Asus ROG Phone 7 series: First impression

Asus ROG Phone 7 series will be available in India in May with prices starting at Rs 74,999

Asus earlier week (April 13) unveiled the new generation Republic of Gamers (ROG) Phone 7 series.

Like the predecessor, it comes in two variants-- a regular ROG Phone 7 and a top-end ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. They feature a powerful and reliable Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, promising better thermal performance and importantly, enhanced gaming experience than the predecessor.

Display and design
Both the ROG Phone 7 and 7 Ultra feature similar design language, but differ in a few aspects such as the OLED panel design on the back. Also, the standard model has dual-tone colourway, having a smooth surface in the top half and a matte finish in the second half.

The ROG Phone 7 Ultimate's rear OLED display (ROG Vision) supports 60-plus system animations and the ROG Phone 7 features customizable dual-zone RGB lighting.

Also, both phones feature the trademark staring eye ROG logo.

And, of course, they have the best gaming ergonomics-based design and tailored solutions for most genres of games. It offers an ergonomic side-charging design, the latest

AirTrigger technology (To allow several buttons and motion input gestures), dual front-facing speakers, multi-antenna Wi-Fi and a tri-microphone noise-cancelling array.

It comes with an IP54 rating, which makes the device sustain from accidental water splashes. Also, the company offers ROG AeroCase with a retail box for both devices.

For the first time, Asus is offering ROG AeroActive Cooler 7 with ROG Phone 7 Ultimate's retail box. With fan-cooling + Thermo-electric cooling, and with the world’s first sub-woofer for attached 2.1 sound, offering up to 77 per cent more bass.

ROG Phone 7. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

On the front, the ROG Phone 7 series features a 6.78-inch (2448 x 1080) AMOLED display with an adaptive refresh rate( up to 165 Hz), a 20.4:9 aspect ratio, and has 1ms response time, which comes in handy during gaming.

Also, it supports 1000nits brightness under normal usage and if needed it can be maxed up to 1,500nits peak brightness.

And, the display is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus shield.

Add to that, they come with 7-magnet Symmetrical Stereo loudspeakers powered by Dirac Audio with Dirac Virtuo.

Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

Also, it supports a 3.5mm headphone jack, Low-latency audio with Bluetooth 5.2 supporting aptX Low Latency codec and LDAC, and engaging Gaming haptics with an X-axis Linear motor. It is also touted to be the World’s first phone to feature a sub-woofer for attached 2.1 sound, offering up to 77 per cent more bass.

Processor configuration
ROG Phone 7 and 7 Ultimate is powered by a 4nm class 3.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 octa-core processor with overclocked Adreno 740 GPU that delivers 15% faster CPU, 20% faster GPU performance, and 15% better efficiency compared to its predecessor.

Together with an advanced cooling system, improved vapour chamber, and support for up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, the ROG Phone 7 series is fully equipped to serve the best gaming experience.

Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate with ROG AeroActive Cooler 7. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

In the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, the company has incorporated a well-thought-motorized ‘AeroActive Portal’ door and copper heatsink fins for accelerated cooling in conjunction with the AeroActive Cooler 7. It does an exceptional job of heat dissipation efficiently and delivers a great gaming experience.

Asus ROG Phone 7 series runs Android 13-based ROG UI and also comes with Armour Crate

Battery:
Both devices feature dual batteries, each having a 3,000mAh capacity. This design helps in lower charge and discharge temperature, to ensure stable dissipation of heat.

And with a 30W charging speed cap, increases the safety aspect of the device during the charging process.

With a total of 6,000mAh, the ROG Phone 7 series can deliver two days of battery life under normal usage. But, if you are an extreme gamer, and play for several hours a day, it will still be able to deliver a full day. There will less chance of any battery anxiety.

Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

Photography hardware:

The new ROG Phone 7 series come with a pretty good triple-camera module— main 50MP (Sony IMX766) with a 13MP wide camera and 5MP macro sensor. It promises superior low-light performance and supports 8K recording, EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation), and HDR10 for videos.

On the front too, it has a good 32MP sensor and supports 4K with EIS.

Both devices take good photos in the sunlight but need to be assessed more in other lighting conditions.

Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate and items that come with retail box. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

Initial thoughts
The ROG Phone 7 and 7 Ultimate series seem to be very promising devices, tailor-made for gaming enthusiasts. It's a great move by Asus to offer AeroActive Cooler 7 with the retail package, which by the way has a very cool design.

Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate retail box. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

The new ROG Phone 7 Series will be available on Asus India e-Store (here), select ASUS exclusive stores, select ROG
stores and at Vijay Sales retail stores and online (here) starting May 2023. Physical Demo experiences are available at select Vijay Sales stores.

Asus ROG Phone 7 (12GB RAM + 256GB storage) will be available both in Phantom Black and Storm White colours for Rs 74,999.

Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate(16GB RAM + 512GB storage) will be available for Rs 99,999.

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