Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final Assessment: The last word gaming telephone

Verdict

The Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final is a beast of a gaming telephone, with speedy efficiency, booming audio system and cutting-edge options. However whereas this is a superb telephone in its personal proper, I’m not satisfied there’s sufficient of an improve to justify the additional price in comparison with the usual Asus ROG Telephone 7.

Introduction

Asus is hoping to place the ROG Telephone 7 Final as the easiest gaming telephone available on the market, packing the quickest attainable chip in addition to a slew of options to sate even probably the most obsessive of avid gamers. 

The Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final differentiates itself from the usual ROG Telephone 7 with a notification display screen panel on the rear and enhanced cooling courtesy of the AeroActive Portal – these further options will price you a further £200 ($TBA) in comparison with the vanilla version, taking the worth as much as £1199.99. 

In any other case, the specs and options are the identical (even the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip) so that you’ll need to determine whether or not these further options justify the inflated price. I’ve spent a few weeks with the Asus ROG Telephone Final 7, so listed below are my ideas.

Design and Display screen

• Big 6.78-inch AMOLED display screen 
• ROG Imaginative and prescient display screen on the rear
• AirTriggers are useful for avid gamers

The Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final is a huge telephone, with Asus choosing an enormous 6.78-inch AMOLED display screen to maximise your gaming expertise. And regardless of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely having a touch bigger display screen, the ROG Telephone 7 Final continues to be noticeably taller because of the bezels at each the highest and backside – Asus doesn’t need a punch-hole digital camera getting in the best way of your video games. 

As somebody with small fingers, I did generally battle to sort messages one-handed, nevertheless it was nonetheless simple sufficient to slide right into a pocket regardless of being one of many chunkier telephones (1.4mm) I’ve used in recent times. 

I discovered the telephone’s look to be a higher concern, with the sci-fi aesthetic and emblazoned logos that spotlight the telephone’s gaming heritage making it a bit of embarrassing to make use of in public. You solely get the choice of the Storm White colored rear with the Final, which is a pity since the usual ROG Telephone 7 can be out there in Phantom Black, which I feel seems to be nicer and fewer imposing. 

The ROG Telephone 7 Final even has a display screen panel on the rear known as the ROG Imaginative and prescient, which could be configured to indicate a wide range of animations as soon as triggered. There’s the default ROG emblem if you get up your telephone, a charging standing, incoming name alert and a notification bar, amongst others.

I’m personally not too enamoured by this function, particularly for the reason that always-on show supplies the identical helpful info following a faucet. It’s a disgrace you may’t customise the panel with your individual textual content or pixel artwork, like you may with the ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop computer, as that will make the improve extra tempting. 

The Final has one other unique function within the type of the AeroActive Portal, which is a panel of the again that robotically opens to enhance airflow each time it detects excessive inside temperatures. It’s a pleasant added function, particularly when I discovered how sizzling the telephone turns into throughout stress testing, with Asus claiming it to spice up thermal effectivity by 20%. However is it sufficient to justify the improve to the Final version of this telephone? In all probability not. 

Asus has made different enhancements to the cooling too, with a brand new rapid-cycle vapour chamber. When enjoying an hour’s value of Name of Responsibility Cell, I by no means discovered the telephone to develop into concerningly sizzling, nevertheless it nonetheless appears like a frivolous function when telephones such because the Samsung Galaxy S23 are able to related gaming efficiency.

My favorite function on the ROG Telephone 7 Final is the addition of the AirTrigger haptic controls. These help you map in-game inputs to the telephone’s digital triggers, replicating the texture of utilizing a standard gamepad. In Name of Responsibility Cell I configured the fitting set off to shoot, and left to crouch, and it improved the ergonomics to such an extent that I felt like I had an unfair benefit. 

The vibrations of the haptic suggestions are pleasingly robust, and it by no means felt odd to be squeezing down on stable steel quite than a mechanical set off. Don’t get me flawed, I nonetheless desire having bodily triggers from the likes of the Razer Kishi cellular controllers, however Asus nonetheless provides an outstanding different to those that don’t fancy lugging round further equipment. The AirTriggers debuted on the Asus ROG Telephone 5, so are hardly new for the 7 Collection. However they continue to be a great incentive to purchase a ROG Telephone over any non-gaming telephone. 

