Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: a gaming smartphone that doesn't forget that it's also a phone
The ROG Phone 8 Pro is something different. Asus' range of gaming smartphones always surprises with its distinctive style that traditionally appeals to gamers. Still, this year's ROG Phone 8 series sports a more conventional design. The spaceship-like white finishes of the ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 7 have disappeared in favor of an understated matte black look.
Its 6.7-inch screen is no longer topped by the frame that housed the front camera. The latter now takes place in a punch, like on most Android smartphones.
The secondary color screen has given way to a mini-LED screen which still attracts attention and is even more striking on the Pro model.
The result is a phone reminiscent of the black version of the Nothing Phone 2, with the gaming capabilities of previous ROG Phones, plus the specs and $1,200 price tag of high-end Android smartphones. The version we tested is the Pro Edition model with 24 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage. It costs 1,499 euros.
This setup makes for easy multitasking, which in our testing meant switching between Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , Dead Cells , and texting while waiting to access GeForce Now for cloud gaming.
photo credit: © Carly Marsh/CNETThe LED display on the ROG Phone 8 Pro
In use, the ROG Phone 8 Pro very quickly reveals its gaming vocation. Unlike other phones in this price range, it comes with a headphone jack. It also offers two USB-C ports, one on the bottom and another on the left side, for two different accessories or to charge the device more easily by holding it horizontally. This is especially convenient for plugging in an Xbox controller while charging.
This side USB-C port also allows you to connect the AeroActive Cooler X ventilation accessory which cools the exterior of the smartphone. The ROG Phone 8 Pro is IP68 certified, which protects it against splashing water and dust.
The Phone 8 Pro does quite well on the photo and video side, supported by artificial intelligence powered by its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. The other ways in which the Phone 8 Pro takes advantage of AI are more subtle . These include the ability to perform contextual searches on the device, noise reduction during calls, and text recognition in games.
The AI features are nice and certainly useful, but nowhere near the level of photo manipulation we see on Google's Pixel 8.
Despite this more modest approach to AI, the ROG Phone 8 Pro remains a powerful beast with its latest generation processor, very generous storage, and plenty of memory. And it's the only premium phone that offers as many ports as a MacBook Air.
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro: design, OS, gameplay
While at first glance the ROG Phone 8 Pro looks like any other large black phone, Asus spices it up with some stylish flourishes, including a new animated mini-LED display on the back. On the back of the smartphone are printed the Republic of Gamers logo, the motto “Dare to Win” and a message “Est. 2006” as if they were a pair of Levi’s jeans. A prominent module houses the triple-lens camera.
The mini LED display alternates between displaying the time, battery level, and ROG logo. It can also display the camera icon when you take a photo, a music player when you listen to music or personalized animations to configure in the settings. The screen can be completely deactivated if necessary.
The 6.78-inch display has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor. By default, the screen operates at an adaptive refresh rate between 1 and 120 Hz, but it is possible to run it constantly at 165 Hz. Its touch sampling rate is 720 Hz, ROG Phone 7 from l last year, for better responsiveness.
Both of these features came in handy when we played Dead Cells , as the game supports a higher frame rate and dungeon fights were easier thanks to this responsive rate. The Phone 8 Pro also includes AirTriggers sensors, which can be programmed as shoulder buttons when holding the phone horizontally. Touchscreen responsiveness is sufficient for fast-paced gaming.
Like other gaming phones, the Phone 8 Pro gets hot when playing games with high graphics and refresh rates. Although Asus says the phone now uses conduction cooling to dissipate heat, we noted that the back was noticeably warm to the touch. A case should help alleviate this, as will the AeroActive X cooler mentioned above.
Asus has carried over other gaming-focused features from previous years, including a Background mode that keeps an app active even if the screen is off, an in-game dashboard for quickly accessing settings, the ability to customize settings for particular games and the new AI-grabber feature which allows text to be scanned within a game. Asus suggests this feature could be useful for quickly copying and pasting terms to search for guides on the web.
The ROG Phone 8 Pro has a 5,500mAh battery. While the 6,000 mAh of the ROG Phone 7 easily allowed us to last two days of use, the results with the ROG Phone 8 Pro are more mixed.
On heavy use days, running GeForce Now in the background for several hours while performing other tasks and playing locally stored games, we drained the battery by up to 20% by the end of the daytime. With less demanding usage, which included an hour of gaming and miscellaneous tasks like calls, texts, and music, we were able to achieve two days of use on a single charge.
The phone comes with a 65-watt charger and it is compatible with 15-watt wireless charging. In our wired charging test, the battery went from 0 to 69% in 30 minutes. The 30-minute wireless charging test took the battery from 0% to 69%.
The ROG Phone 8 Pro runs Android 14, and Asus plans to deliver two years of major software updates and four years of security updates. Although it's the same timeline as last year, Google's Pixel 8 series now includes seven years of software and security updates. As a result, the update schedule for the ROG Phone 8 Pro becomes quite short given its price. However, this is a very expensive smartphone that some customers might want to use as long as possible.
The cameras of the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro takes good photos for a gaming phone. It has a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle, and a 32-megapixel telephoto lens. The whole thing is capable of fetching a lot of colors and details, undoubtedly helped by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 which is working behind the scenes.
This photo of a shrimp and avocado salad captures the shimmer of the vinaigrette, while shots of a wall of grass capture many shades of green.
The 32-megapixel front camera takes decent photos and does the job for video calls.
We took comparison photos with the RedMagic 9 Pro, which also runs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and has a 50-megapixel main sensor. They are more colorful and detailed than those of the ROG Phone 8 Pro.
photo credit: © Mike Sorrentino/CNETPhoto taken with ROG Phone 8 Pro
photo credit: © Mike Sorrentino/CNETPhoto taken with the RedMagic 9 Pro
photo credit: © Mike Sorrentino/CNETphoto with the 3x zoom of the ROG Phone 8 Pro
photo credit: © Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe 3x zoom of the RedMagic 9 Pro
Both phones did a good job of illuminating CNET's TV lab, which is a dimly lit area when all of our blackout curtains are installed.
When pointing the lenses towards a black area, which is particularly demanding, the Asus is able to reduce image noise and discern at least some details. The RedMagic fares significantly less well.
photo credit: © Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro's night mode in a virtually lightless corner.
photo credit: © Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe RedMagic 9 Pro created a lot of image noise when trying to photograph the same extremely dark space.
We haven't tested the RedMagic 9 Pro yet, but it's important to note that its starting price is much lower (649 euros).
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro can shoot 8K at 24 frames per second, as well as 4K at 60 frames per second. Video quality is decent for a gaming phone. Asus includes a stabilizer in its camera which, according to the brand, is used for both photography and videos.
Conclusion: our opinion on the ROG Phone 8 Pro
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is an expensive phone. Only the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max come close to this elite price. But if you're looking for a gaming powerhouse that's still a stylish phone, it's priced on par with other high-end phones with 512GB of storage. It's even better if you're looking for a powerful multimedia-focused phone, thanks to its high-resolution screen, connectivity, fast charging and headphone jack.
For those who don't need a gaming-oriented phone, it's better to wait and see what Samsung offers with the Galaxy S24 and OnePlus with the OnePlus 12.
ROG fans and those attracted to gaming smartphones will find plenty to enjoy with the Phone 8 Pro. Its lighter design, which allows it to behave more like a standard phone, will make it that much more usable.
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