Asus ROG Cellphone 6D Final

Verdict

The Asus ROG Cellphone 6D Final’s inherent similarity to the Asus ROG Cellphone 6 Professional makes it one of many best possible gaming telephones available on the market by default. It doesn’t provide any significant progress over its predecessor, and the upper price ticket is a little bit of a put-off, nevertheless it comfortably retains the model’s apex predator place inside the gaming cellphone market.

Introduction

The Asus ROG Cellphone 6D Final was previously ranked as one of the best gaming cellphone that we’ve reviewed. It has since slid down the leaderboard, following the launch of the newer ROG Cellphone 7 Final.

That’s problematic for the ROG Cellphone 6D, because it’s but to (at the least on the time of writing) obtain a value reduce, regardless of costing simply as a lot because the extra highly effective ROG Cellphone 7 Final. Consequently, it’s unattainable to suggest the Final 6D till it will get a value drop, or is on the market second-hand at a extra inexpensive value.

But when we take the worth out of the equation, the Asus ROG Cellphone 6D Final remains to be a formidable gaming cellphone. It has a slick show, lengthy battery life and nice efficiency, even when it isn’t fairly as innovative as when it first launched in 2022.

Design and Display

• Massive and heavy however balanced design
• IPX4 score
• Huge, responsive show

Asus hasn’t modified its design language for the ROG Cellphone 6D Final. It’s one other large, heavy and explicitly gaming-focused system. 

The cellphone is a whopping 10.4mm thick and weighs 239g. That’s about the identical weight because the iPhone 14 Professional Max and even heavier than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely. I used the ROG Cellphone 6D Final as my major cellphone for every week or so, and I discovered its heft to be distractingly conspicuous.

The rear of the cellphone is distinctively ROG-ish, with a gunmetal House Gray end that’s somewhat extra restrained than the 6 Professional’s evident white. Not that it’s refined – you continue to get a sprinkling of sunshine blue highlights, angular sci-fi decals, and snippets of textual content dotted round. 

IPX4 certification makes a return, which implies that Asus hasn’t taken the chance to make its flagship gaming cellphone any extra dust- or water resistant.

Then there’s that 2-inch rear display screen, often called the ROG Imaginative and prescient. This show exhibits customized graphics for incoming calls, when charging or enjoying video games, and extra. It’s just about totally superfluous, however anybody wholly invested within the gaudy gamer aesthetic will doubtlessly discover it cool.

Reverse that show on the again panel is a brand new AeroActive Portal. This mysterious gray plastic door mechanically slides open whenever you affix the included AeroActive Cooler 6, exposing the cellphone’s sizzling innards to much more airflow than the 6 Professional. On condition that the latter by no means actually struggled with sustaining efficiency over the lengthy haul with its personal fan connected, it’s a cool (pun unintended) however inessential addition. 

Each the ROG Imaginative and prescient and AeroActive Portal aren’t obtainable on the newer ROG Cellphone 7 cellphone, giving the 6D Final a slight benefit regardless of launching the yr earlier than. However the ROG Cellphone 7 Final does utilise the ROG Imaginative and prescient and AeroActive Portal, making the newer mannequin a extra tempting various.

The fan itself has a twin perform (triple when you depend the included kickstand). In addition to permitting the ROG Cellphone 6D Final to run at excessive clock charges for prolonged gaming periods, it additionally bears 4 bodily shoulder buttons. This, together with the cellphone’s built-in capacitive Air Triggers, lends you a formidable array of controls to map to key controls. For those who’re in search of a aggressive edge in shooters like Name of Obligation Cellular, Apex Legends, or PUBG Cellular, wanting hooking up a full Bluetooth controller, that is it.

One other gaming-friendly characteristic is the availability of two USB-C ports: one on the underside edge, annoyingly positioned to 1 facet, and the opposite on the left edge for connecting the aforementioned fan. It additionally makes charging whereas gaming in panorama mode way more nice.

Asus has correctly stored the show from the opposite telephones within the ROG Cellphone 6 sequence. It’s the identical giant 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED with an especially speedy 165Hz most refresh charge. It’s nearly as responsive as shows get, particularly with a 720Hz contact sampling charge making certain that your contact inputs are recorded immediately.

One other key issue for gaming is that there’s no bothersome show notch getting in the best way right here. The entrance digital camera is stashed within the cellphone’s larger-than-average brow, making for blissfully unimpeded media playback.

Digital camera

• 50-megapixel major sensor is an honest performer
• 13-megapixel ultra-wide means a giant drop-off in high quality
• Macro sensor is fairly pointless

I might nearly reduce and paste the Digital camera part from the Asus ROG Cellphone 6 Professional overview proper right here, because it’s the very same set-up. You’re a 50-megapixel major digital camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 5-megapixel macro – identical to earlier than. Nevertheless, Asus switching to a brand new chip means new picture processing, so it’s nicely price placing it by means of its paces by itself phrases. 

The principle information right here continues to be that 50-megapixel vast sensor, which as soon as once more sees the Sony IMX766 being introduced into play. This can be a dependable picture sensor that has discovered its method into the likes of the Oppo Discover X3 Professional, the OnePlus Nord 2T, and the Asus Zenfone 9 in current instances.

As gaming telephones go, it’s a reasonably good provision. I used to be happy with a lot of the pictures I took with the ROG Cellphone 6D Final’s major sensor throughout my check interval, no matter lighting situations. Outside pictures have been crisp and nicely uncovered, whereas indoor pictures captured an honest quantity of element with out devolving right into a smudgy mess, and Night time mode stored issues commendably clear with out over-brightening.

