The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: A Gaming Beast With Some Quirks
The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate isn’t just another gaming phone; it’s a statement of intent, a machine built to dominate the mobile gaming landscape. With 18GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC, it boasts a level of performance that’s hard to match, but its price tag might make even the most dedicated gamer pause. This review dives deep into the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, exploring its strengths and weaknesses to see if it truly lives up to its "Ultimate" moniker.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Price in India
The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, with its staggering 18GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, comes at a hefty Rs 79,999. It’s available only in Storm White, making it a distinctive choice. You’ll find less expensive alternatives in the ROG Phone 5 lineup, starting with the base model at Rs 49,999 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and the ROG Phone 5 Pro at Rs 69,999 for 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. But is the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate truly worth the price difference? Let’s find out.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Design
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate is a large phone, echoing the design cues of its predecessors. Its 6.78-inch display boasts a 20.4:9 aspect ratio, with relatively slim bezels on the sides and a bit thicker borders at the top and bottom. A selfie camera neatly tucked above the display, and stereo speakers at the top and bottom offer a compelling landscape experience.
The metal frame, crafted with a premium feel, houses all the buttons on the right side. The power button sits almost perfectly in the center, while the volume buttons sit slightly higher, ensuring easy reach. Asus thoughtfully placed ultrasonic AirTriggers on the same side. The position feels natural for index fingers when holding the phone in landscape for gaming.
The left side features a Type-C port and a proprietary connector for ROG Phone accessories. This extra Type-C port is a lifesaver, allowing for charging while gaming in landscape mode without being in the way of your hands. These ports are cleverly protected by a detachable rubber flap. The SIM tray is also on the left, sporting a striking blue accent color. It supports two NanoSIM slots, but sadly, there’s no microSD card slot for expandable storage.
The rear, built with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, ditches the metallic vent seen on previous ROG Phone models (ROG Phone 3 and ROG Phone 2). There’s a triple camera module protruding slightly in the top left corner. The monochrome PMOLED display takes center stage on the rear panel, adding a touch of flair. It illuminates when the screen is on and can be customized with various graphics. The display also shows alerts for calls and animates during game launches. Two additional AirTriggers are placed within easy reach when holding the phone in landscape. The matte finish on the back does a commendable job at keeping fingerprints at bay.
Despite the premium materials, the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate undeniably feels bulky because of its size and 238g weight. This device isn’t for those seeking sleek and lightweight phones.
Included in the box are the AeroActive cooler, a handy clip-on attachment that assists with heat dissipation, and a 30W charger. The AeroActive cooler adds two physical trigger buttons to the mix, further enhancing the gaming experience.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Specifications and Software
The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate boasts a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a 20.4:9 aspect ratio and is HDR 10+ certified. Refresh rates peak at 144Hz, while the touch sampling rate hits 300Hz, ensuring a smooth and responsive experience. An in-display fingerprint scanner allows for easy unlocking. The peak brightness reaches a respectable 1200 nits, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protects the display from scratches and drops.
Powering this beast is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC, the flagship processor of 2021, still holding its own as one of the most powerful chips available. This chipset is paired with 18GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage, seemingly overkill for most users but ensures effortless multitasking and game performance.
Connectivity options include Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, support for six satellite navigation systems, dual 5G, and 4G VoLTE. The 6,000mAh battery is divided into two 3,000mAh cells, offering excellent endurance. 65W fast charging is supported, although the included charger is limited to 30W.
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate runs Android 11 with Asus’s ROG UI laid over the top. During this review, the November Android security patch was installed. The ROG UI is tailored for gamers, but you can switch to a stock Android look via the Themes app. A few preinstalled apps like Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, and Messenger come bundled but don’t flood you with intrusive notifications.
Various gestures are implemented, although not all are enabled by default. You can double-tap the display for wake-up or sleep, use Smart Answering to automatically answer calls when bringing the phone to your ear, or trace letters on the screen to launch specific apps.
