2021 Asus ROG Phone 5 Review: Built For Competitive Gamers
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| Photo of Asus ROG Phone 5 Android gaming smartphone. Released: Mar 2021 key specs: · 5G · 6.78″ display · 16GB RAM · 256GB ROM · Snapdragon 888 5G processor · 6000 mAh battery· NFC Price: £899,00 |
Bringing the Republic of Gamers gene from the big screen to a phone with different characteristics is not an easy thing. But Asus has proven capable of doing it, even up to its fourth attempt this time. An Asus ROG Phone 5 phone device that is not only designed for gaming but also equipped with features in line, both in hardware and software.
It seems that only the price makes us hold back from being tempted to buy this product. In addition to being powered by the best SoC today, a number of design and software features are presented to make us feel at home playing games on our phones for a long time.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Price List
PRICE in Indonesia: IDR 9,999,000, – (8/128 GB variant), IDR 14,999,000, – (12/256 GB variant)
COLOR OPTIONS: Phantom Black, Storm White
SALES PACKAGE: ROG Phone 5 cellphone, Armor Casing, USB Type-C braided data cable, Charging Adapter, Manual book, Warranty card.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Full Specifications
| Asus ROG Phone 5 Specs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Dimmension & Weight | 172.8 x 77.3 x 10.3 mm / 238 gram |
| Network & Connectivity | Dual Nano SIM, 5G/4G LTE/HSPA+/3G/2G |
| Operating System (OS) | ROG UI based on Android 11 |
| Supported External Storage | No |
| Display | 6.78 inches, 1080 x 2448 pixels (~395 ppi density), AMOLED, 144 Hz, 800 – 1200 nits, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Processor / CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm) (Octacore: 1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680, 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680, 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 680), GPU Adreno 660 |
| RAM & Internal Storage | 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB ROM UFS 3.1 |
| Kamera (MP/fitur)belakang/depan | Rear Triple: 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), f/1.8, PDAF; 13 MP depth, f/2.4, Ultra-wide; 5MP Macro camera, f/2.0 Video: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 720p@30/60/120/240/480fps Front Single: 24 MP, f/2.5 (wide), 1080p@30fps |
| Battery | 6000 mAh Dual Cell Battery, Flash Charging 65W, PD3, QC5. Reverse charging |
Asus ROG Phone 5 Features
| Removable battery | No | GPS | Yes |
| Multitouch | Yes | Fingerprint | Yes |
| Dual SIM | Yes | Dual Front Camera | No |
| 3G HSDPA | Yes | External Memory | No |
| 4G LTE | Yes | Gyroscope | Yes |
| 5G | Yes | Quad Rear Camera | No |
| NFC | Yes | 4K video recording | Yes |
| Infrared | No | Video player | Yes |
| USB On-the-go | Yes | Music player | Yes |
Asus ROG Phone 5 Advantages & Disadvantages
| ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
|---|---|
| High performance in its class 144Hz AMOLED screen Large 6000 mAh Dual Cell battery Complete Game Features Futuristic and MachoP design Gorilla Glass Victus protection NFC Button and port layout suitable for gaming 65W Flash Charging Loud DTS Stereo Speakers Video Recording deserves a thumbs up |
Heats when used for a long time in X Mode ON.
Too many features with overlapping layouts. The UI design looks futuristic but feels stiff |
Asus ROG Phone 5 Reviews
Rigid Design Pamper All Hand Sizes
The first thing we immediately feel after unboxing is the size of the phone which feels relatively large. However, there is a slippery impression because almost all parts of the phone are coated with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protective glass.
Fortunately, Asus provides an additional protective casing made of hard plastic with a futuristic design. This casing does not cover all parts of the phone. It is deliberately made to have several holes and open areas, but enough to protect the vital parts of the phone.
ROG Phone 5 is indeed made for the comfort of playing games. For that, many features are present on the design side, which you don’t find on other phones. And because it must be accessible throughout use, the casing is made with openings that are adjusted to the location of these important parts.
As usual, we will comment on the back cover first. Here, the entire section is covered with glass. The camera is placed on the upper left side in a square area with asymmetrical sides. Below it is the writing 64MP Quad Bayer, indicating the specifications of the camera carried.
