When it comes to high performance mobile gaming, there are few brands quite as well-known as Asus, specifically their Republic of Gamers division – more commonly known as ROG. From gaming laptops to the latest peripherals, when it comes to the best hardware that money can buy, Asus generally tends to lead the pack.
They are also the company behind the Asus ROG Phone and released the first generation of the smartphone in 2018, marketing it to anyone that loved to play their games while on the go. It’s proven to be a success among most gamers today, and not too long ago Asus released the latest iteration of their beloved gaming device, the Asus ROG Phone 5S. Many consider it to be the very best gaming smartphone on the market right now.
The Hardware
No latest-gen gaming device would be complete without powerful hardware, and the ROG Phone 5S arguably has the best hardware around.
- Display: The 5S has a 144Hz HDR10+, 6.78-inch AMOLED screen that peaks at 1200 nits of brightness. It’s an extremely powerful screen that can easily run even the latest games at 60 frames per second.
- Chipset: Asus’ latest comes with the Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888+ 5G, which is an octa-core chip capable of boosting up to 2.99 Ghz. Along with that, the phone uses an Adreno 660, boasting plenty of gaming performance.
- Main Camera: The main camera consists of a 64MP lens, along with a 13MP ultrawide and a 5MP macro lens. On the other side of the phone there’s a 24MP selfie camera that’s also capable of capturing HDR panorama shots.
- Battery: The ROG 5S ships with a 6000 mAh, non-removable battery that should offer many hours of game play before it begins running out.
Performance
This is a phone that was built from the ground up to give its user the very best performance, and thanks to its powerful Snapdragon 888+, that’s exactly what the user gets. The phone is snappy from the second is turns on, and it’s arguably the very best chipset that money can buy at the moment with the exception of Apple’s iPhone.
Consider that the S5 currently holds the record of almost all hardware benchmarks, exceeding all other popular Android devices. This will undoubtedly change with the release of the next generation of flagships but is impressive either way.
It’s For Gamers
Everything about the phone is about gaming, and this includes the multiple tweaks, wallpapers, and other features that are meant to make the gamer feel like they’re not just using a phone, but a true mobile gaming platform. Although it uses the Android operating system as its base, its launcher is ROG UI. Some reviewers have called it a bit stereotypical and that it might detract from fact that the device also needs to be used as a normal phone sometimes, like for making phone calls, browsing the web, playing Canadian casino online games, and others things – but ROG UI is still easy enough to use.