ASUS ROG Phone 8 review: Should you buy it?

A fast look lets you recognize that there are some huge adjustments in retailer for the ROG Telephone 8. The gaudy gamer aesthetic of years passed by is changed by a design that feels extra harking back to the Zenfone 10. I’d hesitate to name it a mainstream look; there’s nonetheless LED backlighting and ASUS’ capacitive AirTriggers for gaming. But when, like me, you’ve been hesitant to tug previous ROGs out of your pocket in public, the ROG Telephone 8’s thinner physique, slimmer bezel, and extra understated design are much less conspicuous. Fortunately, the three.5mm headphone jack and twin USB-C ports stay collection staples.

Talking of design, there are some key variations between the ROG Telephone 8 and Professional Version. The latter comes with customizable “AniMe Imaginative and prescient” backlighting as an alternative of the light-up ROG emblem. There are additionally choices for 16GB/512GB and 24GB/1TB storage configurations with the Professional, and a bundled AeroActive Cooler X ($99.99 individually) with the top-end mannequin. $100 extra for lighting is a bit steep for me. Fortunately, each function an IP68 ranking and Qi 1.3 wi-fi charging for the primary time, which makes the every day expertise way more in step with a Galaxy or Pixel. The ASUS ROG Telephone 8 actually is an all-rounder this time.

The redesign hints at one other vital change. There’s a brand new digicam setup, boasting a 50MP IMX890 sensor with gimbal stabilization (once more lifted from the Zenfone), a brand new free-form lens on the ultrawide digicam, and a brand new 32MP telephoto digicam with 3x optical zoom. That’s a extra versatile setup than earlier than that, once more, goals to nudge the telephone into the body as greater than only a gaming telephone.

Broadly talking, coloration saturation, white steadiness, and publicity are the digicam’s fundamental strengths, and practically all my photographs appeared fairly strong for social with out the necessity for enhancing. The brand new 3x telephoto digicam additionally ensures the next degree of high quality when transferring from ultrawide to cropped-in, and the telephone could be very versatile in that regard. ASUS’ newest digicam package deal is undoubtedly an enchancment. That mentioned, the ultrawide can undergo from lens flare and, regardless of AI upscaling, zooming to 5x and past yields hit-and-miss outcomes. Moreover, the telephone’s HDR implementation produces a far too heavy bloom impact, selfies are fairly noisy even in outside lighting, bokeh edge detection isn’t nice, and there’s a heavy dose of oversharpening on all three rear lenses.

Video is arguably the extra compelling expertise, because of ASUS’ sensible gimbal stabilization. I didn’t discover any use for the utmost Hypersteady 1080p-limited possibility (however you’ll profit in case you lead a much less sedentary life-style), so I loved steady 4K video footage utilizing the default Adaptive setting. General, the ASUS ROG Telephone 8 has a greater than useful digicam setup that’s higher than you’ll discover on different gaming telephones. Nonetheless, picture high quality is slightly below par for the telephone’s asking worth extra broadly. If pictures is a precedence and you’ve got $1,000 to spend, Apple, Samsung, and the extra inexpensive Google must be your go-to digicam telephone selections.

Returning to the AI hype prepare, the ROG Telephone 8 boasts AI audio noise cancelation for each incoming and outgoing audio, 10x Hyper Readability Zoom, photograph segmentation, Semantic Search within the gallery app (à la Google Pictures), and X Sense 2.0 sample recognition for choose video games. It’ll additionally help offline AI wallpaper technology in a future replace. They’re all neat additions which are onerous to fault, however none present a very game-changing expertise. Nonetheless, at a premium worth, we’re more and more anticipating little extras like this, and ASUS delivers.

Now let’s get into the true motive to purchase a ROG Telephone: efficiency. As you’ll count on from a gaming telephone, the most recent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor zips by your every day workloads like a knife by heat butter. That mentioned, ASUS has gone to nice lengths to optimize the telephone this yr. The default mode is much more conservative than previous fashions, with CPU benchmark outcomes beneath the ROG Telephone 7 collection in some cases. It actually didn’t benchmark as extremely as anticipated based mostly on Qualcomm’s 8 Gen 3 reference telephone once I initially put it by our take a look at suite.

After I flipped on X-Mode it rose nearer the highest of our leaderboard, albeit with a not-quite-flawless efficiency in our stress exams, and it didn’t sustain with the REDMAGIC 9 Professional. Stress take a look at outcomes additionally weren’t as constant as final yr’s mannequin and even fell beneath the ROG Telephone 7.

