Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro First Impression - Pro and Cons

Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro: All the fans of Asus ROG mobile like it the most because of its gaming performance. But still, due to the huge size of the mobile, many people find it strange. 

Asus has launched its new phone Asus ROG 8 series model with many changes keeping in mind the features. Today we are going to give information about what the first impression of the Asus ROG 8 Pro looks like.

Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro First Impression - Pro and Cons

Box items

First up, we have the top-of-the-line ROG Phone 8 Pro edition. It comes in a big box that includes the phone, a very nice case, the new AeroActive Cooler X, pouch, charger, Type C to Type C cable, and SIM ejector.

Design & Build Quality 

The Asus ROG 8 Pro doesn't look like a ROG Phone at all. It has a new camera design, and this new texture on the back, which looks very nice and premium. 

And there are some nice Easter eggs. And behind it is a mini LED display that is integrated very seamlessly And it can do a lot. I mean, it's a 341 programmable mini LED. 

This is great. It shows animations while gaming. It shows you incoming calls, charging status, and your notification count. It works as a visualizer. You can use it as Always on Display and also add custom text to it.

One thing's for sure, the ROG Phone 8 Pro is much more practical. It is now significantly thinner, measuring 8.9 mm thick and weighing 225 grams. And the overall footprint is smaller, so it feels better to hold. 

And carrying it in your pocket is no longer awkward. Meaning, it's still a big phone, but it's not impractically big. The size is clearly in line with other modern flagships.

The ROG Phone 8 Pro also has large bezels on the front. It looks like a modern smartphone with an edge-to-edge display. Now, you might be thinking that this new design would have to compromise all the great features of the ROG Phone. 

But that's not the case. The ROG Phone 8 Pro has air triggers on the top. They're now a little bigger and offer amazing haptics and gaming.

Ports

There are still dual USB-C ports, the bottom one being a USB-C 2.0 port with HyperCharge support. There is another faster USB-C 3.1 Gen1 port on the side. 

It has 4K DisplayPort support and HyperCharge support. These ports still support pass-through charging. And this port also supports the new Aeroactive Cooler X.

Display

The display on the Asus ROG 8 Pro is E6 AMOLED with a 165Hz refresh rate, but brightness now peaks at 2500 nits. It is now an LTPO display. However, LTPo is limited to 1 data chunk. 

This is our flagship-grade display. It's super smooth with spot-on HDR and great colors, deep blacks. But this display falls short in one area: it's an FHD display. For a flagship, you can expect a QHD display.

Camera

Asus ROG Phone 8 pro cameras get flagship update. The main camera has been updated to a Sony IMX890 sensor and has gimbal stabilization, which is nice. The Ultra Wide-angle camera now has a freeform lens. 

It will better handle distortions around corners. And now there's a telephoto lens that does 3x optical zoom. The telephoto lens was a major drawback on the ROG phone, especially with the flagship price tag. So that's great. It was the right time. 

The main camera with gimbal stabilization is also a welcome upgrade. Camera samples are still under embargo. I can't show you how these cameras perform. But, yes, on paper, they're pretty much flagship.

Processor and Battery

Asus ROG 8 Pro, one area where you can say there is a slight compromise is the battery size. It is reduced from 6000 mAh to 5,500 mAh. But I don't think it's a big deal. Asus says it doesn't hinder battery performance due to Gen 3's increased efficiency. 

ROG phones always have great specs. This one has the new flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, SM8650, processor. Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro has 2 variants 16GB+512GB and 24GB+1TB. RAM LPDDR5X and storage UFS4.0 are used

Software and Other Features

In terms of software, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, comes with the latest Android 14, which is great. But what's not so good is that Asus is promising only two OS updates along with four years of security patches. 

It would have been nice to have three OS updates, but there are two. Anyway, the software experience is great. It has a few apps installed like Facebook, Spotify, and Link to Windows. Plus, it's a super clean experience.

It also has a super cool Armory Crate app. It lets you control everything about your gaming experience. And some new AI features are also AI semantic boosts in the app drawer. 

Games like Xense 2.0 also have AI features. You can auto-pick up, fast-forward running logs, and more in games like Genshin Impact. For example, it has AI Grabber to let you copy text from games or any other app.

Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro Price and Release Date

Pre-orders of Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro will start from February 2024 on the official website of Asus. Expected Asus ROG phone model pricing:

Model	Price in USD	Price in INR
ROG Phone 8	$1099.99	₹91,999.00
ROG Phone 8 Pro	$1199.99	₹99,999.00
ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition	$1499.99	₹1,24,999.00

How did you like it or your first impression of the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro? Do tell us and stay connected with us for more technology-related news.