The 13-megapixel ultra-wide is a unique matter totally, experiencing the sort of drop-off intimately, publicity and vibrancy that you simply’d anticipate to see from a mid-range non-gaming cellphone promoting for lower than half the worth. And the much less stated about that 5-megapixel macro digital camera, the higher.

Nonetheless, at the least 2x zoomed pictures are usable. You possibly can thank that first rate major sensor for this, because it allows you to crop in with out fully dropping all of the element.

I’ve no drawback with the ROG Cellphone 6D Final’s entrance digital camera both. It captures fairly detailed and well-exposed pictures, though pores and skin tones appear somewhat pink.

All in all, it’s a stable digital camera, however one that may simply be bested when you spend related cash (and even a number of hundred much less) on a non-gaming flagship cellphone. Asus has opted for a similar digital camera setup for the newer ROG Cellphone 7 fashions too, so that you received’t be getting a lot enchancment by choosing these.

Efficiency

• Switches to MediaTek Dimensity 9000+
• Efficiency comparable with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
• 16GB RAM, 512GB storage

The one greatest change from the Asus ROG Cellphone 6 Professional right here pertains to efficiency. But, efficiency was the one space that was completely unimpeachable on the 6 Professional.

For the ROG Cellphone 6D Final, Asus has swapped out the flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip for the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+. MediaTek chips are usually cheaper than their Qualcomm equivalents, which I’ve to imagine is the primary driver for this cellphone’s launch.

That is one other high-end 4nm chip, and it produces the same stage of efficiency. In actual fact, common Geekbench 5 scores of 1382 single-core and 4635 multi-core high these of the 6 Professional, suggesting that the MediaTek CPU is, if something, somewhat quicker.

On the GPU entrance, my checks would appear to counsel a swing in the wrong way. Whereas the 6D Final maxed out the primary 3D Mark checks – identical to the 6 Professional – it solely scored 2663 within the demanding Wild Life Excessive check. That’s 146 factors wanting the 6 Professional.

We’re speaking about pretty small margins right here. All of those outcomes are extraordinarily spectacular and proper up there with any non-gaming Android cellphone.

Extra importantly, the ROG Cellphone 6D Final, just like the 6 Professional, is able to sustaining its excessive efficiency over longer intervals of time than these different telephones, particularly whenever you clip on that fan. Operating the 3D Mark Wild Life Excessive Stress Check, which runs the aforementioned intensive GPU benchmark a number of instances over 20mins, the 6D Final maintained an nearly good diploma of consistency from loops 1 to twenty.

In fact, the 6 Professional maintained a equally constant efficiency over the lengthy haul, so you possibly can hardly deem this an enchancment.

There’s just one iteration of the Asus ROG Cellphone 6D Final, and it comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of inner storage. That’s 2GB much less RAM than the 6 Professional, however I defy anybody to say that they discover the distinction in follow.

The fly within the ointment right here is that the newer ROG Cellphone 7 and ROG Cellphone 7 Final fashions pack an much more highly effective chip within the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Our benchmarks point out that the brand new chip offers a big efficiency increase, each for the CPU and GPU.

A GFXBench check signifies that the ROG Cellphone 7 fashions can profit from as a lot as a 30fps gaming efficiency improve, scoring a mighty 106fps in a Automotive Chase simulation. So whereas the ROG Cellphone 6D Final is definitely a really highly effective Android cellphone, yow will discover even quicker gaming handsets now when you’re craving most energy.

Battery life

• Large 6000mAh battery
• Strong stamina
• 65W quick charging

Asus has geared up the ROG Cellphone 6D Final with an enormous, break up 6000 mAh battery, the identical as on the ROG Cellphone 6 Professional. By separating it into two cells, Asus spreads the cellphone’s appreciable weight, making it somewhat extra comfy to carry over an extended time frame. It additionally helps management warmth build-up.

Half an hour of gaming on the 6D Final sapped 8% of a full cost, whereas streaming an hour of Netflix video sapped 7%. That’s 1-2% greater than on the 6 Professional, however nonetheless not unhealthy. An hour of music streaming sapped 2%.

You get a 65W quick charger within the field as normal, identical to with the 6 Professional. That is ample to get you to 46% in 15mins, motoring on to 85% in 30mins. Asus claims you could get to 100% in 42mins, which chimes with my expertise. This isn’t the quickest on the broader flagship cellphone market, nevertheless it’s quick sufficient inside a gaming cellphone context with that extra-large battery. 

Asus additionally goes above and past with its battery care measures, which is nice information given how a lot of a beating your common gaming cellphone battery tends to take. Dive into the battery settings menu, and also you’ll discover the power to activate Regular Charging, which basically slows down speedy charging to guard the battery.

You can too set a decrease charging restrict, to 80% or 90%, so that you simply’re by no means charging to full. This can be a welcome approach to prolong the battery’s pure lifespan.

Gaming telephones don’t are inclined to hassle with wi-fi charging, with sources usually (and justifiably) spent elsewhere. The Asus ROG Cellphone 6D Final doesn’t mess with that precedent.

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Sustainability

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As a part of this mission, at any time when we overview a product we ship the corporate a sequence of questions to assist us gauge and make clear the affect the system has on the surroundings.

We at the moment haven’t acquired solutions to the questions on this product, however will replace this web page the second we do. You possibly can see an in depth breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability information web page.