Asus ROG Phone 3: We go hands-on with the most powerful Android phone

This is the Asus ROG 3. It's the most powerful Android phone that we've ever tested. And of course shatters many of the features we'll see on Android Smartphones in 2021. [MUSIC] I should say up front that this video isn't a full review, but rather an in depth hands on. Asus lent us a preproduction ROG 3 with preproduction software. In fact, the final software is due out on the same day this video comes out. That said, there's a lot to talk about. Let's start with those specks. A snapdragon 865 plus processor, 16GB of ram, a 6,000 MAH battery. In 6.59 inch AMOLED display with 144 hertz refresh rate, a triple rear camera with a 64 megapixel main camera 8k video, five v mid band support, blah. It's got all the specs and all of them are impressive, but perhaps the most impressive thing assisted was to make the new RG three Exactly the same size and shape as last year's ROG 2. Meaning it can take full advantage all the numerous accessories as soon as makes for the ROG phones. This also means that the ROG three is the same chunky behemoth when it comes to using it. It weighs over half a pound which if you're a smartphone lover, just stay away it's gonna horrify you, but that heft feels good, especially when I'm playing games. Now there are some differences in the bodies are the RG three and RG two. Namely, there's no headphone jack on the RG three unless you use the fan attachment. Also it has a bigger camera bump stylize the RG three looks sleek, even a touch understated compared to the RG to the copper heatsink sits down under a transparent sliver. Of Gorilla Glass three on the back. It's kind of like how Lamborghini uses a glass cover over their engines. But let's talk about what you really care about which is performance and that's where the RG three leaves all other Android phones in the dust. The combination of the 865 plus processor 16 gigabytes of RAM though there is a 12 gigabyte version two, and you Fs 3.1 storage makes this an absolute performance monster. When I put the phone into Xcode, it's not only faster than every android phone we've tested this year. I can honestly use it for long periods of time for gaming without that performance dipping. And when I'm not gaming apps open up fast animations are buttery smooth and you add all this together with that 144 hertz refresh rate screen. Everything about this phone makes the rest of my world seems slow. The RG three is peppy and fast and it's absolutely addictive having this kind of performance in my fingertips. [BLANK AUDIO] But let's go back to that 144 hertz refresh rate. First, it's near impossible to show how alive the screen looks on video. But it is compelling. The RG three isn't the first phone to have 144 hertz screen, but we'll likely see this refresh rate come to other Android flagship phones next year. It's the same way we see 90 hertz and 120 hertz displays on phones coming out this year, which the RG and RG two had first. But let's talk about the screens quality, the 6.5 inch. OLED is good, but it still has an HD resolution with sometimes, well, I wish text would appear more crisp. The screen has a touch rate of 270 hertz, which I'll be honest, that is impossible to show a video even more so than 144 hertz refresh rate. But in use, especially in games screen controls felt peppy, I never felt like I was tapping, waiting for a gun to fire or a jump to happen. And if the on screen controls aren't enough, there is the third generation of air triggers, which let you use the sides of the phone, like the shoulder buttons on a game controller. You can assign onscreen controls to either of the air triggers. Which in a game like pub g mobile makes gameplay much more compelling. Being able to use my phone like an actual game controller, and this is where that 6000 milliamp hour battery comes to play. And here we see a lot of phones with a 5000 milliamp hour battery. [MUSIC] The extra milliamp hours allow the RG three to have all this performance without sacrificing battery life. In fact, I ran a loop video test at 50% brightness in airplane mode and the RG three lasted 24 hours in three minutes. And that was with the screen refresh rate set to 144 hertz. While we still have more test runs that result is impressive. And obviously when gaming, it's not gonna last 24 hours straight, but I had no problem making it through a two and a half hour gaming marathon playing PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9, Alto's Odyssey. See yeah, a suit also gives you a variety of ways to optimize your battery including various power and savings modes, letting you schedule when the power mode comes on, and allowing you to set battery charge limits that this assumes RG 3 has the most extensive options for battery care and longevity that I've seen on any phone. While gaming is no doubt the orgies main focus, this is also a 5G phone. We'll work on us carriers that offer sub six 5G that I wasn't able to test the RG three on 5G because of where I live but I'm excited to see how the battery handles to those demands. Before I talk about the cameras, I want to say that the RG three make solid tweaks and improvements to pretty much Everything software wise, it runs Android 10. With the Asus Zen UI though there is the gamers inspired RPG UI dark mode too. That's the one I picked. The arrow active cooler aka the detachable fan now has a kickstand and just like other RPG phones, there is a second USB C port slash Excess report. On the left side for horizontal gameplay. The rg three comes with a 30 watt charger, and you get three months of Google stadia pro for free. [BLANK_AUDIO] Now not everything is rosy with the rg three in fact it doesn't have IP rating for Duster water resistance and it lacks wireless charging. Yeah, be nice to have this. Now let's talk about the cameras which are decent. In fact, I would say this is the best camera array on any astuce orj phone to date. Now it's not going to be named best camera of 2020 or even close. Photos from the main camera look good, especially with HDR. Skin is smooth a bit more than I'd prefer and colour skew a tad magenta. There's also a night mode which actually produces some stellar shots. The ultra wide angle camera is solid and matches the main camera more so than last year's RGB to meeting the Visual difference in IQ is not as noticeable between the main and ultra wide cameras. And then there's the macro camera which is fun, but it feels a bit more like a gimmick. The selfie camera on the front is decent again Here's a lot of skin softening happening but portrait mode selfies actually look pretty decent. Impressively, the RG3 can shoot 8K video. In some situations. It looks pretty good, but there's a lot of banding in skies or in shooting in low light situations. So, do you really need a cane on your phone? The 4K video from the phone looks good but still suffers from bending This could be improved through software updates and that's again why there's not a full review. In fact, I look forward to checking this out and see if that is a fixed date issue in the future. Finally, let's talk about price. At the time I'm recording this video, Asus hasn't announced a price yet. If it is the same as last year's $900 Asus ROG 2, I'd have no hesitation recommending it. Heck with the 5G support I could see this being $1,000 phone easily. Now the Asus ROG 3 will likely be available in the US this fall. So that's all I got. For more on the Asus ROG 3, check out my article on cnet.com but I wanna hear from you. What do you think of the phone? Would you buy it? Does it have all the specs you were hoping for? Throw your thoughts in the comments.