Rog Phone 7 and Rog Phone 7 Ultimate smartphones, the latest additions to Asus’s gaming-centric lineup. These Phone are a dream come true for professional gamers, boasting top-of-the-line specifications to elevate your gaming experience. With an emphasis on performance, design, and cutting-edge technology, the Rog 7 series sets a new standard for gaming smartphones. In this rog phone 7 review, we delve into the Design, Display, features, performance , Gaming and overall user experience.
Unboxing
First, we have a rather monolithic box. Inside the box, we find the Rog Phone 7. Within the secondary box, there’s a decidedly minimalist protect active shell, providing protection in case the device is dropped. Along with that, we have the usual sim tray ejector pin. The entire base of the box can be detached to gaming pad. There is a 65 Watts power adapter and a braided USB cable. Inside, you’ll discover a delightfully soft Republic of Gamer pouch, presumably designed for carrying accessories. However, you can toss in whatever you desire: car keys, a spare packet of polos, the choice is yours. Additionally, Asus has included their latest Aero Active Cooler, an absolute beast that we’ll definitely put to the test later. The Rog Phone 7 will be available soon, starting from $999. Alternatively, you can opt for the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate Edition for an additional couple of hundred bucks.
Read Also: Asus Rog Phone 7 vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Comparison
Design
The design of the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate Edition features a couple of differences compared to the standard Rog Phone 7. The most significant one is the addition of the PMOLED screen, which can display vibrant visuals and is fully customizable. This screen can also serve as a posh notification light, springing to life with incoming calls and even indicating battery charge levels. Additionally, the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate boasts an exclusive AeroActive portal situated up top, which I’ll touch upon later when discussing the AeroActive cooler. It’s fair to say that the Rog Phone 7 is a bit on the heavy side, weighing in at 239 grams, making it one of the weightier smartphones available in 2023. It comes in two colors: Phantom Black and Storm White, although the Ultimate model is exclusively available in white.
The phone features Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and Gorilla Glass 3 on the back, providing reasonable durability. The overall design is typical for a gaming smartphone, although it’s not as outlandish as some others in the market. The device proudly showcases the Rog branding, reminding you of the gaming goodness you hold in your hands. The camera chassis adds a touch of flair, and I appreciate the matte surface of the glass, which avoids the instant accumulation of grime and fingerprints.
In terms of familiarity, the Asus Phone 7 follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, the Rog Phone 6 series smartphones. However, it now offers IP54 water and dust resistance, making it less susceptible to dust and grit. The default theme, which is incredibly dark, makes it somewhat challenging to discern, but the reasonably thick bezels surrounding the 6.78-inch display become more apparent. Asus, as always, provides a decent selection of themes to choose from, the notably thick bezels both at the top and bottom, extending along the edges as well.
ROG UI and Armory Crate
When it comes to the software on the Rog Phone 7. It runs on the latest Android 13, with Asus’s Rog UI slathered on top. The UI is highly stylized, featuring changes to icons, fonts, and some very jazzy always-on display action. When you boot it up, you’re greeted with animated wallpapers. if you’re not a fan of all the hyperactive gaming shenanigans, you can opt for the more Zen-like Zen UI. But honestly, if you’re going for a Rog Phone, you might as well go all-in, immersing yourself in that gaming style. Beyond the surface level, the software is a reasonably stock version of Android, with all the usual features. You have the Google Discover feed and the ability to drag down the notifications bar from anywhere. Asus offers two years of OS updates, so you’ll receive Android 14 and 15 in the future. It may not be the most generous in terms of update duration, but you do get four years of security updates.
When it’s time to get your game on, just tap the Armory Crate app. You’ll enter the proper gaming menu. This is where you can set up your games before diving in. For instance, you have various performance modes to choose from, depending on the demands of the game. For a game like Genshin Impact, you’ll definitely want to enable X mode. You can also customize the performance settings, cranking it all the way up to level three, restricting background CPU usage, and ensuring that the memory is optimized for the best possible performance.
