ASUS ROG Game Phone 5 Evaluation: Strong performance, slightly insufficient.

ROG Phone 3 released last year made this series of mobile phones have their own design language, and ROG game mobile phone 5 has been extended in this respect. Looking at the equipment as a whole, there is a microphone at the top, a volume button, a power button and two capacitive Air Triggers on the right side, a SIM card slot, a secondary USB-C interface and a contact for connecting the Aero Active radiator on the left side, and a standard USB-C interface and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom.

on the front, there is a large screen of 6.78 inches, with front stereo dual speakers, breathing light and front camera at the top border. On the back, there are three camera modules driving into the top, some ROG player brands and RGB LED arrays near the ROG logo in the middle.

ROG game phone 5 is very heavy, and it will be difficult to hold it with one hand. However, ASUS has optimized ergonomics, such as keeping the volume and power button near the middle of the phone. In addition, it also radians the glass of the back shell, so that the mobile phone can be held more tightly in the hand. This also shows to some extent that it uses high-quality manufacturing materials and feels very strong. However, it should also be noted that although it uses the latest corning Victus glass on the front, it uses corning third-generation gorilla glass on the back.

but in the process of experiencing this mobile phone, we also found a problem, and its off-screen fingerprint recognition is very unreliable. It takes longer than other mobile phones to enter fingerprints, and it is the same when unlocking the device. Sometimes it runs well, although it is not fast, sometimes it can't be recognized correctly at all. However, this problem should be fixed in subsequent software updates.

generally speaking, the design of ROG game phone 5 is very similar to that of ROG Phone 3, but there are some aesthetic adjustments. It is not suitable for everyone, but as a game device, it has an excellent balance between appearance and function.

on ROG Phone 3, ASUS equipped it with a 6.59-inch screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz, but on ROG game phone 5, it went further, and the screen size was upgraded to 6.78 inches, which made the phone look big. However, it adopts an aspect ratio of 2.4: 9, which makes it easier to perform daily tasks.

The large, bright and sensitive screen is suitable for gamers with fierce battles. With its refresh rate of 144Hz, response time of 1ms and touch sampling rate of 3Hz, this screen is very fast, which is very ideal for players who play fast-paced games like Peace Elite.

however, the lack of QHD resolution may make some people feel sorry, but unless you look at the screen close to your eyes, you can't tell that it is an FHD screen. In addition, the lower resolution has the advantage that the processor can render more frames, which can bring a smoother game experience. Asus also provides an automatic switching refresh rate mode, which can choose 6, 12 and 144Hz. In the screen calibration menu, there are five color modes to choose from, and there is also a custom option to adjust the color temperature and saturation.

because ASUS didn't follow the crowd by digging holes or using other special-shaped screens, this screen can get a good immersion when watching videos and playing games. It is big, bright and responsive. Although it may not be the sharpest or brightest, it is a good choice for players.

ROG game mobile phone 5 is one of the best specifications on the market at present, but it is not the fastest. Xiaomi 11 scored higher than Gekkbench 4, Geekbench 5 and 3D Mark benchmark tests. Although the gap is very small, considering that it is a game phone, it will still make people feel a little sorry.

However, in the actual experience, the response speed of the ROG game mobile phone 5 is very fast, and even in a high-load game like Genshin Impact, there is no jam. However, during the long-term game, the mobile phone does have obvious fever. After about five minutes of the game, the device starts to heat up sharply, and after 15-2 minutes, your palm will feel obviously hot. Fortunately, ASUS equipped it with an Aero Active cooling back clip to effectively cool down. Unfortunately, it is not included in the ordinary version of ROG game phone 5.

Generally speaking, the camera ability of game phones is not very strong, but ROG game phone 5 has brought some surprises, especially the main camera.

the photos it takes are bright, sharp and accurate in color. The 64-megapixel IMX686 sensor is one of the larger sensors on the market, with 1/1.7 inch. This means that the ROG game phone 5 performs well in low light, and can also shoot a more natural blur effect.

even in more challenging and dynamic scenes, shadows can be well handled, and the whole picture has sufficient dynamic range. Asus knows how to strike a balance between beautiful contrast and stable dynamic range. Some mobile phones lighten the shadows too much, which makes the photos look dull and dull.

There is a quality gap between the main camera and the super wide-angle camera of the ROG game phone 5. Although it is not obvious, we can see that there are many sharpening artifacts in the photos taken by the super wide-angle camera when they are cropped in detail. For example, the tree above, the cropped photo of the super wide-angle photo on the right shows that the halo artifacts around the branches are the result of severe sharpening, but this situation is not so obvious when cropping the main image (left).

however, the 5-megapixel macro camera on ROG game phone 5 may be a little fancy. Compared with other cameras in the rear camera system, the macro camera can't take satisfactory images, and its dynamic range and low light performance are not very good, but it seems to have a certain definition, and it is easy to notice its lower resolution compared with other snapshots.

in video shooting, ROG game mobile phone 5 can shoot 8K 3fps, 4K 12fps and 18p 24fps. these video functions are similar to those of ASUS Zenfone 7 Pro last year. the main difference is that the front camera can only shoot 18p 6fps video, because it does not have the camera flip function of Zenfone series mobile phones. The video recording looks good, especially in shooting 4K 6fps, and the 4K 12fps slow-motion lens is very clear.

let's take a look at the battery and battery life of ROG game phone 5. It is equipped with a battery with a capacity of up to 6mAh, and it lasted for more than a day when games, videos, music and general social browsing applications were running alternately.

ROG game phone 5 also has a convenient battery performance balancing tool, which can prolong the battery life as much as possible. X mode pays more attention to performance, while power saving mode pays more attention to battery life. If you are in X mode and raise the refresh rate, the battery will drop at a speed visible to the naked eye. In this case, it is necessary for ASUS to put the USB-C interface on the side of the mobile phone, so that it can play horizontally while charging.

an interesting thing is that ASUS will make the 6mAh battery in ROG game phone 5 consist of two 3mAh batteries, which can realize parallel charging to improve the charging speed. This phone is also equipped with a 65W charger, which also supports PD 3. and QC 5 fast charging protocols, so it is compatible with other fast charging chargers on the market. In the test, it took only 55 minutes for this mobile phone to charge from to 1%, which is undoubtedly satisfactory.

last year's ROG Phone 3 was an excellent device, and ROG game phone 5 went further on this basis to create a balanced and powerful game phone.

ROG mobile phone 5 should be the best one among the mobile phones sold at present, which has fast and smooth performance, perfect screen for game adjustment, first-class sound quality, solid battery life and unexpected main camera. Of course, it is not perfect, the quality of other cameras is not satisfactory, it lacks wireless charging and IP protection level, and fingerprint recognition is slow. But then again, the ROG game phone 5 provides excellent performance in key places, which makes it stand out from other game phones.