In the fifth iteration of its gaming phone, Asus has come as close as any handset has to replicating the console experience
By Vishnu Anand
April 14 2021: The ROG phone 5 is the latest edition to the mobile gaming portfolio of Asusand is a worthy successor to its previous editions. It is the first gaming-specific phone to be powered by Quaolcomm’s 5G –ready processor, the Snapdragon 888. Asus is not afraid to borrow the best when it comes to display and has opted for Samsung’s , 6.78 inches AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2448x1080p. A screen refresh rate of 144Hz and a sampling rate of 300 Hz ensures that gamers will experience jitter-free graphics with the fastest action.
Air Triggers
The ROG Phone 5 comes with a new dot-matrix fashion light-up ROG logo, that is customizable, and audio jack has thankfully returned. One of the key features that make the ROG Phone 5 a truly immersive gaming smartphone are the AirTriggers, the two touch-sensitive buttons that act as shoulder buttons on a real game controller.
Note that Asus has done away with the microSD card slot an chosen to go with generous internal storage instead. The device comes with dual 3000mAh battery units, providing a total of 6000mAh capacity which is good for 15-167 hours of graphics and video-intense use. The tradeoff is a slight increase in weight which makes the ROG a chunky 238 grams|
The phone sports three rear cameras: a 64MP, f1.8 aperture Sony IMX686 sensor that can shoot up to 8K video, a 13MP ultra-wide and a 5MP macro lens. The front camera is 24MP.
Cool it!
The overall cooling mechanism has also improved compared to its predecessor with triple temperature reduction technologies: graphite cooling pads that book-end the phone, front and back; copper vapour chambers to conduct the heat away and an airflow path that cools the hottest parts of the phone. Acting together, these fixtures promise around 10 degree C reduction of CPU temperature and 15 degrees C reduction of body temperature...very useful as heavy gaming often makes phones “too hot to handle”.
With its design and gaming experience bells and whistles, this device truly transforms into to a gaming powerhouse , but for those who may want to do other things with the phone as well Asus has ensured that it uses the latest Android 11 OS and the fastest WiFI currently available.
The ROG 5 is currently available in 2 configurations 8 GB RAM with 128 GB storage (Rs 49,999) and 12GB RAM with 256 GB storage ( Rs 57,999).
Later in the year Asus plans on launching the ROG 5 Pro with 16 GB/512 GB at Rs 69,999 and the ROG Pro Ultimate with 18 GB/512 GB at Rs 79,999.
Link to Asus ROG 5 company site here
For more images of the ROG 5 and explanation of a key feature, Haptic audio, see our Image of the Day spot