Asus ROG Phone was one of the first dedicated gaming smartphone series, bringing heaps of power, huge batteries, improved cooling and gamer-specific features for those who spend a lot of time playing games on their handsets.
This year the firm hopes to broaden its appeal by adding wireless charging and an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, improving the camera system (by including a zoom lens) and opting for a 15 percent slimmer frame (163.8mm x 76.8mm x 8.9mm) that looks and feels more ultra-premium smartphone than gaming device. It’s 14g lighter than its predecessor too, at 225g.
It also lives up to the expectationsI had after chatting to ChihHao Kung, Global Technical PR & EMEA Territory Marketing Manager, Smartphones at Asus earlier this year about his views on the future of the smartphone market.
ROG Phone 8 Pro key features
One of the most outstanding ROG Phone 8 features is the 6.78in FHD+ AMOLED display which has a 165Hz refresh rate with LTPO adaptive tech, one of the highest refresh rates on a phone which means a smoother and more responsive display – essential for gaming. You can lock the frame rate too, which is something not all phones allow you to do.
The display panel also comes with ultra-slim bezels, an insane 2500 nits of brightness screen and an ultra-smooth 720 Hz touch sampling rate for gamers. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is the latest and strongest glass from Corning.
If there is a negative to the display panel, it comes from a purely gaming viewpoint. The bezels which on previous generations allowed for a comfortable grip when holding the phone horizontally are gone. And the selfie camera that used to be hidden by the bezels on previous devices is now visible as a punch-hole in the screen.
(Image: Asus)
Another great ROG Phone 8 feature is the jaw-dropping performance. This phone includes the highest-end specs I’ve ever tested: blazing fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC (system on a chip), an insane 24GB of the fastest 8533 Mbps LPDDR5X RAM and a whopping 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage, which offers the fastest read/write speeds possible on a smartphone.
The benchmark scores are a match for iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro SoC which offers superior CPU performance overall, but ROG Phone 8 Pro wins on its multicore score and beats the iPhone on the graphics benchmark. Real world experience is far more important than benchmark scores, however, and the Asus handset is capable of handling any demanding task or game you throw at it. It runs Android 14 out of the box, incidentally. You can choose between a near stock version of Android or run the ROG-themed skin, which is highly customisable and optimised for gaming. Or you can mix and match between the two.
The SoC enables AI enhancements to noise cancellation, semantic search, wallpapers and gaming features. These are common on 2024 Android flagship smartphones due to the SoC. I like the way Asus has employed AI here to deliver a more intuitive and immersive experience.
ROG Phone 8 Pro gaming
You get all the usual game-enhancing features such as the Armoury Crate app, which lets you tweak various settings for each game, such as performance, display, network, touch, and audio.
Switching on X Mode within the app enables one of the handsets most unique features – a second screen on the rear dubbed AniMe vision. It can display your battery percentage or incoming notifications when the phone is face down but ultimately, it’s just aesthetically pleasing rather than practical.
(Image: Asus)
X Mode’s primary use is to boost the phone’s performance to the maximum, which affects both battery life and temperature and provides access to additional features such as AirTriggers. There’s a built-in screen recorder that supports inline sound, a widget to display your stats while gaming and a handy list of high refresh rate games.
You can enjoy marathon gaming sessions without any throttling if you use the AeroActive Cooler X clip-on which ensures stable gameplay with no overheating even in the high-performance X Mode. The cooler adds two physical trigger buttons that can be used in conjunction with the capacitive AirTriggers for a maximum of six trigger buttons.
ROG Phone 8 Pro cameras
ROG Phone 8 includes a 50MP IMX890 main camera with the Zenfone 10‘s six-axis gimbal stabilisation tech, a 13MP ultrawide camera with a freeform lens for less distortion and the series’ first telephoto camera which is a 32MP resolution lens with 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilisation. Users also get a 32MP selfie camera with a 90-degree field-of-view. And the image processing has received a serious upgrade, with AI working its magic to deliver much stronger shots even if they are not of the high standards you get from Pixel 8 Pro, Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone15 Pro.
Other ROG Phone 8 Pro features
Battery life is superb, even if the size of the cell, 5500mAh, is smaller than previous 6000mAh phones (to make the device slimmer). It supports 65w wired charging (that refuels the phone fully in about an hour) and 15w wireless charging. And there are two USB-C charging ports; one on the side so you can charge while gaming and still grip the phone horizontally.
The new pixel-like LED effects found on Asus laptops replace the RBG lighting of old on the rear of the ROG Phone 8 Pro. You can toggle them on or off and they allow you to display things like the weather and your battery level.
You get Dirac Virtuo spatial audio for immersive listening and a 3.5mm headphone port for superior wired audio. It’s worth mentioning that ROG Phone 8 does not have dual front facing speakers like its predecessor. This is a side effect of the removal of the bezels on the display. So, what you get is a conventional stereo set-up with a bottom-firing speaker but it’s louder and better quality than most other smartphones.
And it’s important to note that Asus promises only two years of OS upgrades for its ROG phones, which falls well short of the up to seven years of software support promised by the likes of Samsung and Google for their flagship handsets.
ROG Phone 8 Pro verdict
This is the most powerful phone on the planet for gamers, as you might expect, but it’s also got a dazzling pin sharp display, superfast charging, a versatile camera system and a slick and slim streamlined design that makes it more suitable for use as an everyday smartphone. It is one of the most expensive handsets you can buy, but it delivers plenty of value for money.
ROG Phone 8 Pro pricing
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition (reviewed model) with 24 GB RAM, 1 TB storage and an AeroActive Cooler X in the box costs €1499.99 and is exclusive to ASUS Official Online Store. You can also buy a more affordable ROG Phone 8 Pro with 16GB RAM/512GB storage for €1286 from Amazon and a ROG Phone 8 with 12GB/256GB for €1111 from Amazon.
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