Saving up for a phone powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 3? Seek no more because this ASUS gaming handset could be the one for you.
The ASUS ROG Phone 8 is at the top of the food chain. It can even match other premium flagships, thanks to its chipset. Power-wise, this phone comes with a big battery and a special function to turn it into a console-like device.
But can ASUS ROG Phone 8 blow away the competition? Will this unleash the inner gamer in you?
Performance
Qualcomm’s current flagship SoC, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Adreno 750, is powering the ASUS ROG Phone 8. This chipset can handle every single game on the Play Store without issues, unless a specific game is poorly written or not yet optimized.
With so much processing power, we expected the phone to handle max graphics quality, highest frame rates, and extras, such as shadows, anti-aliasing, and bloom.
On Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, ASUS ROG Phone 8 handled the game easy-peasy at the maximum graphics and refresh rate possible. Everything looks responsive and if there were minor lags or stutters, we couldn’t spot them.
On Call of Duty Mobile, ASUS ROG Phone 8 suffered zero difficulties as well. This gaming phone ran the game at the highest graphics quality and refresh rate. It shouldn’t be a surprise because it’s powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
On Genshin Impact, the gaming phone breezed through Tevyat without stuttering. ASUS ROG Phone 8’s performance didn’t wane even at max graphics quality and FPS during combat where special effects literally fly everywhere. The colors and visual renders are accurate and crisp as well.
MIR4 is a very demanding game if you set the graphics quality to the max. But that’s how it should be since it renders PC-like texture and VFX.
So, we loaded that on ASUS ROG Phone 8 and the game world was rendered like from a PC. Cutscenes, combat animations, and landscapes will satiate your visual hunger.
Thermal
Heat is the enemy of every phone but it’s the nemesis of high-performance chipsets. ASUS added the newly improved 360° SoC Cooling System Gen 2 – 22% better than the previous version.
This passive cooling system lets the heat travel to a graphite sheet, a rapid-cooling conductor, boron nitride, a vapor chamber, and another graphite sheet.
The ASUS ROG Phone 8 also supports an active cooling system, albeit with an accessory called AeroActive Cooler X. See that USB-C port at the left side of the phone? That’s where you’ll attach the cooler.
That said, how did the ASUS ROG Phone 8 handle the heating on the four games mentioned?
| Gaming Title | Baseline Temperature | Temperature at 30 Minutes | Difference |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 33° Celsius | 38.4° Celsius | 5.4° Celsius |
| Call of Duty Mobile | 34.4° Celsius | 40.4° Celsius | 6° Celsius |
| Genshin Impact | 33.5° Celsius | 39.8° Celsius | 6.3° Celsius |
| MIR4 | 33.2 degrees Celsius | 38.1° Celsius | 4.9° Celsius |
ASUS ROG Phone 8 ran these games for 30 minutes just with its passive cooling system. Considering its chipset, getting 40 degrees Celsius tops with the graphics at max is impressive.
Battery
A 5500mAh battery keeps the ASUS ROG Phone 8 going for the entire day. If you want to juice it up quickly, you can with the 65W wired fast-charging via HyperCharge technology.
If you need some flexibility during charging, you can with the 15W wireless charging. But if you want uninterrupted gaming, you should enable the phone’s bypass charging.
This mode lets the device directly draw power from the main power supply, instead of the battery.
So, without bypass charging, how much battery level was consumed during gaming?
| Gaming Title | Baseline Battery | Battery at 30 Minutes | Difference |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 53% | 43% | 10% |
| Call of Duty Mobile | 42% | 29% | 13% |
| Genshin Impact | 80% | 66% | 14% |
| MIR4 | 63% | 54% | 9% |
Battery consumption is affected by many factors, including refresh rate, brightness level, and display resolution. This means you can extend gaming on battery on ASUS ROG Phone 8 by lowering some elements, such as brightness and refresh rate, without cutting down on texture, shadow, and VFX.
Don’t forget that ASUS ROG Phone 8 has up to 165Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 2500 nits. These two need additional power for that top-notch visual experience.
Extra Features
ASUS introduced a plethora of experience boosters on ROG Phone 8. The following are designed for gaming convenience, multitasking, and more:
| Features | Description |
| X Sense 2.0 | Detects key events, collects items, starts conversations, etc., in-game. |
| X Capture | Captures your greatest moments, like winning a match or knocking out several enemies. |
| Background Mode | Runs the game in the background without pausing or killing the game. Works best when AFKing or auto-combat. |
| AI Grabber | Grabs keywords in dialogues and conversations for easy online searching. |
| Vibration Mapping | Lets you modify the haptic feedback level on each virtual button on the screen. |
| Dirac Virtuo | Brings spatial sound on all types of headphones, wired or wireless |
| AI Noise Cancellation | Reduces unwanted background noise. |
| Qualcomm aptX adaptive and aptX Lossless | Supports super low latency high-fidelity Bluetooth audio. |
Suggestions to Make This Even Better
ASUS ROG Phone 8 has performance, tanky battery, direct power input for extended plays, very high refresh rates, and even three cameras at the back. But we found two things that ASUS may want to consider on the next version:
- Higher Display Resolution: ASUS ROG Phone 9 should get at least 1.5K max resolution.
- Under-Display Selfie Camera: The punch hole selfie camera design is still mainstream but under-display is a whole new level.
Final Words
The ASUS ROG Phone 8 is ready to take your gaming experience to the skies and beyond. It’s packed with features and tools for any scenario, even outside gaming.
It’s also prepped to give you a console-like experience for as long as you want, with bypass charging and gaming accessories. The phone can take you to the amazing world of cinema as well, thanks to its clear display and amazing audio.
If a certified gaming phone is your goal this year, ASUS ROG Phone 8 is a must on your list.
