Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate Review: For Hardcore Gamers

Whereas Asus launched three variations of the ROG Telephone 5 at launch time just a few months in the past, the top-end ROG Telephone 5 Final has solely made its option to India now. All three are purpose-built for gaming, with top-of-the-line {hardware} together with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC and shoulder-mounted AirTrigger buttons, amongst different unusual options. The bottom model of the ROG Telephone 5 is actually highly effective, however as its identify suggests, the ROG Telephone 5 Final is completely loaded to the gills. I put the ROG Telephone 5 Final to the check to see whether it is now the most effective gaming telephone on the market.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final worth in India

The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate boasts of a ridiculous quantity of RAM, 18GB to be exact. You get just one configuration on the ROG Telephone 5 Final in India, with 512GB of storage. It’s priced at Rs 79,999 and is on the market in Storm White solely. The usual ROG Telephone 5 is at present priced beginning at Rs. 49,999 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and Rs. 57,999 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There’s additionally an ROG Telephone 5 Professional, priced at Rs. 69,999 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Learn on to see what’s totally different concerning the ROG 5 Final, and whether or not it is definitely worth the worth distinction.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final design

The Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final is an enormous machine and does have just a few design similarities to its predecessors. It has an enormous 6.78-inch show with a tall 20.4:9 side ratio. The borders on the perimeters are comparatively slim however there are barely greater ones on the prime and the underside. Asus has neatly tucked a selfie digital camera into the area above the display, and there are audio system on the prime and backside for stereo output in panorama.

The body of the ROG Telephone 5 Final is made out of steel and has a premium really feel to it. All of the buttons are on the correct aspect, with the ability button virtually precisely within the centre. The amount buttons are barely increased and are simple to achieve. There’s additionally a microphone gap subsequent to the ability button. Asus has additionally carried out ultrasonic set off buttons referred to as ‘AirTriggers’ on the identical aspect. The position is superb and my index fingers rested on them naturally when holding the telephone in panorama to play video games.

The left aspect of the ROG Telephone 5 Final has a Sort-C port and a proprietary connector for ROG Telephone equipment. This extra Sort-C port can be utilized to cost the smartphone whereas gaming in panorama mode, so the wire would not get in the way in which. Asus has coated these two ports with a removable rubber flap. This SIM tray can also be on the left, completed in a vibrant blue accent color. It has two NanoSIM slots however there isn’t any microSD card slot for storage growth. There’s nothing on the prime,  however the ROG Telephone 5 Final has an offset USB Sort-C port on the backside together with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The matte white end of the ROG Telephone 5 Final hides fingerprints effectively

Asus has made the again of the ROG Telephone 5 Final utilizing Corning Gorilla Glass 3. This smartphone doesn’t have a metallic vent on the aspect like its predecessors, the ROG Phone 3 (Review) and the ROG Phone 2 (Review). There is a triple digital camera module within the prime left nook, which protrudes barely. On the centre of the rear panel is a monochrome PMOLED show which lights up when the display is on, and could be customised to point out totally different graphics. It additionally exhibits alerts for incoming calls, and animates when a recreation is launched. There are two further Air Triggers on the again that are inside attain whereas holding the telephone in panorama. The again panel has a matte end which manages to cover fingerprints fairly effectively.

The ROG Telephone 5 Final does really feel cumbersome given its dimension, and its 238g weight is noticeable whereas holding or carrying it. Should you don’t love massive and hulking smartphones, you will not discover the ROG Telephone 5 Final interesting.

With the ROG Telephone 5 Final, you get a clip-on AeroActive cooler and a 30W charger within the field. You possibly can connect the AeroActive cooler to the again of the ROG Telephone 5 to assist it dissipate warmth higher. Asus has additionally added two bodily set off buttons on it, which could be arrange for gaming.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final specs and software program

The Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final sports activities a 6.78-inch AMOLED show with a 20.4:9 side ratio.This panel is HDR 10+ licensed. It has a most refresh fee of 144Hz and a contact sampling fee of 300Hz. There’s additionally an in-display fingerprint scanner. The height brightness is 1200 nits, and Asus has used Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for defense.

