If one hyped smartphone launch wasn’t enough this week, Asus has taken the wraps off its next-gen Gaming smartphone, the ROG Phone 3. Design-wise the Asus ROG Phone 3 looks a lot like its predecessor the ROG Phone 2. The smartphone comes with a lot of hardware-level upgrades including the next-gen Air Triggers, heat-dissipating System, and much more.
The Asus ROG Phone 3 is the first smartphone that comes equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ SoC. The smartphone also packs a huge 6,000mAh battery.
Asus ROG Phone 3 Specifications and Features
Design & Display
Asus ROG Phone 3 carries forward the same design philosophy as its predecessor. The Smartphone still have tiny bezels, both at the top and bottom on the front, but they’re deemed essential for a fulfilling gaming experience. The bezels help to avoid unintentional touches while playing, which is great, but the biggest benefit is that it houses the dual front-firing speakers.
Overall, the design of the ROG Phone 3 looks a lot sleeker and polished. The iridescent lines, angular camera module, and the heat vent helps complete the gaming phone look. The ROG Phone 3 has a triple camera setup, an RGB-lit ROG logo, and Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the rear.
At the front, Asus ROG Phone 3 comes with a 6.59-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,340 pixels) AMOLED display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 144Hz/1ms refresh rate, and a 270Hz touch response rate. To achieve 25 ms touch latency (270 Hz touch sampling rate), Asus has reworked Android’s internals. The ROG Phone 3’s Panel also comes with 10-bit HDR10+ certification, 113% DCI-P3 wide color gamut, and can reach up to 1000 nits of peak brightness.
The ROG Phone 3’s display comes with a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection along with a TUV Low Blue Light Solution and a Flicker Reduction Certified Technology for eye comfort.
Camera
The Asus ROG Phone 3 features a triple camera array at the rear with a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 primary sensor with an f/1.8 lens. There’s a 13-megapixel (f/2.5) ultra-wide sensor with a 125-degree FOV and a 5-megapixel macro sensor onboard as well.
The ROG Phone 3 supports up to 8K video recording, 4K slow-mo video recording, and a Pro mode. Though the ROG Phone 3 is a Gaming-focused smartphone, we can expect the cameras aboard the ROG Phone 3 to be pretty decent. For selfies, there’s a 24-megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 lens. The front-facing camera is capable of recording up to 1080p videos.
Performance and Battery
The Asus ROG Phone 3 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ SoC paired with Adreno 650 GPU and up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM. The ROG Phone 3 is the first smartphone that comes equipped with the slightly overclocked version of the recently launched flagship chipset.
Asus has provided up to 256GB of onboard UFS 3.1 storage which isn’t expandable via MicroSD Card. However, the phone does have NTFS support for external USB hard drives. The ROG Phone 3 comes with the 3rd-gen GameCool system.
The GameCool 3 System comes with a 6x larger heatsink, a redesigned Copper 3D vapor chamber, and a larger graphite film. Asus said that the new GameCool 3 System will help keep the temperature of the phone low, redesigned Copper 3D vapor chamber, and a larger graphite film, as per the official press release. Asus states that its thermal system will help keep the temperature in check, offering a stable gaming experience.
The ROG Phone 3 also comes with the updated ultrasonic shoulder buttons with new motion tracking gestures. First seen in ROG Phone 2, the new Air Triggers 3 now also supports “swiping” and “dual partition” functions. The Swiping function lets you swipe right or left on both the Air Triggers which can be used to perform 2 additional actions.
You also have an option to virtually divide each Air trigger into two buttons which can be used to perform different actions. Asus has also given an option to decide the length of both sides of the Air Trigger when dividing it into two. The former is surely going to come in handy for quickly popping a bandage or medkit in a PUBG fight.
Also, Asus continues to offer additional ports on the edge of the ROG Phone 3. It includes a side-mounted USB Type-C port, as usual, to connect accessories and the charging cable when you use the phone in landscape mode.
The ROG Phone 3 houses dual, front-facing speakers powered by ROG GameFX and Dirac HD Sound technologies. There is also Hi-Res audio support. Additionally, the handset has quad microphones with Asus Noise Reduction technology.
The ROG Phone 3 packs a massive 6,000mAh battery, which is the main attraction of the ROG Phone 3, especially for the hardcore gamers. The phone also supports up to 30W fast-charging, which Asus boasts can juice up 75 percent (around 4,510mAh) battery in just 46 minutes. One thing to note here is that the smartphone misses out a 3.5mm audio jack. However, Asus has bundled a USB Type-C to 3.5mm audio jack converter in the box.
Asus has also bundled AeroActive Cooler 3 with ROG Phone 3 which not only brings back the 3.5mm jack but also further lower the temperature by 4℃.
Connectivity Options
Connectivity options include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.1, GPS/ A-GPS/ NavIC, USB Type-C, and a 48-pin side port. Sensors on the phone include accelerometer, ambient light, gyroscope, magnetometer, and a proximity sensor. There is also an in-display fingerprint sensor. Further, the phone includes ultrasonic sensors for the AirTrigger 3 and grip press features. Besides, the new phone measures 171x78x9.85mm and weigh 240 grams.
Price and Availability
The ROG Phone 3 is available in two Configurations in India – 8GB of RAM with 128GB of onboard storage which comes with a price tag of INR 49,999 and 12GB of RAM with 256GB of onboard storage that is priced at INR 57,999.
Asus has yet to reveal the Global availability of the ROG Phone 3. However, we do know that the gaming phone will retail in Europe starting at €999. The base variant comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB onboard storage. There is another variant with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage which comes with a price tag of €1,099 in Europe.
There will also be a Strix Edition of the ROG Phone 3 which will come with the Snapdragon 865, the non-plus variant of the SoC. The ROG Phone 3 Strix Edition will cost €799 in Europe and will come with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. As of now, there’s no word regarding the availability of the ROG Phone 3 in Europe.
However, the ROG Phone 3 will be available in India starting from August 6 at 12am IST. The smartphone will be available to purchase from Flipkart. The retail package of the ROG Phone 3 comes bundled with an Aero case, though the top-end variant also includes the AeroActive Cooler 3 accessory.
Alongside the ROG Phone 3, Asus has brought a ROG Kunai 3 Gamepad at INR 9,999, TwinView Dock 3 at INR 19,999, Mobile Desktop Dock 2 at INR 12,999, a Neon Aero Case at INR 1,999, and a Lightning Armor Case at INR 2,999. The company has also launched a ROG Clip that lets you connect the phone to a PlayStation 4, Xbox, or Stadia controller at a price tag of INR 1,999. The ROG Cetra Headset was launched at INR 7,699, the ROG Cetra Core at INR 3,999, and the AeroActive Cooler at INR 2,999.
