Asus has been often production the most efficient Android gaming telephones for years now. All because of the reality it was once making purpose-built units, bucking developments present in different flagships via providing large batteries, front-facing audio system, and a big complete display screen unencumbered via pinholes and notches. As of 2024, that is not the case with the ROG Telephone 8 Professional release. In all probability spurred via the Zenfone’s good fortune, Asus has observed have compatibility to switch the course of the ROG Telephone, now providing one thing extra in keeping with your conventional flagship.
Then again, if I sought after a bog-standard flagship, I’ve choices from Google to Samsung. Each be offering extra fortify than Asus will ever muster, normally at higher costs for identical {hardware}. But, for some reason why, Asus has got rid of some of the issues that made the ROG Telephone so uniquely compelling as a gaming instrument, most certainly to attraction to the mainstream telephone purchaser.
This seems like a mistake, however despite the fact that the brand new course is one I disagree with, a lot of you could in finding this yr’s adjustments to be a excellent factor that brings the ROG Telephone extra in keeping with the contest. So let’s dig in and get grimy; this yr, greater than another, Asus is shaking issues up with the arriving of the ROG Telephone 8 Professional beginning at $1200.
Asus ROG Telephone 8 Professional The Asus ROG Telephone 8 Professional packs the most efficient {hardware}, from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 operating the instrument to its FHD OLED top framerate display screen. It is a powerhouse of a smartphone that is in a position to chewing via probably the most not easy cell video games, and it comes with a value to check, with the Professional fashions beginning at $1200 and going the entire means as much as $1500 if you happen to require 24GB RAM and 1TB garage. SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 RAM 16GB, or 24GB Garage 512MB, or TB Battery 5,500mAh Ports USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack Running Gadget Android 14 Entrance digicam 32MP RGBW Rear digicam 50MP f/1.9 major, 13MP f/2.2 free-form, 32MP f/2.4 telephoto Connectivity NFC Dimensions 163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9mm Colours Black Weight 225g Rate velocity 65W IP Ranking IP68 Value $1200 Stylus No Show dimensions 6.78-inch, 20:9 Show solution 2400 x 1080 Rate choices USB-C, Qi wi-fi 1.3 SIM fortify Twin Mobile connectivity 5G SA&NSA, 4G FDD-LTE, 4G TDD-LTE, WCDMA Wi-Fi connectivity Wi-Fi 7 able Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.3 Execs Skinny for a gaming telephone Nice at taking part in not easy video games Battery for days Headphone jack Cameras are the most efficient they’ve been Cons There’s a hollow within the display screen of this gaming instrument Just one speaker faces the listener Off-center USB breaks third birthday celebration compatibility Plastic again is solely as slippery as glass Best-heavy with an enormous digicam bump
Value, availability, and community
T-Cell is your most secure wager
With contemporary adjustments to the {hardware}, you’ll suppose shall we additionally be expecting a value alternate, however the ROG Telephone stays prohibitively dear. The ROG Telephone 8 Professional in particular is available in two flavors: a $1200 model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB garage and a beefier fashion that packs 24GB RAM and 1TB of garage for $1500 (the fashion I am reviewing). Availability might be via Asus, although, thus far, we should not have a unencumber date past “the tip of February.” It is conventional Asus, which makes the product really feel rushed when the discharge date is a thriller as I am reviewing it.
As for community availability, I’ve spent the final month trying out the telephone on T-Cell in the USA. Thus far, my information and calls have labored as anticipated; even VoLTE works, so I haven’t any problems to file in the case of name high quality. In fact, your mileage might range around the nation.
Design
This yr, we get an edge-to-edge display screen, nevertheless it comes at a price
To me, it is transparent Asus realized a couple of courses from the Zenfone 10 and has introduced them over to the ROG Telephone line. That is nice information for any person short of higher cameras, a slimmer instrument, or a bezel-less display screen. Unfortunately, if you happen to choose a devoted gaming and media intake revel in that does not compromise, compromises are the soup du jour this yr.
To narrow the bezels, we lose the twin front-facing audio system from earlier units (one in all my favourite options), now with simplest the earpiece dealing with entrance, this means that you will have to cup your proper hand to mirror the bottom-firing speaker for your course (one thing I completely hate). However the greatest alternate is the addition of a pinhole digicam; a digicam that used to take a seat with ease within the bezel of earlier units is now inside of a hollow within the display screen, a display screen for what is meant to be a gaming instrument. I am sorry, however that is an egregious mistake, an enormous no-no in my e-book.