There’s an extra Sort-C port and a proprietary connector for ROG equipment on the left

Asus has picked the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC to energy the ROG Telephone 5 Final. It was the 2021 flagship processor from Qualcomm on the time of its launch and continues to be considered one of essentially the most highly effective SoCs out there. This processor is matched with 18GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage, which could appear to be overkill for most individuals. Given its {hardware}, the ROG Telephone 5 Final ought to have the ability to deal with each title within the Google Play Retailer.

You get help for Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, six satellite tv for pc navigation techniques, and twin 5G in addition to 4G VoLTE. This telephone packs in a 6,000mAh battery that is break up into two cells of three,000mAh every. The ROG Telephone 5 Final is able to 65W quick charging however solely comes with a 30W charger within the field.

The ROG Telephone 5 Final runs Android 11 with Asus’s personal ROG UI on prime. It had the November Android safety patch on the time of this assessment. The ROG UI is customised to enchantment to avid gamers, however in order for you the inventory Android look, you possibly can swap to that within the Themes app. There are just a few preinstalled apps akin to Fb, Instagram, Netflix, and Messenger. I didn’t encounter any spammy notifications in the course of the assessment interval.

A number of gestures have been carried out, however not many are enabled by default. You possibly can double-tap the show to wake the telephone or put it to sleep. Good Answering routinely solutions an incoming name whenever you increase the telephone to your ear. It’s also possible to hint sure alphabets on the display to launch predefined apps.

Asus additionally preinstalls its personal Armoury Crate app, which showcases all of the video games put in on the smartphone. A console display exhibits parameters of the machine akin to storage, RAM, battery degree, and system temperature. It additionally shows CPU and GPU clock speeds together with their temperatures. There are totally different energy modes that may be chosen on this app. “X Mode” dials the whole lot as much as eleven, providing you with all the ability this telephone has to supply. “Dynamic” retains energy balanced with warmth and battery life, whereas “Extremely Sturdy” focuses on conserving energy.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final efficiency and battery life

The ROG Telephone 5 Final’s crisp AMOLED show had wonderful viewing angles and was additionally vibrant sufficient open air, in my expertise. The excessive refresh fee makes the UI really feel buttery easy. Asus has set this to Auto by default, which retains it at 120Hz. You possibly can manually bump it as much as 144Hz or sluggish it right down to 60Hz. I additionally discovered the stereo audio system on the telephone to be loud, and they didn’t sound tinny at increased quantity ranges.

The ROG Telephone 5 Final just about bulldozes by means of any workload you throw at it. I performed a number of video games and multitasked with totally different apps, with none points. Throughout my assessment interval, I had over 10GB of RAM free more often than not and by no means seen any lag. The in-display fingerprint scanner and face recognition had been snappy as effectively.

AirTriggers on the correct aspect of the ROG Telephone 5 Final can be utilized whereas gaming.

Benchmarks helped put some perspective on the place the ROG Telephone 5 Final stands in comparison with different smartphones out there. In AnTuTu, it scored 837,004 factors which is among the many highest we have noticed. In Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core assessments, it scored 1,120 and three,693 respectively. It maxed out 3DMark’s Sling Shot and Sling Shot Excessive graphics assessments, and managed to hit 120fps and 56fps in GFXBench’s T-Rex and Automotive Chase scenes respectively.

I then loaded up Battlegrounds Cell India (BGMI), and it defaulted to the Excessive body fee and HD graphics settings. I bumped the graphics high quality as much as HDR and the body fee to Excessive. The Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final nonetheless ran the sport at these settings with none lag or stutter.

I discovered the AirTriggers to be responsive and helpful whereas gaming. It’s also possible to use those on the rear panel and the bodily triggers on the AeroActive cooler for gaming. I performed GBMI for 25 minutes and seen an 8 % drop within the battery degree. The telephone turned barely heat to the contact which was noticeable on the metallic body. Whereas taking part in video games with the Aeroactive cooler hooked up, the telephone stayed extra snug, however the spinning fan did drain the battery faster.

The Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final gives good battery life, and lasted over a day with my utilization. In our HD video loop check, the telephone managed to go on for 17 hours and 28 minutes. Charging the ROG Telephone 5 Final with the equipped 30W charger was comparatively fast; the telephone bought to 45 % in half-hour and 86 % in an hour.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final cameras

The ROG Telephone 5 Final has a triple digital camera setup on the rear. It has a 64-megapixel main digital camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle digital camera, and a 5-megapixel macro shooter. The first digital camera captures 16-megapixel pictures by default. I discovered the digital camera app to be fairly simple and straightforward to make use of. You possibly can simply transfer between totally different taking pictures modes, and it additionally has fast controls for HDR, side ratio choice, the flash, and Google Lens.

The Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final has a triple digital camera setup

Photographs taken with the ROG Telephone 5 Final in daylight appeared good at first. Colors had been pretty correct and objects at a distance had been recognisable. Nonetheless, on zooming in, I seen grain within the output. The ultra-wide-angle digital camera captures a wider discipline of view however edges had been distorted within the output. Photographs weren’t as detailed as these taken with the first digital camera, and artefacting was seen on zooming in.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final daylight pattern (faucet to see full dimension)

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final ultra-wide pattern (faucet to see full dimension)

The telephone was fast to lock focus when taking pictures close-ups, and the output was sharp. It managed good separation for the topic and likewise added a depth impact to the background. Portrait pictures had good edge detection and the telephone did let me set the extent of blur earlier than taking a shot. The macro digital camera permits you to get near the topic, and managed first rate pictures too.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final close-up pattern (faucet to see full dimension)

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final portrait pattern (faucet to see full dimension)

Low-light digital camera efficiency was good. The telephone detected low mild and routinely set itself to seize lengthy publicity pictures. It additionally confirmed how lengthy the publicity could be, so I knew I needed to stand nonetheless. This labored similar to Night time mode, and the output was an identical. So whereas this helps seize pictures at evening with out twiddling with the digital camera app, it does render Night time mode redundant. Foreground topics appeared good, however objects at a distance had been smoothened. Photographs taken with out the lengthy publicity missed out on element, particularly within the shadows.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final low-light digital camera pattern (faucet to see full dimension)

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final Night time mode pattern (faucet to see full dimension)

Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final selfie portrait pattern (faucet to see full dimension)

Selfies taken with the 24-megapixel entrance digital camera are saved at 6-megapixel decision because of pixel binning by default. Photographs taken in daylight had been crisp and portrait selfies had good edge detection. Low-light selfies with a lightweight supply close by had been good.

Video recording tops out at 8K for the first digital camera and 1080p for the selfie shooter. Not one of the cameras have optical stabilisation, and the telephone stabilises video electronically. In daylight, movies shot at 4K had slightly shimmer when strolling round, although 1080p footage was effectively stabilised. Low-light video had a shimmer impact if recorded whereas strolling, at 4K in addition to 1080p.

Verdict

The Asus ROG Telephone 5 Final is an all-out gaming smartphone with devoted high-end {hardware}. Asus hasn’t reduce any corners on the subject of efficiency, and a few may also discover 18GB of RAM overkill. The crisp high-refresh-rate AMOLED panel, stereo audio system, and capacitive AirTriggers make gaming extra participating on this smartphone. Nonetheless, digital camera efficiency is not the most effective at this worth, which might flip away folks searching for an all-rounder.

In order for you a purpose-built gaming telephone and you do not thoughts splurging, the ROG Telephone 5 Final is the most effective you may get out there proper now. It doesn’t have any direct opponents however you possibly can get a lot slicker flagship telephones at this worth. Should you do not wish to spend Rs. 79,999, the bottom Asus ROG Phone 5 at Rs. 49,999 gives extra worth on your cash.