The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is chameleonic in its approach. Gone are the days are gaming-oriented phones boasting loud colours, chunky designs, and bold text. This phone is a far more refined, slimline offering that parades, at first glance, as your everyday mobile phone. It’s only when you hop into the ROG Phone 8 Pro and test its performance and capability that you really get a sense of the power under the hood.
Frankly, it’s a nice change. While modern mobile phones have settled into a homogeneity with their devotion to sleek black faces, thin bezels, and left-aligned camera arrays, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The gaming-oriented phones of yesteryear simply stick out in a land of plain blacks and boring hues – and so the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro has chosen the path of least resistance.
There are subtle gamer touches on this device – the bold “gamer” text is still present, on near-invisible shiny decals, and there’s a very cute programmable mini-LED lighting system on the back – but overall, it’s an elegant phone. It’s sleek and slimline, and very pleasing to hold.
Backed by solid gaming performance, snappy and responsive user input, and a terrific battery, the ROG Phone 8 Pro is a great option for Android mobile gamers.
Table of Contents
Comfort and Performance
Comfort is a major focus for the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, and it’s clear there’s been some thought given to the finicky nature of playing games on mobile. While most hobbyists will choose to attach a peripheral controller to ensure comfort in gameplay, this iteration of the ROG Phone 8 Pro comes with its own nifty accessory to ease hand cramps, and ensure the gameplay experience is far more ergonomic.
Included with the ROG Phone 8 Pro is a portable cooler, the AeroActive Cooler X, which helps the phone maintain a reasonable temperature while playing demanding games, and also provides extra room for fingers to spread out. There’s two back buttons on the device as well, with these allowing you a bit more control for certain games.
In my time using the phone standalone, I didn’t find the temperature ever got uncomfortably warm (playing titles including Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Pokemon Unite) but adding the AeroActive Cooler X meant I was able to game for longer without any wrist and arm cramps. In pretty cool fashion, it also easily locks onto the device via a secondary USB-C port on the left side of the phone – and you can also side-charge it this way.
In active use, the AeroActive Cooler X is very practical, and I didn’t notice it chewing up the battery much faster than playing games does. It almost certainly impacts battery life, but not in a tangible way that I noticed – so I kept it on for most of the time I was using the phone.
Performance
As for the phone’s performance, it was admirable throughout use. On both Fortnite and Pokemon Unite, I was able to maintain a steady 60 FPS without the need to fiddle with the phone’s overall settings. There was zero noticeable lag or hitching, with graphic load-in and gameplay remaining smooth, crisp and clean throughout use. There is also a more powerful X Mode you can activate, with this technically allowing for stronger and more stable performance for more demanding games – but even roaming through Genshin Impact‘s many worlds, I didn’t find much of a need to have it running.
That’s the real twist with mobile gaming – phone performance still far exceeds the necessary requirements for most mobile games, particularly popular titles like Fortnite. You don’t need the guts the ROG Phone 8 Pro can offer, even if they’re mighty nice to have. Anything you want to play on the phone, it can certainly handle.
Display
The phone’s AMOLED display also aids the overall experience, adding bright, vivid colours to gameplay. While the display allows for rich colour delivery, it’s also not too over-the-top or unnatural. With a high 165Hz refresh rate, action remains smooth and dynamic, with noticeable zero screen tearing or lag.
As mentioned, the display is also very neat, with minimal bezel around the outside, ensuring gaming sessions are fuss-free and borderless.
On a less important note, I noticed the display isn’t too sensitive to fingerprinting. Even when you’ve spent days dragging your fingers across Fortnite, there’s never much noticeable grease build-up, and it never gets in the way of use. A minor feature, but one I very much appreciated.
Everyday Use
When you’re not spending your time with the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro gaming, you’ll likely also want to use it as your everyday mobile companion. To that end, it’s a great all-rounder, with robust features and design that make it great for gaming, and great for everyday use.
For one thing, the phone’s robust processor means that any task is performed at speed, with fast loading, snappy response, and easy input. It’s like asking a racehorse to pull a very tiny cart. It won’t warm up while you’re using it for daily tasks like web browsing, TikTok absorbing, or Instagram posting, and it can handle multiple processes at once, with zero slowdown.
Its battery also well supports use for lifestyle or gaming purposes. When not in daily active use, the ROG Phone 8 Pro has very good battery retention (it lost only around 7% power in a single day where I didn’t use it for review) and while it was in daily use, I felt I could comfortably leave it 2-3 days without charging. While using it more intensively to test games, that was closer to 1.5-2 days, playing games for around 2 hours per day.
When charging, it only took around an hour to get up to full power from a low of 5-6%. That’s pretty impressive, compared to other phones on the market – and made using the phone daily very simple.
Where the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is slightly less impressive is in its camera functionality. While it houses a good-to-decent camera array, the photos this phone can produce aren’t particularly eye-catching or artistic. Colours are slightly oversaturated, and it’s difficult to get good focus. Those who haven’t experimented with mobile photography on say, a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or the latest iPhone, likely won’t notice a difference – but there is a slight quality drop compared to other phones in similar price brackets.
Given this is a phone designed for gaming, it’s not a massive bugbear – but it’s worth noting.
Overall verdict
Regardless of a relatively unimpressive camera, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is a solid and sturdy phone, with its gaming-oriented features making it a worthy companion. In designed a more “mainstream” mobile gaming device, Asus has also taken clever steps to widen its appeal.
At USD $1,499 | AUD $1,999 it’s a hefty investment, but for those who enjoy gaming on mobile – and particularly those keen to play performance-heavy games on the phone – it’s a choice pick that justifies the investment.
With a dose of refinement, a very neat design, and gut-busting performance, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is a great new entry in the Asus ROG lineup.
Four stars: ★★★★
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro
Release Year: 2024
Price: AUD $1,999 (512GB) | AUD $2,499 (1TB)
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is now available in Australia and New Zealand.
An Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro was temporarily loaned to GamesHub for the purposes of this review. GamesHub reviews are rated on a five-point scale.
