Asus ROG Phone 3 buyer s guide: Everything you need to know. Asus rog how much

Of course, there are still many features and specs to be confirmed so we will update this article regularly as new information becomes available. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best smartphones to see what the Asus ROG Phone 6 will have to beat.

Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate review: overkill

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Referring to the Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate as a regular phone, even if it is, is simplistic. Sure, it runs on Android 11 and can answer calls, take photos, and do all the other things any other phone can do. But if its angular design and tiny monochrome OLED screen mounted on the back haven’t given it away yet, this phone is different.

This is Asus’ latest attempt (technically the fourth, but omits that number in the name for superstitious reasons) of embedding a console-like console into a phone for a niche but thriving global crowd of mobile gamers. It offers more power and customization than other large screen phones, both in terms of hardware and software. It’s a real spec sandwich.

For example, it has multiple USB-C ports that allow you to charge in either landscape or portrait mode. This model also includes a snap-on cooling fan (its sole purpose is to prevent the phone from overheating after overclocking), and the fan includes USB-C pass-through, a 3.5mm headphone jack and two switchable trigger buttons. In addition, there are several ultrasonic sensors in the phone that can replace some touch controls to make games feel like you are using a controller. And with this year’s model, Armory Crate can boost CPU and graphics speeds, increase screen refresh rates, and more depending on the game.

Our review of Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate

Good Stuff

• Powerful and full of features
• The sleekest gaming phone
• ROG Vision OLED is a nice flex
• Perfect front-firing speakers

Bad Stuff

• 18 GB of RAM is not needed in today’s applications and games
• Value is, as always, hard to justify
• This is a total overkill for cloud gaming streaming

The Ultimate is the top-of-the-range ASUS ROG Phone 5 and will be available in May for € 1,299 (or around € 400,583). But other cheaper options will be shipped earlier, starting in March for around $ 950. How does Asus justify the $ 600 price delta? This is the only setup that has a matte white color scheme with a few blue details scattered around the phone. And it’s the only one on offer – and perhaps the only phone other than the new RedMagic 6 Pro – that comes with 18GB of RAM. That’s an impressive spec to find on a phone, but I’m still looking for a use-case that requires having so much RAM. The cheaper versions of the ROG Phone 5 ship with 16GB and 12GB of RAM respectively, which I bet doesn’t make much of a difference in performance.

• I mean, I had to try.
• the 6.78 inch OLED screen of this phone is big and gorgeous despite having an FHD resolution.
• Instead of two side-mounted USB-C ports, Asus swapped one for pogo pins to which the included AeroActive Cooler connects.
• This little blue detail on the SIM tray says “GLHF” which means “good luck, have fun” – common phrase only exchanged between L33 test with zg @ m3rs
• The headphone jack is back, and inside is a quad DAC for High-Resolution Audio handling.

Ultimate, in particular, only seems to be made for the most die-hard ROG fans. The phone comes with a laptop-sized box, filled with a ROG-themed hat, towel, face shield, stickers, and more. In addition to the aforementioned specs, the slightly cheaper (but still around 400,420) ROG Phone 5 Pro, which will arrive in April 2021, is very similar to the Ultimate. Both phones have two additional ultrasonic sensors on the back, close to where your ring fingers can rest when holding them in landscape mode, and a rear OLED screen I mentioned earlier called “ROG Vision”. It is a flash drive-sized display that resembles the Asus “Anime Matrix” effect used in the Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop,possibly attracting even more eyeballs in this strange looking phone.

I really couldn’t figure out what else to do with the ROG Vision, so I made a PSA.

Asus provides preloaded messages and graphics for use on the display which are situational depending on whether you play, charge your phone or answer a call on your phone just to name a few, but you can crop your own images to fit the display so as I. Everything from a scrolling emoticon message to an image will work and you can further customize it with animations such as static fade or fireworks. It’s like a beefed-up version of the LEDs that companies place on the outside of flip phones, and even on Samsung’s Z Flip. The standard ROG Phone 5 has an RGB illuminated ROG logo instead. Some may prefer this to have an additional screen.

