ASUS ROG PHONE 3:THE ULTIMATE GAMING BEAST

Asus ROG Phone 3 launched on the 22nd of July 2020 and is the ultimate gaming phone hands down.It also wins the trophy of the best specs packed in a phone till date.

To be honest it follows in the footsteps of its predecessor the Asus ROG Phone 2.One can call it the updated version as well but updates are striking.Yes it is a Gaming phone no doubt with great attention being given to boost gaming.But with time i.e.from the first ROG Phone the device has also become more of a smartphone.I hope you get what I mean to say.

The ROG Phone 3 is also one of the heaviest and thickest phone available in the market.But honestly it is not a phone for the mass.I mean you obviously can buy and use it but this phone is a dream to all mobile gamers.That will be cleared in the following post.

Many variants of the phone are available and the base price is ~1000€.In India the base price is Rs.49999 and will be available shortly via Flipkart.

DESIGN AND BODY

The Asus ROG Phone 3 has the same looks as of the ROG Phone 2 but a little toned down you could say.The first thing that catches the eye is the design on the back.Bold lines cut through diagonally on the back with the big RGB logo which is a light panel actually in the centre.On top of that is the triple camera module in the shape of a rectangle.On the side you will notice a big triangular module which is the large heat sink(details later).

Another noticeable thing is the presence of two USB Type C ports one on the bottom and the other on the side.No 3.5 mm jack is present,a feature that surprised me a bit because for a gaming phone there is nothing better than wired headphones.An alternative though has been provided by the company in the form of an accessory which I am coming to later in the post.

As you can see there is a considerable amount of bezels on the forehead and chin but that’s mostly for the accessories to be fitted.If you observe closely you will find two ROG logos on the edge of the phone.These are actually Game Triggers and are pressure sensitive buttons.Also there are two front facing speaker grills.

No compromises have been made in the built quality.The front and back is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6 and the frame is aluminium.The dimensions are 171mm×78mm× 9.9mm.The phone weighs 240g.

DISPLAY

Gaming phones need crisp displays with good colour output and Asus ROG Phone 3 does not disappoint.In fact it does a far better job and sports a 6.59″ Amoled display with TUV Rheinland certification.It has Delta E<1 colour accuracy too.The resolution is 1080×2340 with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and ~391ppi.The display has HDR10+ support and an advertised maximum brightness of 650nits.

With all this the highlighting feature is still to come and that is the 144Hz refresh rate powered along with the 270Hz touch sampling rate.Smooth will not be enough to describe the feeling of using this phone.It is a tragedy that most games even the highly optimised ones do not support such high refresh rates till now.Another point worth mentioning is that you have the option of switching between 60 Hz,90Hz,120Hz and 144Hz refresh rates.

OS, PROCESSOR AND STORAGE

The Asus ROG UI is slapped over Android 10.There is nothing much to say about ROG UI but that it is a relatively new one and has to make a lot of improvements.

Asus ROG Phone 3 is the world’s first phone to feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ SoC which runs on 7nm+ technology and clocks upto 3.1GHz.The tests show that this chipset is 10% better than Snapdragon 865.It has an octa core processor (1×3.1GHz,3×2.42GHz,4×1.8GHz) and the GPU is Adreno 650 which has also been overclocked.In short you can say the ROG Phone 3 has the best processor for Android in the world.

The top variant has 16GB RAM and 512GB internal storage..just unbelievable.Well smaller variants like 8GB/128GB,12GB/128GB,12GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB are also available.The Indian variant is the 8GB RAM/128GB on board storage one priced at Rs.49999. All RAM is LPDDR5 and storage is UFS3.1.

GAMING

In general this place is for the Camera specs as you will find in my other posts but for this phone I could not resist myself.Gaming features are so vast that you should know them first.I do not know where to start.

Well let’s talk about what is visible.The big triangular Copper 3D Vapor Cooling Chamber on the back.It is huge with air vents and a large heat sink for heat dissipation.A big Graphite film is also present for insulation.In addition there is the AeroActive Cooler 3 an attachment (in box) which also has a large cooling fan that increases airflow to the hotspots mainly the CPU and 5G modem.This attachment also has a stand which allows you to rest the phone and view it in landscape mode.Also it has the 3.5mm port otherwise absent in the main device.

Two USB Type C ports are visible the one on the side enabling you to charge the phone while gaming without any hindrance.Also you can use both together one as a charging port and the other as a headphone one.

Visible specs include the pressure sensitive buttons onnthe edges which act like game triggers and is specially useful for shooting games like PUB G mobile and Call of Duty mobile.This was present in the ROG Phone 2 as well but has been updated and now you can use the two buttons as four.It means that the left one can be separated into L1 and L2 and the right one similarly for better control.

The in phone Game modes are also excellent.XMode enables you to boost your CPU to the highest performance.Then there is the Armoury Crate nad Game Genie modes where you can keep all your games and optimise your settings.The control over hardware settings in the Asus ROG Phone 3 is unprecedented and mostly available in other phones post reboot.The phone also has motion sensors and tilting of it can lead to a click.

AUDIO

As I said every aspect has been looked into.Games like PUB G need good audio as well and the ROG Phone delivers.There are two front firing 7-magnet stereo speakers which gives the best audio output in comparison to any phone.Asus has tied up with Swedish company DIRAC for the cutting edge audio software.This allows to even boost the Bass in any audio playback.All this is designed for games but will enhance video watching as well.A quad microphone array is present which can filter background noise.

CAMERA

REAR CAMERA

On paper the Asus ROG Phone 3 has great cameras as well with the primary 64MP f/1.8 wide sensor,a 13MP f/2.4 ultra wide sensor and a 5MP f/2.5 macro lens.Why I say on paper will be obvious when you have captured some photos.So I cannot vouch atleast till now on how good the camera is though the reviews do not promise a lot.

[email protected] can be shot along with [email protected]/60/120 fps,[email protected]/60/240fps and [email protected](Super slow motion videos).EIS is also present.

FRONT CAMERA

A 24MP f/2.0 camera is housed with HDR support.It can capture videos of [email protected]

BATTERY

Again no compromise.A massive 6000mAH battery powers the phone which supports 30W fast charging.No wireless charging is present.Such big battery will take time to charge even by fast charging but the inherent advantage is it will take much more time to discharge as well.Extensive high resolution gaming sessions will also find it difficult to drain the big battery in a hurry.

Only a Black coloured variant is available.

CONCLUSION

Gaming phones like the Nubia Red Magic or Black Shark can think of competing against this beast of a phone.The IQOO 3 boasts of some very high specs but it looks dull when you see the Asus ROG Phone 3.

Just give it a thought…144Hz refresh rate Amoled display, with Snapdragon 865+ processor, upto 16GB RAM,huge heat dissipating mechanism and a massive 6000 mAH battery.What more can you ask for? Even the primary camera is 64MP.In short this phone sports every possible highest end specs.

There are cons.It is a very heavy and thick phone.Camera quality is not of very high standard.The price is also not much affordable.These are cons for a normal user though.For a Gamer this phone is a delight,a dream phone to say the least.But and a big one not everyone is a gamer.

So what are your thoughts? Don’t forget to write in the comments section.