ASUS ROG Phone 6 Review: 2022’s King of mobile gaming!

If you’re looking for a gaming smartphone, the ASUS ROG Phones has been a good choice every year as they offer a lot of features that are unique for gamers, and every year, they offer something more powerful and something different and for this year, the smartphone comes in two variants but the one that we’re gonna review today is the more affordable version – the original ASUS ROG Phone 6. 

Design and Hardware

The smartphone comes with a gamer feel and look. Similar to other ASUS ROG smartphones and for the ASUS ROG Phone 6, the smartphone still feels solid and it still shouts and feels like a smartphone for gamers due to its design, thickness, and feel.

Unlike the Pro version of the ASUS ROG Phone 6, what we have here is an RGB matrix design at the back. A design we’ve seen before on the ASUS ROG G14 notebook and of course, there are still the other elements on the design of the ASUS ROG Phone 6 that gives us a gamer feel and look on the smartphone.

The smartphone is thick and a little bit heavy but it is still comfortable to use whatever your position is on your couch. The feel of the smartphone is very similar to the previous generations.

As for the ports, the smartphone still packs USB-C ports with one USB-C port below and also another one for the accessory on the left. Thankfully, the ASUS ROG Phone 6 comes with an audio jack so you can still use your wired headset on this one. And of course, there’s the AirTriggers on the ROG Phone 6 on one side.

The Airtriggers are very sensitive and they are adjustable base on your preference. However, I would still prefer having a physical button rather than this one to give me a better feel when playing FPS games however, there’s an advantage on this one as you can customize it and use more gestures for better input on some games.

As expected, the speakers of the ASUS ROG Phone 6 was amazing. It features dual front-facing speakers and it has loud, immersive, and clear. It’s perfect for both gaming and for watching Netflix. With its loudspeaker, you would barely use the speakers for the ASUS ROG Phone 6.

As for the battery, the ASUS ROG Phone 6 is pretty tough on this one. The smartphone comes with a 6000mAh battery and it does have long battery life. We were able to get a battery score of 19 hours and 33 minutes at PC Mark Work 2.0 Battery Test

AeroActive Cooler 6

This is probably the biggest change that they’ve done on the aeroactive cooler. The accessory is now separate from the smartphone and it gives you better cooling on the smartphone. With the Armoury crate app on the smartphone, you can control the fan speeds and it does give way cooler temperatures on the smartphone. 

Aside from the cooling, the AeroActive Cooler 6 also gives better aesthetics thanks to the RGB lights along with the ROG logo at the back. It also features a kickstand which is perfect for those people who want to watch videos or just want to have support when they’re playing on a flat surface.

The AeroActive Cooler 6 also comes with 4 physical buttons. This gives you more input for gaming and of course, you can customize it on the Armoury Crate app. However, I don’t find the buttons of the AeroActive Cooler 6 ergonomic and I only find these buttons useful for my emulations and not on most of my FPS games on the Play Store.

Display

The display of the smartphone is one of the most important things when it comes to mobile gaming. The ASUS ROG Phone 6, still features a bezel on the top and below the display. There’s no punch-hole in here thankfully as having a full-screen display with no holes is a lot better to look at. 

It features a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution and of course, it has a 165Hz refresh rate that gives us a smoother and better experience on the smartphone. As for the brightness, the smartphone is really bright and you can use it anywhere and anytime without problems so even if you’re playing games outside. That won’t be a problem with the ASUS ROG Phone 6.

Having a bezel is fine as well as it gives me space for my hands whenever I’m playing on the smartphone and of course, it gives me space as well for the accessories that I need to plug in on the smartphone and again, the 165Hz does give me a really smooth experience on the smartphone.

Software and performance

The software of the ASUS ROG Phone 6 is one of the essential features and it’s also the feature that set this thing apart from the other smartphones in the market. THE UI is very smooth of course and there are a lot of things and features that are built-in to the smartphone that is meant for gaming.  

The smartphone still comes with the Armoury Crate in where you can control and see everything that needs to be fixed when it comes to gaming. Aside from that, you can also access game genie whenever you’re playing a game and it lets you access the performance, stats, and other functions that are important for gaming.

Just like before, you can access the refresh rate of the smartphone and of course, the real-time information but the important features here include no alerts, no calls, control for airtriggers, key mapping and more. Of course, the X-mode is still present which lets you run the smartphone at a better and more optimized for gaming.

Actually, when it comes to performance, the ASUS ROG Phone 6 won’t be a problem at all. It’s the fastest smartphone that we’ve ever reviewed thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 inside the smartphone. In our gaming test, we tested everything on the smartphone including emulators and it was a piece of cake as expected. Playing Genshin Impact at 60fps wasn’t a problem as well. I also played PUBG Mobile and APEX Legends Mobile and it was a breeze of an experience on the smartphone.

The ASUS ROG Phone 6 really shines on one aspects of our review and it’s the benchmarks. The ASUS ROG Phone 6 has the highest scores that we got on a smartphone. The scores that we got are just over the top and we were amazed by the scores that we got. Check out the scores that we got on the smartphone below:

Camera

One of the things that I noticed yearly is that the ASUS ROG smartphones’ camera are underrated. With the ASUS ROG Phone 6, the smartphone features a 50MP main camera with Sony IMX766 sensor along with 13MP Ultrawide-angle camera and also a 5MP macro camera. While for the selfie camera, the ASUS ROG Phone 6 comes with 12MP selfie camera

In our test shots, we definitely got here some good photos that can really compete in the flagship level category. Most of the shots that we got are sharp and the colors are just accurate on the ASUS ROG Phone 6. The dynamic range on both the main camera and also on the ultrawide-angle camera of the smartphone are excellent as well. Check out the shots that I took using the smartphone:

Verdict

The ASUS ROG Phone 6 is not just a gaming smartphone. It’s an all-rounder and it’s also perfect for powerhouse users. Why? First, we got here a smartphone with flagship features inside. It’s powerful enough for the latest and upcoming games on the Play Store and it’s definitely powerful enough for heavy and demanding applications.

And then there’s the beautiful display as well. It might have bezels but the animation and the refresh rate of the smartphone is something that you can really appreciate and lastly, the camera of the smartphone is excellent as well. It might have a focus on gaming but ASUS didn’t forget about the camera as well.

The ASUS ROG Phone 6 is now available and it starts at Php47,995. You can also get a higher and better variant at a higher price.