ASUS ROG Phone 5 test: Exceptional performance, brilliant features, but still niche

I spent 10 days with Asus Rog Phone 5 and I still can't decide.

I liked to play games on it, with its myriad of accessories and without.I love her speakers, I love her screen and I love how much the phone is geek and violin.But I still don't know if I like it enough to recommend it.

I mean, this phone has everything.You get a snapdragon 888, 12 GB SOC of RAM, 256 GB of storage, a superb FHD + 144 Hz screen of 6.78 inch, the most powerful speakers of all smartphones to date (and they are set byDirac), a 6000 mAh battery with two load ports and support for 65 W chargers, an RGB "Aura" LED panel at the back, a crowd of accessories including an active cooler and detachable game controllers,A headphone jack, air triggers, a main camera of 64 Mp f / 1.8, support for 4K 120 IPS idle, a 24 MP selfie camera and the best cooling system that I have seen for a long time.And all this for Rs 57 999.

The RGB LED strip on the back is quite cool and can be personalized.The accessories and cases provided take care not to cover all this RGB kindness.Image: Anirudh Regidi

It seems almost too good to be true, but it is not the case.The phone is really so good.So why am I uncertain?

Some features are sublime, others terribly not intuitive

This phone is a strange mix of meticulous attention to details and a "let's just" atmosphere.For example, the brown sim card tray, which you will only handle a few times during the lifespan of the phone, stands out from the black frame of the phone.If you look more closely, there is a “GLHF!(Gamer-speaker for "good luck, have fun") in relief on the surface.

On the other hand, the USB-C port mounted on the side is always covered by the same fragile rubber cover, easy to lose and I think-to-perdu who was there on the last phone.The only recognition of her error is the inclusion of a spare cover in the phone box.

Display: What is the right refreshment rate?

As with the previous phone, the ROG Phone 5 screen is phenomenal.It is bright and impactful and one of the most precise units of the colors available on any phone today.Asus claims an incredibly fast response time of 1 ms and the screen can reach a refresh rate of 144 Hz.

By default, in the so -called "x" mode of Asus, the screen works at 120 Hz and will not allow you to go to 144 Hz without messing around in the App App.

When it is fully accessorized and provided that you have found an optimized game for the controller, the gaming experience on the ROG 5 is incomparable.Image: Anirudh Regidi

Of course, I cannot distinguish 144 Hz of 120 Hz, but it is almost as if Asus admitted that this feature was a gadget.

Anyway, once you have determined the settings to modify, you can manually adjust the display on a 60 Hz compatible with the battery or a friendly 144 Hz for players.There is also an adaptive mode that makes the decision for you.

Then there is this 300 Hz touch sampling frequency.Although the answer is so fast that it seems almost prescient - perfect for games - the rejection of the palm is not great.The side frames of this phone are very narrow and stand just as I normally do when I watch a YouTube video, makes me involuntarily trigger videos or clips fast when I change slightly taking.

At the end of the first day, I started to permanently climb the fresher accessory aeroactive, so I would have something other than the screen on which content consumption.

Speakers: its strong and finely set, but control is limited

The speakers are incredible, strong enough to drown the speakers of laptops, but they go from barely audible to deafening in one step.

These are "7-magnet front speakers", according to Asus.Awarded by Dirac, a company known for its skills in the end of the audio output, these speakers sound really well.

When you play, the stereo separation is good enough for you to insulate a shot or a step.When you watch films, there is a semblance of atmosphere and immersion, and when they are pushed to the limit, the speakers become strong enough to drown certain entry-level pc speakers and theMost of the laptop speakers I have heard.

Unfortunately, the precise lack of control of the audio volume is frustrating.At a certain level - the audio is barely audible, the next one - it's far too strong.The transition from normal audio to the overamplified audio is literally done in a single step (the volume control bar even changes color when this happens).I cannot understand why there could not have been more granularity there.

I suppose that there is a secondary amplifier in play here, this is the only explanation that I have for the very apparent volume bump and the not so apparent increase in the use of the battery.But I would have always liked the transition to been softer.

Game controllers: fun during the game, clumsy when they are not

Detachable game controllers are fantastic, they feel better than the Joycons of the Nintendo Switch in fact.Most buttons are reactive and tactile, and there is a good resistance to triggers and thumbs.That said, the D-Pad is soft and imprecise, and the mechanism that connects the controllers to the body is at best awkward.

The controllers attach to a fragile shell that a baby could destroy, and this same shell attaches and detaches from the phone and the phone in such an awkward manner that I fear to scratch the phone when I put it or that Iwithdraws it.

The controllers are well designed and even include additional triggers under the controllers as well as on the Aeroactive Cooler S.It is a shame that the controller mechanism of the controllers is so fragile and clumsy.Image: Anirudh Regidi

Just leave it, you say?This is not an option.First, it's ugly and annoying.It is not a telephone shell, it is a mounting mechanism for controllers with exposed contacts and sharp and square edges that cut in the palm of my hands.Second, it makes an already longer phone even longer.The phone ends so long, in fact, that men can finally feel the frustration of not being able to put their phone in the pockets of their pants.

