Hands-On, Smartphone

Asus ROG Phone 6 Series Hands-On: Faster, Sleeker, (Slightly) Costlier

Asus may not have a wide range of phones in the market now, but its line of ROG gaming phones have always been considered one of the best offerings in the market. Naturally, the same still applies to the new Asus ROG Phone 6 series, which is made up of the standard ROG Phone 6 and the ROG Phone 6 Pro.

As with every new successor in the series, the ROG Phone 6 phones offer a respectable spec bump with a more capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and a faster 165Hz AMOLED display. In the case of the ROG Phone 6 Pro, it also gets a sleeker, more premium design.

Of course, these upgrades do come at a (slight) price increase, but if you want one of the most promising gaming phones of 2022, the ROG Phone 6 series is worth considering.

Let’s get the prices of the phones out of the way first. The base model of ROG Phone 6 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs RM3,599, while the 16GB + 512GB configuration goes for RM4,399. These prices are quite a bit lower than the Pro model, which is priced at RM4,999.

That’s right, the ROG Phone 6 Pro costs quite a bit of money at RM4,999, though you do get a whopping 18GB RAM and 512GB of internal storage. Only one variant of the Pro model is offered on our shores, so unfortunately enough, you do have to pay a premium for the premium looks of the gaming phone.

Compared to the standard model, the ROG Phone 6 Pro is actually not that different. The biggest difference – aside from the 18GB RAM – is just the back panel of the phone. Instead of a glossy finish, thee Pro model has a much nicer-looking frosted/matte back cover, which also feels great to the touch.

There’s also the ROG Vision coloured PMOLED display on the back panel of the ROG Phone 6 Pro. It can be customised to show a wide range of animations for different scenarios. You can select certain animations for incoming calls, launching a game, or just charging your phone.

It is by no means a groundbreaking feature, though it is certainly a unique hardware of the ROG Phone 6 Pro.

In contrast to the Pro model, the regular ROG Phone 6 has an illuminated ROG logo on the back panel. It’s not quite as flashy as the PMOLED screen of its Pro counterpart, though it does still give the gaming phone a nice aesthetic. Well, in my opinion, anyway.

So if you don’t care for the frosted back panel or slightly more RAM of the Pro variant, the standard ROG Phone 6 will do just fine. After all, it has the exact same hardware as the Pro model, including the aforementioned Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and capacitive shoulder buttons.

While I haven’t had the chance to test out any intensive games on the ROG Phone 6, I reckon this processor will be able to keep up with any game I throw at it, including Genshin Impact. Suffice to say I can’t wait to put the gaming phone through its paces once I received a review unit.

Next, we have the ROG Phone 6 series’ fast 6.78-inch 1080p AMOLED display with a blazing fast 165Hz refresh rate. This panel also has a high 720Hz sampling rate, giving it a touch latency of only 23ms. As far as I can tell, the phone certainly feels very responsive.

This being an AMOLED panel, it also offers bright, vibrant colours; perfect for gaming and content consumption. While it would’ve been great if the ROG Phone 6 phones had a higher resolution display, the 1080p screen still looks good enough to my eyes.

There’s also an advantage to using a 1080p panel: the ROG Phone 6 should still be able to offer above average battery life. Packed with a generous 6,000mAh battery with support for 65W fast charging, I’m confident this will be a long-lasting phone.

And then we have the camera performance of the ROG Phone 6, which is…decent? It features a triple camera system made up of a 50MP primary sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide angle lens, and a macro shooter, along with a 12MP selfie camera.

Yes, the ROG Phone 6 phones don’t have the most sophisticated camera system, and the image quality leaves much to be desired from both the 50MP main sensor and 13MP ultra-wide angle camera. But considering the fact that these are gaming-centric phones, it’s no surprise that the camera performance is not particularly…impressive.

All in all, the Asus ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro are extremely promising gaming smartphones. Granted, they are quite a bit more expensive than their predecessors, but the price difference is actually not that big. Take the regular ROG Phone 6: even though it starts at RM3,599 now, you’re getting 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM.

In comparison, the ROG Phone 5s’ base model is priced at RM2,999, but it only offered 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. A more proper comparison would be the 16GB + 256GB configuration of the ROG Phone 5s for RM3,799, so in retrospect, the RM3,599 starting price of the ROG Phone 6…is not that bad.

How about the ROG Phone 6 Pro? Well, the ROG Phone 5s Pro with the same RAM and storage capacities (18GB + 512GB) also has the exact same price tag of RM4,999.

Yes, the starting price of the ROG Phone 6 series is still higher now, but you are getting your money’s worth, in my opinion. While I can’t say for sure it’s worth getting yet – only a full review can shed some light on this – I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the two gaming phones.

That is, once they are available here in Malaysia. The ROG Phone 6 will only arrive here sometime in August, while the Pro model will land on our shores in September.

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