Republic of Gamers (ROG) has launched the next generation of its premier gaming phones, the Phone 6 and Phone 6 Pro, designed primarily for gaming on the go. The gaming sub-brand of ASUS has managed to improve on the already formidable Phone 5 in many ways but the most impressive feat has got to be how it has kept the phone cool even on long gaming sessions.
Both phones sport a 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED screen with HDR10+, a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz, and a 23ms touch latency. The Phone 6 Pro has a back PMOLED display that shows customisable graphics when launching a game, charging and more. The phones are protected by Gorilla Glass 3 on the back and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the screen.
The ROG Phone 6 and 6 Pro are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 5G with a CPU clock speed of up to 3.2GHz, accompanied by an overclocked Adreno 730 GPU that delivers 10 percent faster performance at 30 percent better efficiency compared to its predecessor. They get up to 18GB of LPDDR5 RAM, UFS3.1 SSD storage and Wi-Fi 6E support for smooth, fluid performance whenever you need it. In short, the Phone 6 is fast.
The most impressive feature though is how ROG has managed to keep all these top-end heat-generating components running at peak performance with its latest GameCool 6 cooling system. Anyone who has gamed on phones knows that one big issue is how your phone heats up during long sessions.
With a better centrally placed dual-printed circuit board layout away from your hands, and using a special thermal compound, the Phone 6 has managed to reduce temperatures by a whopping 10°C.
If that’s not cool enough, you can grab the AeroActive Cooler 6. The wire-free optional accessory that connects via the side-mounted port, works with power from the phone’s battery that can push temperatures down by up to 25°C for long, high-performance gaming sessions.
Speaking of the side-mounted port, the Phone 6 has moved the USB-C charging port from the conventional location at the bottom/top of the phone to the side. Since many mobile games are played in landscape mode, the new location makes it possible to charge and play, with the cable out of the way of your hands. It’s a pretty obvious but smart design choice.
The Phone 6 uses a redesigned dual-3000mAH battery setup that also works to help reduce heat during charging and use time. The 65W charger can charge the phone from 0 to 100 in just 42 minutes (faster than the Phone 5).
Camera-wise, you get four on the ROG Phone 6 — one front-facing and three rear-facing cameras. The front camera is a 12MP SONY IMX663 sensor camera, while in the rear, you have a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor camera supporting lossless 2x magnification, a 13MP 125° ultrawide-angle camera with real-time distortion correction, and a 5MP macro camera. These are able to capture HD videos in 480fps and up to 8K videos in 24fps.
Rounding it up, the ROG Phone 6 has a Dirac-tuned speaker setup, better customisable motion gesture triggers, and an updated Armoury Crate for game-by-game performance tuning.
It can be paired with ROG’s many compatible accessories, including the Kunai 3 Gamepad to transform it into an even more formidable handheld, as well as the Professional Dock port expansion that lets you connect to an HDMI display and two USB devices such as a keyboard and mouse.
The ROG Phone 6 comes in black and white, while the Phone 6 Pro only comes in white. They are available on the ROG online store.
Jimmy is on a never-ending quest to finish his ever-expanding library of games, but he keeps getting sidetracked by a mountain of books to read, and a trail of actual mountains he hopes to climb.
Edwin Teo
Trinity Sun
