The rumoured Asus ROG Phone 5 was recently launched by the company after skipping the “4” branding. Despite having almost the same design as its predecessor, Asus has done a lot of work on this phone. Bringing in Qualcomm’s most powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset for gamers, plus well-improved software for a buttery smooth user experience.
The Asus ROG Phone 5 has proven to be one of the best gaming phones around, providing all the requirements of a capable gaming smartphone. You’re getting a large 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with 1B colors and 1080 x 2448 pixels resolution. There’s up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of in-built storage and again, no dedicated microSD card slot for expansion of memory.
Also, you won’t have to charge the phone all the time as the 6000mAh battery is a powerhouse and can last long on a single charge. There’re plenty of accessories that can enhance your gaming experiences like a new dot-matrix RGB system and DTS:X stereo speakers.
Now, we believe your question should be whether or not to buy the Asus ROG Phone 5 as your gaming device. Well, we’ve been using this phone for a while now and here is our opinion.
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Table of Contents
Asus ROG Phone 5 Key Specifications
- Display: 6.78-inch AMOLED, 144Hz
- Resolution: 1080 x 2448 pixels
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G
- Front Camera: 24-megapixel
- Rear Camera: 64-megapixel + 13-megapixel + 5-megapixel
- RAM: 8GB /12GB /16GB
- Storage: 128GB /256GB
- Battery Capacity: 6000mAh
- OS: Android 11, ROG UI
Design
If you’re familiar with gaming phones, then you’ll easily identify the Asus ROG Phone 5 as one. But don’t get it twisted here, the Asus ROG Phone 5 appears in a subtle form, looking entirely different from other gaming phones. The glossy rear panel features a space-age graphic design with a “ROG” logo which has become a remarkable aspect of every ROG Phone’s design.
The dot-matrix RGB system allows you to display the ROG logo in two different colors depending on the actions you’re performing, like different colors for charging, receiving text messages, and incoming calls. Though that sounds great, but not overly necessary. It’s just to add a little more appealing look to this gaming phone which can attract people around.
Due to the large display which expands the phone’s dimensions to 172.8 x 77.3 x 10.3 mm, you’ll struggle to handle this phone with one hand unless you have a fairly large palm. The Asus ROG Phone 5 also weighs heavily at 238g which is easily noticeable when you pick up the phone. A USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack are at the bottom. You also have a side-mounted secondary USB Type-C port which allows you to charge the phone while holding it horizontally.
The Air triggers which is one of the most admired features of ROG phones aren’t missing here. This allows you to trigger actions by shaking, turning, or tilting the phone which offers an improved and modernized gaming experience. The design of the Asus ROG Phone 5 also allows for the attachment of the Kunai 5 controller if you love gaming with switches. This delivers a double shoulder button, analogue sticks, and other useful buttons which play a huge role while playing the Asphalt Nitro or Call of Duty Mobile.
Display
The Asus ROG Phone 5 spots the display of a quality gaming smartphone. The 6.78-inch AMOLED screen is large enough for gaming with a 144Hz refresh rate for a buttery smooth and easy experience while gaming, as well as performing other tasks on your screen. The display features a resolution of 1080 x 2448 pixels (FHD+), a 20.9 aspect ratio, 395 PPI density, and a 300Hz touch sampling rate for a faster response while playing games.
You won’t always have the full 144Hz of refresh rate by default. Based on what you’re doing, you either get the lower 120Hz or 60Hz. Meanwhile, you can switch to any refresh rate of your choice, even to the highest 144Hz. Also, you can watch HDR10 content with enough brightness, up to 800nits by default and 1200nits of peak brightness.
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Camera Review
There’s a triple camera setup on the rear of the Asus ROG Phone 5 which consists of a 64MP Sony IM686 main sensor, 13MP ultra-wide, and 5MP macro lens. The camera quality is very impressive, especially the main camera which shoots 12MP photos with pixel binning technology to produce more detailed images. The main camera also features the ZenFone series processing tech to produce vibrant images with good dynamic range when the HDR shooting mode is enabled.
Low-light images also came out well in the Night mode, same with the 13MP ultra-wide lens which captures decent landscape photos and group shots. The difference with the main camera lies in the colors and quality of images where the ultra-wide doesn’t produce enough detailed images, and the colors weren’t vibrant enough.