Asus incorporates the Armoury Crate app, which showcases all installed games. A console-like screen displays system parameters such as storage, RAM, battery level, temperature, CPU/GPU clock speeds and temperatures. Different power modes can be selected within the app. X Mode pushes everything to its limits, unleashing the phone’s full potential. Dynamic balances performance with heat and battery life, while Ultra Durable focuses on conserving power.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Performance and Battery Life
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate’s AMOLED display offers excellent viewing angles and is bright enough for outdoor use. The high refresh rate makes the UI impossibly smooth. By default, the refresh rate is set to Auto, which dynamically switches between 120Hz and 144Hz but can be manually adjusted to 60Hz. The stereo speakers are impressively loud and clear, lacking any tinny sound even at high volumes.
The phone handles any workload without breaking a sweat. I played a variety of games and multitasked with numerous apps without encountering any hiccups. Over 10GB of RAM remained free throughout my review period, demonstrating the phone’s ample resources. The in-display fingerprint scanner and face recognition are equally snappy and reliable.
Benchmarks further paint a picture of the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate’s exceptional performance. In AnTuTu, it scored a remarkable 837,004 points, placing it among the top performers. In Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core tests, it scored 1,120 and 3,693 respectively. It effortlessly conquered 3DMark’s Sling Shot and Sling Shot Extreme graphics tests, and achieved 120fps and 56fps in GFXBench’s T-Rex and Car Chase scenes.
Playing Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), it automatically defaulted to High frame rate and HD graphics settings. I pushed the graphics quality to HDR and the frame rate to Extreme, and the phone continued to run the game without any lag or stutter.
The AirTriggers on the right side and rear panels, as well as the physical triggers on the AeroActive cooler, delivered responsiveness and practicality during gaming. After playing BGMI for 25 minutes, the battery level dropped by just 8 percent. The phone did become slightly warm, noticeable on the metallic frame, but this was mitigated by using the Aeroactive cooler, although it did speed up battery drain due to the fan.
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate delivers impressive battery life. During my testing, it consistently lasted over a day with my typical usage patterns. In our HD video loop test, the phone powered through for a remarkable 17 hours and 28 minutes. Charging with the included 30W charger is relatively fast, achieving 45 percent in 30 minutes and 86 percent in an hour.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Cameras
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate sports a triple camera setup on the rear: a 64-megapixel primary camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5-megapixel macro shooter. The primary camera captures 16-megapixel shots by default. The camera app offers a straightforward and intuitive user experience, making it easy to switch between shooting modes and access quick controls for HDR, aspect ratio, flash, and Google Lens.
Daylight photos, initially impressive, reveal visible grain upon zooming in. The ultra-wide-angle camera, while capturing a wider field of view, exhibits distorted edges, and details suffer in comparison to the primary camera, with noticeable artefacting when zoomed in.
Low-light performance is decent. The phone detects low light and automatically switches to long exposure shots, displaying the duration for a steady shot. It essentially replicates Night mode, yielding identical results, making Night mode redundant. While useful for capturing night photos without fiddling with settings, it leads to smoothing of distant objects. Shots without long exposure struggle with detail, particularly in the shadows.
The selfie camera, a 24-megapixel shooter, saves photos at 6-megapixel resolution due to pixel binning. Daylight selfies are sharp, and portrait selfies boast impressive edge detection. Low-light selfies with a nearby light source are also decent.
Video recording maxes out at 8K for the primary camera and 1080p for the selfie camera. None of the cameras feature optical stabilization, relying on electronic stabilization. Daylight videos at 4K exhibit a slight shimmer when moving around, while 1080p footage is smoother. Low-light videos suffer from a shimmer effect at both 4K and 1080p when moving.
Verdict
The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate stands as a gaming powerhouse, built with top-of-the-line hardware, making no compromises on performance. While 18GB of RAM might be considered overkill, the phone’s performance is undeniable. The crisp high-refresh-rate AMOLED panel, stereo speakers, and capacitive AirTriggers elevate the gaming experience. However, the camera performance isn’t the best at this price point, which might deter those looking for an all-rounder.
If you prioritize a purpose-built gaming phone and are ready to invest, the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate reigns supreme. Although it lacks direct competitors, other flagship phones offer a more polished experience at this price. If you’re not ready to shell out Rs 79,999, the base Asus ROG Phone 5 at Rs 49,999 delivers excellent value for money. The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate is a compelling choice for dedicated gamers, but its high price and average camera performance may leave some buyers wanting more.
