ASUS ROG Phone 3 Review

Brief About ROG Phone 3: Asus is one of the most successful company in the world of gaming. It makes nearly every component related to Computer from from standard products to high performance devices. You can think of a few just by listening to the name Asus like Graphics card, motherboard, RAM, monitor, etc.

The gaming genre is titled as ROG (Republic Of Gamers). It was inevitable for Asus to make gaming phone in 2018. It was popular time for gaming phones. The market was already hyped up by the devices such as Razer Phone and Xiaomi Blackshark who were buffed with best specs and new features. But Asus wanted to make an impact. They made Qualcomm to overclock the Snapdragon 845 processor to create the fastest phone in the market.

Now Asus has released its third edition to the gaming phone category, named as ROG Phone 3, bringing new monstrous features to give gamers the best they can get.

Specifications

Network Connectivity	5G (Sub-6), optional Dual SIM support (5G + 4G or 4G + 4G dual standby), Dual-Band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2×2 MIMO, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS (GNSS, Glonass, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, NavIC), NFC Side-port: 48 pin, based on Type-C
Body	171mm x 78mm x 9.85mm, 240g Glass front (Gorilla Glass 6), Glass back (Gorilla Glass 3) Metal frame Colors: Black.
Display	6.59″ AMOLED 1080 x 2340px resolution 19.5:9 aspect ratio 391ppi HDR10+ 144Hz refresh rate 270Hz touch sampling rate TÜV Low Blue Light hardware
Processor	Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865+ (7 nm+): Octa-core (1×3.09 GHz Kryo 585 & 3 x 2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585) Adreno 650
RAM/Storage	128GB 12GB RAM 256GB 12GB RAM 512GB 12GB RAM 512GB 16GB RAM UFS 3.1 storage LPDDR5 RAM
OS	Android 10, ROG UI
Primary Camera	64 MP (Wide), f/1.8, (wide), 1/1.7″, 0.8µm, PDAF  Ultra-wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.4, 11mm (ultrawide)  Macro: 5 MP, f/2.0 LED flash, HDR, panorama
Secondary Camera	24 MP, f/2.0, 27mm
Video	Primary Camera: 8K@30, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@480fps Gyro-EIS  Secondary Camera: 1080p@30fps
Battery	6000mAh Fast charging 30W, Direct Charge (Asus HYPERCHARGE), Power Delivery 3.0 + PPS, Quick Charge 4.0.
Sensors	Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, e-compass, Hall sensor, ambient light sensor, Ultrasonic sensors for AirTrigger 3 and grip press; RGB logo on back; RGB illuminator LED next to flash; Dual 7-magnet front-facing speakers, dual NXP TFA9874 amplifiers; Hi-Res audio output

The Design of ROG phone series hasn’t changed very much. The first generation has orange touch to the body with visible 2 air vents to the back. In second generation, only one air vent is available. But the all new ROG Phone 3 has transparent cooling chamber with fewer sharp lines. The ROG logo is still present on the back with RGB illuminated in it. The design is pretty clean with still representing the gaming build.

The body of the phone is build with Gorilla Glass 6 with aluminium rails along the sides. But the phone is not IP certified as the phone has vent at the back. One must take care of the device in rain or water nearby. The camera is located at the upper-left corner. Next to it is a flashlight.

At the bottom of the phone, you will find the USB type C port. It is a pretty unusual placement but they had to do it for the motherboard design. Unlike the previous versions of the phone, ROG Phone 3 does not have a headphone jack at the bottom.

On the left side of the phone, their is a special dual-socket USB-C port alongside a SIM card tray. You can plug the charger into the side of the phone for better access of phone in landscape mode. But the original purpose of this port was to support the AeroActive 3 cooling fan, which is easy to carry and use.

AeroActive 3

The AeroActive 3 is a cooling device which helps in cooling down the heat during gaming. It is used with a special performance mode called X Mode. It also has an extra USB type C port and a headphone jack for charging and listening at the same time. The fan also has a kickstand to it. Which allows to to tilt the phone the way you want, or use it while playing with a controller. And the iconic ROG logo to make it seems really cool. Carrying an extra device is not a hassle after all.

Asus Will also sell bunch of other accessories for this phone just as they did for the ROG Phone 2. There will be a gamepad to turn your phone into a Nintendo Switch, a dock to use your ROG Phone 3 on a monitor with the help of monitor and keyboard, and a dock to hook the phone up to your TV. All of these devices has an upgraded version compared to previous devices.

Air Triggers

The right side of the phone is the interesting part here. Except for the power button and the volume rockers, their are 2 capacitive buttons known as Air Triggers. Not an actual button in general, but it is used as one. While playing shooter games on your phone, both of your thumbs are busy in navigation and movement, it is really helpful to have extra sets of buttons easily accessible to your index fingers. What’s new here is the shake mechanism which can be used to trigger any touch spot or button in games, which can be triggered by just shaking your phone up and down once.

Unlike other phone Asus has opted to use slim bezels just like ROG Phone 2, over the notch or punch holes. This bezel hold the Secondary Camera, RGB notification light and front facing speakers. The speakers got an upgrade as they function even better that before. There speakers has a clean sound even at high volume without any distortion. The bass response feels really well.

Display

The first ROG Phone was was the first to bring the 90Hz display in a smart phone. The second generation had an upgraded version as 120Hz. Now most of the mainstream has caught up the refresh rate, so Asus upgraded it to even better version i.e. 144Hz panel in ROG Phone 3.

The battery life is good with the monstrous 6000mAh. It comes with a 30W charger. It helps it juicing up the the device real quick.

The camera is better than expected. Even though it is not the priority in a gaming phone still it has managed to give a better than expected outcome . Compered to most other devices including ROG Phone 2. The colors pretty good even at a good range. Though it struggles a bit in places with lots of contrast.

OS/Software

The performance is pretty good with the Android 10 inbuilt in it. The special thing is the Gaming mode, which gives the phone an extra boost for high performance and some other features too which comes really handy while gaming, like Screen recording, Air Trigger management, giving a build in cross-hair, DND mode, Speedup and many more.

Overall, the product is really good and yet the Fastest phone available in the market.

Checkout Ghost of Tsushima Game Review here.