Still on the back cover, a little lower we find the Asus ROG logo which also emits RGB light when certain modes are activated. Facing right. Thus this phone is made for gaming landscape by facing it in the same direction.
Moving to the front, this phone carries a large screen and decides to separate the front camera section from the screen. But not with the formation of bangs, but the bezel is made quite significant both above and below.
Thus the Asus ROG Phone 5 can embed speakers with output similar to the earpiece shape on both sides of the bezel, without having to hide the holes. When used in landscape position, the two speakers will emit audio with equal power, creating a stereo effect with good separation.
The screen will not be disturbed by bangs or camera holes, and we can focus on playing games or watching our favorite shows.
In portrait mode facing forward, all the phone buttons will be on the right side of the phone. Its location tends to be towards the middle of the phone’s diagonal line. Consists of a power button that is colored red, and a volume button above it.
The placement of the power and volume buttons in the middle was deliberately taken so that Asus could place touch buttons with haptic feedback above the volume button and below the power button. When used diagonally, these two touch areas will function similarly to the buttons on the back of a game joystick, aka RB+LB or R1+L1 and can also be considered as RT+LT or R2+L2.
The touch buttons are called Air triggers, and can be activated via the shortcut menu on the home screen.
On the opposite side, or the left side of the phone when the phone is positioned portrait facing forward, there is one part covered by a small rubber. This part contains a USB Type-C charger hole and an Aero Cooler connector which is an additional accessory to reduce heat on the phone while providing additional shortcut buttons for playing games.
This charger hole is very helpful when we have to charge while playing games. Its location reminds us of the Nintendo Switch power connector, which is in the middle of the bottom when the screen is in landscape mode.
Then next at the bottom, this phone also still provides a charger and data hole with USB type C type, as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack.
144Hz Screen for Maximum Gaming
The Asus ROG Phone 5 carries a 6.78-inch screen. It is indeed wide, but it only provides about 82 percent of the active area of the total cross-sectional area of the phone. That is already quite large for a modern gaming phone.
Using an AMOLED panel, this phone’s screen looks great with a brightness level of 800 to 1200 nits and the HDR10+ display standard for watching movies as beautiful as cinema colors. But, the most interesting thing is of course the support for a refresh rate of up to 144Hz on this phone’s screen. Of course, if optimized, it will pamper gamers who play games with high pace and accuracy.
The screen resolution of this phone is at 1080 x 2448 pixels with a density value reaching 395 ppi. Not just a flagship phone screen specification, but also a specification that will benefit those who like to play games.
ROG UI with Many Game Features
We immediately feel a futuristic impression when we open this phone. The robotic sound when opening the screen with the animation that is in line will distinguish this phone from ordinary flagship phones. This is applied even to almost all of the phone’s built-in features.
The menu icons are also given a futuristic touch. By providing red access when X Mode is activated, or other colors such as yellow, blue and so on around each menu icon that is owned when X Mode is OFF. Where the notifications that appear will be displayed in the form of a small circle above the menu icon circle.
In addition to the appearance, a number of special game features are presented by ROG phone 5. No half-hearted, almost all lines of needs are provided by this phone. Not just a gaming mode, but also to the basic features that ensure the comfort of playing games in the “right-aligned” row.
ROG Phone 5 has Armoury Crate. It is Asus’ approach to a game launcher with a neater organizer, displaying benchmarks, downloading profile settings for certain games and accessories and so on. You may have found it on ROG or TUF Laptops.
There are many things we can do in Armoury Crate and maybe we should provide a special article about this in the future. What is certain is that we will be spoiled with manual or automatic settings depending on our gaming scenario from here.
Then next there is X Mode. It is the highest performance mode in the hierarchy. This mode will activate a number of unique lighting and animation effects, including RGB lights on the ROG logo on the back of the phone. When activated, X Mode will increase hardware efficiency, turn off the phone, or delete applications running in the background of the system, with just one touch.
When playing games, there is also Game Genie assistance. An on the fly menu, which will greatly assist us in optimizing other phone functions, so that we are not completely isolated from the outside world. Or just to activate video recording mode, and performance information on the game screen.