Those adjustments may sound like small tweaks the contest has been providing for years, however that is the level. I will be able to get those options in other places, and what used to make the ROG Telephone distinctive is now long gone; it not places our gaming and media revel in first. As an alternative, we’ve a bezel-less display screen, which is sweet on a beauty degree, however cosmetics are not what I purchase gaming units for.
Regardless of a few of my favourite options biting the mud, the headphone jack thankfully stays. Unfortunately, the off-center USB-C continues to be right here, too, however so is the secondary USB-C at the aspect of the instrument this is to hand for charging whilst taking part in video games in portrait. What is loopy is that the telephone now provides an IP68 score regardless of those open ports, however it is a welcome boost the entire identical.
Whilst the telephone does glance rather very similar to years previous, if you pick out it up, you’ll be able to right away realize the again is not glass however plastic. I would be pleased with this modification if the plastic wasn’t so slippery. One among my puppy peeves from earlier ROG Telephones was once that the glass again was once as slippery as an eel, the place the telephone would slide off the whole lot and the rest (the asymmetric weight distribution led to via the digicam bump certain does not assist.) This continues with the brand new plastic again, which turns out loopy to me when the Zenfone provides such an incredible rear texture. So it would be best to pick out up a case, most certainly.
In fact, that is nonetheless a gaming telephone, and Asus does now not need you to overlook it. So the ones cool pixel-like LED results discovered on its laptops have made their technique to the again of the ROG Telephone. I just like the glance of it, and the most efficient section is you are not compelled to make use of the LEDs. You’ll toggle them on or off or even set what they display, from the native climate on your battery degree. It is a slick and helpful characteristic, a lot better than useless RGB. So now not simplest is the sport aesthetic toned down, however Asus has put its lighting fixtures to paintings.
General, we get a handful of excellent and unhealthy design concepts with the ROG Telephone 8 Professional. I in finding it to be a combined bag on the whole, although I will be able to say the instrument is lovely narrow for what’s on be offering. Or even I will be able to admit the thinner bezels glance excellent till you realize the opening for your edge-to-edge display screen and the absence of twin front-facing audio system.
Show
Did any person ask for a hollow within the display screen?
This yr, we get a 6.78-inch display screen that clocks in at a 20:9 ratio, very similar to years previous. It is a top refresh price display screen that reaches as much as 165Hz, and prefer in earlier years, you’ll be able to lock it at your most popular framerate. Right through my trying out, I locked the telephone to 165Hz, and I didn’t realize any slowdown or dropped frames. Whilst it is just an FHD show at 2400×1080, issues glance crisp and colourful. And, if you wish to stay gaming efficiency at its absolute best, you will not wish to play video games at 4K first of all. There is a reason why PC handhelds most commonly send with FHD shows; the rest extra taxes the {hardware} an excessive amount of for long-term gameplay.
I have already discussed it, there’s one downside with the display screen; it has a hollow in it. This can be commonplace for different flagships, as notches and holes are the norm in Android land. However for me, any person who takes their gaming severely, there’s completely no means I would ever purchase a gaming instrument that incorporates a hollow within the display screen. Whilst I’m going to speak about Asus’s tool workarounds extensive within the Instrument segment underneath, point-blank, the answers are not excellent sufficient and simplest lead to even much less display screen area to make use of. And if there’s one consistent in all of my opinions, I’ve 0 persistence for content material that does not fill a display screen as it should be and in complete.
I am gobsmacked that Asus thinks players will desire a gaming telephone that begins at $1200 and has the sort of ridiculously unnecessary flaw. Believe if the Steam Deck, and even the ROG Best friend, shipped with a hollow within the display screen. No person would take the ones units severely, which is why Asus does not get a cross with the ROG Telephone; a hollow within the display screen is an idiotic strategy to an issue that does not exist. Ultimate I appeared, all hand held gaming units have bezels, so why is it abruptly a subject matter with the ROG Telephone?
Instrument and function
That is the place Asus shines; the corporate is aware of gaming
Regardless of what you might imagine of Asus and its observe file with its non-Android tool, the corporate at all times does a shockingly excellent activity with its telephones. You get to make a choice the full theme; you are not compelled to make use of Asus’s gamer aesthetic, so I at all times go for the technique to be as just about inventory Android as conceivable. This is not a binary choice; you’ll be able to make a selection which topics and settings you prefer extra.
