Asus ROG Phone 8 Review

As the calendar shifted to 2024, hardware manufacturers around the world prepared their latest lines of hardware from PCs to TVs to tablets. January is also when a lot of the major players reveal their next lineup of phones, ushering in a new era for mobile devices. Some keep things relatively simple and maintain the status quo, while others try to shake things up to capture greater market share. ASUS and its ROG Phone 8 seem like they are looking to fall into the latter camp, introducing some changes to its gaming-focused line to make a play for the daily user.

The ASUS ROG Phone has typically been a phone for gaming, designed to look as ostentatious as the peripherals that typically adorn a PC setup. For the ASUS ROG Phone 8, the company has toned down its style and delivered a phone that looks a lot more like a mobile phone. On the back, you’ll find the ROG logo (that lights up if you so choose) and some small branded text, but everything is a lot more subdued than it has been in the past. The camera block has sharper angles to ensure that some of that gaming-focused edge isn’t lost, but this is now a phone that doesn’t call as much attention to itself as some of the older models might have. Even the color choices, Rebel Gray or Phantom Black, feel closer to typical mobile phone options.

ASUS Rog Phone 8 is Designed for Everyone

Another part of making the ASUS ROG Phone 8 more appealing to the average user is its IP68 water and dust resistance. In the past, the ROG Phone models have been IP54, which meant they couldn’t necessarily handle a spilled drink or being briefly dropped in water. Now, with ROG Phone 8, users can be a little clumsier with their phones without worrying as much.

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Part of the reason that the ASUS ROG Phones didn’t have the IP68 resistance standard was to allow for venting/cooling options. For ROG Phone 8, the cooling is now completely internal, but in our testing, we didn’t find that the device got particularly hot. ASUS does sell a cooler accessory that attaches to the back of the phone in case users plan on spending a lot of time gaming.

One area where the phone took a small step back was in its battery, which is now 5,500 milliAmp hours versus the ROG Phone 7’s 6,000. In our testing, the phone still lasted throughout the day with general use and a bit of gaming, so the dip in battery capacity wasn’t noticeable. ASUS has also included a 65W “HyperCharge” adapter that can get the phone up to 100% capacity in roughly 40 minutes when we tested it. For all that’s under the hood of the ROG Phone 8, battery life is very impressive.

ASUS ROG Phone 8 is a Blazing Fast Mobile Phone

Even though the design and the IP68 resistance are meant to suggest a more consumer-friendly phone, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 is still a powerful and impressive mobile device. With the Snapdragon 8 Gen3 chip under the hood and up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM, the phone is ultra-responsive and capable of running mobile games like Genshin Impact at up to 60fps or higher. And as a daily driver, it’s one of the snappiest phones on the market, capable of jumping between apps instantaneously. Obviously, the phone’s gaming performance is where it’s going to impress, but everything that makes the ROG Phone 8 great for gaming also makes it one of the best mobile phones on the market.

The ROG Phone 8 features a big 6.78-inch AMOLED display capable of up to 165Hz. All of that power under the hood only comes through when paired with a high-quality screen, and the ASUS ROG Phone 8 is stunning to look at and offers a lot of real estate for games. It’s one of the brightest and crispest screens on a mobile phone and, again, while that will be the biggest benefit for gaming, it only makes daily use that much better as well.

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 is one of the fastest mobile phones we have ever tested with a screen capable of an insane 2,500 nits of peak brightness.

ASUS has not abandoned some of its signature phone elements, though, like the air triggers on the side of the phone that act like bumpers on a controller. Armoury Crate comes preinstalled on the phone as well, and offers a wealth of information about the device’s internals like temperature, current GPU speed, and memory usage. There are three different profiles available via the software – one that prioritizes battery (Ultra Durable), one that’s geared towards daily use (Dynamic), and one that lets the power of the ROG Phone 8 loose (X Mode). X Mode is specifically for gaming, but a quick access toggle from the pulldown menu lets you trigger it whenever you need a little power boost.

Camera Features on the ROG Phone 8

ASUS has also given the camera array on the ROG Phone 8 an upgrade, starting with the 50MP main camera’s IMX890 sensor. It’s fair to say that with a phone capable of 60fps gaming, the cameras are not going to be the top of the line, but ASUS has still made them competitive. The main camera delivers solid photos but nothing that will blow you away.

Similarly, the 13MP ultra-wide and 32MP telephoto (with 3x zoom) are fine lenses for the average user but photographers will certainly find the quality of their images a bit lacking. On the other hand, ASUS has equipped the camera array with a gimbal system that gives videos great stabilization and helps you ensure clear photos when using that 3x zoom on the telephoto. On the screen side, there is a 32MP selfie cam that is equally solid and capable of jumping to a wider angle (up to 90 degrees) to get additional subjects in the frame.

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 includes a Super HyperSteady feature that stabilizes videos for users who might otherwise struggle with clarity.

ROG Phone 8 AI Features Benefit Gamers

AI is going to be a big talking point for mobile phones this year and in the future, and one of the coolest implementations on the ASUS ROG Phone 8 is called XSense. When you toggle on the feature, it can automatically perform actions that you might regularly do while playing. The example cited most often with the phone is the ability to automatically pick up loot or toggle auto-run on while playing Genshin Impact, but presumably, there are a lot more applications depending on the mobile game. Because mobile games can feel a little cramped with your fingers in the way, being able to have XSense do some of the work automatically feels like the start of something very exciting for mobile gaming.

ASUS ROG Phone 8 Review: Conclusion

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 makes a strong case for blending the appeal of a gaming phone with a daily driver. It’s powerful enough to ensure that any mobile game will run at a competitive spec, and it boasts one of the brightest, cleanest screens out there. But it’s also extremely snappy during general use, allowing you to get from social media to the camera app to checking e-mail in an instant. Some small touches give the phone a little more personality and feel on-brand for the Republic of Gamers, but the design has been toned down significantly to the point that it looks a lot more like a traditional phone.

Credit to ASUS for recognizing that the power of a gaming phone can become more enticing to the casual user with just a few small tweaks like water/dust resistance and an improved camera system. Where ASUS’s gaming phones used to exist in their own category and carry caveats, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 is simply a great phone for anyone. And for gamers, it’s still king of the market.