Asus ROG Phone 5 lineup specs

Comparison	ROG Phone 5 Ultimate	ROG Phone 5 Pro	ROG 5 phone
Comparison	ROG Phone 5 Ultimate	ROG Phone 5 Pro	ROG 5 phone
Coloring	Matt white	Black shiny	Phantom black or Storm white
Price	1,299 euro (approx. 400 583)	1199 euro (approx. 400 420)	Starts at 799 euros (around $ 950)
Editor	Snapdragon 888	*	*
AXIS	Android 11 with ROG user interface	*	*
Display	6.78 inch OLED 2448 x 1080 with 144Hz refresh rate	*	*
Aries	18 GB LPDDR5	16 GB LPDDR5	8 GB, 12 GB or 16 GB LPDDR5
Storage	512 GB UFS 3.1	*	256 GB UFS 3.1
Additional touch sensors	Yes	*	No
Rear-facing cameras	64MP F / 1.8 aperture, 13MP ultra wide angle 125 degree F / 2.4 aperture and 5MP macro lens with F / 2.0 aperture	*	*
Front camera	24-megapixel with F / 2.45 aperture	*	*
ROG Vision Support	Yes, monochrome	Yes, color	No
Battery	6000 mAh	*	*
Charger included	65W	*	*
Dimensions	172.8 x 77.2 x 10.29 mm	*	*
Libra	238 grams	*	*
communication	LTE and sub-6GHz 5G in AT&T and T-Mobile, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2	*	*
Accessories included	AeroActive Cooler 5, Aero housing	*	No cooler included
* represents the same specification as Ultimate

Asus says it has designed the ROG Strix G15 in collaboration with BMW, which sounds interesting at first. Unfortunately, car-inspired aesthetics are nothing new – they’ve been in the DNA of gaming hardware for many years.

Is the ROG Phone 3 worth buying?

If you’re looking for a gaming phone, the ROG Phone 3 should be on your short list. It offers everything you need, including exceptional performance, large screen, large battery, shoulder buttons and more. However, all of this comes at a price. ROG Phone 3 is expensive, dropping out of $ 999 for the 12GB / 512GB model, and going all the way up to $ 400,099 for the 16GB RAM and 512GB memory variant. Unfortunately, as the phone becomes more difficult to trace, the asking price has risen above the launch price.

If gaming isn’t your thing, the ROG Phone 3 probably isn’t for you. Most people will be put off by the bold, game-oriented design with RGB lighting on the back and extra gaming features that they likely won’t be using. Plus, most phones in this price range don’t offer wireless charging or IP rating. There is also no headphone jack or microSD card slot, which are available, among others, in competing devices such as the LG V60 ThinQ.

However, if you’re not a gamer but love the phone’s design and don’t care about the lack of wireless charging, headphone jack, and IP rating, the ROG Phone 3 might be for you. It has everything an advanced user needs and more.

What experts think of the ROG Phone 3?

Our very own David Imel has reviewed the ROG Phone 3 and he liked it very much. That said, it’s the fastest phone on the market at the time of writing, and it has fantastic speakers and great cameras. He also loved the 144Hz display and shoulder buttons which are even better than the ROG Phone 2.

The software experience is also appreciated as you can choose between a game-oriented or a wrestling-like interface. Additionally, David liked the overall battery life of the device, even though it was a bit inconsistent at times.

He also noted several downsides to the phone, including the lack of wireless charging and an IP rating. Both of these features are available on most other phones in this price range. The phone can also get warm, so it’s a good idea to use the AeroActive 3 cooling fan that comes with the phone in several markets.

What other reviewers from around the web think

To give you the best overview of the ROG Phone 3, I took a look at some phone reviews from other publications. The overall opinion of reviewers from across the web was similar to that of David. Most of them emphasized the smooth display of the phone, great performance, speakers and a large battery. They also felt that the lack of wireless charging for the device and the IP rating was a significant drawback and mentioned that the design of the phone was not for everyone.

However, not all of them were in the same boat when it comes to cameras. Although David and many other reviewers loved them, some had different views. For example, David Lumb of Tech Radar said the phone’s cameras were “so-so”, while Steven Winkelman of PCMag was not impressed with the phone’s macro lens, saying he creates “flat photos with blurry detail”. Other downsides to the phone highlighted by various reviewers include that while AirTriggers are great overall, they only work with select games.

ROG Strix G15 has a typical keyboard layout, though there are some quirks. I like the brightly colored WASD keys and the extra function keys on the side. Asus also pulled out some important keys with a row of functions like volume control. Unfortunately, the buttons they used are soft and imprecise.

