ASUS ROG Phone 3 review – Days with the Old Republic

The recent rise in gaming revenue, participation and public acceptance has been fueled, in part, by mobile gaming. The idea that everyone had a device to game on and that games would use the same controls as every other app made gamers of everyone. And, of course, there is room in that vast mobile gaming population for a hardcore sort of gamer. ASUS ROG Phone 3 is another premium gaming-focused device but I feel it aims at a broader market than previous entries in the line.

Glow Up

ROG Phone 3 is a conventionally attractive device while maintaining some edge. It’s dark and mysterious at first glance but its rear reveals a smattering of details.

Most are low contrast and don’t stand out until the eye is fully drawn. A bright white ROG logo serves as the only blistering detail on the whole device. That logo can stand out even more as it lights up to a user’s preference while gaming. The three-lens island is small. The rectangular shape has a little nick off one of the corners – a minor detail that I liked.

The matte black aluminium frame serves as a pleasing breakwater between the full glass panes of the front and rear. Noticeable chin and forehead bezels are present; likely as a consideration for gaming on the touchscreen. ROG Phone 3 is a little longer to compensate for these bezels which also house slender stereo speakers.

Phablet

In addition to being long for a 6.59″-screened smartphone at 171mm, ROG Phone 3 is beefy. Last week, we complained that the 6.67″-screened ASUS Zenfone 7 Pro was heavy and a little thick at 230g and 9.6mm respectively. ROG Phone 3 tops it at 240g and 9.9mm.

It must be said that build quality and feeling of overall solidity will help a few of you enjoy the device’s heft. The provision of those aforementioned front-facing stereo speakers will help a few of you to forget about its length.

Like ASUS Zenfone 7 Pro, ROG Phone 3 doesn’t have an IP rating nor is there any suggestion of water or dust resistence. It’s a shame that the solid, secure feel of the device isn’t matched with true resilience in the face of any phone’s most common foes.

Smooth Display

ASUS ROG Phone 3’s 6.59″ screen is of the AMOLED variety with a resolution of 1,080 x 2,340. The selling points are its billion-colour display engine and its incredible maximum refresh-rate of 144Hz. Default colour is slightly cool without the saturation that most other brands wear. There are five settings in addition to the default setting and users can set their own custom colour profile.

The display is capable of good brightness and contrast without bothering the very best in its class.

The 144Hz refresh-rate is nice ceiling to have but in practice, media, apps and games that take advantage of those extra frames aren’t common at all. Additionally, while ASUS Zenfone 7 Pro can be set to deliver a constant 90Hz, ROG Phone 3 cannot. Thankfully, apps with native 90Hz support are becoming widely available.

Photo Finishing

ROG Phone 3’s camera capabilities and quality are surprisingly good but don’t match the best in its price-range. It might be expected that a phone with the aim to game would scrimp on capture hardware and features (and in some ways they have) but ASUS made some smart choices in this respect.

The 64MP Sony main sensor is a strong all-rounder and ASUS exploits it well. The abundance of pixels allows for excellent EIS and a decent digital zoom up to around 5x. It tops out at 8x but the AI noise-removal is so aggressive at this level that images look noticeably plasticky and lack detail.

ASUS ROG Phone 3 also uses this sensor to grab more detail and a more natural colour profile by downsampling its 64 megapixels to 16 megapixels.

AI scene selection is excellent. Night shots, in particular, seem to squeeze the perfect set-up out of the level of darkness we are dealing with. However, the AI’s aforementioned aggression can rear its detail-less, plasticky head when less-than-favourable lighting conditions meets microfine detail.

The device’s range of modes and filters are laid out with a context-sensitive ordering scheme that might confuse those looking for certain options at different times.

As with ASUS Zenfone 7 Pro, ROG Phone 3 features a commendable wealth of Pro options. Gamers who dabble in snapping or clipping will love this level of customisation and control offered for both photo and video.

Power and Stamina

ASUS ROG Phone 3 uses the same Snapdragon 865+ as the Samsung Galaxy S20 series and its stable-mate Zenfone 7 Pro. This chipset gives ROG Phone 3 ample power for just about everything, including gaming. Our review model featured the base 8GB of RAM but the device performed flawlessly across all games and apps. Everyday work is a breeze.

The 6,000mAh battery was probably necessary to allow X-Mode gaming sessions without running dry too soon. A welcome side affect is that the device will do up to two days of moderate use. Power-users who will get a full work day from the device.

ROG Phone 3 has reverse wireless charging at 10W for smaller-celled devices to borrow from its well of power.

Gaming Hardware

Little touches like the chin and forehead bezels or the front-facing speakers aside, the hardware of the device itself isn’t as dedicated to gaming like gaming phones of yore. This is mostly because the most chipsets of the twenties are gaming monsters out of the box. Similarly, once the display hits a certain price-point, it’s going to do most things well, including gaming. No, especially gaming.

Massive screens equipped with HDR, deep contrasts and a wide colour gamut might not have been specifically made for PES Mobile or Asphalt 9: Legends but games certainly benefit disproportionally from them.

The fabled Air Triggers are here, representing the most ‘gamer’ hardware of the phone itself. Users have touch-sensitive shoulder buttons to work with while gaming. These are marked out in the black of the device’s edge with a ROG logo each etched into the metal. It’s barely visible but easy to feel under the fingertips.

Actively Cool

There is one other piece of dedicated gaming hardware but it’s in the box rather than inside or on ROG Phone 3. The detachable ASUS AeroActive Cooler 3 latches on quite securely to cool the device. It also includes a USB 3.1 port and 3.5mm audio socket. In addition to this, it has a kickstand. ASUS really maximised the utility of the AeroActive Cooler 3 so ROG Phone 3 users be tempted to use it regularly.

Unfortunately, the placement of the USB 3.1 and 3.5mm ports means they can’t be used at the same time as the stand.

ASUS ROG Phone 3’s game-related software is unobtrusive and mostly easy to understand. X-Mode has three levels to play with – the highest requires ASUS AeroActive Cooler as it unlocks the highest clock speeds of your CPU. All three enforce various levels of memory clean-up.

Users can attach apps/games to X-Mode; this can be set to enable X-Mode automatically as well as set a profile for each app. Or just ignore the automatic stuff and use the on/off button on the home-screen’s drop-down menu.

Specifications

A Solid Phone, but More Gamer-y

While ASUS’s Republic of Gamers is well known in PC spheres, it’s doesn’t have the same recognition within the mobile realm or with the UN. The former is possibly because their previous devices leaned into the ‘gamer’ look and function too readily. ROG Phone 3 is a balanced and powerful device that runs an an all-rounder chipset. The display covers all bases while not setting the world alight.

The look is muted for a device of its type and wears its decals well. And while the fan is primarily a gaming accessory, it does more than just cool the device during X-Mode sessions. So much so that I carried it around when I had zero intention of gaming.

It all adds up to a solid smartphone with a lick of gaming specialisation rather than a decidedly more niche gaming phone.

Review unit provided by PR. ASUS ROG Phone 3 is available SIM-free from around €899/£799.