The 5MP macro lens isn’t as good as the main and ultra-wide sensors, though it’s nice for capturing close-up photos which is the least accessible shooting mode in the camera app. The 24MP front camera is a fantastic selfie shooter capable of recording 1080p videos, while the main camera can shoot 8k@30fps. Generally, the Asus ROG Phone 5 has a great camera, even though gaming smartphones aren’t too good in the camera department.
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Performance, Storage, and Software
Under the hood, the Asus ROG Phone 5 is powered by a flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. With such a powerful chipset, this phone is rapidly quick and responsive with multitasking and scrolling through social media, thanks to the high refresh rate and 5G network connectivity.
Playing games with the Asus ROG Phone 5 is a buttery smooth experience, especially when combined with the bunch of accessories that will spice up your gaming experience.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset is supported with 8GB LPDDRS RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage to enhance the phone’s performance. Depending on your region, there are other storage options like the 12GB /256GB and 16GB /256GB models.
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The Asus ROG Phone 5 comes with Google’s Android 11 OS out of the box, based on the ROG UI interface. Within the ROG UI interface, there’s an Armoury Crate app designed with different performance managing options to enable you to customize the system-wide performance to your liking with a single tap.
Starting with the Dynamic Mode which allows the best possible performance in favor of the battery to avoid draining too fast. Unlike Dynamic Mode, the X-Mode allows you to achieve the peak 144Hz refresh rate, higher frame rates, and better GPU performance to improve your gaming experience.
The X-Mode plus which is enabled when you’ve attached the AeroActive cooler pushes the system to its limits, allowing you to enjoy a remarkable gaming experience at the detriment of your battery.
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Battery Capacity and Charging
Speaking of battery, the Asus ROG Phone 5 packs in a 6000mAh battery divided into two 3000mAh cells. The battery doesn’t drain too fast, and even with the high refresh rate and top-end performance, it will surely strive for a full day. It’s said that the X-Mode or X-Mode plus might run down the battery.
Fortunately, Asus has offered a 65W fast charging support that charges the phone from empty to full battery within an hour.
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Asus ROG Phone 5: Price in Nigeria and Availability
The Asus ROG Phone 5 was first unveiled by the company on March 10 2021 and was later released the following month alongside the ROG Phone 5 Pro, while the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate was released in May.
Now back to the standard ROG PHONE 5, it comes with 8GB /128GB for the international markets which can be bought through AliExpress. Those in Europe will be getting both the 8GB /128GB, 12GB /256GB, and 16GB /256GB models.
The Asus ROG Phone 5’s price in Nigeria is currently ₦386,000 ($634) for the 8GB /128GB model. You can possibly ship it from abroad if you want to get the higher storage models.
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Asus ROG Phone 5 Full Specifications
General
- Brand: Asus
- Model: ROG Phone 5
- Release Date: April 2021
- Weight: 238g
- Colours: Phantom Black, Storm White
- Touchscreen: YES
- Type: AMOLED, 144Hz
- Display Size: 6.78-inch
- Screen Resolution: 1080 x 2448 pixels
- Facelock Support: YES
- In-display fingerprint scanner: Yes
- Sensors: Fingerprint (under-display)
- Dimensions: 172.8 x 77.3 x 10.3 mm (6.80 x 3.04 x 0.41 in)
Platform
- Operating System: Android 11, ROG UI
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G
- CPU: Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Cortex-X1 & 3×2.42 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A55)
- GPU: Adreno 660
Memory
- RAM: 8GB /12GB /16GB
- Inbuilt Storage: 128GB /256GB
- SD Card slot: No
Camera
- Rear Flash: LED Flashlight
- Rear Camera: 64MP-MP f/1.8 (wide), 13-MP f/2.4 (ultra-wide), 2-MP f/2.0 (macro)
- Video: 8K@30fps
- Front Camera: 24-MP f/2.5 (wide)
- Front Flash: —
Connectivity
- Wi-Fi: YES
- Bluetooth: 5.2
- USB: MicroUSB-C 3.1
- GPS: YES
- WLAN: YES
Network
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
- Technology: GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G
- 3G Support: Yes
- 4G/ LTE Support: Yes
- 5G Support: Yes
- Speed: HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (7CA) Cat20 1400/150 Mbps, 5G 4 Gbps DL
Battery
- Capacity: Li-Po 6000mAh, non-removable
- Fast Charge: 65W
Price
- Price in Nigeria: ₦386,000
- Price in the US: $638
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