If you opt for the load handle-clearly inspired by the switch load handle-where do you place the phone?The handle does not have telephone support, and unless you intend to keep it somehow on your knees, you will need the Aeroactive cooling accessory - and a practical table - forbe able to use its support.

It's really a shame.In games with impeccable controller support - as dead cells and autosport grid - the controller experience is transformative.You suddenly feel in control of your experience, more deliberate and precise in your actions;You can play with intention.We have the feeling that this is what the mobile game should have been from the very beginning.

In addition, air triggers work as well as the last time.If you play competitive shooters like COD: mobile, air triggers will give you an advantage and are really worth paid.

Speaking of games, where are they?

Android has a huge problem discovery problem.Good applications and games are struggling to stand out on a flooded market of lame money, cheap counterfeits and freemium waste.Fortunately, Asus recognized this problem and recognized it.Armory cash register - The central application of the ROG Phone 5 which is essential to manage the many features of the phone - maintains an organized list of games that stand out, many of which work very well with a controller.

Although it is certainly not Apple Arcade, armory box ‘S an organized list is better than nothing.

To be honest, if I was serious about a portable game experience, I would prefer to invest in the platform and the largely superior game library of Nintendo rather than in the nightmare funded by Android advertising.

Fast load (and discharge)

The 6000 mAh battery on the phone can recharge at 65 W, but Asus only associates a 30 W charger with the device.It is still not bad, however, and you will have the phone recharged in no time every time you need it.If you are concerned about the long -term impact of the fast charge over the battery life, Asus includes several load profiles that will allow you to slowly load the phone if you want it.

6000 mAh is huge, but I found that the battery life was lower than that of the Rog 3 phone.Our PCMARK standard The battery life test has brought a duration of 9 hours 12 minutes, 96 minutes less than the 10 hours 48 minutes managed by the previous phone.

In any case, this drop in the life of the battery is justified and a small price to pay for massive performance gains.The speakers are much noisier than they were the last time, and the Snapdragon 888 is a faster and more powerful chip.

In addition, the superb ASUS cooling system allows this chip to operate at full speed for prolonged game sessions (most telephones are considerably accelerating performance after a few minutes), which ultimately consumes moreenergy, reducing battery life.

In what I can only describe as a brilliant design decision, the ROG 5 supports the load by bypass when using the USB-C port mounted on the side.Rather than loading the batteries during the game and heating the phone, which could slow performance and reduce the long -term battery life, the load bypass allows you to power the phone directly on the'CC supply without loading the battery!It is a simple but effective solution for controlling temperatures during long game sessions.

Powerrrrrr !!!

Foreigning is the scourge of the existence of a smartphone.The SOC of a phone (Snapdragon, Exynos, Puces de la series A Apple) is not designed to maintain maximum performance for more than a few minutes.This is also true for PCs, where processors rarely reach optimal performance for more than 120 seconds.ROG 5 does not seem to have such limits.

To put this in context, the OnePlus 9 Pro - a flagship phone that costs 10,000 more rupees and has similar specifications - sees a performance drop of almost 40% on a one -hour play session (about 3 laps ofPUBG, say).

ROG Phone 5 is experiencing a drop in performance of only 5% over the same period.

With features such as bypass and accessories like the aeroactive cooler, you look at a hell of a playing phone.

I forget something

Ah yes, the cameras.They are not very interesting, so I will stay brief.

You only get a large and ultra-back at the back, both supporting the long exposure night modes.They take photos.They are passable.Image quality and zoom simply cannot compete with the OnePlus 9 Pro, the Vivo X60 Pro or the iPhone 12.The cameras have trouble with the white balance and can be noisy inside.If you care about cameras, buy another phone.

The 24 MP selfie camera is, once again, well.The portrait mode is correct and there is a certain amount of skin smoothing activated by default.

Click here to see cameras samples:

The macro 5 mp camera on the back is really zero.It allows you to concentrate much closer than the main camera, but a cropped image of the main camera 64 MP has more details and less noise than an unusual image of the Macro 5 MP camera.

Verdict: only players must apply

I think I finally understood why this phone bored me so much.Despite four generations of ROG phones, this is a platform that has not yet matured.

Asus has made enormous efforts to offer the ultimate Android gaming experience, and its engineers have offered ingenious solutions to long -standing problems, but it is the whole that is not enough.

What I'm looking for is the targeted and refined gaming experience that I get with a Nintendo Switch.What I get instead is a random collection of brilliant ideas that have not had the chance to blend into a mature platform.It's a superb phone, but it's not a flagship product.

If you are not one of this group, this phone is not made for you.

If you are one, I can't think of a better phone for you than the ROG 5.Make sure you invest in the controllers if you take one, they are a little Janky, but, as I said earlier, transformers when associated with good games.

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