You’ll discover two USB-C ports on this telephone – one within the conventical backside place, and one other on the right-hand facet. There are a variety of causes for this: firstly, it lets you cost your telephone whereas holding in a horizontal place for gaming, and secondly it ensures you may plug in exterior equipment (such because the AeroActive Cooler) with out stopping you from charging the telephone concurrently. 

The AMOLED display screen is brilliant, punchy and vivid. Asus claims a peak brightness of 1500 nits, which I discovered to assist make sure the show is seen even with brilliant daylight. The telephone additionally supposedly covers 150.89% of the sRGB gamut, making certain correct colors for video games and movies. I used to be impressed with the display screen’s efficiency, proving extremely competent at presenting the intense flash of a grenade in addition to the detailed design of my in-game rifle. 

Asus has additionally included a quantity switcher, standby button and headphone jack. There’s additionally assist for Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 7 to make sure cutting-edge connectivity. The ROG Telephone 7 Final has an IP54 score, which suggests it may well deal with the odd splash of water, nevertheless it isn’t waterproof, so keep away from dunking it within the pool. 

Asus has caught with a 2448 x 1080 decision, reluctant to leap as much as QHD+ just like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely. Which may be a disgrace for individuals who need probably the most detailed attainable image, however I feel it’s a wise transfer to make sure you’re getting the perfect battery life attainable. You additionally get a 165Hz refresh price, permitting you to benefit from the brand new 120Hz mode on Name of Responsibility Cell – though there’s nonetheless not sufficient cellular video games that assist the excessive refresh price for my liking. 

The excessive 720Hz touch-sampling price ensures touchscreen prods and swipes shall be registered at lightning speeds, which is extremely necessary for cellular video games that depend on fast reactions. 

The front-firing twin audio system are one of the vital spectacular elements of this telephone, providing 50% extra quantity than its predecessor. I used to be actually impressed by the weighty sound and heavy bass, presenting the thundering noise of gunfire expertly effectively. 

Audio from my Google Pixel 6 sounds flat as compared, and may sound a bit of screechy with music playback. I’d fortunately use the ROG Telephone 7 as a substitute for a speaker at house, with sufficient quantity to fill a room and excessive sufficient audio high quality that I’m not itching to plug in my headphones. The Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final has the perfect audio system I’ve heard from any smartphone but. 

Digital camera

• 50MP important sensor 
• 13MP extremely broad and 5MP Macro
• 32MP selfie digital camera

With gaming telephone producers so eager to maximise efficiency and add in oodles of options, there must be no less than one space the place they’ll minimize corners – that’s normally the digital camera, and the Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final doesn’t buck this development.

Asus has carried out the additional identical trio of cameras on the rear because the previous Asus ROG Telephone 6 Professional and Asus ROG Telephone 6D Final. This features a 50MP important sensor, 13MP extremely broad and 5MP Macro. That doesn’t imply the snapping high quality would be the very same although, as the brand new Snapdragon chip helps to enhance picture processing.

The 50MP important sensor can’t compete with most telephones at an analogous value (notably the Galaxy S23 Extremely with its 200MP sensor) nevertheless it’s nonetheless fairly competent at commonplace snaps. It could actually seize daring and brilliant colors as proven with the graffiti beneath, which seems to be pleasing to the attention.

The digital camera begins to bitter if you make use of the opposite two sensors. The 13MP extremely broad digital camera lets you seize a wider portion of the scene, however at an awesome price to the element.

In case you try the comparability pictures beneath, you’ll discover that a variety of element has been misplaced by swapping to the extremely broad lens. For instance, the brickwork turns into blurrier and the aerials on the roof look much more vague, fading into the background.

I additionally wasn’t too impressed with the 2x zoom function when evaluating it to my Google Pixel 6, which is a significantly cheaper telephone. The blue sky seems muted with the ROG Telephone, whereas it’s also possible to see a lack of element within the likes of the purple brick wall and the clouds. It’s nonetheless an inexpensive image, however you may get higher high quality with a less expensive telephone.

There’s no shock that the 5MP macro digital camera fails to impress too. This close-up shot of a flower doesn’t pack fairly sufficient element to compete with different flagship telephones that price over £1000/$1000. And as soon as once more, colors seem muted and boring.

I’m happy with the photographs taken with the 32MP selfie digital camera. Pores and skin tones look pure, whereas imagery seems to be sharp, each for the topic and background.

