The Asus ROG Telephone collection has been receiving refined updates through the years. With gaming manufacturers resembling Nubia’s Redmagic and Black Shark leaving the Indian market way back, Asus’ ROG Telephone stays the final cellphone standing in terms of high-end, gaming smartphones. This additionally implies that Asus does probably not have any direct competitors in India and resulting from that, it may take its time refining its profitable components yr on yr, without having to make any drastic modifications with the intention to keep related.
The newest Asus ROG Phone 6 is not a giant leap over its predecessor, the Asus ROG Phone 5s. There are the same old performance-related enhancements that are anticipated from each new replace. There is a new processor, enhancements to the interior cooling system, and a brand new and an up to date cooling accent. Its design additionally stays much like the earlier mannequin, solely with a few modifications. However there’s additionally an improved digital camera setup, which may make it a premium all-rounder. This final bit is vital, on condition that the ROG Telephone 6 has seen a noticeable worth hike over the earlier mannequin.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 worth in India
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 is priced at Rs. 71,999 for the only 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration. It is out there in two finishes: Storm White and Phantom Black, and I acquired the latter for this assessment. There’s additionally an ROG Phone 6 Pro that is gone on sale for Rs. 89,999 however the one distinction between it and the 6 is a barely completely different again panel design with an further 2-inch OLED show and extra RAM (18GB) and storage (512GB). You’ll be able to learn our first impressions of it.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6’s price ticket is lots larger than the ROG Phone 5s which was priced at Rs. 57,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant, when launched final yr. The value of this yr’s base ROG Telephone 6 is definitely nearer to final yr’s Professional mannequin which was priced at Rs 79,999.
Mix this elevated price ticket with Asus’ delayed launch in India since the cellphone was announced in July 2022, and you may see the way it must be twice as interesting to its area of interest gamer viewers.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 design
A part of that attraction appears a bit misplaced this yr, with Asus recycling the identical design yr after yr. Asus retains taming the design of the ROG Telephone yearly, however this yr seems a bit completely different. The digital camera module across the again now protrudes a bit and is sort of massive in comparison with earlier units. There’s now two RGB components within the rear panel. Together with the same old “fearless eye” brand which has gotten the dot-matrix remedy (much like newer ROG-branded laptops), there’s now a second customisable RGB component underneath the “Dare to Play” slogan.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6’s Gorilla Glass Three rear panel remains to be a smudge magnet and the machine feels fairly chubby with a thickness of 10.3mm, and heavy at 239g (which is sort of near 1 / 4 of kilogram). The ROG Telephone 6 lastly will get an IPX4 ranking. That is good for serving to it survive towards splashes of water and this brings it a little bit nearer to turning into a correct premium flagship.
Nonetheless, it is nonetheless fairly massive and heavy for use as a every day driver in my view, even for those who account for its bigger than normal battery capability. Until you occur to have actually massive palms, the ROG Telephone 6 calls for correct, two-handed operation and I wasn’t capable of sit comfortably with it in my pants pocket. Even whereas enjoying video games, the cellphone feels a bit heavy to carry throughout prolonged periods.
I am not a fan of razor skinny bezels on a smartphone, however the chunky bezels on the high and backside of the show do seem fairly dated for a smartphone launched in 2022. I’d have most well-liked barely slimmer ones that may have made the machine look a bit extra fashionable. Redmagic’s 7S Pro certain seems to be lots slicker as compared with its thinner bezels and the hidden selfie digital camera (like on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4), which makes for a distraction-free show.
The thick bezels on the Asus ROG Telephone 6 do conceal the big audio system and so, they have a purpose to be there, however it certain takes away from the attraction of the smartphone. Actually, a clear bezel exposing the {hardware} under would have undoubtedly regarded lots cooler than the thick black bands at every finish.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 specs and software program
The processor within the Asus ROG Telephone 6 will get upgraded from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ within the ROG Telephone 5s to the newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Whereas the SoC is pretty new, the delayed launch of the ROG Telephone 6 in India may even see just a few patrons holding again their buy till the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC begins exhibiting up on premium smartphones, a few of that are anticipated to reach as early as the top of this yr.
