The Asus ROG Telephone collection has been receiving delicate updates through the years. With gaming manufacturers equivalent to Nubia’s Redmagic and Black Shark leaving the Indian market way back, Asus’ ROG Telephone stays the final telephone standing in relation to high-end, gaming smartphones. This additionally signifies that Asus does probably not have any direct competitors in India and because of that, it might probably take its time refining its profitable method 12 months on 12 months, while not having to make any drastic modifications with the intention to keep related.
The newest Asus ROG Phone 6 is not an enormous 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 inner 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 digicam setup, which might make it a premium all-rounder. This final bit is essential, provided that the ROG Telephone 6 has seen a noticeable value hike over the earlier mannequin.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 value in India
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 is priced at Rs. 71,999 for the only real 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration. It is accessible 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 extra 2-inch OLED show and extra RAM (18GB) and storage (512GB). You may learn our first impressions of it.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6’s price ticket is rather a lot larger than the ROG Phone 5s which was priced at Rs. 57,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant, when launched final 12 months. The worth of this 12 months’s base ROG Telephone 6 is definitely nearer to final 12 months’s Professional mannequin which was priced at Rs 79,999.
Mix this elevated price ticket with Asus’ delayed launch in India since the telephone 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 12 months, with Asus recycling the identical design 12 months after 12 months. Asus retains taming the design of the ROG Telephone yearly, however this 12 months seems a bit completely different. The digicam module across the again now protrudes a bit and is sort of massive in comparison with earlier units. There’s now two RGB parts within the rear panel. Together with the same old “fearless eye” emblem which has gotten the dot-matrix remedy (much like newer ROG-branded laptops), there’s now a second customisable RGB component beneath the “Dare to Play” slogan.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 has two customisable RGB parts on the actual panel
The Asus ROG Telephone 6’s Gorilla Glass 3 rear panel continues to be a smudge magnet and the system 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 score. That is good for serving to it survive in opposition to splashes of water and this brings it somewhat nearer to turning into a correct premium flagship.
Nevertheless, it is nonetheless fairly massive and heavy for use as a day by day driver in my view, even in case you account for its bigger than standard battery capability. Except you occur to have actually massive arms, the ROG Telephone 6 calls for correct, two-handed operation and I wasn’t in a position to sit comfortably with it in my pants pocket. Even whereas enjoying video games, the telephone feels a bit heavy to carry throughout prolonged periods.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 has thick bezels on the high and backside edges of its show
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 popular barely slimmer ones that will have made the system look a bit extra trendy. Redmagic’s 7S Pro positive seems rather a lot slicker compared with its thinner bezels and the hidden selfie digicam (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 cover the big audio system and so, they have a cause to be there, nevertheless it positive takes away from the attraction of the smartphone. The truth is, a clear bezel exposing the {hardware} under would have positively regarded rather a lot 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 displaying up on premium smartphones, a few of that are anticipated to reach as early as the top of this 12 months.
The ROG Telephone 6 gives LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage which is the very best that you would be able to get on a premium system. Communication requirements embody help 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 must be enough. The telephone is powered by a 6,000mAh battery and comes with a 30W charger within the field in India. The telephone does help as much as 65W quick charging, however that charger is bought individually.
The Console part of the Armoury Crate app lets one tweak and alter efficiency settings
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 parts 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 Recreation Genie slide-out dashboard has seen an overhaul of types.
A swipe from the top-left nook of the show whereas in a sport provides 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 structure 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 by accident swiped over them.
As for the common Android software program interface, every part is the place it must 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 the direction of the top of 2022 stands out like a sore thumb when in comparison with different flagships at this value level. Asus didn’t remark about when the replace to Android 13 could be accessible 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 operating most benchmarking apps, the telephone 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 best we now have seen among the many Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 units we now have reviewed. The telephone managed 1,220 and three,719 factors in Geekbench’s single and multi-core checks respectively when examined with out X Mode, and 1,325 and 4,284 when examined with X Mode. Different checks additionally confirmed a noticeable improve in scores (or efficiency) when examined with X Mode.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 has a pointy, 165Hz refresh charge show with a 720Hz contact sampling charge
The telephone’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 rather a lot larger. It produces barely saturated colors within the default color mode, however could be adjusted to a consumer’s preferences in Show Settings. It helps the HDR10+ certification which is out there in streaming apps equivalent to Netflix and Youtube.
The 165Hz refresh charge 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 appliance in use. Nevertheless when it comes to video games, I hardly ever 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 with out a hiccup on the Asus ROG Telephone 6. The telephone did get scorching across the again however the warmth is evenly distributed so it didn’t really feel too scorching to carry. The show gives as much as a 720Hz contact sampling charge. With X-mode on, I managed to tweak the display screen’s contact sampling charge to the best attainable worth and the outcomes have been spectacular when enjoying FPS titles equivalent to Name of Responsibility: Cell.