Asus ROG Phone 5 models

Telephone	Price	Aries	Storage	Aeroactive cooler 5	Lighting
Asus ROG 5 phone	799 euros	8 GB	128 GB	Thread	RGB logo
Asus ROG 5 phone	899 euros	12 GB	256 GB	Thread	RGB logo
Asus ROG 5 phone	999 euros	16 GIGA BYTES	256 GB	Thread	RGB logo
Asus ROG Phone 5 Pro	1099 euros	16 GIGA BYTES	512 GB	Included	The color of the video display
Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate	1299 euros	18 GB	512 GB	Included	Black and white visual display

What do you do if you have a powerful gaming phone to check? You play. I’ve played car games, war games, problem solving games, zombie games, vertical games and weird silent movie game. Sometimes I played games with an attached fan, and other times I used the cool Gamepad Kunai 3 accessory, which Asus sells separately.

144Hz screen and the longest battery life we tested

Throughout this entire game, a few things stood out. The screen is amazing. You can set its refresh rate to 144Hz, but I found the automatic refresh rate worked best because it didn’t kill the battery that fast. In addition, this review comes just weeks before the launch of the RedMagic 6 gaming phone with a 165Hz screen.

the battery life of the Asus ROG Phone 5 is amazing. It has a capacity of 6000 mAh and consists of two batteries with a capacity of 3000 mAh. This design means you can quickly charge it with a 65 watt charger. After a day of normal use, I usually had around 40% of my battery left.

ROG Phone 5 battery tests for continuous video playback in airplane mode took an average of 20 hours and 15 minutes with a 120Hz screen locked. With the screen refresh rate set to auto, the average time is 28 hours and 4 minutes. Longest running time for any phone we tested this year and second longest running time for any phone in the last few years (right behind the LG V60).

ROG Phone 5 is great for controlling the battery in several different ways. You can set battery charge limits, choose slow charging speeds, and even schedule charging. One of the cooler features is something we also saw last year on the Sony Xperia 5 II. If you’re gaming and connected to power, ROG Phone 5 will get power from the cable instead of charging the battery. This prevents the phone from heating up, which can affect game performance.

Asus has committed to bringing the ROG Phone 5 to the global market, but has not provided a specific US release date or official prices, so I departed from the euro conversion. However, the company told me that all of these phones will run on T-Mobile and AT&T, and to that end, they support these operators’ 5G networks below 6 GHz.

What about the ROG Phone 6 specs and design?

We have one potential look at the design of another ROG Phone, which comes from an unusual source: one of the other Asus phones.

The Zenfone 8 update to Android 12 contains a hidden sketch of what surely appears to be the ROG Phone 6 – either accidentally or as a purposeful Easter egg for devoted fans.

It’s not a radically changed design, but it does have a larger camera module, with a flash next to the three lenses and a larger rear display running in the center of the phone.

This may just be a concept sketch and not the actual project Asus is working on, but at least it gives us a glimpse of the designs the company is considering.

Regarding the internals, since ROG Phones are primarily aimed at gamers, you can be sure they’ll pack some serious gear.

The current ROG Phone 5S and 5S Pro are equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Plus processors, which are the fastest available on the platform. This was replaced by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which should improve the performance of an already very fast piece of silicon.

The ROG Phone 5S line featured a touch sampling rate of 360 Hz, which left one of the biggest contenders (Red Magic 6), which boasts a frequency of 400 Hz. We don’t see Asus allowing this to continue, so hopefully the new model will meet or exceed this number when it arrives.

A great ROG Phone 6 concept video has been made on YouTube Tech 11, which feels more like a fantastic feature list but looks beautiful.

It seems unlikely that the 6.78-inch display that was standard on the 5S models will be even larger on the ROG Phone 6. This is not due to hardware limitations, but rather because you still need to be able to put it in your pocket at some point.

Expect the same juicy FHD + AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 144Hz, accompanied by an amazing 6000mAh battery that will allow you to enjoy long gaming sessions.

As with the 5S, rumors suggest that the highest spec will offer 18GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage, with various other configurations on offer ranging from 8GB / 128GB. There should also be 5G, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 available to meet all your connectivity needs.

The cameras in the 5S consisted of a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor, a 13-megapixel 125-degree ultra-wide angle and a 5-megapixel macro. It’s true that some of them can be matched with the larger sensors offered by other phones, but with a focus more on gaming performance than optics, we feel this could remain a setup on Rog Phone 6 as well.

Of course, there are still many features and specs to be confirmed so we will update this article regularly as new information becomes available. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best smartphones to see what the Asus ROG Phone 6 will have to beat.

Note: We can earn a commission when you buy via links on our site at no extra cost to you. This does not affect our editorial independence. Learn more.