The Rog Phone 7 also offers network optimization for online gaming, allowing you to select the best possible network for a smooth experience. With Snapdragon-powered graphics boosting, you can enhance the visual quality to high levels. Additionally, you have the option to manually select the refresh rate, ranging up to an impressive 165 Hertz, or simply leave it on auto. The screen sensitivity can be precisely tweaked as well. Popular titles like Genshin Impact come with various presets for the air triggers, or you can manually set them up to your liking in-game.
Game Genie and Air Triggers
Firstly, when you’re in a game, you can summon the Game Genie toolbar with a quick swipe from the top corner. This toolbar presents a stunning smorgasbord of gaming tools and features. For instance, you can easily swap between various performance modes and adjust settings like network modes. It’s crucial to have real-time information on the frame rate, ensuring a smooth gaming experience. Equally important, the Game Genie toolbar allows you to disable alerts and calls, eliminating any potential disturbances in the middle of an intense gaming session, such as Genshin Impact.
Within the Game Genie interface, you can set up the air triggers. The air triggers on the Rog Phone 7 function just like regular triggers. Positioned on the top corners, these pressure-sensitive triggers can be customized by dragging the L and R icons to any location on the screen. You have the freedom to assign them to perform any desired action. What’s great is that the triggers support more than just taps; you can also swipe them to execute actions. This functionality truly enhances gameplay, particularly for intense action titles like Call of Duty or Genshin Impact. It becomes a literal lifesaver when you’re in the heat of the action and fumbling for the shoot button, preventing accidental jumps.
Rog Phone 7 Display
The display on the Rog Phone 7 and Rog Phone 7 Ultimate doesn’t seem to have changed much from the Rog Phone 6 Pro and 6 from last year, and honestly, that’s perfectly fine because it was already a glorious panel. Once again, you’re treated to a 6.78-inch beast, utilizing Samsung’s AMOLED technology. As a result, you can expect vibrant colors, superb contrast, deep blacks, and crisp whites. They would be doing so right now. HDR10+ support is included, although there’s no Dolby Vision, which isn’t a surprise considering it’s a Samsung panel. One advantage of the chunky top bezel is that the selfie camera is cleverly hidden away, eliminating the need for any intrusive notches or punch holes.
It goes up to 165 Hertz. Honestly, my aging i can’t really distinguish much of a difference between 165 Hertz and 120 Hertz, but in supported titles, the action is undeniably silky smooth. The display is perfectly suited for gaming, and it’s completely flat. rog Phone 7 features a touch refresh rate of 720 Hertz, and the sensitivity is spot-on. In previous Rog Phones, the sensitivity required some tweaking, but with the Rog Phone 7, there are absolutely no issues.
Speakers and Audio Quality
Moving on, the Rog Phone 7 boasts a front-facing stereo speaker setup powered by a five-magnet super linear subwoofer. These speakers are absolutely loud at maximum volume. Gaming Shooting sounds like it’s happening in real life. It’s an impressive audio experience, featuring premium audio features such as LDAC support and compatibility with codecs like aptX Adaptive. High-resolution audio is also supported, delivering an immersive audio experience. Additionally, the Rog Phone 7 offers a fair amount of rumble action thanks to the x-axis haptic motor. It delivers suitably vibrations when necessary, enhancing the overall gaming experience.
ROG Phone 7 Performance and Gaming
One area that has received an upgrade in the Rog Phone 7 Series is the performance. Inside this enormous and weighty Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, just as you would expect from a premium flagship phone in 2023. And on the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate, it is accompanied by a whopping 16GB of DDR5 RAM. As anticipated, the performance is more powerful. Even the most demanding Android titles out there, such as the beloved Genshin Impact, run flawlessly at a perfect frame rate on the highest graphic settings, without any stutters. This is exactly what you would expect from one of the most premium and expensive gaming smartphones available.
Games like Call of Duty Mobile can be enjoyed at a frame rate of up to 120 frames per second, providing an incredibly smooth and seamless experience. Furthermore, the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate has also achieved some of the best Geekbench 6 scores I have seen to date, with an almost 2000 single-core score and well over 5000 in the multi-core score.
