ASUS ROG Phone 5 Review

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 is the latest gaming smartphone from the company and it might feature the same design language of the ROG but the smartphone does feature a lot of changes including more powerful hardware and a different approach to its accessories. Want to know more about the smartphone? Check it out in our review of the ASUS ROG Phone 5 below.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Review: Design and hardware

The design of the ASUS ROG Phone 5 is now different from the previous generations compared to its predecessor.  Well, it still has the gaming feel that’s definitely a signature of ROG products especially their newer ROG notebooks like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14.

The back of the smartphone is made up of glass and the design at the back looks cleaner for me and of course, there’s the ROG logo at the back of the smartphone with a similar look to the AniME LED Matrix of their notebooks. But in case you’re getting the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate or the ROG Phone 5 Pro, you’ll have a different look at the back as those smartphones will pack a rear OLED display that you can customize and can also be used for notifications.

As for the ports, this one comes with a different approach for its ports and also for its accessories. The smartphone still comes with a fast-charging inside but it’s way faster as the ASUS ROG Phone 5 now supports 65W charging.

For the ports, it comes with two USB-C port with one below and one on the side which means that the ports for accessories has been changed and it relies on POGO ports for the AeroActive Cooler on the smartphone. But hey, at least we now have here a 3.5mm headphone jack on the smartphone and we don’t need the AeroActive cooler anymore for the port.

Speaking of the AeroActive Cooler on the ASUS ROG Phone 5, it’s way better than before because not only that this one comes with the fan that really brings down the temps of the smartphone but it also comes with a trigger at the back of the smartphone which is perfect for playing emulators on the ROG Phone 5 and of course, there’s the stand so you can watch Netflix videos on the smartphone without holding it anymore.

As for the air triggers or the shoulder buttons of the smartphone, you can customize it for different games and map it and depending on what you want. In my case, I’m using it for my emulators including Damon PS2.

The audio of the smartphone is excellent. We got here a front-facing stereo on the smartphone and boy, it was perfect whether I’m watching a movie on the smartphone or I’m playing games such as PUBG Mobile. It’s so immersive playing games on the smartphone.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Review: Display

Having an excellent display is essential for gaming smartphones and with the ASUS ROG Phone 5, we have here a Samsung AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 144Hz. The display also features an adaptive display in where the ROG Phone 5 automatically adjusts the refresh rate depending on what you need on the smartphone.

The colors are great and it’s very responsive in my usage. I actually enjoyed using this for gaming on the smartphone but it’s not a big leap from the previous 120Hz refresh rate of the smartphones and there are only a few games and apps that supports this but hey, it’s nice to see this feature on the smartphone.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Review: Battery life

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 comes with a 6000mAh battery which can last pretty long on the smartphone but the best part about the smartphone is that the ASUS ROG Phone 5 now supports 65W fast charging which gives us really fast charging on the smartphone and in PC Mark Work 2.0 battery test, we just saw an up to 18 hours and 49 minutes which is really amazing.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Review: Software and performance

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 is surely a performer as this one packs the powerful Snapdragon 888 processor along with the 8GB of RAM for our variant. In our test, we noticed that the ASUS ROG phone 5 didn’t escape the heating problems of the Snapdragon 888 chipset but thanks to the AeroActive Cooler of the smartphone, the ASUS ROG Phone 5 did manage to have cooler temps compared to other smartphones.

When it comes to benchmarks, the ASUS ROG Phone 5 destroyed the competition as we got here really high scores in every benchmarking application that we’ve used.

As for gaming, we didn’t have a single problem with any of the games that we tried on the smartphone. We even ran Genshin Impact and we didn’t saw a drop in framerates when using the smartphone. We were also able to use a PS2 emulator on this one smoothly thanks to Damon PS2.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Review: Camera

The camera is actually surprisingly good on the smartphone. First, we got here a 64MP main camera along with a 13MP ultrawide camera and also the 5MP macro lens on the smartphone and for the selfies, there’s the 24MP selfie camera. The rear camera of the smartphone produces good colors and it’s pretty sharp. It can actually compete with other flagship smartphones in the market right now in terms of quality as the smartphone can shoot pretty good photos whether we’re in low light or in well-lit conditions. Check out the shots that we took using the smartphone:

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Review: Verdict

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 added more power and features for gaming but it’s still not a perfect smartphone. While the AeroActive Cooler might help in the temps of the smartphone, the Snapdragon 888 chipset is noticeably hot on all smartphones and as for the AeroActive Cooler itself, I still prefer the ones that with an adjustable clip instead of what we have right now in this generation as I might accidentally bend the POGO pins on the smartphone.

Nonetheless, the other things about the smartphone is really great. The display is great, battery life is long, the performance was good, the camera was excellent and the look of the smartphone is cleaner and better.

So if you’re looking for a gaming smartphone right now, you might want to take a look at this but if you’re coming from an ASUS ROG Phone 3, well, I still believe that the predecessor is still a great smartphone and you don’t have to upgrade for this one.