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
Video Recording
Video recording on the ROG Phone III is interesting because it’s one of the newer phones which promise 8K recording capabilities. As the phone lacks OIS, it’ll be also interesting to see how the EIS is able to stabilise the video recording and how it holds up against the competition.
Starting off with 4K30 recording, the stabilisation employed by the phone is actually significantly better than I had expected and is able to produce an excellent result even without OIS.
4K30 on the ultra-wide gives a much better field of view and giving the EIS a better frame to be able to stabilise the video in, however the quality of the video isn’t too great as it’s lacking dynamic range – with the processing flattening highlights quite a lot.
4K60 is reserved just for the main camera, and the footage is very good, although again it’s visible how the HDR isn’t the best as we’re seeing highlights clip in and out. Overall, however, it offers excellent amounts of detail and smoothness.
8K30 is also limited to the main camera. Again, dynamic range is a weakness, however it’s one of the modes that allows for almost no quality loss when digitally zooming in. Notice the video noise when zoomed in in the video sample. The biggest issue I have with this mode is that it’s still pretty much a gimmick and not viable for every-day usage as bitrates come in at 105Mb/s and result in about 800MB of storage consumption per minute, and the phone does not have expandable storage.
Audio Evaluation
I’ve moved offices so I don’t have the same audio measurement setup to be able to showcase apples to apples measurement data, so I’ll keep my evaluation of the speakers on the ROG3 brief.
The stereo speakers of the phone are augmented by a speaker calibration by Dirac, allowing the phone to achieve actually quite impressive sound quality. The phone has quite deep bass, and the stereo balance of the two speakers is perfect given that we’re seen two identical driver setups.
Virtualisation of sound isn’t quite as good as some other devices out there, however the ROG Phone III makes up with a flatter sounding frequency response curve. It has better audio playback than Apple and Samsung devices, and edges out the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro as well as the device with the phone with the best audio playback on the market right now.
It’s just a pity the company had dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack – it would have otherwise been a complete winner in the audio department.
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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.