ASUS ROG Phone 3 review: Powerful potential | Reviews.org

Think about what you want out of a gaming smartphone and a lot of it crosses over with perks for everyday users, too. Snappy performance. Gorgeous screen (ideally with a high refresh rate). Outstanding battery life. This is exactly what you get when you crack open the part Tron, part Blade Runner box of the ASUS ROG Phone 3.

That sci-fi motif carries over to the phone itself. The 6.59-inch screen makes it great for big hands, even if at times it feels too big for lazy single-handed operation. Keep the ROG Phone 3 face down and there’s a neat lightbar on the back to let you know when you’ve got screen notifications. This is also where you’ll see the improved rear camera (compared to its predecessor). You should consider snapping on the included protective case, if only to stop the raised rear camera from making the phone slide when it’s lying flat on slicker surfaces.

The real appeal is the combination of speedy innards – Snapdragon 865 chipset, 12GB RAM, and plenty of storage (up to 512GB) – and a monstrous 6,000mAh battery for multi-day use. That’ll come in handy for 5G users, too, which is something the ROG Phone 3 also includes alongside WiFi 6. Support for the latest wireless standard was put to good use during our recent Netgear Nighthawk Mesh WiFi 6 System tests.