So, if you happen to choose Asus’s notification pulldown that gives the brightness slider underneath your shortcuts, you’ll be able to flip that on whilst maintaining the whole lot else in inventory. It is a phenomenal revel in that I want extra producers introduced; I regulate how my telephone is themed and operates.
Asus has additionally labored to make sure its gaming app Armory Crate is if truth be told helpful. You’ll use it as a recreation launcher, hiding all of your video games from the app drawer if you want (I no doubt do) whilst providing person release settings for the ones video games, so you’ll be able to boot them precisely how you wish to have. You’ll additionally paintings round that dastardly hollow within the display screen through the use of tool to letterbox your video games.
So you’ll be able to make a selection your efficiency modes in line with recreation and make a decision how a lot of the display screen is used in line with recreation. So, say you wish to have Stardew Valley to release fullscreen for the reason that hollow does not intervene with any UI components; you’ll be able to do this. Then, you’ll be able to set Genshin Have an effect on to release focused at the display screen with letterboxing, thus eliminating any concern of the digicam hollow chopping off the rest essential. It is a serviceable workaround if you do not thoughts dropping display screen genuine property, however the stickler I’m can not stand it and would by no means apply it to a private degree.
It is transparent Asus has put a large number of idea at the back of Armory Crate, which presentations its prowess within the PC gaming marketplace is not going to be wasted. No longer simplest can I simply file cell video games with interior sound, however I will be able to additionally make a selection what solution and framerate to make use of. I will be able to additionally show a widget with a recreation’s specifications, which is to hand for troubleshooting and showcasing how video games carry out. The ROG Telephone continues to be one of the crucial polished gaming telephones available on the market, and its tool is a large a part of that. I am not willing to excuse workarounds for a hollow within the display screen; that is simply deficient design.
Relating to efficiency, there is no doubt about it: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a powerhouse. Pair that with the 16GB or 24GB RAM within the ROG Telephone 8 Professional, and also you actually have one of the crucial tough telephones available on the market. Benchmarks already display some giant numbers, and I concur that not anything makes the telephone buckle. You can be hard-pressed to discover a recreation that makes this factor sweat, which is extra a condemnation of the Google Play Retailer than the rest. However that is the factor: what do we want all this efficiency for when cell video games are not maintaining?
Nonetheless, Asus did a bang-up activity handing over a telephone that plays exceptionally neatly. And also you should not have to take my phrase for it; I have put it via its paces, and those are the consequences. As you’ll be able to see, the telephone is not any slouch. Simply consider benchmarks are not at all times indicative of real-world use.
Then again, in my trying out, I did run into a couple of insects, however I am undecided if that is the fault of Google and Android 14 or Asus’s implementation so early within the yr. I will be able to say that I have had a couple of telephone calls get caught ringing, to the purpose the telephone is frozen till I reboot. I have additionally had a few random reboots, and once in a while, those strange dots randomly seem close to the pinhole digicam. I have additionally discovered a couple of apps that are not supported, comparable to Netflix and Coinbase.
And like every Android telephones I have ever examined, once in a while the on-screen fingerprint reader is gradual or unresponsive. It is not anything too loopy for a recent telephone operating a recent OS that I could not clear up with a reboot or two, however there are a couple of kinks to determine earlier than the ROG Telephone 8 Professional launches.
Battery existence and charging
Not anything to fret about right here, now with QI compatibility
The battery existence for the ROG Telephone is as outstanding as ever. I am simply getting two complete days of use earlier than I want a recharge, and now you’ll be able to even price wirelessly over QI 1.3. The wi-fi charging is slower than the 65w you’ll be able to be expecting to recover from a USB cable when the usage of the proper brick. Nonetheless, it is a very good comfort to have, particularly when charging is wanted so every now and then.
What is great is that there are two USB-C ports in order that while you flip the telephone panorama to play a recreation, you will not have a cable protruding of the aspect however beneath. There may be even a passthrough technique to energy the instrument with out charging, which cuts down on warmth when it issues maximum, particularly if you happen to file not easy gameplay during the tool display screen recorder. It is a handy choice I have used quite a lot of occasions in my years protecting cell video games, and I am satisfied to peer the characteristic stays.
Roughly, you’ll be able to be expecting two days of use on a unmarried price, the place you’ll be able to simply recharge with the 65w charger inside of an hour. Massive batteries are essential for gaming, and Asus didn’t skimp via packing a 5,500mAh lipo at the telephone.
