Asus ROG Phone 8

The Asus ROG Phone 8, released on January 18, 2024, is a gaming-focused smartphone boasting high-end specifications. It measures 163.8mm in height, 76.8mm in width, and 8.9mm in depth, weighing 225g.

Build Quality

The ROG Phone 8 features a solid build, although specifics on materials aren't listed beyond the inclusion of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 screen protection. The phone incorporates two USB Type-C ports; one on the side with DisplayPort 1.4 support and another on the bottom with OTG functionality. It has a side-mounted USB-C port for added convenience when gaming in landscape mode. The phone is available in Phantom Black and Rebel Grey.

Screen Quality

The device has a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 388 ppi and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The screen boasts a refresh rate of 165Hz, a peak brightness of 2500 nits, and supports 1 billion colors and HDR10. The display utilizes a Samsung E6 Flexible AMOLED panel, incorporating features such as Delta-E calibration, a 720 Hz touch sampling rate, DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, DC dimming, 10-bit color depth, and LED notifications. The panel is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The LTPO technology allows the display to dynamically adjust the refresh rate.

Camera Performance

The ROG Phone 8 includes a triple-camera system on the rear. The primary camera uses a 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor with an f/1.9 aperture, 1.00µm pixel size, 1/1.56" sensor size, and 2x2 pixel binning for enhanced low-light performance. A 13MP wide-angle/macro lens with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 5MP macro lens with an f/2.4 aperture complement the primary sensor. The camera system provides a 120° ultrawide-angle lens, 3x optical zoom, and a telephoto lens with OIS. The front-facing camera is a 32MP selfie shooter.

The video recording capabilities of the phone are extensive, supporting up to 8K at 24fps with HDR and EIS, 4K recording up to 60fps, 1080p up to 240fps, and slow-motion recording at 720p 480fps, all with HDR and EIS. The camera array also has digital zoom, optical zoom, autofocus with touch and continuous options, laser autofocus, continuous shooting, geotagging, panorama, HDR, and face detection.

Software Experience

The device runs on Android 14, and is expected to receive updates up to Android 16. The specific features and customizations of the Asus UI are not detailed in these specifications.

Battery Performance

The Asus ROG Phone 8 is powered by a 5500 mAh Li-Polymer battery that is non-removable. It supports fast charging at 65W, although there is no mention of wireless charging capabilities.

Value for Money

The phone is categorized as a medium-priced device. Specifically, the 16GB/256GB variant has an approximate price of $799.99 in some regions and $1194.19 in others. This pricing positions the device as a premium phone, but not in the absolute highest price bracket.

Additional Points

• The device uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm) chipset with an Octa-core CPU and Adreno 750 GPU.
• It features 12GB or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, 256 GB UFS 4.0 storage and no SD card slot.
• Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 with aptX Adaptive and LDAC support, and a full suite of GNSS options.
• The phone has sensors including fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, and compass.
• It features DTS / DTS X Audio, stereo speakers, and 3 microphones.
• The device includes a cooling system and dedicated gaming buttons.
• The device has an AnTuTu v10 benchmark score of 2,020,000.
• It also features dual-SIM capability.