The ASUS ROG Phone III Review: A 144Hz 6000mAh Beast With Caveats
by Andrei Frumusanu on August 28, 2020 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Snapdragon 865
- ROG Phone III
Camera - Daylight Evaluation
The cameras of the ROG Phone III aren’t the most exciting, but do represent a partial upgrade compared to its predecessor. The new 64MP IMX686 main camera sensor with its f/1.7 optics are certain to produce higher-quality images. The ultra-wide-angle seems to be the same unit as on the ROG Phone II, however we do hope that the improved processing of the new SoC will be able to improve the quality of the images.
The only rather obvious lacking feature here is the missing OIS on the main camera sensor. For daylight shots this shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but for low-light it’ll certainly handicap the ROG3. Let’s start with daylight shots though:
[ ROG Phone III ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ X-T30 ]
In the first shot here we’re seeing the ROG3 having a quite different exposure compared to other phones. While other phones were exposing for the highlights of the scene, the ASUS exposed for the shadows, and thus has a lot more retention into the darker areas of the scene such as the tree crown. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work too great for the brighter parts of the scene as things look quite flat and crushed due to the HDR trying to reduce highlights back to normal levels.
The ultra-wide has similar issues, with good shadows, however the highlights are too flat and crushed.
[ ROG Phone III ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ X-T30 ]
This scene’s exposure is quite good on the ROG3, though it doesn’t have the best dynamic range. Colour temperature is also too warm, but that’s an issue all the phones had here, except for the iPhone which was more spot-on.
It’s a detail rich-scene and a perfect spot to investigate the resolution of the cameras. The ROG3 doesn’t do well at all there – although the centre of the image is quite sharp, starting in the mid-frame there’s a vast drop in optical resolution resulting in quite abysmal blur towards the edges of the image, which is amongst the worst we’ve seen in a phone. It looks like the optics of the ROG3 are quite bad.
[ ROG Phone III ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ X-T30 ]
In the next shot the exposure is again adequate, but still a bit too flat for the highlights of the scene, as its textures are a bit flat. Even in the thumbnail view we can see the low edge sharpness of the camera versus the other phones which is quite a pity.
The ultra-wide is also dominated by this overexposure and flat highlight elements, it’s notably worse than the competition.
[ ROG Phone III ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ X-T30 ]
In what I guess is less stringent lighting, the ROG3 does a better overall exposure, although this time we see a lack of dynamic range in the shadows, which are clipping to black.
[ ROG Phone III ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ X-T30 ]
This shot is quite nice for the ASUS, although it lacks dynamic range compared to the other phones. Colour temperature is a bit too warm.
[ ROG Phone III ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ X-T30 ]
Under cloud-cover, the exposure ended up being quite dark as the phone tries to expose for the sky rather than for the majority of the scene, which lacked in any kind of highlights.
The ultra-wide here did a better job, resulting in a livelier and more accurate image.
[ ROG Phone III ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ X-T30 ]
Finally, when back in sunlight, the camera again overexposed things and attempted to recover the highlights by lowering them, resulting in flat textures without contrast.
Overall Daylight Capture – Disappointing
The ROG Phone II last year didn’t have a great camera, and it seems to me the ROG Phone III doesn’t improve the situation much even though it sports new hardware.
The issue seems to be solely on the processing side. The phone in daylight has a tendency to overexpose, with the HDR then trying to lower highlights back to normal levels, which then result into flat textures.
It’s a functional camera, but I can’t say that it’s able to compete with any other flagship phone in the market as pretty much almost everything else out there will be able to produce better images.
Hardware-wise, the optics of the main camera sensor are also severely lacking. There’s a very gross loss of optical acuity starting mid-frame, with very blurry edges. The optics here don’t seem to be able to actually be fit for an f/1.7 aperture at all.
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Kishoreshack - Friday, August 28, 2020 - link
Just love how far ASUS has come with its phonesKangal - Sunday, August 30, 2020 - link
Yeah, in 2019... but this year they have gotten worse.Just compare the Zenfone 6 to the Zenfone 7 for starters.
On the ROG 2 vs ROG 3,
The new device is slightly larger, heavier, and lost the 3.5mm Jack. And it raised the prices.