In addition, there is a Battery Care feature. Everything related to charging, from abnormal behavior reports, or power limiters so that charging can take place more safely, is here. Also one day you can see the quality of the phone’s battery during use.
No Kidding Gaming Performance
Asus ROG Phone 5 carries the best SoC in its class today. Namely Snapdragon 888 5G made by Qualcomm. It is not the first phone to adopt this SoC, but it is the first attempt to really concentrate on gaming needs only.
This 5nm fabricated SoC is an SoC that carries an 8-core CPU with a configuration of 1 x 2.84 GHz Kryo 680, 3 x 2.42 GHz Kryo 680 and 4 x 1.8 GHz Kryo 680. 8 uniform cores with only different clock speeds.
The Snapdragon 888 5G SoC also carries the flagship class Adreno 660 GPU. It is a guarantee of graphic quality, especially to support the high frame rate display supported by this phone’s screen.
The product we reviewed carries 8GB of RAM with 128GB of ROM. It is quite capable of running our favorite games. Even with additional features such as Air Trigger and X Mode, playing a number of titles such as PUBG Mobile becomes even better. And maybe you will need Scout Mode to improve your skills in this game. But don’t use it during official competitions.
Even without using headphones, this phone’s audio is already capable. Equipped with DTS:X technology, loud and clear sound will help us find where the enemy is hiding.
Unfortunately, when used for a long time. Without the help of Aero Cooler, the phone feels hot. Especially if we activate X Mode. The heat is not only felt on the back cover. Sometimes in certain conditions the heat reaches the screen area, which makes the AMOLED screen less responsive.
Actually, the ROG Phone 5 already has a good heat dissipation mechanism, it’s just that in order to maintain the gaming experience, the phone’s hardware is forced to run optimally. Buying an aero cooler and using it to remove heat from the phone will be important.
Interestingly, if you buy this product at the end of June 2021, you will get this Aero Cooler as a bonus. If supplies are still available. Or if not, you have to buy it separately.
A Camera That Isn’t Just There
Although released for gamers to play their favorite games competitively, it doesn’t mean that the Asus ROG Phone forgets the imaging features. Carrying three main cameras and one selfie camera, this phone is more than enough to be a mainstay device in capturing historic moments.
With the Sony IMX686 sensor, the 64 MP quad bayer front camera is the main camera. Carrying an f/1.8 aperture is sufficient for taking pictures in all lighting conditions. This camera is then accompanied by a 13 MP camera for ultra wide needs and 5MP for macro.
For selfie needs, there is a 24 MP camera on the front with an f/2.5 aperture and you can see the results in the following photos.
Interestingly, this phone’s camera is capable of recording videos in 8K resolution with a framerate of 30 FPS. Although TVs or monitors that are capable of displaying it natively and optimally are still not widely available on the market.
And we can still take advantage of video recording in 4K resolution up to 120fps frame rate to produce super dramatic and super sharp slomo videos.
High Capacity Battery with 65W Fast Charging
It makes sense that the Asus ROG Phone 5 is quite large. Because this phone carries a large capacity battery of 6000 mAh, with a dual cell battery type. Maybe you rarely hear it present on mobile devices, but the same approach has been taken by several other vendors before.
We cannot yet confirm whether the use of this battery makes it easy to heat up in long-term use, or there are other factors such as the CPU being driven at maximum capacity. What is certain is that this battery is able to accompany us to play games all day long. And even if it doesn’t reach our target time, we can charge while playing games via the power port on the side.
This is coupled with fast charging capability with optimal power intake at 65W. In theory, it can charge the battery from zero to 100% in just 52 minutes.
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Conclusion
If most of your cellphone usage so far has been for gaming, then there’s no reason not to “drool” over the Asus ROG Phone 5. It doesn’t guarantee that you will immediately become an expert, but this product is really made for comfortable gaming, starting from the layout of the buttons and ports, futuristic design, thunderous audio and SoC for maximum performance.
All of these things can even be reduced in price to just 10 million, with a choice of 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM. Not including sales bonuses at the beginning of the launch. It’s just that you might need additional accessories to reduce the heat generated by this cellphone’s hardware. On the positive side, use the overheating as a reminder to give your phone a break.