Turn the page in 2023
ROG Phone 8 is a smartphone aimed at mobile gamers, but it's also unlike all other smartphones that came before it. The specifications of the camera system are now comparable to those of a typical flagship phone, and the design is more focused on practicality than RGB lighting.
ROG Phone 8 is lighter, shorter, and wider compared to last year's ROG Phone 7. But you can still get 678-inch FHD OLED display with 1 - 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, peaking up to 165Hz for some games. The peak brightness is rated at 2,500 nits, which is enough to challenge top phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro if accurate.
The ROG Phone 8 Pro's razor-sharp camera module and glossy trim on the matte-textured back do hint at the phone's gaming pedigree, but it's not as raucous as other gaming phones. Until the Animme Vision light is activated. It consists of a matrix of white LEDs that are not visible when turned off, but when you open a game, receive a notification, or perform many actions, these LEDs can light up and animate in a variety of preload modes.
The standard ROG Phone 8 uses a four-zone RGB logo that offers more colors, but doesn't exhibit the same vanishing behavior when turned off.
Another major design change is the removal of the rear cooling cutout that was once used on the Asus gaming phone. This means that the ROG gaming phone has finally reached the IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, which is what sets it apart from other gaming phones. ASUS also uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2 to further protect the screen.
However, we don't fully understand the physics of the ROG Phone 8 yet. It offers dual USB-C ports: one on the left side of the bottom edge (convenient for leaving space for the headphone jack) and the other on the left edge for powering on when holding the phone horizontally.
For a gaming phone, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 is strangely camera-centric, and maybe that's better.
Its main camera is 50MP like the previous generation of ROG phones, but now it has gimbal stabilization like the Asus Zenfone 10 for smoother shooting and recording. Not many phones offer this feature, which can give the ROG Phone an unusually huge advantage when it comes to action or tracking shots.
ASUS has also equipped this main camera with a 2x lossless mode, which is common in recent flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 series and the iPhone 15 Pro. Meanwhile, the ultra-wide camera comes with a 13MP sensor, also from the ROG Phone 7, but with a new lens to reduce distortion.
The big upgrade this year is the 32MP 3x telephoto camera, which replaces the macro sensor that ASUS previously used on the ROG Phone. This is a significant boost and means that one of the biggest feature sacrifices you've previously had to make to buy a gaming phone is no longer a factor. That's a big change.
The only potential problem is that the camera shoots 8MP ** instead of a full 32MP ** presumably to improve image brightness and color with pixel binning. The resolution is low compared to the 10MP zoom** captured on the Galaxy S23** or the 12MP zoom** captured by the iPhone 15 Pro.
Both ROG Phone 8 models are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, making it part of an exclusive club for early adopters of the chip. We expect good results from the benchmark, even though more Android devices are expected to feature the chip in the future and may provide similar or better data.
One thing that can give the ROG Phone 8 a long-term advantage is its X-mode performance configuration. This increases the speed of the Snapdragon chip, but at the cost of a hotter phone and more power consumption.
The 5,500 mAh battery in the Asus ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro means that we have a smaller capacity than last year's 6,000 mAh ROG Phone 7. Hopefully, this won't have much of an impact on battery life, but luckily, ASUS's 65W charging system hasn't changed, and ASUS promises to fully charge the phone in 39 minutes. You can also use 15W wireless charging when you need a slower speed but no cable to charge.
The new ROG Phone means a new clip-on cooler, and this time we have the AeroActive Cooler X, which comes by default with the most expensive ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition version.
The improved internal passive cooling system is further enhanced by the AeroActive cooler when connected to the ROG Phone 8's side USB-C ports, with the option to unlock a more powerful X-Mode version for maximum performance potential. It also comes with pass-through USB-C charging, a second headphone jack, a kickstand, and two additional triggers on the back for you to use while gaming. Add two capacitive "airtrigger" buttons on the left edge of the phone, and that's a lot of control customization.
On the software side, ASUS is promoting the new ROG Phone's game backend mode. On top of that, there's also an AI-assisted automatic game clip recording feature that captures all your great moments during gameplay, as well as an AI grabbing tool that allows you to quickly web search for in-game screen text.
The hype of the ASUS ROG Phone 8 is very attractive. In theory, it will still offer all the mobile gaming comfort we've been accustomed to with previous ROG phones, but with less sacrifice for the all-around performance offered by the average Android flagship phone.
ASUS does offer the specifications needed to meet this requirement, although sadly the battery has had to shrink as a result. The ROG Phone 8 still has key gaming credentials like a bright large display, the latest chipset, and plenty of RAM, so even if ASUS's strategy to attract more typical smartphone buyers doesn't work, gaming phone fans can expect to find a lot to like here.