The ROG Telephone 6 provides LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage which is the perfect you could get on a premium machine. Communication requirements embody assist for a number of 5G bands, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and two USB-Kind C ports. There isn’t a devoted slot for a microSD card however the built-in 256GB of storage ought to be ample. The cellphone is powered by a 6,000mAh battery and comes with a 30W charger within the field in India. The cellphone does assist as much as 65W quick charging, however that charger is bought individually.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 runs Android 12 which has overlays of the model’s ROG UI and Zen UI. The interface seems usually Asus with ROG UI components used within the Armoury Crate app, which is the place all of the gaming-specific {hardware} changes could be made. Tinkerers will love this since you are able to do something from alter the contact sensitivity of the show to tweak the battery efficiency modes. Whereas the Armoury Crate app seems the identical as earlier than, the Sport Genie slide-out dashboard has seen an overhaul of types.
A swipe from the top-left nook of the show whereas in a sport offers you entry to this dashboard, which helps you to change efficiency modes on the fly and even allows you to activate some game-specific settings. Whereas the format now pops up from the underside and is far wider, there are nonetheless some choices or toggles hidden in some scrollable menus, which I didn’t learn about till I unintentionally swiped over them.
As for the common Android software program interface, every part is the place it ought to be and runs fairly fluidly regardless of what number of apps or video games have been opened within the background. The dearth of Android 13 on a smartphone launched in direction of the top of 2022 stands out like a sore thumb when in comparison with different flagships at this worth level. Asus didn’t remark about when the replace to Android 13 can be out there both.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 efficiency
As anticipated, the Asus ROG Telephone 6 carried out very well in benchmarks and simply takes down most high-end Android premium flagships. When working most benchmarking apps, the cellphone forcibly used X Mode, however I managed to get common scores as nicely. AnTuTu solely ran in X Mode and returned a rating of 10,83,480, which is the very best we now have seen among the many Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 units we now have reviewed. The cellphone managed 1,220 and three,719 factors in Geekbench’s single and multi-core assessments respectively when examined with out X Mode, and 1,325 and 4,284 when examined with X Mode. Different assessments additionally confirmed a noticeable improve in scores (or efficiency) when examined with X Mode.
The cellphone’s 6.78-inch AMOLED show is a tiny bit smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely’s panel, however due to the thick bezels, it feels lots greater. It produces barely saturated colors within the default color mode, however could be adjusted to a person’s preferences in Show Settings. It helps the HDR10+ certification which is out there in streaming apps resembling Netflix and Youtube.
The 165Hz refresh price made the software program expertise seem fairly fluid however this panel is not of the LTPO selection. It could possibly nonetheless change between 60Hz, 90Hz,120Hz,144Hz, and 165Hz relying on the applying in use. Nonetheless when it comes to video games, I not often got here throughout a title (even from Asus’s 165Hz library) which managed to cross 144fps. Hottest video games managed 120fps with no issues.
As for video games themselves, they ran flawlessly and not using a hiccup on the Asus ROG Telephone 6. The cellphone did get sizzling across the again however the warmth is evenly distributed so it didn’t really feel too sizzling to carry. The show provides as much as a 720Hz contact sampling price. With X-mode on, I managed to tweak the display’s contact sampling price to the very best doable worth and the outcomes had been spectacular when enjoying FPS titles resembling Name of Responsibility: Cell.
Asus despatched throughout the Aeroactive Cooler 6 and I used to be fairly excited to strive it out. In concept, it is a powerful piece of equipment, with a peltier cooling setup present in some smaller fridges. In fact, the know-how has been miniaturised to ship higher effectivity, however throughout my testing it did let me run Genshin Affect on the highest doable settings and the cellphone was lots cooler than some other premium flagship that I’ve used.
This cooler has 4 further buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2) that may be mapped to varied features inside video games. Nonetheless, the thickness of the brand new cooler makes them fairly laborious to succeed in, particularly once I wished to make use of the built-in AirTriggers on the cellphone, together with the cooler buttons. Upon utilizing the buttons I additionally seen that the cooler would randomly disconnect, which made it a giant downside when enjoying aggressive video games. It is not simply the cooling that stops, however the buttons additionally change into inactive throughout gameplay. It is doable this was a difficulty with simply my accent, so I will give Asus the good thing about doubt right here.
I additionally discovered the construct high quality of the cooler to be an issue, on condition that this accent will set you again by a further Rs. 5,999. One of many buttons popped out throughout the assessment interval and the fold-out kickstand additionally appeared fairly flimsy and felt prefer it may break with a little bit strain. I’d undoubtedly suggest utilizing simply the Kunai Gamepad accent for higher controls, however the cooler is a must have to maintain the machine working cool when enjoying demanding video games at maxed-out graphics and {hardware} settings.
