Asus ROG Phone 3 Review: A gaming King in a new bottle?
Asus launched their third generation of ROG Smartphone i.e. Asus ROG Phone 3, a few months returned in India and we are here with an overview of the same. Yes we know it’s too late for an overview still here we are. This review is based totally on our usage of the smartphone for a week as a full-time primary device. This is an overview unit (returnable) provided by using Asus i.e. the 8GB RAM variant with 128GB internal storage which is priced at Rs. 49,999 in India. Just hold in mind that this is a Gaming Phone and each and every feature/hardware that the phone uses, is chosen based totally on Gaming aspect priority. Obviously, it’s an upgrade over the second Gen Asus ROG Phone 2.
ASUS ROG Phone 3 Specs
Display: 6.59-inch OLED Full HD+ (2340×1080 pixels), 144Hz refresh rate, 270Hz touch sampling rate, 25ms touch latency 650nits HBM brightness & 1000nits height brightness, 113% DCI-P3, Delta E <1%, Corning Gorilla Glass 6, HDR, Optical In-display fingerprint scanner
Processor: 3.1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform with 7nm, 64-bit Octa-core Processor
Operating System: Android 10 with ROG UI
GPU: Adreno 650
Memory: 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
Storage: 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1, no SD-card reader
Selfie Camera: 24MP, 0.9µm, Quad Bayer Technology, F2.0, 27mm equivalent focal size in 35mm film camera
Main Camera: 64MP SONY IMX686 sensor, 0.8 µm pixel dimension – Quad Bayer technology with 16MP, 1.6 µm giant effective pixel size, F1.8, 1/1.7” sensor, 2×1 OCL PDAF, LED flash + 13MP, 125˚ ultra-wide, F2.4, Real-time distortion correction, 11mm equal focal length in 35mm movie camera + 5MP Macro, F2.0
Battery: 6,000mAh, 30W hyper charger in the box
Weight: 240gm
Speakers: Dual front-facing speakers with GameFX & Dirac HD Sound, 7-magnet stereo speaker with dual NXP TFA9874 clever amplifier for louder, deeper, and less distorted sound effect
Ports: USB Type-C side-port, USB-C main port
Connectivity: 5G SA/NSA, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad 5GHz, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, Bluetooth 5.1 GPS/GLONASS/BDS/Galileo/QZSS
Sensors: Accelerator, E-Compass, Proximity, Hall sensor*2, Ambient light sensor, in-display fingerprint sensor, Gyro, Ultrasonic sensors for AirTrigger 3 and grip press
Misc: NO 3.5mm headphone jack
Asus ROG Phone 3 Design and Build Quality
In terms of design, it definitely appears nearly similar to the 2nd generation ROG Phone with slight modification in design, but specific from a regular flagship smartphone however glittery back with the exposed air vent at the lower back with that ROG brand that additionally lights up. Thanks to a monster battery of 6,000mAh and 6.6-inch show it feels giant & heavy in hand. In phrases of specifics, there is no exchange in battery capacity & weight. It still weighs the same 240gms and is 9.85mm thick, nevertheless making it one of the heaviest phones around. The rear panel is nonetheless slippery making it more difficult to manage for the duration of regular usage. Obviously whilst playing games, you usually handle it in portrait orientation and you feel good preserving it. In short, our gripes with last year’s flagships, continue this yr too.
It includes an extra USB Type-C port, along with a customized port on the left side for the usage of it with accessories. This supports USB 3.1 (Gen2) alongside video output up to 4K and Quick Charge 4.0. The phone doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack which was once nevertheless there in the 2nd gen. The 6.59-inch AMOLED Full-HD+ display comes with a 144Hz refresh rate which is an upgrade over the 2nd gen. It comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 6 for protection. To be honest, your human eye won’t sense that a whole lot of the difference with 144Hz if you have used the 120Hz display.
Again, the cellphone comes with bezels simply like last year. There is a twin Nano-SIM tray on left however you cant use a MicroSD card for expansion. Some Gaming specific features consist of the 3rd Gen of Asus’s AirTrigger device that lets you relax your fingers on the buttons except urgent them. It additionally includes a twin vibration system that vibrates as per your Gameplay on the smartphone and offers you some amazing sense of gaming. Other points consist of twin front-facing stereo speakers, Google ARCore support, Aura RGB lighting, 3D vapor chamber, etc.
Asus ROG Phone 3 Battery
Battery overall performance is amazing and it easily lasted for two days even after heavy usage (including 15-20 minutes of gaming/day). Our only trouble with the battery of the Asus ROG Phone 3 is too lengthy charging time even with the 30W charger with quick charge support, for a 6,000mAh battery. Every time it took around two hours to fully charge from zero to 100%.
Asus ROG Phone 3 cameras
We didn’t check the cameras as appreciably as we do for different flagships as this one is a gaming smartphone and also, the rear digital camera sensors on the phone. The Camera app comes with loads of choices including Pro Mode and Night mode. IT consists of a Pro mode even for the Videos which is a first for a smartphone probably. The selfie shots had been good in normal lighting fixtures conditions. The rear cameras did shot some superb pics however they had been extra like hit or miss. The macro shots got here out as very bad in spite of having a dedicated macro mode camera/option in the app. The normal mode/sensor produced much better macro shots than the devoted macro sensor. Check out some of the digital camera samples that supply a good glimpse of what they are successful in.
Asus ROG Phone 4 release date, price & feature rumors
When will the Asus ROG phone 4 be released?
While Asus has but to affirm the new model, if we seem at previous entries then we can build up a picture of when it may appear. The Asus ROG Phone 3 used to be announced in July 2020 and used to be officially launched in the USA in September.
Sadly, Asus has elected no longer to make the model reachable in the UK. The previous mannequin additionally launched in September (2019), so it appears likely that the Asus ROG Phone 4 will follow suit, though it’s uncertain whether or not the new handset will make it to British shores.
If you don’t want to wait to see if Asus takes the same mindset as it did with the ROG Phone 3, you can check out our chart of the excellent gaming phones to find an alternative.
How a good deal will the Asus ROG Phone 4 cost?
One thing’s for certain, it won’t be cheap. The ROG Phone 3 had an RRP of €999 (which is around £900) in Europe and $1000 in the USA for the base model that got here with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, whilst the 16GB model cost €1099 (approx. £1000) or $1100.
This made the Asus ROG Phone 3 pretty a bit extra high priced than the likes of the Black Shark three (which sells for £539/$599) and the Red Magic 5G (which you can choose up for £539/$579).
Whether Asus feels the need to take on these devices with a decrease price is unknown at the moment, so we’d say you’d be nice off bracing yourself for any other £1000/£1000/€1000 hit on the wallet, then if it’s less expensive you’ll sense like you’ve saved money.
What new features can we expect on the Asus ROG Phone 4?
Asus prefers to use the quickest chips reachable at the time so that the ROG phones can supply excellent gaming performance.
Elsewhere in the test, we see 8GB of RAM set up on the device. This would be a step down from the 12GB or 16GB alternatives on the ROG Phone 3, so this could be a prototype device, or has Asus developed some type of stronger memory management software?
There’s no information on any different aspects of the suspected ROG Phone 4, except for the truth that it have to ship with Android 11, so we can only expect that Asus will proceed with the 6.59in 19:5:9 (2340 x 1080) 144Hz display and 6000mAh battery that made the ROG Phone 3 such a gaming beast.
Check back normally to this article, as we’ll be updating it when greater information appears. In the meantime, take a look at out our roundup of the great Android games of all time to keep you busy.
Or if you choose a large screen, our best gaming laptop computer guide has plenty of amazing options.
