Asus ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro Launched in the Philippines

Avid mobile gamers rejoice as the Asus ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro have now been officially released in the Philippines! Featuring an almost total shift in its design language, some powerful hardware, and even improvements in the camera, both phones now walk the line between being a gaming phone and a premium flagship from the non-gamer oriented brands.

But just how much is new with these two new gaming phones since they were teased last December? Let’s dive in and find out:

An aesthetic shift

Asus’ ROG brand had always had a gamer-y aesthetic to them, featuring plenty of aggressive lines, RGB lighting, and cyberpunk-esque visuals. Well this time, both the ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro opted to dial them back down, resulting in a phone that won’t look out of place among more general flagships while also retaining some of that “gamer chic”.

Let’s start with the vanilla Asus ROG Phone 8. It’s a surprisingly simple affair with only the ROG Aura logo denoting it as a gamer-oriented phone in either Phantom Black or Rebel Grey coloration. For the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro though, you go get a different type of finish as well as a micro LED dot matrix display on the back, which can be customized to some degree.

In a way, it reminds us of Asus’ Zephyrus line of laptops, straddling the line between gamer-oriented offerings and the more professional Zenbook line. How successful it is at doing that, only you can decide.

The UI is very much gamer-oriented though. Massive animations, glowing effects, heavily stylized font. Yep, it’s all here. Still, it’s all quite smooth though so you shouldn’t have much difficulty using it either way. It’s running Android 14 out of the box, which adds to the familiarity.

Unparalleled gaming performance

Asus’ ROG phones have always come with the most powerful chipsets for that generation. In this case, it’s Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, supplemented with advanced cooling solutions, as well as customizable parameters.

This is also paired with up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, which definitely helps make everything feel swift and responsive. Additionally, you get three modes for efficiency (Dynamic mode), performance (X Mode), and performance with an AeroActive Cooler X (X Mode+), depending on what your current workload is.

All of that combined means this phone should chew through synthetic benchmarks and games without much issue. Whether you play fast-paced titles like COD: Mobile or Mobile Legends, or heavier, more expansive games like Genshin Impact, both these phones should run them at high frame rates with the settings turned up.

Oh, and these games do look great on the phone’s LTPO AMOLED panel, especially with the reduced bezels. You do have a punch hole selfie camera now though so…you win some and you lose some. Fortunately, you still get the same 165Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling rate, guaranteeing a smooth scrolling experience.

Battery life is fine for the most part. You get a 5,500mAh battery split into dual 2750mAh configurations for both models, which Asus helps with energy density and charging. Altogether, Asus claims that the phones are good for up to 22.7 hours of Netflix streaming; a rather heavy use of the phone to be fair.

As for charging, Asus supplies a 65W charger for both phones, letting you charge the phone to full from 0% in just around 39 minutes. Yes, it’s also capable of Direct Charging for all those extended gaming sessions.

Third time's the charm...for the cameras at least

When it came to this generation of ROG phones, Asus claims that it’s taken community feedback in order to refine these devices. One sticking point in particular is that for all the powerful hardware (and high price points) within these phones, its camera tends to get left behind.

The new main camera is now a Sony IMX890 50 MP Quad-bayer unit with gimbal OIS for better stabilization during photos and videos. Up next is the 13 MP ultrawide camera, which doesn’t look too different from the one on the previous ROG Phones.

The dedicated macro shooter is now gone. In its place is a 32 MP 3x telephoto camera with a Samsung JD1SM15 sensor capable of up to 30x digital zoom. It even has OIS and support for Asus’ Super Night Mode, helping with all of your photos in low-light environments.

Do note that some variants of the regular ROG Phone 8 lack the new telephoto (with a standard macro camera in its place). Mostly in the SEA regions and India. The Pro should come with the full set across all regions though.

The selfie camera…hasn’t really changed as much in our opinion. It’s still an upgrade over the older ROG phone models, being a 32 MP wide camera with a 90° field of view, which kind of compensates for the lack of dedicated autofocus.

Asus ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro Pricing:

The base level Asus ROG Phone 8 will launch with an SRP of PHP 50,995 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. On the other hand, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro launches at PHP 60,995 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Any serious gamers out there interested in getting the most out of a mobile experience? Stay tuned to see when we can get these powerful devices here at your most trusted online gadget store!

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