connection to its accessories.

Again, the smartphone screams the gamer feels and it packs two copper grills for ventilation and then there’s the ROG Logo at the back that lights up and yes, it has RGB lighting and it features Aura Sync so you can sync it with your other devices. Of course, there are other modes too so you can really customize it.

Thankfully, this is one of the flagships that still pack a 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s the USB-C port which is placed on the side and that side mounted port? It’s covered with a rubber cover which will probably get lost if you’re not careful but don’t worry, there’s an extra rubber cover at the box.

One of the essential features on a gaming smartphone is the speaker, and damn, the ASUS ROG Phone has one of the best front-facing speakers on a gaming smartphone. In PUBG Mobile, it was really useful as I can easily notice where the footsteps are and also when playing music on Spotify.

There’s a feature called AirTrigger which are basically shoulder buttons for the ASUS ROG Phone and this is one of the most useful features of the smartphone if you’re really into gaming. You can map the shoulder buttons to any games and I was really happy that I can use it for drifting and nitro on Asphalt 9 and also for aiming and shooting at PUBG Mobile. You can also control the sensitivity of the air triggers if you feel that you’ll accidentally press the shoulder buttons when playing games.

The ASUS ROG Phone has a lot of unique features that are made for mobile gamers. Yep, unique features like the side mounted ports, Air triggers, ROG Phone exclusive accessories, and many more. But the ROG Phone won’t be a full-fledged gaming smartphone without its accessories and we’re gonna discuss each one of them below.

Gamevice controller and the ROG Phone WiGig Dock

You might think that the Gamevice is another controller for Android for you but this one is special as the Gamevice controller is connected to the ROG Phone via USB-C that’s why it was responsive compared to wireless controllers. Not just that, you can also map the buttons on the ROG phone that’s why you have the flexibility to control the smartphone whatever games that you are playing on the smartphone. Don’t worry about charging and the headphone jack as the Gamevice controller comes with a port for the 3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C. As for buttons, everything was really fine and enjoyable to use.

The best partner of the Gamevice controller is the WiGig dock which lets you mirror the display of the ASUS ROG Phone to an external display. Surprisingly, it was clear and there was no lag. In my experience in playing games, the WiGig Dock can mirror the ROG Phone without lags and the experience was smooth. And yes, you can still connect to your WiFi connection as the smartphone has a different connection to WiFi and the WiGig. These two accessories basically make the ROG Phone similar to a Nintendo Switch.

Aero-Active Cooler

This is the accessory that comes with the ROG Phone and yes, this one is really useful especially if you’re playing games that are really heavy on the graphics or on processing as it cools down the smartphone but 2-3c. However, the cooler does take some power from the battery so I really suggest using this one if you’re charging the smartphone and you want to play on the ROG Phone. Oh, and the Aero-Active cooler does come with a port for charging so you can play while charging the smartphone without heating problems.

ROG Phone case

The ROG Phone Case is one of the essential accessories that you probably need in your ASUS ROG Phone. Basically, the case provides protection your smartphone and yes, it still does show ROG logo at the back and it lets you access the side-mounted ports and of course, it lets you dock the smartphone to its accessories because you can actually remove the middle panel of the ROG Phone case and place the Aero-Active cooler along with the protection at the top and bottom of the smartphone.

TwinView Dock

This is probably the most unique accessory of the ASUS ROG Phone. This lets you have two displays on your smartphone as the TwinView Dock comes with an OLED display and then you have to dock your ROG Phone for the other display. With this accessory, you’ll be able to display two applications at once. This one is really useful especially if you want to play Ragnarok Online M: Eternal Love and also browse your social media, website, or you want to check out the comments on your stream. This is a must-have device if you’re a streamer and you want to have a dual screen for your streaming needs.

Surprisingly, running two games on the ROG Phone on the TwinView dock wasn’t a pain for the ROG Phone. It can smoothly run the game and applications simultaneously.

ROG Mobile desktop dock

Having the ASUS ROG Phone Mobile desktop dock is a big advantage when playing FPS games like Free Fire and PUBG Mobile.  This dock lets you connect your 4K monitor, Ethernet, 5.1 channel speakers, and peripherals with its USB ports. It does look beautiful with the smartphone as it lights up with its RGB lighting and it packs a fan inside so you won’t have to worry about your smartphone.

With this accessory, I was able to connect my keyboard and my mouse and despite the lack of support of keyboard and mouse by many games, I was able to map my controls on the game in the ROG Phone. It was very cool and very useful. With this accessory, I really did have an advantage compared to using touchscreen whatever games that I’m playing.

While I do have an advantage when playing games on the ROG Mobile Desktop dock, I would appreciate if ASUS has created a UI that is made for ROG Mobile desktop dock. The accessory basically lets you mirror the display of the smartphone but it would be better if they can create and optimize that large monitor display for better and optimized usage of the accessory similar to the EMUI Desktop and Samsung DeX.

UPDATE: ASUS has reached out to us and they told us that there’s an alternate UI for mobile desktop dock that can scale the monitor resolution and it supports 21:9 ultra-wide displays

The beautiful 90Hz display

I never thought that I would fall in love with the display of the ROG Phone. It’s not the first that we’ve seen a display with a high refresh rate on a mobile device. The Razer Phone has a higher refresh rate at 120Hz along with the iPad Pro. But with the ROG Phone, it’s the first AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate which is a first for an AMOLED display and yes, I’m a sucker for AMOLED displays as it produces more vivid colors and better contrasts.

