The smartphone market has no shortage of flagship devices for every day’s use. But when it comes to devices that are specially dedicated to mobile gaming, there honestly aren’t many options for us to pick especially in the local market. Nonetheless, ROG is always the first brand that pops up in my mind as the company never fails to impress in every new iteration of ROG Phones that make mobile gaming more enjoyable than before.
The new ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is certainly not an exception in this regards. It packs a high-end display alongside a state-of-the-art chipset and gaming hardware that take mobile gaming to a whole new level. So for those looking to get themselves a new gaming smartphone, here are five reasons why you should totally consider the new ROG Phone 7 Ultimate.
1) Cool Design That Suits The Taste Of Mobile Gamers
Just like any of the past ROG Phone models, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate continues to impress with a distinctive, space-age-inspired design which sets the phone apart from other mainstream models. Beside it’s eye-catching two-tone color scheme, the phone also features other futuristic elements including the signature ROG Vision matrix color display.
For those who may not know, ROG Vision is an intuitive feature which not only showcases awesome animations, but also serves as a notification panel for incoming call, or an indicator for charging status and X Mode activation. Just in case you’re wondering whether these extra lightings actually take a toll on it’s battery life – the answer is no as there isn’t any notable drop in battery life when the feature is kept active.
2) Indulge In An Immersive Graphics Experience
The ROG Phone 7 Ultimate might not be the most expensive smartphone, but it certainly has one of the best smartphone display in the market. It features a spacious front display measuring 6.78” diagonally, offering users plenty of screen estate for work and play.
The display itself is based on a high-end AMOLED display sporting a FHD+ screen resolution along with an ultra-fast 165Hz refresh rate which promises a buttery-smooth viewing experience that’s unmatchable by any other smartphones in the market.
For mobile gamers, the most important feature probably lies in it’s super responsive 720Hz touch sampling rate as well as an incredibly low latency of just 23ms which allows every touch to be registered instantaneously. This provides an additional edge in first-person shooter games such as COD Mobile.
That’s not forgetting that the screen also supports an impressive Delta-E < 1 color accuracy for a truly immersive and realistic viewing experience when playing your favorite game or streaming your favorite Netflix movie.
3) Unparalleled Gaming Performance
Powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate has all the firing power you need to run any game titles flawlessly even at high graphics settings. Gaming aside, it’s ”overkill” performance also makes multi-tasking felt like a breeze on the device when paired with an ample 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage in the memory department.
More importantly, the phone is also backed by an upgraded GameCool 7 cooling system which features an optimized thermal design that helps to cool the CPU from every direction. On top of that, it’s cooling calibre can be further enhanced with an additional pocket-sized external cooling fan dubbed as the ActiveAero Cooler 7 which can be easily clipped to the back of the phone, directly over the CPU module.
Apart from it’s cooling functionality, you might be surprised that the ActiveAero Cooler 7 also plays an important role in the audio department thanks to it’s five-magnet, super-linear 13 x 38 mm subwoofer that helps to deliver 77% stronger bass performance as well as an unbeatable 2.1 sound for games or entertainment.
To further improve gaming experience, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate also features a pair of AirTrigger ultrasonic shoulder buttons which can be easily mapped to any onscreen buttons for better controls. Similarly, the phone also offers excellent haptic feedback which not only deliver a more entertaining gaming experience, but also makes day-to-day usage of the phone feels more interactive.
4) Flagship-standard Cameras
Although the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate might not be a photography-centric smartphone, but that doesn’t means the phone doesn’t have good cameras. In fact, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate features a high-end 50MP Sony IMX766 main camera that was used in many flagship phones such as the OPPO Find X5 Pro (Review).
Regardless of lighting condition, the main camera is able to capture photos with good dynamic range and details, allowing them to look flattering and realistic. Likewise, details are also aplenty thanks to the adoption of a high-res imaging sensor which makes use of 4-in-1 pixel binning to further improve photo quality especially in low-light scenes.
Joining the main camera is none other than a 13 megapixels ultra-wide camera which is able to capture some pretty good-looking photos even though dynamic range appears to be slightly narrower than the main unit. Still, it’s a nice camera to have onboard for those who love to take landscape photography.
Last but not the least, there’s also a 5 megapixels macro camera for close-up photography. But like any smartphones with 5MP macro cam, I still find the 2x lossless zoom (via the main camera) to be more user-friendly than the dedicated macro camera which requires you to hold the phone steadily at an uncomfortably close distance from the subject.
5) Unbeatable Battery Life & Charging Speed
To keep it’s lights on, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is backed by a large 6,000mAh battery which offers one of the most lasting battery life you can expect from a smartphone. On a typical day-to-day usage with two to three hours of gaming in between, I normally end the day off with 30% battery remaining at the end of the day.
And for those who intend to go all out on gaming, you can well expect an average of around six to seven hours of gameplay on a single charge. That’s something remarkable considering that most smartphones can hardly edge beyond the five hours mark.
As usual, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate comes with a suite of intuitive tools that give you more control over it’s battery life. These features can be accessed via it’s pre-installed Armoury Crate app which allow you to select between three different system modes such as ‘X Mode’, ‘Dynamic’, and ‘Ultra Durable’ whereby the former consumes the most battery, while the latter offers the best power efficiency.
Charging-wise, ROG Phone 7 Ultimate supports 65W wired charging which allows you to enjoy a super fast charging speed that’s capable of recharging the phone from 0 to 100% in less than 45 minutes.
Pricing & Availability
The ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is priced at S$1,899 in Singapore for the 16GB+512GB trim that comes with an in-box AeroActive Cooler 7. Those who’re interested can purchase the phone directly via ASUS official online store.
