Asus ROG Phone 5S review: S for slightly better

(Pocket-lint) - Asus' Republic of Gamers (ROG) marque is good regarded successful the satellite of precocious show laptops and peripherals for gaming. So it's nary astonishment it utilized that marque spot to participate the emerging gaming telephone market backmost successful 2018.

Of each the gaming phones retired there, it's arguably the ROG Phone that has brought the astir involvement to the category, truthful it's nary astonishment to spot Asus milking it for each its worth. Earlier successful 2021 we saw the ROG Phone 5. Now Asus is backmost with an 'S' mentation successful signifier of the ROG Phone 5S and ROG Phone 5S Pro. So, what's the woody exactly? 

Design 

• Dimensions: 172.8 x 77.3 x 9.9mm / Weight: 238g
• Finishes: Phantom Black, Storm White
• Gorilla Glass Victus connected the front
• RGB airy sheet connected the back

If the ROG Phone 5S looks familiar, it's due to the fact that it's practically identical to the ROG Phone 5 that came earlier it. The spec expanse states the 5S is ever truthful somewhat thinner than the 5, but if you enactment them broadside by broadside you're ne'er truly going to comprehend that difference. Unlike erstwhile we reviewed the ROG Phone 5, however, we were sent the regular exemplary of the ROG Phone 5S, not the Pro.

That means alternatively of having a tiny AMOLED touchscreen connected the backmost to show cute animations, it has an RGB airy sheet successful the signifier of the ROG logo. That's joined by assorted different small details similar reddish accents and triangular sections with dots and stripes to halt the backmost from looking similar a featureless glossy grey surface. 

The 5S is simply a large phone, that's without doubt, and being built from aluminium and solid means it's not the lightest instrumentality successful the satellite either. However, there's a existent payment to this size: it's enabled Asus to enactment successful a mates of due stereo speakers, a large battery, headphone port, and a surface with nary notch oregon punch-hole cutout. The benignant of things that fashionable big-name smartphones ditch successful favour of being arsenic compact and bladed arsenic possible.

What that means is the surface has immoderate thicker bezel connected the apical and bottom, with the front-facing camera hidden successful the top, and some ensuring there's determination to grip onto erstwhile playing games horizontally. With that, positive the information the surface aboveground is wholly flat, means you don't person to woody with immoderate accidental touches, and that makes typing messages speedy and easy.

The lone happening that works against this size is the glossy decorativeness of the solid rear. It makes it rather a slippery fish, astir necessitating utilizing the included integrative textured grip case. The telephone volition happily descent disconnected of brushed furnishings without overmuch provocation otherwise.

Media powerhouse

• 6.78-inch AMOLED display
  • HDR10+ (800 nits typical, 1200 peak) 
  • 1080 x 2448 solution (FHD+)
  • 144Hz refresh complaint max
• Stereo speakers with idiosyncratic amplifiers
• aptX HD & aptX Adaptive - 24-bit audio

There's nary uncertainty that the ROG Phone 5S is among the champion retired determination arsenic a media depletion device. It has everything you request for a large experience, careless of whether you're watching movies oregon playing games. It each starts with the immense 6.78-inch AMOLED display. 

Apart from missing retired connected QuadHD+ resolution, the spec expanse different reads similar a dream. With highest brightness up to 1200 nits and a emblematic brightness of 800 nits, positive refresh rates up to 144Hz, it's among the smoothest and brightest screens connected the market. 

Load up Disney+ oregon Amazon Prime Video to drawback the latest titles and the results are beauteous impressive. There's bully detail, large dynamic scope and a wide colour gamut, giving everything we watched a vibrant and charismatic appearance. 

It's not each astir ocular performance, due to the fact that astir flagship phones besides diagnostic a large screen. It's successful audio show that the ROG Phone's media show is elevated supra astir others. A large portion of that is the loudspeaker setup: the telephone features a stereo front-facing talker system, 1 positioned astatine the apical edge, 1 astatine the bottom. That's 1 of the large upsides successful Asus swerving the inclination of skinny bezels. Each talker has its ain dedicated amp, too, and the effect is easy 1 of the champion telephone talker systems connected the market. 

Music from games and video is loud, but much importantly it features a bully stereo separation and deftly handled frequence range. That ensures dependable is not tinny and lifeless, but celebrates much of the mids and bass that truthful galore different smartphones miss. It besides immerses you successful the dependable - particularly erstwhile holding the telephone successful scenery mode, arsenic you get that existent near and close transmission effect. It's not excessively boomy oregon rattly either.

That's not adjacent the full story. There's besides a 3.5mm headphone larboard for those who privation to usage their wired headphones oregon earphones. Just arsenic important is enactment for 2 of Qualcomm's highest solution wireless audio technologies: aptX Adaptive and aptX HD (the second encompassed successful the former). With the close brace of wireless headphones, you'll get lag-free high-fidelity audio.  

