The Asus ROG Telephone collection has been receiving refined updates through the years. With gaming manufacturers similar to Nubia’s Redmagic and Black Shark leaving the Indian market way back, Asus’ ROG Telephone stays the final telephone standing relating to high-end, gaming smartphones. This additionally signifies that Asus does not likely have any direct competitors in India and as a consequence of that, it could actually take its time refining its successful formulation yr on yr, without having to make any drastic modifications in an effort to keep related.
The newest Asus ROG Telephone 6 is not an enormous leap over its predecessor, the Asus ROG Telephone 5s. There are the standard 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 vital, on condition that the ROG Telephone 6 has seen a noticeable worth hike over the earlier mannequin.
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The Asus ROG Telephone 6 is priced at Rs. 71,999 for the only real 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration. It is obtainable in two finishes: Storm White and Phantom Black, and I acquired the latter for this evaluate. There’s additionally an ROG Telephone 6 Professional 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 further 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 so much greater than the ROG Telephone 5s which was priced at Rs. 57,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant, when launched final yr. The value of this yr’s base ROG Telephone 6 is definitely nearer to final yr’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 introduced in July 2022, and you may see the way it must be twice as interesting to its area of interest gamer viewers.
A part of that attraction appears a bit misplaced this yr, with Asus recycling the identical design yr after yr. Asus retains taming the design of the ROG Telephone yearly, however this yr 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 standard “fearless eye” brand which has gotten the dot-matrix remedy (much like newer ROG-branded laptops), there’s now a second customisable RGB aspect underneath 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 towards splashes of water and this brings it somewhat nearer to turning into a correct premium flagship.
Nonetheless, it is nonetheless fairly massive and heavy for use as a each day driver for my part, even for those who account for its bigger than traditional battery capability. Except you occur to have actually massive palms, the ROG Telephone 6 calls for correct, two-handed operation and I wasn’t capable of sit comfortably with it in my pants pocket. Even whereas taking part in 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 well-liked barely slimmer ones that may have made the system look a bit extra trendy. Redmagic’s 7S Pro certain appears so much 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 conceal the big audio system and so, they have a motive to be there, but it surely certain takes away from the attraction of the smartphone. The truth is, a clear bezel exposing the {hardware} under would have undoubtedly seemed so much cooler than the thick black bands at every finish.
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 consumers 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 yr.
The ROG Telephone 6 presents LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage which is the most effective you can 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 any devoted slot for a microSD card however the built-in 256GB of storage needs to 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 regulate 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 sometimes 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 regulate 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 kinds.
A swipe from the top-left nook of the show whereas in a recreation 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 way wider, there are nonetheless some choices or toggles hidden in some scrollable menus, which I didn’t find out about till I unintentionally swiped over them.
As for the common Android software program interface, all the things is the place it needs to be and runs fairly fluidly regardless of what number of apps or video games have been opened within the background. The shortage of Android 13 on a smartphone launched in direction of the top of 2022 stands out like a sore thumb when in comparison with different flagships at this worth level. Asus didn’t remark about when the replace to Android 13 can be obtainable both.
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 effectively. AnTuTu solely ran in X Mode and returned a rating of 10,83,480, which is the very best we’ve seen among the many Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 units we’ve reviewed. The telephone managed 1,220 and three,719 factors in Geekbench’s single and multi-core assessments respectively when examined with out X Mode, and 1,325 and 4,284 when examined with X Mode. Different assessments additionally confirmed a noticeable enhance in scores (or efficiency) when examined with X Mode.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 has a pointy, 165Hz refresh price show with a 720Hz contact sampling price
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 so much greater. 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 obtainable in streaming apps similar to Netflix and Youtube.
The 165Hz refresh price made the software program expertise seem fairly fluid however this panel is not of the LTPO selection. It could actually nonetheless change between 60Hz, 90Hz,120Hz,144Hz, and 165Hz relying on the applying in use. Nonetheless 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 and not using a hiccup on the Asus ROG Telephone 6. The telephone did get sizzling across the again however the warmth is evenly distributed so it didn’t really feel too sizzling to carry. The show presents as much as a 720Hz contact sampling price. With X-mode on, I managed to tweak the display screen’s contact sampling price to the very best doable worth and the outcomes had been spectacular when taking part in FPS titles similar to Name of Responsibility: Cell.