As the model has not yet been confirmed by Asus, there are no clear prices available. We can take a look at what the previous models looked like to give us a hint of how much you’ll have to pay when the ROG Phone 6 finally arrives.

Testing: Fast, But Not the Fastest UFO

For the sake of benchmark comparisons, I’ve put together the most similar competitor laptops I could find. At this level of power and price, it’s a small group, but at PCMag we check enough niche machines to make it possible. Below is a cheat sheet with their names and specifications.

I mentioned most of them in the review as they are as similar to the mothership as possible. For the most part, what you see is what you get – all big, powerful machines with high-end parts. There are no Max-Q GPUs in this area, these are the sizes of these laptops, but there is a nice mix of CPUs. The biggest innovator in terms of chassis, aside from the mothership’s convertibility, is the Predator Helios 700 slide-out keyboard, which offers a more desktop-like experience and advanced cooling. It’s all about performance though, so let’s see how they stack up.

Productivity, Storage, and Media Tests

PCMark 10 and 8 are end-to-end performance packages developed by UL (formerly Futuremark) PC Performance Testing Specialists. The PCMark 10 test we run simulates various real-world workflows and content creation. We use it to evaluate the overall system performance for office tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet copying, web browsing and video conferencing. The test produces a proprietary numerical score; higher numbers are better. In the meantime, PCMark 8 has the Storage subtest we use to judge the speed of boot disks. This result is also a proprietary numeric result; again, higher numbers are better.

Needless to say, all of these laptops have a very high base score in PCMark 10, more than capable of everyday home and office tasks. The Mothership isn’t a leader here, but it’s still very efficient. This test tends to diminish returns from very high-end chips compared to the more exhaustive multimedia tests that follow, but the desktop-class Core i9-9900K still proved to be the best. Its storage is fast, but the results are very closely related to each other. Each PCI Express SSD will provide fast loading and boot time, as is the case here, and PCMark 8 doesn’t stand out much among these high-speed SSDs or even RAID striped SSDs as is the case with the Mothership.

Next comes the Maxon Cinebench R15 CPU-loading test that is fully multi-threaded to take advantage of all available CPU cores and threads. Cinebench puts emphasis on the CPU, not the GPU, to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score that indicates the suitability of the computer for CPU-intensive workloads.

Cinebench is often a good predictor of our Handbrake video editing test, another challenging multi-threaded workout that is heavily CPU-dependent and scales well with cores and threads. In it, we put a stopwatch on test systems that transcode a standard 12-minute 4K video clip (Blender’s Tear of Steel open source demo video) to a 1080p MP4 file. It’s a timed test and lower scores are better.

We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image editing benchmark. Using the Early 2018 release of Photoshop Creative Cloud, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image. We measure each operation in time and finally sum up the total execution time. As with the handbrake, the lower times are better here.

If you’re disappointed with the cost of this laptop, I don’t blame you. It’s clearly a gaming machine, so don’t judge it mostly against more content-focused benchmarks. The results are as good as you might expect, but not the best. It is tied for the slowest handbrake time, posted the third best time in Cinebench and the third best time in Photoshop. This is the only thing that a given manufacturer can push each processor into a laptop casing, so the choice of the chip largely determined these results. In the case of laptops with full desktop Intel Core i9 chips (Alienware, MSI), their victories were assured. The mothership isn’t particularly good against the dollar for performance on that front.

Beam Up This Mothership

Given the price and experimental nature of the mothership, I understand Asus is not expecting much. The company is receiving credit for trying to do something new, and some of the core mothership concepts are likely to show up in other laptops.

As it stands, it’s a powerful gaming PC, but the size means it’s practically stationary, and the performance of convertibility just keeps the idea cool. The keyboard is an essential part, but it buzzes and the screen is not touch-sensitive. After all, it looks more like a small all-in-one PC than a new gaming laptop.

And for what it is, it is really, very expensive. The price is in no way justified in terms of parts and power supply, so the additional cost of the case and form factor is very high. If the concept worked well I could find its way to a stronger recommendation, but it’s just too cumbersome and impractical to justify a gigantic bonus.

The three-star editors rating is mainly based on noble innovations by Asus. But unless you’re a broke obsessive PC gamer, don’t spend the cost of a decent used car or a couple of months’ rent on the Mothership. If you want a desktop laptop and are on a big budget, the Alienware Area-51m and Acer Predator Helios 700 are our top pick, while the aforementioned Alienware and MSI Titan will provide you with a desktop-class processor for much less money.