But comparing the 16GB RAM vs 12GB RAM, isn't that big deal. And the uplift from the QSD 855 to the 865/865+ is hardly impressive. Or the 5900mAh battery compared to the 6,000mAh battery. Even the screen is the same comparing 144Hz to 120Hz, or the 270Hz-Touch to the 240Hz-Touch. By most metrics the new model is the same or worse than the older one.
And again, it's more expensive. I think that second chipset (Qualcomm's external modem) is the culprit for this year's lacklustre phones (larger, hotter, battery thirstier, less internal space, more expensive).
The only point where ASUS has made a notable upgrade is in the camera. And that's on both the ROG 3 and the Zenfone 7. But it's hardly a reason for someone to choose to buy a new ROG3, when they could get the ROG2 on a discount.
I think I could've been fine with the ASUS ROG 3, if they kept the 3.5mm headphone jack, added a microSD slot, and added wireless charging. That would've made the +$200 price hike easier to swallow. If they included JoyCons in the box, it would've been an instant hit.
To be honest, I would've preferred they downsized it slightly to around (166 x 74 x 9mm) which is like the size of the OnePlus 8 Pro, any larger makes it unpocketable for most regular mens jeans/pants. Even if that means downsizing the 6000mAh battery down to 5000mAh battery, it's worth it for the quality of life improvement.
s.yu - Monday, August 31, 2020 - link
When SD865 prices just got announced people were seeing a price hike of the handsets as inevitable. This phone looks decidedly less "gaming" than the predecessor and that's a big plus for me, and the second C port means the lack of the jack is at least tolerable. How they should cut corners on the optics so much confuses me, I'm wondering if this is a defective unit.There's rumor that Samsung is still contemplating bringing back the jack in flagships next year so I'm taking the wait and see approach, the S-Pen for me is worth it, but if Samsung doesn't follow through then I'll come back and buy one of these second-handed. With far superior battery to the Sony, it's already the closest thing to an all-rounder on the market.
Kangal - Monday, August 31, 2020 - link
I'm thinking the next year's QSD 875 will be like 8% faster simply because of the 5nm advancement. Plus another 8% speed due to slight architectural improvement in the X1 core, and modem efficiency.Yes most important, it should have the 4G/5G modem integrated (hopefully)... and that should mean better efficiency, and slightly larger internal space. So we could see the 3.5mm Headphone Jack make a comeback because of that.
But Samsung has killed the Jack for good. They have their own wireless earphones for sale. They got rid of it on the Note10 for no good reason. It's not coming back. Heck, even if they wrongly accuse the internal space restrictions, which is not true, there is no reason that they cannot integrate the 3.5mm Headphone Jack into the underside of the SPen.
I'm hoping this year has negatively affected all OEMs that they re-introduce some wanted features next year like Headphone Jack, microSD... on top of REDUCING the prices down (-30% ?) to regular levels to ensure strong sales/continued sales. I think this year proved that marketing wasn't strong enough to deceive the consumers.
s.yu - Wednesday, September 2, 2020 - link
lol I would bet on a comeback of the 3.5mm than a 30% price drop. Anyhow, the market hasn't exactly been exciting this year so I'm truly not in a hurry to upgrade, so I'll wait and see until there's something solid suggesting no jack again.flyingpants265 - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Joycons are stupid, it should be a whole PSP-like controller case that locks in place, to literally turn your phone into a PSP. Then we can have serious game development and ports for phones.This should have been available since 2007 or before. 13 years later and we're still using weird flimsy attachable joycon things.
The current Chinese Bluetooth psp-style controllers suck bad.
Kishoreshack - Friday, August 28, 2020 - link
The most awaited review is finally hereWanted to see how it fares against other flagships
Kishoreshack - Friday, August 28, 2020 - link
6000 mah battery with 865 plus & 144hz display is an instant sell for menico_mach - Friday, August 28, 2020 - link
Yes, this, I think this phone is more compelling outside of its gaming. Esp in comparison to iphones - they dominate the performance but usually ship with tiny batteries. Android phones need to carve out a niche, and this phone does that.melgross - Monday, August 31, 2020 - link
They still have some if the best battery life. And they’re not “tiny” batteries. iOS doesn’t need very large batteries as Androud phones do.