The Aeroactive Cooler 6 with its peltier chip did job of protecting the system cool throughout intense gaming periods
Asus despatched throughout the Aeroactive Cooler 6 and I used to be fairly excited to attempt it out. In principle, it is a powerful piece of package, with a peltier cooling setup present in some smaller fridges. After all, the know-how has been miniaturised to ship higher effectivity, however throughout my testing it did let me run Genshin Impression on the highest attainable settings and the telephone was rather a lot cooler than another premium flagship that I’ve used.
This cooler has 4 extra buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2) that may be mapped to varied capabilities inside video games. Nevertheless, the thickness of the brand new cooler makes them fairly arduous to achieve, particularly after I needed to make use of the built-in AirTriggers on the telephone, together with the cooler buttons. Upon utilizing the buttons I additionally seen that the cooler would randomly disconnect, which made it an enormous drawback when enjoying aggressive video games. It isn’t simply the cooling that stops, however the buttons additionally turn into inactive throughout gameplay. It is attainable this was a problem 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, provided that this accent will set you again by a further Rs. 5,999. One of many buttons popped out through the assessment interval and the fold-out kickstand additionally appeared fairly flimsy and felt prefer it might break with somewhat strain. I’d positively advocate utilizing simply the Kunai Gamepad accent for higher controls, however the cooler is a must have to maintain the system operating cool when enjoying demanding video games at maxed-out graphics and {hardware} settings.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 comes with a high quality plastic case within the field
The 2 audio system on both aspect of the Asus ROG Telephone 6 are presumably the very best I’ve heard on a smartphone. Asus claims to have added extra cubic area 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 many who want to plug in whereas gaming.
The telephone’s large battery simply gave me about two days of informal use with some gaming periods and digicam utilization. Prolonged gaming periods and the usage of the brand new cooler did drain the battery sooner (a ten % drop as an alternative of 5 %, each quarter-hour). Our HD video loop battery check managed a powerful 17 hours and 41 minutes of runtime with the show’s refresh charge set to 165Hz.
Charging the telephone is surprisingly fast when utilizing the bundled 30W charger. The telephone fees to 44 % in half-hour and completes the cost in about 1 hour, 7 minutes, which is spectacular. Asus additionally gives a bypass charging mode that may preserve the telephone powered straight by way of the adapter so as to cut back warmth whereas enjoying demanding video games. This mode could be activated within the Recreation Genie dashboard.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 cameras
Asus has upgraded the cameras on the ROG Telephone 6 this 12 months. There’s now a Sony IMX766 50-megapixel main digicam which surprisingly lacks optical stabilisation (OIS), a brighter 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle digicam with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 5-megapixel macro digicam. Selfies are dealt with by a 12-megapixel digicam. The digicam interface is often Asus and Zen UI with all the mandatory controls inside attain and customisable digicam modes. Video recording high quality maxes out at 8K 24fps and the telephone also can report HDR video.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 has three rear-facing cameras
Daylight images utilizing the first digicam 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 digicam did a mean job with particulars and dynamic vary. The ultra-wide-angle digicam additionally captured some high quality images with barely much less element in comparison with the first, however have 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 preferred is that each cameras managed to ship a degree of consistency with related color tones, which I didn’t anticipate from a gaming smartphone.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 daylight digicam samples: Main digicam, ultra-wide-angle digicam and selfie portrait (Faucet to see full measurement)
In low gentle, the first digicam continued to impress with good particulars and dynamic vary in street-lit circumstances. Issues started to crop up after I pointed it at darker and dimmer areas. The Evening mode is triggered robotically in most circumstances, however there have been situations when the telephone indicated that it will take a 3 second auto-night-mode publicity, however snapped an everyday picture with much less element and dynamic vary. The dearth of (OIS) could be felt right here as the photographs flip out trying a bit delicate 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 wonderful edge detection. Nevertheless, it captures fairly common trying images in low gentle.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 low-light digicam samples. Prime: Auto mode, backside: Evening mode (Faucet to see full measurement)
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 convey 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 have been too uneven because of the decrease body charge. Video high quality in low gentle is much from the very best I’ve seen at this value level. with footage having much less element, extra noise, and seem fairly delicate typically.
Verdict
With anticipated upgrades in relation to gaming, Asus did shock me with a high quality main digicam this 12 months within the ROG Telephone 6. It gives good efficiency in daylight and has first rate low-light high quality which is uncommon in relation to gaming smartphones.
To a gamer who’s essential precedence is enjoying video games together with having wonderful battery life, this is perhaps sufficient. To an everyday shopper, the digicam efficiency is not the very best when in comparison with equally priced flagships such because the Vivo X80 Pro (Review). This telephone too has good gaming efficiency (minus the frills of the ROG after all), shoots wonderful images and is much more pocketable regardless of having a big show. It additionally will get you an IP68 score.
Whereas the telephone is not going to attraction to informal avid gamers and common patrons, the Asus ROG Telephone 6 continues to be the one telephone available in the market to supply this degree 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 telephone round. For individuals who nonetheless need a premium gaming smartphone however do not wish to spend as a lot, final 12 months’s Asus ROG Phone 5s from Rs. 49,999 continues to be a good selection.