Gamer tweaks 

• Armoury Crate app
• Touch enarthrosis buttons
• Configurable settings for games

There's nary quality successful bundle astatine each betwixt the 5S and the ROG Phone 5. So if you privation a much thorough instrumentality connected that, you tin caput implicit to that earlier review. 

Everything astir the customized Android launcher connected the ROG Phone screams 'gamer' though. It starts with crippled character-inspired graphics and animated wallpapers, positive themes which see each mode of antithetic game-style alert tones and icon packs. You can, thankfully, power it to a much modular taxable akin to what you'd find connected the ZenFone scope if you want.

Armory Crate - ROG's dedicated game-focused app (which carries the aforesaid sanction arsenic its PC installation version) - lets you set each mode of gaming abilities. Whether it's changing the LED panel's animation and breathing signifier oregon tweaking show settings. What's much it besides lists games that enactment the 144Hz and 120Hz refresh rates that you tin past download. Handy.

This bundle customisation is joined by a mates of carnal attributes too. For instance, the ultrasonic touch-sensitive panels connected the phone's borderline tin beryllium mapped to power functions wrong games. This tin springiness you an vantage successful that it removes your fingers from the display, giving you a clearer purpose astatine that force you're trying to obliterate with precision. 

Speed, fluidity, longevity

• Snapdragon 888+ 5G platform, 8GB/12GB/16GB/18GB RAM
• 5000mAh battery, 65W wired charging
• 128GB/256GB/512GB storage

There's a celebrated country from the movie Spinal Tap successful which the guitarist talks astir however his amp turns each the mode up to 11, alternatively than the accustomed 10. The Snapdragon 888+ has that nonstop energy. It's not the archetypal clip Qualcomm has launched a 'Plus' mentation of its existing flagship processor and it astir apt won't beryllium the last. 

If you were to beryllium and usage the ROG Phone 5 for a mates of hours, past power and usage the 5S to play each the nonstop aforesaid games and content, there's a beardown anticipation you wouldn't spot immoderate real-world improvements. Sure, if you tally a benchmark you'll spot higher scores from the 888+. To that constituent that, astatine the clip of writing, the 5S gives the highest scores of immoderate Android phone. So if you're successful the marketplace for the fastest, astir almighty telephone around, past you can't truly spell wrong. But equally, if you tin find the erstwhile procreation cheaper, there's not a batch of consciousness successful paying the extra. 

Moving distant from comparisons against older models, there's nary denying the velocity disposable successful the ROG Phone 5S. Every crippled it loads, it does truthful rapidly and - erstwhile you're successful the midst of the enactment - it's truly speedy and responsive. It doesn't substance if you're chilling with immoderate light-hearted Lemmings action, racing successful Mario Kart Tour, oregon putting each that earthy powerfulness to usage successful games similar Call of Duty or PUBG Mobile. It'll devour them each for breakfast. 

One happening we volition accidental is that - and this isn't a astonishment - the telephone tin get a small lukewarm during agelong gaming sessions. It doesn't get uncomfortably hot, though, truthful doesn't ever consciousness similar it's overheating - it's conscionable lukewarm successful the hands.

Cameras

• Triple rear cameras:
  • Main (26mm): 64-megapixel, f/1.8 aperture, 0.8um pixel size
  • Wide (11mm): 13MP, f/2.4
  • Macro: 5MP f/2.0
• 8K/30 oregon 4K/60 video recording 
• 24MP front-facing camera

While cameras decidedly aren't the prima of the amusement here, they are bully enough. Well, if you instrumentality with the superior lens for astir of your photography anyway. It's much that for a gaming focused telephone the results are amended than galore present successful this category.

The main 64-megapixel sensor is joined by a 13-megapixel ultrawide, conscionable similar the ROG Phone 5, truthful results are beauteous overmuch the same. That's to say: shooting successful daylight with the main camera volition springiness you elaborate photos with attractive, earthy colours and decent extent of field. 

In little airy situations, adjacent erstwhile indoors during the time time, we did announcement pictures started to get a small noisier. But it's not horrendous, astatine slightest not with the main camera, which - with its f/1.8 aperture - is amended astatine letting successful airy than the ultrawide. 

In fact, the ultrawide is simply a poorer camera successful galore aspects, and its usefulness is beauteous overmuch constricted to taking wide landscapes. Try shooting thing comparatively close-up and it'll neglect to absorption connected thing wrong a metre oregon so, and its colour and airy processing isn't arsenic bully arsenic the main sensor either. Images are comparatively flatter, much washed retired and noisier.

Writing by Cam Bunton. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 29 November 2021.