The ASUS ROG Phone III Review: A 144Hz 6000mAh Beast With Caveats
by Andrei Frumusanu on August 28, 2020 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Snapdragon 865
- ROG Phone III
Battery Life - The Best
The previous generation ROG Phones have impressed us a lot when it comes to their battery life, and that’s easily attributed to the massive 6000mAh battery that’s included in the 240g heavy phone.
The ROG Phone III this year doesn’t increase battery capacity, but does feature a more efficient SoC that should showcase even better results. The minor bump to 144Hz shouldn’t come with a notable power consumption increase.
As expected, the ROG Phone III is topping our battery life charts. At 60Hz refresh rate, the new phone slightly edges out the older ROG Phone II with an astounding 16.51h runtime.
Turning on the 144Hz refresh rate comes with a large 22% hit in battery life, but in absolute terms it still maintains an excellent 12.9h runtime, making this the longest-lasting phone amongst the 120Hz+ crowd.
In PCMark, the improved power efficiency of the new SoC is further exposed, with the newer generation having a bigger leap of the Snapdragon 855 ROG Phone II.
The absolute battery life runtimes here are outstanding.
Overall, there’s very little to say about the ROG Phone III’s battery life other than it being class-leading. There’s no other flagship device out there with such great battery life, as vendors only employ such huge battery capacities in lower-end devices. You have to pay the price in terms of device weight, but you’re also getting a lot in return.
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hansmuff - Saturday, August 29, 2020 - link
No Qi charging, yet again from a new ASUS phone. My LORD that shit has to be in any new phone that's over $200.juhatus - Sunday, August 30, 2020 - link
"It’s a pity that this is the only way to get audio out of the phone"Umm, doesn't it support Bluetooth-audio?
flyingpants265 - Sunday, August 30, 2020 - link
No front speakers = no buy.No 3.5mm = no buy, I'm not falling for a scam.
I didn't check, but no wireless charging/waterproofing = no buy.
Video/YouTube, music, and gaming necessitate front speakers. Otherwise, don't bother me. This should have been a standard feature even before wireless charging. These should all be standard features.
Lolimaster - Sunday, August 30, 2020 - link
Basically you're looking at the Xperia 1 MKII. Sadly Sony insist with that annoying extra wide design.19:9-19.5:9 is the limit for me.
Revv233 - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Same Sentiment here - if it was normal height I would already have it. Love that it even has a real finger reader still.V60 Same thought - I finally got to hold one this week and its mandatory 2 hands even before the case. Too bad because I love that DAC.
After years of wanting bigger screens MFG have shot well past the sweet spot. For whatever reason budget phones are the only ones with features customer wants... but then you give up the new SOC's.
I have s9+; decided to skip the S10 generation but having watched the market with a lot of anticipation this year I think it's the only option.
flyingpants265 - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
I prefer 17:9. Too tall and I cannot reach the top. If I can't reach notifications it's unusable.Lolimaster - Sunday, August 30, 2020 - link
In the end the + version are more or less a gimmick while also drawing a lot more power.In my samsung SD devices I'm happy with the 70% of soc speed in the energy saving options. All games at around 70-80% of max image quality + 30fps cap on intensive 3d content.
PeachNCream - Monday, August 31, 2020 - link
Gaming phone with no way to connect a 3.5mm set of headphones. Also that performance is pretty unimpressive for a design meant to cater to people that want to see the best results from their games. Not sure what Asus' folks are smoking, but it must be some good stuff.Notmyusualid - Monday, August 31, 2020 - link
No 3.5mm jack. Wow.Well, one year on with my ROG2, and I still don't have a single game on it. Tried a few initially, and then one-by-one, they all became 'sign in with an account', so I just removed them all.
It has been buggier than the Samsung's I've had to date. Noticably.
I ended up buying a beefier case for it, over the free one that shipped with it.
And some of the Chinese junk characters left behind (I never did get around to changing the ROM - something I normally do do) are annoying to see.
But the speakers are great, and the battery also. My reason for buying it.
And when replacement time comes, I can always find another phone with a 3.5mm jack, somewhere on the market. I'll vote with my feet.
NightShot - Friday, September 4, 2020 - link
This phone really is more appealing for normal use. Its rather conservative power management when outside of X Mode are the reason for its incredible battery life most likely. Thermals shouldn't be THAT much of a deal breaker as it is a gaming phone. It ships with a cooler. Why not use it when you're about to game? And as we have seen, it improves the experience. It respects the +10% performance boost claims as well. It is a phone that does what it was advertised for and nothing more. So it's fine to me.