Asus ROG Phone 3 guide: should you buy this top rated gaming phone?

Even today, in 2022, the Asus ROG Phone 3 remains one of the best gaming phones you can buy. This handset has been on the market for a few years but, as it was so ridiculously powerful when it launched, it remains a game-playing titan.

The Asus ROG Phone 3 is also much cheaper now than it was at launch, making it a bit of a bargain for gaming phone deal hunters.

As such, here T3 provides a detailed guide to the Asus ROG Phone 3, showing what it offers and who we think it will be perfect for.

For even more great mobile choices be sure to also peruse our best phones and best Android phones buying guides.

Asus ROG Phone 3: should I buy it?

Absolutely, especially if you want your smartphone to perform a specific role beyond normal app use and the occasional photo. Asus has proven itself one of the leading names in PC gaming, especially with its premium-grade consumer laptops. That’s why Asus has filled the ROG Phone 3 to the gills with high quality components and on-board features that maximise its role as a gaming-first device.

The Snapdragon 865 Plus processor and its 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM is up there with the chipsets of some of the best phones on the market right now, so you’re getting processing power that will run even the most challenging of mobile games without missing a beat. And additional features such as two giant speakers (with Dolby Atmos support) and gesture-driven Air Triggers only serve to sweeten the deal.

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Asus ROG Phone 3: specs and hardware

In terms of specs, the ROG Phone 3 has the components to compete with some of the cutting-edge models in smartphone market today. That Snapdragon 865 Plus is a beast, meaning even the most graphic-intensive games will run without a hint of slowdown or lag (a real boon if you love competitive online games such as PUBG Mobile or Call of Duty: Mobile). It also means it can handle more intensive streaming services, such as using Xbox Game Pass for Android.

Elsewhere, the ROG Phone 3 features a very impressive 6.59-inch Full HD OLED screen with a very attractive 120-144Hz refresh rate. So, not only are you getting a screen that will do every colour and detail of your favourite mobile games justice, you’re also benefitting from a high refresh rate that keeps every moment of action smooth and lag-free. When you factor in support for HD10+, you realise you’re getting a device that will make every app, film and TV show you watch through this device look just as great.

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Asus ROG Phone 3: features

Thanks to its long history developing cutting-edge laptops, Asus brings a great deal of expertise in the gaming space. As a result, the ROG Phone 3 is jam-packed with extra features that really tap into the gaming focus of the handset. Firstly, it features a special 3D vapour chamber and a graphite film layer, delivering a PC-esque cooling system that stops the components in your device from growing too hot over long periods of use.

The ROG Phone 3 also comes with a mobile optimised version of Armoury Crate for adjusting your phones settings to approve performance, a unique side-charging design (with a big 6000 mAh battery for extended sessions) and support for 5G. All in all, it’s a pretty stocked package that performs just as well as a regular smartphone as it does as a mobile gaming powerhouse.

Asus ROG Phone 3: anything else I need to know?

There’s so much to say about the ROG Phone 3 that it’s hard to fit into one article. Firstly, you get access to a unique ‘X Mode’ that adjusts your device’s performance to fit your gaming exploits. You also get a bespoke ‘Game Mode’ that’s ideal for picking out the sound of enemy players when playing online and a quad-microphone that filters out background nice for crisp party chat.

The ROG Phone 3 is a smartphone after all, so it comes with a triple helping of cameras. There’s Sony’s flagship IMX686 64MP main wide-angle camera, an ultra-wide 13MP secondary camera and an extra macro camera. The handset features advanced software including Pro Video Mode and Free Zoom, and while it’s not quite up to the quality of the latest models from Samsung and Apple, it’s still a very decent trio of cameras that will more than do the job when you’re not gaming.

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Asus ROG Phone 3: alternative phones to consider

In terms of alternatives, there’s a decent selection out there. The Razer Phone 2 is easily the strongest competitor out there, with Razor bringing its considerable experience in the PC gaming space to bear in much smaller form. It boasts two large speakers for a more intensive audio experience, a 5.7-inch 1440 x 2560 QHD display and a powerful Snapdragon 845 processor for equally high-performance mobile gaming.

There’s also the very impressive Xiaomi Black Shark 3, which boasts 6.65-inch 1080 x 2340 AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 865 CPU, a Shark Space mode for gaming sessions that are optimised and notification-free and a 4,720mAh battery that doesn’t quite hold up to the massive battery in the ROG Phone 3, but it will still give you a decent number of sessions throughout the day.

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