Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro Review – Screen Queen

Picture the scene: You’re due for a phone upgrade and you’re perusing the digital aisles, looking for a new device that can hopefully stand the test of time without being left behind in the smartphone arms race within two months of you buying it. So what do you see? Apple and Samsung are usually the go-to choices for expensive devices that you can ignore phone calls from your mom on, and if you don’t mind the lingering effects of Trump-era politics, then a Huawei phone isn’t too shabby either.

But what if you’re looking to not only make calls but wrap your hands around a frame that you can bust out a few rounds of Apex Legends Mobile or play a few hands of Marvel Snap on? That’s where Asus enters the scene–yes that Asus–with its signature offering in this space, the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro. A smartphone designed to pack a punch in the gaming space, provide all the usual functions you’d need with an everyday device, and offer a few ostentatious extras, this piece of hardware more than delivers on that promise.

Provided that you can afford it, that is.

The ROG Phone 6 Pro looks like your typical smartphone out of the box. A 6.78-inch AMOLED screen strikes a standard appearance, but flip the phone around and you’re getting a look at a gorgeous rear that has a unique party trick: A tiny OLED screen that can be customized to display messages and provide other helpful info. Is it essential tech? Not really. Is it cool to see a phone sporting extra hardware that makes it look like a Cyberpunk 2077 prop? Absolutely.

The rest of the phone feels reassuringly solid as well, with a proper emphasis on ergonomics here. If you’re going to be cradling a slab of cutting-edge tech, you’re going to want something that feels comfortable to hold for a while, something the ROG Phone 6 excels at with its excellent ergonomics. The rest of the layout is packed with everything else that you’d need, such as a dual SIM card tray, rear camera, and a bright red power button that stands out nicely.

Once you hit that metallic red button and power up this Gundam-styled frame, your eyes are hit with the full force of a 2,448 x 1,080 resolution that’s running at a 165Hz refresh rate. That bright screen is powered by two 3,000mAh batteries that have quick-charging functionality, and you’ll find two charging ports on the phone. One is located in the standard position at the bottom of the device, while the second USB-C port can be found in the middle and on the left. Perfect for when you need to get some Genshin Impact time in and charge your device while not worrying about a cable interfering with your hand movements.

To complete the gaming setup, there’s even a pair of touch-sensitive shoulder buttons on the right side of the phone, although if you really want to feel like you’re playing with an Asus-branded Switch console here, there is a dedicated controller cradle that can be purchased separately.

That’s a lot of gear that’s dedicated just for mobile gaming, so what’s the ROG Phone 6 actually like on this front? With some astonishing internal tech–512GB of lightning-quick UFS 3.1 storage, a Snapdragon 8.1 chipset, and a mind-boggling 18GB of RAM–this phone effortlessly plays anything that you throw at it. Turning up the performance to 11 with just about every game that I could download from my Netflix library and freebies such as Apex Legends Mobile, the phone looked and felt great when demanding games were being run on it.

It’s worth noting that no amount of future-proofing can stop this phone from getting hot under the collar though, so don’t be surprised if your hands start to feel toasty after you’ve just clinched an Apex victory while running your latest battle royale match with all the graphical settings pumped to the ultra-max. Not so great when you’re looking to avoid grilling your palms, but possibly a silver lining when winter rolls around.

On the plus side, the chunky battery means that you’ll be playing all day, connectivity is hardly a problem thanks to the one-two punch of 5G and Wi-Fi 6E support, and the shoulder buttons do an admirable job of providing some extra input.

While mobile gaming is the main event with the RPG Phone 6, that’s not all it can do. A smartphone in the current age of communication needs to be able to help you send a visual message, which is why cameras play such a vital role in the design of these devices. For the ROG Phone 6, there’s a quartet of devices with which to start snapping away with, with the primary rear cameras being a combo of 50MP wide, 13MP Ultrawide, and 5MP macro lenses. A front-facing 12MP selfie camera rounds out the lot, with the images taken being…just fine.

If you’re primarily browsing on smaller screens, then the ROG Phone 6’s cameras will do a more than decent job at capturing a sharp and colorful image provided that the lighting around your subject is decent. It’s a pretty good image overall, but with mobile devices quickly reaching the ceiling for what’s possible through them in terms of photography, there’s nothing here that’s truly exceptional to gaze at either. If you take a magnifying lens to your images, you’ll notice slightly noisy picture quality, inconsistent autofocus, and over-saturated color reproduction.

The Ultrawide and macro lenses amplify these faults, but for quick social media posts where you show off your lunch, you can overlook these issues. The selfie camera feels more well-designed in comparison, as that lens manages to capture a surprisingly great image that falls into the Goldilocks zone for color, clarity, and picture sharpness. If video is something else that you’re a fan of, you’ll be able to take some adequate 4K 60FPS content on the ROG Phone 6, and if you’re feeling especially brave, 8K video at 24FPS.

Running all of this gear is a fusion of Android 12 with ROG UI and Zen UI, and Asus makes a big deal of its installed Armoury Crate App which can unlock an X-mode for X-treme and x-tra gaming performance. Using the Asus software will allow for more customization, but the process for doing so is unintuitive and is in desperate need of an overhaul to make the entire setup more streamlined. This isn’t the first software rodeo for Asus, and by now, you’d expect the company to have a firmer grasp of its software so that it can more easily gel with its impressive hardware.

Pricing is of course another issue here. Relatively speaking, the recommended retail price of R23,000 isn’t bad when compared to similar devices such as an iPhone 14 Pro or Samsung’s latest tech, but that’s not exactly chump change either. But for that price tag, you’re getting a phone that knows exactly what it wants to be. It’s a handsome device with an unmistakable Asus flair, although it falls short in other vital areas that competitors such as Samsung and Apple excel in. It’s not a Jack-of-all-trades, but it is a heavyweight contender in the gaming ring.