Asus ROG Phone 5 review: the superlative gaming smartphone

The ROG Phone 5 is the fourth generation of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) family with which Asus is targeting gamers. It's not a major overhaul, but rather a series of notable tweaks that take this smartphone one step closer to an "ideal" that Asus has been pursuing since 2018. Every improvement, from Gorilla Glass Victus from the screen to new speakers and the relocation of the cooling system to the middle of the phone, has been designed with the aim of making it the ultimate gaming smartphone.

Perhaps the biggest change this year is that there are three models instead of just one. The range opens on the ROG Phone 5

(799€ with 8/256 GB, 899€ for 12/256 GB and 999€ for 16/256 GB)

, with its 80s punk look. Next is the ROG Phone 5 Pro

(€1,199 with 16/512 GB)

which comes with a detachable fan called Aero Active Cooler 5. And instead of the Phone 5's back light logo, the Pro gets the ROG Vision display, a mini OLED display that plays pop-up animations (incoming call, power level, etc.) drums, game...). You can even create your own animations.

The third model is the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate. Its matte white back decorated with black lines and neon blue touches won us over. Like the Pro, it has an Oled display on the back, but it's not color. The Ultimate also sports an Aero Active 5 cooler, but what really makes it the "ultimate phone" are its

18 GB of RAM

. Add to that a SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888

at 2.84GHz and a capable GPU and you've got the most powerful Android smartphone we've ever tested.

The Asus ROG Phone 5 on AnTuTu, Geekbench, 3D Mark and PC Mark

Smartphone gaming requires, we played all kinds of driving games, war games, puzzles, zombies... We played with and without the detachable Aero Active Cooler fan and used the Kunai 3 controllers that Asus sells separately 59€ and 119€.

144Hz display and the longest battery life we've tested

All of this gaming play highlighted several key strengths of the ROG Phone 5. First of all, its screen is amazing. You can set the refresh rate to

144Hz

, but it seemed to us that the automatic mode was more suitable because it saves the battery.

Autonomy is amazing. The smartphone has

two 3000 mAh batteries compatible with 65 watt fast charging

. After a day of normal use, we usually had around 40% battery life left.

Battery tests of ROG Phone 5 looping video playback with airplane mode averaged

20 hours and 15 minutes

, with a screen set to 120Hz. With the refresh rate set to automatic, the average duration was

28 hours and 4 minutes

. That's the longest battery life for any phone we've tested this year and the second longest for any phone in recent years. The ROG Phone 5 also impresses when it alternates between tasks (gaming, streaming, taking photos and videos) at 144 Hz with a battery life of

6:30 p.m.

. When the frequency automatically adjusts, we gain

2 hours

.

ROG Phone 5 offers plenty of battery control options. For example, one can set charging limits, set a slow charging speed, and even schedule when to charge. One of the coolest features is the one we also saw last year on the Sony Xperia 5 II. If you're gaming and plugged into AC power, ROG Phone 5 will run on cable power instead of charging the battery. This prevents the smartphone from heating up, which can affect gaming performance.

ROG Phone 5 offers even more touch-based gaming controls

There are a multitude of ways to control and interact with games. AirTriggers, touch sensors on the sides of the phone, are even easier to use this year

because they are bigger and go side to side

. On the Pro or Ultimate version, there is an additional sensor at the back. And when you connect the Aero Active Cooler 5 to the phone, you get two mini paddle buttons. Not to mention the Kunai which provide even more comfort, especially during our cloud gaming sessions with xCloud.

Cloud Gaming: Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, Microsoft xCloud... which is the best service?

Accessible in game, the Game Genie menu provides access to a plethora of information and settings

Mobile games are often quite simplistic when it comes to controls, but having more options for mapping game controls will appeal to esports enthusiasts.

The ROG Phone 5 is heavy and its cameras are poor

But all is not ideal with this smartphone. For starters, the ROG Phone 5 is heavy. It weighs more than the

iPhone 12 Pro Max

, the

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

and the

ROG Phone 3

from last year.

It's even the heaviest phone we've ever tested.

. And this weight is clearly felt after prolonged use, especially when you add a case, a fan or the gamepad accessory.

Although its primary vocation is gaming, we would still have appreciated better photo performance. At the rear, a triple module consisting of a 64-megapixel main sensor that uses pixel binning to improve image brightness and reduce noise. There's also a 13-megapixel sensor with ultra-wide-angle lens and a 5-megapixel sensor for macro.

The main camera takes decent photos in bright light. But as soon as you are in darker conditions, such as indoors, the image quality suffers.

. The phone automatically switches to night mode when the light level is very low, which gives poor results. Below are the best photos we were able to take with the ROG Phone 5.

The ROG is able to film

up to 8K at 30 frames per second, but the story is the same as for photos

.

Conclusion

Thanks to its state-of-the-art technical configuration and its exceptional autonomy, the Asus ROG Phone 5 is

a very good smartphone for gaming but also a very good phone for watching videos, listening to music or even scrolling on social networks

.

Too bad Asus didn't harness the power of the CPU, RAM and GPU for the benefit of image quality. Impossible for the ROG Phone 5 to compete with photophones sold at the same price as the Xiaomi Mi 11 or the Samsung Galaxy S21. We also regret that the phone is not IP67/IP68 certified given its price.

CNET.com article adapted and enriched by CNETFrance

Images: Sarah Tew, Patrick Holland/CNET

by

Steven Fafard with cnet.com

Updated on Sunday, May 02, 2021 at 4:40 p.m.

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