Asus’s commitment to making gaming devices was showed last year with the ROG Phone 2, which is packed with technology and features to making mobile gaming as enjoyable as possible.

The company’s latest effort to up the game is the ROG Phone 3, which shares a striking resemblance in appearance with its predecessor. But there is a different story on the inside.

Asus put a heavy emphasis on improving the internal of the ROG Phone 3 to make it the new king of mobile gaming smartphones.

ASUS ROG Phone 3 was released in India on August 6 and it runs on Android 10.

Display

ROG Phone 3 features a 6.59-inch AMOLED display with support for HDR 10 Plus, refresh rate of 144Hz, touch sampling of 270Hz, and touch latency of 25ms. All of these features make for a super responsive smartphone.

When playing games like Dariusburst and you have to be very careful to weave through an onslaught of bullets and the scenery, ROG Phone 3’s big and responsive screen proves to be a handy feature.

Processor

Under the hood, the phone is powered by Snapdragon 865, the first chipset for handsets that can go past 3GHz clock speed.

RAM

The powerful processor on the ROG Phone 3 is paired with 512GB of UFS 3.1 onboard storage and 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. This combo provides enough power for every kind of need under the sun.

Gaming

ROG Phone 3 is the new king of gaming handsets.

The phone is especially successful with the shoulder-mounted AirTriggers. They can be split into two to make four buttons in total, held down, tapped, swiped, and are mapped to create controls on the screen.

The mechanism prevents users’ fingers from covering the screen and helps you make use of Asphalt 9 Legend’s controls.

AirTrigger can be activated in-game by using the Game Genie menu’s slide-in screen. When users get the AirTrigger activation points at their right places, they will vibrate to notify you.

Some users report ease of use with the tap while others said the swipe can sometimes feel awkward.

ROG Phone 3 comes equipped with X Mode, which minimizes all distractions and boosts the phone’s gaming performance. You can activate it by squeezing the devices’ sides.

No gameplay can be complete without a great audio setup and to achieve that, ASUS has collaborated with Dirac, an audio company, and ignoring other bigger names like Dolby.

ROG Phone 3’s sounds prove that the company’s decision to work with Dirac was right. The gaming phone provides a level of clarity, definition, and detail you can hardly find on any other smartphone. The dual stereo speakers offer full sound and a wide sound stage, making gaming as enjoyable as possible in every way.

In tests when the tester played 1945, Asphalt 9 Legend, Dariusbusrt, Real Racing 3, as well as some other titles in a few hours. The heat generated never went too far to make you uncomfortable and the tester’s hands didn’t get sweaty from it. There is no need to change the way you hold the phone to escape the heat either.

ROG Phone 3 can work with Google Stadia and users of the phone will have free access to Stadia Pro for three months.

Many may argue buying a game-centric phone is a waste of money like many other options on the market can bring you the best of both worlds, enjoyable gaming, and capability to deal with more casual day-to-day tasks.

That thought, in some cases, is true. But when gaming phones are done right, like what ASUS did with ROG Phone 3, the benefits are undeniable.

Battery

ROG Phone 3 draws power from a 6,000mAh battery, which can last for two days before it needs another charge.

This might sound a little disappointing given how big the power cell is. However, bear in mind that the battery has to provide power for a slew of high-end hardware, which is notoriously power-hungry.

ASUS’s test said the phone can hold up to 9.6 hours of Asphalt 9 Legends when it is fully charged, in comparison with 5.7 hours of OnePlus 8 Pro.

To fix the problem of longevity, ASUS created the PowerMaster app. The phone features the slow charge mode, which limits the speed of charging to make sure that ROG Phone 3 doesn’t stay at 100% all night long.

Users also have access to a wide range of battery modes. There is no wireless charging but users will have a 30W wired charge.

Camera

Who says a gaming phone cannot be used for day-to-day tasks? ASUS has gone extra miles to make the ROG Phone 3 suitable to accompany you even when you are not playing games and the camera setup is a prime example of that effort.

On the rear, there is a triple-camera arrangement consisting of a 64MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.8, a 13MPultra-wide sensor, and a 5MP macro sensor. On the other side, there is a 24MP selfie snapper.

Users have access to a wide range of modes, including portrait, night, pro video, and motion-tracking video. The rear cameras can record 4K with HDR and electronic stabilization.

The setup is decently put together and can definitely cater to casual photography needs. You cannot zoom in but the macro and wide-angle modes can give lots of fun.

The cameras can be inconsistent sometimes, especially when in a low light condition when the phone misses quite a lot of details.

With enough light, HDR shots look decent and the macro camera can surprise users with what it can do.

The selfie camera comes equipped with a beauty mode that works too aggressively and its portrait mode’s edge detection is only mediocre so it comes as no surprise that selfie can look washed out sometimes.

Overall, ROG Phone 3’s cameras can be used for casual photography needs. Of course, there are better options out there if taking pictures is important to you but when it comes to gaming, they cannot overperform ROG Phone 3.