AeroActive 7 Cooler and Cooling
And no worries if you want to indulge in gaming for an entire afternoon because Asus has improved the game cooling setup to keep the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate from turning into a Galaxy Note 7. You’ll find an all-new rapid cycle Vapor chamber inside, along with support for the AeroActive Cooler 7 if you’re charging and gaming simultaneously. This generation of the AeroActive Cooler seems even bulkier than usual. You’ll know when you’ve connected it correctly because it will flash, blink, and perform all sorts of crazy actions. You can access the AeroActive Cooler 7 settings in the Armory Crate to configure it. There are various cooling modes available, including Frosty and Frozen, specifically designed for charging and gaming at the same time.
if you have the Ultimate Edition, you also have the AeroActive Portal, which is essentially a flap that lifts up when the cooler is connected. It comes complete with obligatory launch sounds and animations. Even when gaming on demanding titles like Genshin Impact with X Mode activated and all graphics settings pushed to the maximum, you won’t necessarily need the AeroActive Cooler. The built-in cooling system of the Rog Phone 7 performs exceptionally well. After gaming on Genshin Impact for well over an hour, I noticed only a slight warmth on the back, with no signs of performance throttling or issues.
However, if you want to continue gaming while charging the smartphone, it is recommended to use the AeroActive Cooler to prevent excessive heating. The Rog Phone 7 features a bottom-mounted USB-C port, allowing you to comfortably charge and game simultaneously. Additionally, a headphone jack is located at the bottom, and there’s a convenient kickstand integrated into the AeroActive Cooler, allowing you to prop up the Rog Phone 7. This feature proves handy, especially when using accessories like the Kunai gamepads. That’s not all; the cooler also adds four additional physical buttons that can be mapped to any in-game controls. Fighting game enthusiasts and others alike will find this a valuable addition to their gaming experience.
Battery life
The battery on the Rog Phone 7 and the 7 Ultimate is pretty slick. It features dual 3000 milliamp-hour cells, providing a total capacity of 6000 milliamp-hours. Coupled with the power-efficient Snapdragon chipset, this setup delivers excellent battery life. During my testing, I was able to play Genshin Impact for approximately five hours on maxed-out graphics settings with all features and tools at maximum, without any worries. When the Rog Phone 7 requires a quick charging, Asus has equipped it with a 65-watt fast charging support. The charging port is conveniently located at the bottom end of the device as well as on the edge, allowing you to charge while gaming. A full charge will take you approximately 40 minutes, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum gaming enjoyment.
ROG Phone 7 Ultimate Cameras
As for the camera technology, it remains largely unchanged on the Rog Phone 7 series compared to the previous generation. The primary shooter features a 50-megapixel Sony IMX 766 sensor, accompanied by a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. However, there is an upgrade in the macro camera, which now boasts 8 megapixels instead of 5. While it may not offer groundbreaking capabilities, the camera setup performs well for everyday photography needs. The IMX 766 sensor is a reliable piece of technology that can be found in many smartphones from the previous year.
You have access to various camera modes to experiment with, including light trail and portrait. When it comes to video recording, you can capture footage in 4K resolution at either 30 or 60 frames per second. However, if you’re an avid gamer who enjoys live streaming on platforms like Twitch, the most utilized camera on the device will be the 32-megapixel front-facing selfie shooter. Unfortunately, it is limited to Full HD resolution and cannot capture 4K footage. Nevertheless, the built-in microphones on the Rog Phone 7 and 7 Ultimate do an excellent job of capturing your voice, even from a distance.
The Rog Phone 7 may come with a hefty price tag, but if you're a professional gamer or someone who takes their gaming seriously and craves the ultimate competitive edge, then look no further. Accept no substitutes!
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Design10
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Display8.8
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Ui and Armory Crate8
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Speakers and Audio Quality10
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AeroActive Cooler and Cooling10
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Performance9
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Battery Life8
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Camera8
1 Comment
It’s $300 more for the ultimate, not $200 more. FYI when a couple gets married it’s two people.