In the case of the ASUS ROG Phone, the 90Hz display was really useful as some games feel different whenever I played on it. It was smooth and it’s really a game changer for me especially when I’m playing Battle Royale or FPS games as I can easily see the enemies even though I’m moving the camera most of the time.

When it comes to display quality, I was quite happy with it and the brightness was just fine. It’s not the best display for a flagship smartphone or even the best AMOLED display around but again, it was just fine for me but when it comes to gaming, this one is really top notch thanks to its 90Hz refresh rate.

Battery Life

One of the features that need improving on most smartphones is the battery life that’s why ASUS has placed a 4000mAh battery inside it. It’s not the highest on a flagship smartphone but it will do. In my experience, intense or heavy gaming on a day will still require me to charge the smartphone within the day. In our PC Mark battery test, I was able to get 9 hours and 13 minutes which is just fine for me but not impressive.

If you’re into heavy usage or heavy gaming on a day, I will recommend to bring you the fast charger. Oh and yeah, charging the ASUS ROG Phone was really impressive and insanely fast. I was able to charge the smartphone up to 50% at just around 30 minutes. But if you want to play games and charge the smartphone then I suggest using the Aero Active cooler which will drastically decrease the temperature of the smartphone while charging.

Performance

One of the upgrades that were done on the ASUS ROG Phone which is really unique is the speed-binned 2.96GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor along with the Adreno 630 GPU. It might not be highest scoring chipset at Antutu but the SD845 can definitely run most games and apps without problems. In our benchmark tests, we’ve noticed that the smartphone has an advantage over other smartphones in the CPU segment thanks to the faster clock speed of the ROG Phone. Check out the benchmark scores that we got on the ASUS ROG Phone compared to other chipsets:

3D Mark, GeekBench and Antutu benchmark scores:

Comparison of the speed-binned 2.96GHz Snapdragon 845 vs 2.5GHz Snapdragon 845

GameBench

In PUBG Mobile with the HDR resolution and ultra framerates, we got 40fps with 100% FPS stability which is the best that we can get on the smartphone. The 90Hz display also helps me get a big advantage against my opponents. However, I didn’t win a chicken dinner. Talion might not be popular but it is one of the most graphic-intensive game on smartphones right now. The in-game benchmarks of the smartphone show that the FPS can reach up to 45fps however, it drops to 38fps whenever there’s a heavy fight scene. Nonetheless, it was still impressive considering that the game runs at more than 35fps with ultra settings.

You can check out the GameBench Benchmarking app at (https://www.gamebench.net)

You can also download the app at the Play Store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamebench.metricscollector)

Another thing that we’ve noticed is that the ASUS ROG Phone’s GameCool vapor-chamber cooling system is definitely helpful in our usage of the smartphone. We’ve noticed that the ASUS ROG Phone was cooler despite having gaming and with the help of the Aero-Active cooler, we’ve seen a drop in temperatures by up to 3-degrees Celsius.

Software

The ASUS ROG Phone is unique not just in terms of hardware but also in terms of software. Yes, you’ll get the UI similar to the ASUS Zenfone with the skinning of ASUS ROG design but there’s a unique feature called X mode which you can activate by just going to the game center. With this feature, the smartphone’s resources will be optimized for a better gaming experience. But not only that, but you can also create gaming profiles for the smartphone which lets you force to adjust the default refresh rate of the display when playing certain games.

The Game Center is also the home for everything that you want to check out from the smartphone. You can see the CPU and GPU usage of the smartphone and also its temperature which is similar to the ROG Gaming Center on ROG notebooks and PCs. You can also adjust the fan speed of the Aero-Active cooler in this application and also the RGB lighting of the ROG logo at the back. In case you’re worried about the RGB lighting, you can just turn it off at the Game Center.

Camera

Its camera isn’t its biggest or highlighted feature but the ASUS ROG Phone does have a decent camera after an update that we received after 2 weeks of using the smartphone. I noticed that the ASUS ROG Phone’s 12-Megapixel camera along with the 8-megapixel wide angle lens camera. Surprisingly, both cameras performed well in our review. Check out our shots that we took using the smartphone:

The colors were good and the details can be really seen on the smartphone. Again, it’s not a smartphone made for shooting but it does surprisingly well in our review.

Verdict

The ASUS ROG Phone is surprisingly a good smartphone and a great one if you’re into gaming. While some of you might not be a fan of the design of the smartphone but again, the smartphone is made for gaming and for gamers. Every gaming aspect of this smartphone is surprisingly great while I didn’t like its UI but I really appreciate the game center which helps optimize my usage of the smartphone, also the side-mounted ports for its accessories, and the camera was noticeably better than other ASUS Zenfones.

Well, if you’re buying this smartphone, I highly suggest that you get an accessory for this one aside from the Aero-Active cooler that comes with the smartphone to fully experience the best gaming experience on the smartphone. If you’re into FPS games, I highly suggest that you get the mobile desktop dock for an advantage on FPS games, and if you’re into streaming or multitasking I suggest that you get the TwinView dock, and the WiGig Dock and GameVice controller if you want to use your smartphone when playing games while sitting in your couch.

The ASUS ROG Phone is now available in 128GB and 512GB variants for Php49,995 and Php61,995 respectively.