Cameras
As excellent because the Zenfone, if now not higher
Any other giant alternate this yr got here with the cameras. Asus made important strides with the Zenfone 10 final yr, so the ROG Telephone will get to peer a few of the ones enhancements. The 50MP major sensor provides a identical 6-axis gimbal stabilizer, which, in my revel in, works as promised, a boon for video recording you probably have shaky arms. This implies there’s a transferring section throughout the telephone that audibly rattles when shaken. Nonetheless, I’m going to accept slightly little bit of noise if it manner I am getting dependable photographs and movies in go back, which I do.
You additionally get a 13MP ultrawide lens within the again bump and a 32MP telephoto with 3X optical zoom and OIS. In the long run, it will appear Asus is in spite of everything fascinated by taking footage, to the purpose it has now not simplest stepped forward its {hardware} however its tool, and so AI is within the combine to make sure photographs prove as excellent as they are able to be, one thing I be expecting to peer from extra producers at some point as AI grows much more well-liked.
Even the selfie digicam is on level, taking sharp footage whether or not in excellent lighting fixtures or deficient. Whilst I am no fan of the place the entrance cam is positioned, it takes outstanding photographs, so for plenty of of you, the pinhole within the display screen is also well worth the sacrifice for the high quality footage you get in go back.
On the finish of the day, this gaming telephone takes footage I am masses proud of, which you’ll be able to see within the examples above and underneath. So, if footage are a big fear for you when bearing in mind which gaming telephone to buy, the ROG Telephone beats the contest via a mile.
Festival
You’ve gotten choices, and they’re all inexpensive
Relating to gaming telephones, there are not many makers as those are area of interest merchandise. Redmagic is an organization this is nonetheless going robust, liberating gaming telephones every year. With the new release of the Redmagic 9 Professional carrying identical specifications to the ROG Telephone 8 Professional at part the associated fee, Remagic could be very a lot within the operating as a viable choice. Nubia’s tool is not as polished, and the fortify is missing (the place Asus has stepped forward lately), however the associated fee is no doubt proper at $650. Our assessment was once certain, which is why it is the best competitor for the ROG Telephone.
In fact, if it’s important to get your arms on an ROG however are not having a look to spend $1200, then the ROG Telephone 7 will have to be in your radar. Whilst it is a era at the back of, as I mentioned within the efficiency segment, few video games will push the ROG Telephone 8 Professional, this means that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 within the ROG Telephone 7 is masses viable on your gaming wishes, all whilst getting your arms at the polish Asus provides at a cheaper price.
Must you purchase it?
I hate to mention it, however I will be able to’t suggest the ROG Telephone 8 Professional for many players. I will be able to’t get previous the pinhole within the display screen; it is unacceptable for a gaming instrument. However quite a lot of you could disagree, and you’re available in the market for this telephone, this means that you could experience it as it is a killer instrument differently. The associated fee is top, however you get what you pay for, and with the enhanced cameras, the ROG Telephone can in spite of everything rise up to Samsung and Google. You will not get seven years of fortify like the ones two, however no less than you will not need to compromise on digicam high quality if you select to head with Asus.
Alternatively, in case you are very similar to me and insist purpose-built gaming units, particularly when taking part in cell video games, the enhanced cameras may not imply a lot while you lose the twin front-facing audio system and acquire a hollow within the display screen. Certain, the bezels are as narrow as ever, however glance what we needed to surrender to get them, and what goal do they serve rather than making the telephone glance nicer? Cosmetics are much less essential than core {hardware} like displays, one thing you’ll suppose Asus, of all firms, would know, seeing how deep it’s within the PC gaming scene. Let’s have a look at if the follow-up of the ROG Best friend will be offering a hollow within the display screen as a result of, by hook or by crook, I doubt it.
So, if you happen to ever needed your extremely dear ROG Telephone was once extra just like the Zenfone, your want is granted this yr, and you’ll be able to benefit from the ROG Telephone greater than ever. For the remainder of us, we lose out on options that fortify the gaming and media intake revel in, so Asus can say it has an edge-to-edge display screen in its advertising and marketing. In all probability Asus will have to put its consumers first as an alternative of promoting, and on account of that, I am having a difficult time recommending the ROG Telephone 8 Professional when the associated fee stays as top as it’s. If I am anticipated to make compromises on options, I be expecting a compromise on value in go back.
Asus ROG Telephone 8 Professional The Asus ROG Telephone 8 Professional is extra in keeping with typical flagship smartphones this yr, providing stepped forward cameras and an edge-to-edge display screen. Then again, this comes at the price of an unencumbered display screen and front-facing audio system. Opting for to select up a ROG Telephone in 2024 is tougher than lately.
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