The 2 audio system on both aspect of the Asus ROG Telephone 6 are presumably the perfect I’ve heard on a smartphone. Asus claims to have added extra cubic house to ship higher bass, and I can affirm that it is doing its job fairly nicely. There’s additionally a 3.5mm headphone jack for individuals who wish to plug in whereas gaming.
The cellphone’s huge battery simply gave me about two days of informal use with some gaming periods and digital camera utilization. Prolonged gaming periods and the usage of the brand new cooler did drain the battery quicker (a 10 % drop as a substitute of 5 %, each 15 minutes). Our HD video loop battery check managed a powerful 17 hours and 41 minutes of runtime with the show’s refresh price set to 165Hz.
Charging the cellphone is surprisingly fast when utilizing the bundled 30W charger. The cellphone costs to 44 % in 30 minutes and completes the cost in about 1 hour, 7 minutes, which is spectacular. Asus additionally provides a bypass charging mode that may maintain the cellphone powered immediately through the adapter so as to cut back warmth whereas enjoying demanding video games. This mode could be activated within the Sport Genie dashboard.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 cameras
Asus has upgraded the cameras on the ROG Telephone 6 this yr. There’s now a Sony IMX766 50-megapixel main digital camera which surprisingly lacks optical stabilisation (OIS), a brighter 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle digital camera with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 5-megapixel macro digital camera. Selfies are dealt with by a 12-megapixel digital camera. The digital camera interface is often Asus and Zen UI with all the mandatory controls inside attain and customisable digital camera modes. Video recording high quality maxes out at 8K 24fps and the cellphone can even file HDR video.
Daylight pictures utilizing the first digital camera had good particulars and sharpness. Dynamic vary was good as nicely so that you get loads of element within the shadows. Colors weren’t overdone however fairly correct. There was loads of element in close-ups as nicely. The macro digital camera did a median job with particulars and dynamic vary. The ultra-wide-angle digital camera additionally captured some high quality pictures with barely much less element in comparison with the first, however had been fairly good on their very own. Barrel-distortion was dealt with nicely, however there was minor purple fringing round brightly lit-up objects. What I actually appreciated is that each cameras managed to ship a stage of consistency with comparable color tones, which I didn’t anticipate from a gaming smartphone.
In low mild, the first digital camera continued to impress with good particulars and dynamic vary in street-lit circumstances. Issues started to crop up once I pointed it at darker and dimmer areas. The Evening mode is triggered routinely in most circumstances, however there have been situations when the cellphone indicated that it might take a 3 second auto-night-mode publicity, however snapped an everyday photograph with much less element and dynamic vary. The dearth of (OIS) could be felt right here as the pictures flip out trying a bit gentle with smudged textures even after firing up the devoted Evening mode.
Selfies in daylight utilizing the Portrait mode regarded spectacular, with good dynamic vary and glorious edge detection. Nonetheless, it captures fairly common trying pictures in low mild.
Video recording high quality is nice in daylight and showcases good stabilisation even at 4K decision. Whereas 4K video recordings hit the candy spot with element, sharpness and dynamic vary, they’ve some abnormally saturated color tones, which just about seem as if a vivid filter has been utilized. Whereas HDR video recordings managed to carry out much more element within the darker areas, the standard was not good and the colors appeared irregular at finest. 8K video recordings weren’t usable as they had been too uneven because of the decrease body price. Video high quality in low mild is much from the perfect I’ve seen at this worth level. with footage having much less element, extra noise, and seem fairly gentle basically.
Verdict
With anticipated upgrades in terms of gaming, Asus did shock me with a high quality main digital camera this yr within the ROG Telephone 6. It provides good efficiency in daylight and has first rate low-light high quality which is uncommon in terms of gaming smartphones.
To a gamer who’s principal precedence is enjoying video games together with having glorious battery life, this may be sufficient. To an everyday shopper, the digital camera efficiency is not the perfect when in comparison with equally priced flagships such because the Vivo X80 Pro (Review). This cellphone too has good gaming efficiency (minus the frills of the ROG in fact), shoots glorious pictures and is much more pocketable regardless of having a big show. It additionally will get you an IP68 ranking.
Whereas the cellphone is not going to attraction to informal avid gamers and common patrons, the Asus ROG Telephone 6 remains to be the one cellphone out there to supply this stage of {hardware} and software program customisation, which solely skilled avid gamers will admire. Get one if you’re dead-serious about cell gaming and do not thoughts lugging this cellphone round. For many who nonetheless need a premium gaming smartphone however do not need to spend as a lot, final yr’s Asus ROG Phone 5s from Rs. 49,999 remains to be a good selection.
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