ROG Phone 5: Long term user review

ROG Phone 5: Long term user review. ASUS ROG Phone 3 was launched in August 2020. ASUS tends to launch a new ROG Phone every year. But, due to Snapdragon 888 coming earlier many smartphone makers jumped to be the first. ASUS felt the need to upgrade their ROG Phone lineup with ROG Phone 5. The phone is a worthy upgrade to ROG Phone 3 and checks all the boxes for the Best Gaming phone + A great Flagship.

I have been using a lot of phones and I post a review after using them for months. Previously I have used ASUS ROG Phone 3 and Vivo X60 Pro. You can find their long term reviews here:

Vivo X60 Pro: A real world daily driver user review
ASUS ROG Phone 3 Long-term review

Coming to the ASUS ROG Phone 5, I will cover all the aspects and for every user. Many have a misconception the phone is only for gamers, but the phone is ideal for anyone looking to buy a good flagship + a gaming phone.

Check out the impressions for a quick glimpse and details:

ASUS ROG Phone 5, The Best Gaming Phone you need: First Impressions

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Specifications:

Display: 6.78” 20.4:9 2448×1080 FHD+ (395ppi) 144Hz/1ms AMOLED HDR10+ certified;
300Hz touch sampling rate, 24.3ms touch latency;
Brightness: 5 nits to 800nits @ APL100 + HBM or 1200nits
Processor: 2.84 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 888 5G Mobile Platform with 5nm, 64-bit Octa-core Processor
RAM/Storage: 18GB/512GB LPDDR5/UFS3.1 (ROG Phone 5 Ultimate)
16GB/512GB LPDDR5/UFS3.1 (ROG Phone 5 Pro)
8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB LPDDR5/UFS3.1 (ROG Phone 5 Base variant)
Camera: Main Triple Camera – 64MP SONY IMX686 sensor, 0.8 µm pixel size – Quad Bayer technology with 16MP, 1.6 µm, 13MP + 5MP
Front – 24MP, 0.9µm, Quad Bayer Technology
Battery: Dual 3,000mAh batteries MMT Design, Total 6,000mAh (typ.)
OS/UI: Android™ 11 with ROG UI
Misc: 5G, 2 AirTriggers (Touch Sensor on back cover +2 only for Ultimate and Pro variant), 3.5MM Audio Jack, WIFI 6, Bluetooth 5.2, Gorilla Glass Victus.

There is a wide range of variants available under ROG Phone 5, however, ASUS is right now only selling the ROG Phone 5 base variant with different RAM/Storage/Colour combinations. But, the Pro and Ultimate edition may be available soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Performance:

When you see the specs you can blindly trust the performance aspect. However, I make sure to share your results as accurately as possible. Frankly, the Antutu and other benchmarks look promising but don’t show you real world usage. I am using ROG Phones since 1st generation, ASUS ROG is the world leader in gaming hardware and software so the experience is never broken. You can throw any games like BGMI (Previously known as PUBGM), Call of Duty Mobile, Heavy load Video edits everything is smooth as it can be. The snapdragon 888 provides a better thermal solution as well compared to Snapdragon 865/Plus variant. The phone also has tons of thermal control and cooling tech inside.

Display:

After the main performance metric, it is always important to have the best output, display is something ASUS keeps on improving. The ROG Phone 5 comes with a 6.78” 20.4:9 2448×1080 FHD+ (395ppi) 144Hz/1ms AMOLED display. The display is a Samsung panel so the discussion about how good the display is resting here. Content viewing, normal day-to-day usage, gaming, etc, is buttery smooth.

Camera:

A gaming phone is never considered to have the best camera but the latest Sony sensor on the ROG Phone 5 gives the phone an upper edge. It can’t be compared head-on but who needs to compare? Comparison is a vague metric as any good camera phone can share better results. No normal user would compare photos on day to day basis. But again, the level of software ROG Phone provides is good to have.

Battery and Charging:

The Battery is as usual 6000mAh. As per my usage on a normal day, it can go up to 1.5 days, and If I game a day is easily achieved. I am talking about 9-12 hours of SOT (Screen on time). To power the battery it comes with a default 30W charger. Anyone can buy a third part 65W charger and use it with the phone.

Software and UI:

A gaming phone is useless with the lack of software. There are many touted gaming phones in the market, Nubia Red Magic, Xiaomi BlackShark, iQOO, Lenovo Legion, etc. However, ASUS ROG Software and UI experience are unmatched. But, considering Android you can expect a hiccup here and there which is completely normal. For any normal flagship user, ASUS ROG Phone 5 provides a Stock experience as well. Anyone can switch stock or ROG UI under settings.

 

 

 

 

Gaming centric features, Audio, Misc:

When it comes to talking about only gaming-centric features, the ROG Phone 5 comes with Air Triggers. The Air Triggers has a ton of customization to be experienced. Motion control, dual partition, swipe, slide, etc. The Pro and Ultimate edition comes with an additional set of Air Triggers at the back. If you buy the Aero Active cooler you can get additional air triggers as well.

Audio is another major aspect and you can play PUBG or any FPS games without headphones. The software optimization like Haptic Audio, Armoury crate to customize your game experience is a bonus.

ASUS and ROG Community:

ASUS has one of the largest and oldest community. There are a lot of Gaming events that happen now and then. Check out below for details.

ASUS India announces Battle of Gods Season 2 with CODM
ASUS ROG Battle of Gods PUBGM Event: Details

For a quick summary and anyone who wants to decide to buy the ROG PHone 5, here is a short Pros and Cons:

Pros:

1.Performace
2. Display
3.Gaming features, software and hardware
4.Battery and charging
5.Audio
6.Price to Performance ratio
7.Flagship + Gaming

Cons:

1. Weight (After few weeks this doesn’t bother much)

So finally, there aren’t many of the accessories available for ROG Phone 5, but you can check out the available ones and also old ROG Phone accessories below:

ASUS ROG Phone accessories 

Get it on Flipkart, from the below links:

ASUS ROG Phone 5 –
• 8GB RAM / 128 GB Storage: ₹49,999/- • 12GB RAM / 256 GB Storage: ₹57,999/-

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Pro (glossy Phantom Black colour) –
• 16GB RAM / 512GB Storage: ₹69,999/-

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (matte Storm White colour) –
• 18GB RAM / 512GB Storage: ₹79,999/-

I posted this review after using the phone for more than a month, there is a lot to talk about but this is as detailed as it can get. Do you like the new ROG Phone 5? Do you use any ROG Phones? Let us know in the comments.

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