The digital camera is undeniably the weak level for the Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final – as it’s with most gaming telephones – missing the flexibility of flagship telephones such because the iPhone 14 Professional Max and Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless able to good wanting snaps, simply so long as you keep on with the fundamentals.

Efficiency

• Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage
• Very good thermal efficiency 

The Asus ROG Telephone 7 is powered by one of the vital highly effective chips presently out there for an Android handset: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. That is an octa-core processor with frequency speeds peaking at 3.2GHz. The Samsung Galaxy S23 telephones are the one Androids that may boast higher efficiency, powered by an overclocked model of the identical chip. 

Because of this overclocked chip, the Galaxy S23 is ready to match the Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final in our graphics benchmarks, suggesting it’s equally simply pretty much as good in the case of gaming efficiency, regardless of Asus becoming in an elaborate cooling system. 

That mentioned, the cooling system does allow the ROG Telephone 7 Final to keep up that prime efficiency over lengthy stretches of occasions. Within the 3DMark Wildlife Excessive Stress Check, the Final noticed outcomes fluctuate between 3650 and 3729. The Galaxy S23 managed to see a fair increased peak rating of 3771, but in addition dropped down as little as 2297, indicating its thermal efficiency isn’t fairly pretty much as good as the newest ROG Telephone. 

The Asus ROG Telephone 7 posted an elite graphics benchmark rating, and the best Geekbench 6 rating we’ve seen but – this telephone is severely speedy. 

When in comparison with its predecessor, the ROG Telephone 6D Final, there’s a major increase to efficiency, most noticeably with the sport benchmarks – a 26fps improve for GFXBench Aztec Ruins and 30fps bounce for GFXBench Automotive Chase. When it comes to real-time gaming, I used to be additionally capable of run Name of Responsibility Cell on the max 120fps setting, leading to a secure and clean efficiency. 

The Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final did heat up a bit whereas enjoying Name of Responsibility Cell, however not sufficient to ever develop into uncomfortable to carry. However when stress testing the gaming telephone through 3DMark, it turned scorching sizzling. That reveals it’s attainable to overheat this telephone if pushed far sufficient. I’m not satisfied there are lots of video games that may push the ROG Telephone 7 that far, however you do have the choice of the AeroActive Cooler 7 accent in case you occur to play notably demanding video games. 

You’ll get the identical specs whether or not you go for the ROG Telephone 7 or ROG Telephone 7 Final. Asus has packed each telephones with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. Name of Responsibility Cell is the most important sport when it comes to file dimension I’ve put in on the telephone, and that solely takes up 6.27GB, so I don’t suppose many individuals shall be clamouring for a 1TB improve. 

Battery life

• Large 6000mAh battery
• Not removed from two-day battery life
• May be absolutely recharged in 40 minutes

Asus has slapped an enormous 6000mAh battery contained in the ROG Telephone 7 Final, which is a fair greater capability than the cell contained in the Galaxy S23 Extremely. 

I’m actually impressed with this telephone’s stamina, comfortably outlasting the day and never too far-off from overcoming a second. After charging the telephone in a single day and unplugging at 8am, it solely fell right down to 54% when it was time to sleep at 11pm. That concerned a typical work day, together with an hour’s value of Netflix, a few hours of Sweet Crush, in addition to heaps and many idle scrolling by means of social media. It took till 7pm the next day for the battery to utterly drain.

To interrupt it down even additional, one hour of Netflix took off 7% of battery life, whereas enjoying Sweet Crush for half-hour solely depleted the cell by 3% – that latter result’s the perfect we’ve seen in current months, beating even the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely. 

Taking part in a extra demanding sport resembling Name of Responsibility Cell will deplete the battery at a faster price. The battery dropped by 13% inside an hour. Some fast calculations recommend you’ll be capable of carry on gaming for seven and a half hours earlier than the telephone runs out of juice. 

Charging is pleasingly speedy too due to the bundled 65W HyperCharge adapter. It took simply 40 minutes for the telephone’s battery to be absolutely replenished, with quarter-hour of charging time seeing the battery recharged by a powerful 46%. That’s exceptional contemplating how large the battery capability is right here.

I’m an enormous fan of among the battery care options included with this telephone too. You’re capable of activate Regular Charging which slows the tempo of charging to forestall you burning out the battery. And you may even set your individual scheduled charging time or set a charging restrict. These are all very intelligent strategies of holding your battery in fine condition over time. 

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