ASUS notes larger leads to its literature, however I couldn’t attain the identical efficiency ranges with our stealth benchmark APKs. Nonetheless, ASUS blocked benchmark Play Retailer downloads throughout the overview interval. Having spoken to ASUS and resolving the problem, I’m now seeing outcomes far nearer to expectations for Qualcomm’s high chip. Sadly, we didn’t get time to finish these earlier than publishing, however I’ll be updating the overview accordingly with the ultimate numbers within the following days.

The ASUS ROG Telephone 8 stays quick to cost, because of 65W charging based mostly on the common USB PD PPS protocol. I clocked it at 51 minutes to full and simply 18 minutes to half cost. The 5,500mAh battery is barely smaller than final yr’s 6,000mAh cell however takes about the identical time to cost.

Fortunately, the cell takes you thru a full day and extra. Our battery exams counsel 5 hours of 4K video recording and movie seize, 10 hours of net searching or Zoom calls, 23 hours of 4K video playback, or not less than three hours of probably the most intensive gaming. That’s similar to final yr’s mannequin, scoring about 50 minutes higher on our net and Zoom name exams however simply over an hour worse at 4K video seize and movie taking pictures time.

Turning to software program, 4 years of safety updates and not less than two main OS updates stay a below-par dedication at this worth. 4 years of safe use isn’t a foul pledge; it’ll defend the telephone for a strong portion of its potential lifespan, however you’ll miss out on newer Android function editions after simply two years. Given ASUS’ light-weight tackle Android 14, it’s onerous to not really feel shortchanged whereas rivals push on with seven-year OS replace guarantees. Equally, the ROG Telephone has traditionally been uncared for for updates, receiving flagship OS upgrades as much as as a lot as six months after their wider rollout. That might change with the ROG Telephone 8, however I wouldn’t wager on it.

ASUS’ Armoury Crate homes a well-known assortment of efficiency configurations, recreation profiles, key and set off mappings, video and screenshot data, recreation recording, and numerous different options that can assist you take advantage of your gaming time. It’s a well-known setup in case you’ve used earlier fashions, with solely minor tweaks to help new ROG Telephone 8 options just like the Professional’s AniMe Imaginative and prescient. Gaming fans proceed to be nicely catered to by ASUS’s software program suite.

In abstract, the ROG Telephone 8 and eight Professional are probably the most well-rounded iterations of ASUS’ gaming method but. A slimmer design, improved cameras, and wi-fi charging creature comforts make this a premium gaming telephone that doesn’t compromise on being, nicely, a telephone. However this design has left much less room for gaming-specific {hardware}, such because the cooling port, and the telephone doesn’t seem like fairly the highest performer that players have come to count on from the collection. General, these adjustments are for the higher, and players will certainly embrace the slight diversion in path. Nonetheless, regardless of these adjustments, it’ll wrestle to muscle in meaningfully on the mainstream flagship rivals, who nonetheless prioritize a extra strong pictures expertise and plenty of extra years of help that attraction to a broader viewers.

Straddling the road between mainstream and gaming telephones means loads of competitors for the ASUS ROG Telephone 8 and eight Professional. With costs beginning at a somewhat steep $1,100, the alternate options boast high-end efficiency, strong digicam setups, and bleeding-edge bespoke options. Whether or not it’s best to go for the ROG or store elsewhere, all of it comes right down to what you worth probably the most.

• Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely ($1609 at Samsung): The perfect all-around telephone in the marketplace proper now, the brand new Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely is a good various to the ROG Telephone 8 and eight Professional, even in case you’re a gamer. Stable efficiency from the 8 Gen 3, a versatile quad-camera setup, bleeding-edge AI options, and a long-term replace dedication make this a tough telephone to beat. ASUS’s gaming equipment and software program give players one thing additional, however Galaxy is the higher all-rounder.
• Apple iPhone 15 Professional Max ($1199 at Amazon): Once you’re spending high greenback, the iPhone 15 Professional Max can be on nearly any listing, however current gaming upgrades and a high-end A17 Professional chip makes Apple’s behemoth particularly worthy of consideration right here. Once more, ASUS’ gamer-centric options ought to sway those that plan to play daily, however Apple’s ecosystem, cameras, and efficiency are all-around spectacular when purchasing at a premium worth level.
• REDMAGIC 9 Professional ($649 at Producer website): In terms of the perfect gaming efficiency, the REDMAGIC 9 Professional at the moment tops our benchmark suite, besting the ROG Telephone 8 in each peak efficiency and our stress exams. This various doesn’t compete nicely with broader options, comparable to digicam, IP ranking, and aesthetics. Nonetheless, it must be on each cell gamer’s radar, particularly because it prices only a fraction of what ASUS costs for an 8 Gen 3 chip.