The result of the design collaboration is a plastic gaming laptop with many ridges, lines and textured materials. It’s an artificial brushed metal that you can feel on your fingertips. Still, I prefer the look to something a bit more gaudi like the Acer Predator Helios 300.

All the leaks in the run up to launch

Here is a list of all the leaks that appeared before the premiere of ROG Phone 5.

10 March 2021: ROG Phone 5 leaked in full on Twitter

Ishan Agarwal shared photos of ROG Phone 5 on Twitter, giving clear photos of all sides of the phone and some accessories.

02 March 2021: ROG Phone 5 hits Geekbench with 18GB RAM

A Geekbench report showing the ROG Phone 5 with 18GB of RAM has hit the Internet.

22 February: ROG Phone 5 passes through DxOMark, confirming a heap of specs

DXOMARK has released a report on the audio performance of ROG Phone 5, confirming a number of specifications and design.

19 February: ROG Phone 5 launch event date official

18 February 2021: ROG Phone 5 name gets confirmed as launch nears

As predicted, the poster on Weibo confirmed the name of ROG Phone 5, again suggesting that the premiere is fast approaching.

17 February 2021: Leaker suggests India launch in March

The leak suggested that ROG Phone 5 will be available in India in March, suggesting it will be released soon.

9 February 2021: Asus ROG Phone 5 appears on Geekbench with Snapdragon 888 and 16GB RAM

A visit to Geekbench suggests Snapdragon 888 and 16GB of RAM for ROG Phone 5.

1 February 2021: Asus ROG Phone 5 images and specs appear online

Thanks to the TENAA entry, we have now seen pictures of the new phone as well as confirmation of some specifications.

19 January 2021: New ROG Phone passses through NCC certification

The device considered to be the new ROG Phone has passed the certification, which suggests that it is close to the market launch. The certificate confirms some details about the battery.

19 January 2021: ROG Phone 4 appears in very brief video leak

A very quick video about the next ROG Phone, clearly a pre-release device, has appeared on Weibo.

18 January 2021: Alleged ROG Phone 5 hands-on image leaks, revealing minor design changes

An image of the new ROG Phone will appear on the network.

14 January 2021: Asus ROG Phone 4 gets official teased

The official trailer for the new generation of ROG Phone has appeared on Weibo.

08 December 2020: Benchmarks for a future ROG Phone have appeared online

Geekbench and HTML5 test results appeared for the new Asus device, which is to be the next ROG phone.

The burning question then is, what are the advantages of this project? The short answer is that little, if any, is obvious to me, and the need to justify the enormous costs is always hanging over us.

Battery life

ROG Strix G15 is not suitable for long sessions away from the wall.

Three hours and 50 minutes in our light web browsing test is not good, even for a gaming laptop. In the same test, the Dell G5 SE withstands more than six hours.

The Strix G15 has proven itself in a video playback test which loops a local 1080p video clip until the battery runs out. The Strix G15 lasted eight hours, even beating the Dell G5 SE by an hour and a half. Unfortunately, this does not reflect the battery life under a typical load.

In my daily work configuration, consisting of a dozen browser tabs and several applications, it took about four hours on a single charge. There are much better gaming laptops in terms of battery life.

Our take

The Asus ROG Strix G15 is a good choice for a specific type of gamer. These are the cheapest 144Hz gaming laptops you can buy, and they offer enough performance to use it for some games. The picture quality on the display is disappointing, and it lacks the many bells and whistles of more expensive gaming laptops. Most gamers will be happier to switch to a laptop with at least a Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, but the ROG Strix G15 is a good starting point if you’re tied to cash.

Are there any alternatives?

Dell G5 SE is a problem for ROG Strix G15. It’s more powerful in every way, and if you can push the price up to 400,050, it even comes with a 144Hz screen. However, ROG Strix G15 offers higher refresh rates in less expensive configurations and has a more polished chassis.

The $ 920 Lenovo IdeaPad 3i is one of the few cheap gaming laptops with a high refresh rate. It’s 120Hz, not 144Hz, but you probably won’t notice the difference. It has a slower Core i5 processor, but is also slightly cheaper than the ROG Strix G15.

How long will it last?

ROG Strix G15 is a well-built laptop, but its graphics card isn’t the fastest. In a few years, you may find that newer games have issues running smoothly. However, the ability to upgrade RAM and storage is a plus for ROG Strix G15’s longevity.

Asus offers standard one-year warranties for its laptops. After that, you are alone.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you’re an esports gamer who cares more about frame rates than graphic details, the ROG Strix G15 offers ample performance.