The Aeroactive Cooler 6 with its peltier chip did job of retaining the system cool throughout intense gaming periods
Asus despatched throughout the Aeroactive Cooler 6 and I used to be fairly excited to strive it out. In concept, it is a formidable piece of equipment, with a peltier cooling setup present in some smaller fridges. After all, the expertise has been miniaturised to ship higher effectivity, however throughout my testing it did let me run Genshin Impression on the highest doable settings and the telephone was so much cooler than another premium flagship that I’ve used.
This cooler has 4 further buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2) that may be mapped to varied features inside video games. Nonetheless, the thickness of the brand new cooler makes them fairly onerous to succeed in, particularly after I wished 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 downside when taking part in aggressive video games. It is not simply the cooling that stops, however the buttons additionally turn into inactive throughout gameplay. It is doable this was a difficulty with simply my accent, so I am going to give Asus the good thing about doubt right here.
I additionally discovered the construct high quality of the cooler to be an issue, on condition that this accent will set you again by a further Rs. 5,999. One of many buttons popped out in the course of the evaluate interval and the fold-out kickstand additionally appeared fairly flimsy and felt prefer it might break with somewhat strain. I’d undoubtedly advocate utilizing simply the Kunai Gamepad accent for higher controls, however the cooler is a must have to maintain the system operating cool when taking part in demanding video games at maxed-out graphics and {hardware} settings.
The Asus ROG Telephone 6 comes with a top quality plastic case within the field
The 2 audio system on both aspect of the Asus ROG Telephone 6 are probably the most effective 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 effectively. 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 using the brand new cooler did drain the battery quicker (a ten p.c drop as an alternative of 5 p.c, each quarter-hour). Our HD video loop battery check managed a formidable 17 hours and 41 minutes of runtime with the show’s refresh price set to 165Hz.
Charging the telephone is surprisingly fast when utilizing the bundled 30W charger. The telephone expenses to 44 p.c in half-hour and completes the cost in about 1 hour, 7 minutes, which is spectacular. Asus additionally presents a bypass charging mode that can hold the telephone powered straight through the adapter so as to scale back warmth whereas taking part in demanding video games. This mode could be activated within the Recreation Genie dashboard.
Asus has upgraded the cameras on the ROG Telephone 6 this yr. 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 usually Asus and Zen UI with all the required 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 effectively 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 effectively. The macro digicam did a median 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 had been fairly good on their very own. Barrel-distortion was dealt with effectively, however there was minor purple fringing round brightly lit-up objects. What I actually favored is that each cameras managed to ship a degree of consistency with related color tones, which I didn’t count on 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 mechanically in most circumstances, however there have been situations when the telephone indicated that it could take a 3 second auto-night-mode publicity, however snapped an everyday picture with much less element and dynamic vary. The shortage of (OIS) could be felt right here as the pictures flip out trying a bit mushy with smudged textures even after firing up the devoted Evening mode.
Selfies in daylight utilizing the Portrait mode seemed spectacular, with good dynamic vary and wonderful edge detection. Nonetheless, it captures fairly common trying images in low gentle.
Asus ROG Telephone 6 low-light digicam samples. High: 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 deliver out much more element within the darker areas, the standard was not good and the colors appeared irregular at greatest. 8K video recordings weren’t usable as they had been too uneven because of the decrease body price. Video high quality in low gentle is way from the most effective I’ve seen at this worth level. with footage having much less element, extra noise, and seem fairly mushy normally.
With anticipated upgrades relating to gaming, Asus did shock me with a top quality main digicam this yr within the ROG Telephone 6. It presents good efficiency in daylight and has first rate low-light high quality which is uncommon relating to gaming smartphones.
To a gamer who’s predominant precedence is taking part in video games together with having wonderful battery life, this may be sufficient. To an everyday client, the digicam efficiency is not the most effective when in comparison with equally priced flagships such because the Vivo X80 Professional (Overview). This telephone too has good gaming efficiency (minus the frills of the ROG in fact), 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 consumers, the Asus ROG Telephone 6 continues to be the one telephone out there to supply this degree of {hardware} and software program customisation, which solely skilled avid gamers will recognize. Get one if you’re dead-serious about cellular gaming and do not thoughts lugging this telephone round. For many who nonetheless desire a premium gaming smartphone however do not need to spend as a lot, final yr’s Asus ROG Telephone 5s from Rs. 49,999 continues to be a sensible choice.
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