Throughout the many teasers and leaks for the ASUS ROG Phone 8, it seemed as if the phone would be dropping its flashy looks commonly tied to the gamer aesthetic for a more subdued look. This came with the promise of an IP68 rating, but also the threat of losing the front-firing stereo speakers. With the phone being revealed in an official capacity, it looks like both have come to pass.
Claiming that the ASUS ROG Phone 8 has gotten the “biggest redesign in its history”, the company says that the phone is moving from being “a thoroughbred gaming phone into a futuristic and game-changing premium device”. Which is another way of saying that the company now wants the phone to also cater to streamers and content creators, in addition to gamers.
All of which are pretty contrived justifications for making the phone look more conventional. Though it does remind me of the Sony Xperia 1 IV last year, which was marketed as a phone that does everything to justify its high price. With the way it is done for the ASUS ROG Phone 8 though, there are some clear concessions with the implementation, but we’ll get to that as we go through the spec sheet of the phone.
To start, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 comes with its very familiar 6.78-inch AMOLED screen, which has a peak brightness of up to 2,500 nits, a refresh rate of up to 165Hz, and a touch sampling rate of 720Hz. The chipset is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and the battery has seen a slight downsize, as it is now rated at 5,500mAh. It still supports 65W charging, so there’s that.
For its cameras, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 has a 50MP main + 13MP wide angle + 32MP 3x telephoto camera combo. The brand made a big deal about the imaging improvements this generation boasts compared to prior entries, but it remains to be seen if the phone has actually achieved it.
Finally though, we come to the 32MP secondary shooter, which sits inside a punch-hole cutout. This design change usually comes at the cost of the front-firing stereo speakers, and it is indeed the primary casualty of this design change. Some may find this a suitable price to pay for IP68, but it’s a weird compromise for what is still primarily a gaming phone.
The ASUS ROG Phone 8 also comes in three variants, which corresponds with its three RAM and storage configs. The base model comes in grey and black, while the Pro and Pro Edition models come only in black but with the AniMe Vision lighting. Corresponding with the variants are the 12GB + 256GB, 16GB + 512GB and 24GB + 1TB configs. No price for any of these yet, but ASUS Malaysia is currently scheduling their local launch for 30 January.
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