When the Razer Phone created the “gaming phone” market in 2017, it rolled out with distinctive options hardly ever—if ever—seen in smartphones: a excessive refresh charge display, binned processors, copper vapor chambers, and in-your-face “gamer” aesthetics. But within the years since, a lot of these “gaming” options have trickled all the way down to mainstream telephones from corporations like Samsung, OnePlus, and plenty of extra. Don’t be fooled: Despite the mainstream adoption of a few of their options, fire-breathing fanatic gadgets like the brand new Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate proceed to innovate and provide distinctive experiences.

Here are three key options that helps the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate stand out from the mainstream plenty, and one characteristic that falls far behind.

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The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate’s audio rocks

As an audio engineer by commerce, I’ve all the time put nice sound on the forefront of my buying choices. Unfortunately, most main smartphones sacrifice on audio. Phones hardly ever have nice audio system, digital to analog converters, or perhaps a headphone jack. On high of that, many individuals have moved to Bluetooth headphones and like slim bezels to large, booming built-in audio system anyway.

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Then there’s the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. It sacrifices the thinnest bezels for front-facing stereo audio system that may make your ears quiver. The sound that comes out of this cellphone blows my thoughts in comparison with regular smartphone audio system. And though I’ve loads of headphones, typically I don’t all the time need to put one thing in or on my ears.

The rich-sounding audio system and genius tuning of the ROG Phone is ideal for us audio nerds regardless of whether or not you’re gaming or watching movies. Even higher, the ROG Phone stubbornly clings to the timeless 3.5mm headphone jack, and with the connected AeroActive Cooler 7 you get one other headphone jack obtainable to be used in panorama mode.

Control it your method

For critical gaming periods I don’t all the time need to use the contact display, pair a Bluetooth controller, or strap on a tool just like the Razer Kishi. Good information! The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate affords so many additional management choices that it makes my head spin.

The cellphone options 14 particular management inputs through touch-sensitive buttons in addition to 10 completely different movement management choices. Strap on the AeroActive Cooler 7 and also you really get 4 bodily buttons alongside the again facet.

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Having these additional inputs could make all of the distinction while you’re enjoying video games like Call of Duty: Mobile or Fortnite. Some video games don’t help controllers in any way, or restrict them to particular makes use of, so gaming telephones present a particular benefit versus counting on touchscreen-only strategies.

For instance, in a typical sport of COD: Mobile I map reloading, crouching, aiming down the sights, and firing to 4 completely different button presses. This frees up my thumbs to concentrate on transferring my character and aiming on the display. Without these additional inputs I must pause motion with both thumb to press a button to do one thing like hearth, making me a a lot simpler goal. So whereas I don’t really use all the choices obtainable to me it’s superior to have them within the first place and might enable for tremendous personalized setups.

The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is cool as a polar bear’s toenails

Most flagship telephones are greater than able to enjoying the newest video games, in fact, however they only aren’t optimized for it from a cooling standpoint. Keeping that beastly Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip operating cool is crucial to get most efficiency throughout gaming.

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Asus prioritizes efficiency by persevering with to innovate its cooling system within the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate and doing issues like putting the most popular parts within the middle of the machine. This spreads warmth throughout the entire cellphone for extra even cooling, whereas additionally maximizing the cooling potential (and thus efficiency) when attaching the AeroActive Cooler 7 to the again of the machine.

That upgraded cooler now includes a Peltier cooler in addition to an AeroActive Portal that additional helps the warmth dissipation. The improve to a Peltier cooler really makes the AeroActive Cooler 7 a viable accent in comparison with previous iterations, and makes use of energetic cooling to wick away warmth from the again of the cellphone. The AeroActive Portal (solely obtainable on the Ultimate model) opens up when the Cooler is connected and permits for extra direct airflow to the most popular parts. (It’s additionally tremendous enjoyable to observe open.)

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The cooling options within the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate itself have additionally been upgraded, particularly with new designs round its vapor chamber and graphite sheets. Improvements with snazzy names like Liquid Return channels and Wick Column Structures truthfully transcend my stage of comprehension, however on the finish of the day I do discover that this cellphone stays cool even after lengthy gaming periods. I do know I can push this cellphone exhausting and have it not lose any efficiency regardless of how lengthy I play. I additionally know that I don’t have to fret about my arms getting sizzling and sweaty from holding a sizzling slab for an hour. The similar definitely can’t be mentioned for each flagship smartphone in the marketplace.

The digicam isn’t nice although

With a lot to like concerning the beastly Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, might it actually have an Achilles’ heel? Unfortunately, it does possess one main draw back that will maintain me from utilizing this cellphone each day: the digicam.

As an expert photographer and video producer I simply can’t depend on this digicam system to take images and video the way in which I would really like. While the digicam {hardware} is greater than succesful, it’s the processing that lags behind and simply can’t sustain with my wants. The images popping out of the ROG Phone 7 simply don’t really feel pure to life, affected by issues like poor white stability readings, over processed HDR, and liberal quantities of sharpening.

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To be honest, the photograph high quality of the ROG Phone line has improved through the years. It’s not a horrible digicam—it simply doesn’t come shut sufficient to the opposite flagship smartphones in its value vary and stands proud as a evident weak spot amidst a complete heap of awesomeness. And in fact, it actually relies on how a lot you personally care about digicam efficiency in your cellphone, but it surely bums me out and I actually hope Asus can proceed to enhance on it.

Regardless of the weak digicam efficiency, the remainder of this cellphone is a beast. The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate stands out from the gang with leading edge options. That’s the important thing, actually. Fully loaded, enthusiast-class gaming telephones like this assist push your entire cell ecosystem ahead, and I’m thrilled that producers like Asus proceed to innovate within the area. Mainstream telephones may not have adopted options like vapor chambers and excessive refresh charge screens as shortly if gaming telephones didn’t blaze the path first.

Now if solely we might get at the least one headphone jack again on different telephones…