The ROG Phone 8 Pro is the gaming brand’s top-of-the-line Android gaming smartphone for 2024. Compared to last year’s model, it offers a better display, improved water and dust resistance, an upgraded camera system, powerful software features, and a newer chipset. Even though we’re fast approaching the end of the year, it’s still one of the best smartphones you can get on the market.

ASUS ROG’s design approach for the ROG Phone 8 Pro is subtle and stealthy. It comes in only one color—Phantom Black—which will appeal to those who prefer a low-key look for their flagship smartphone. The design is simple, almost industrial. Despite having a metal frame, the phone is 17% smaller, 15% thinner, and 9% lighter than the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. At just 8.9mm thin, it’s remarkably slim for a gaming smartphone and even carries an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

It doesn’t skimp on necessary ports and buttons, either. On the right side, you’ll find the power and volume buttons, a microphone, and the AirTriggers.

On the left is a USB-C port for charging and for connecting the AeroActive Cooler X.

Up top, there’s another microphone and loudspeaker, while at the bottom, you’ll find a loudspeaker, SIM card tray, 3.5mm headphone jack, and another USB-C port for charging or connecting accessories like the ROG Tessen.

The backside is just beautiful. Although it maintains a stealthy appeal, it looks futuristic with its pentagonal protruding camera module, a glossy streak in the middle, and ROG markers. The back panel features a glittery finish with a smooth texture that effectively repels fingerprints and smudges.

Perhaps the most exciting design feature is the AniMe Vision, a hidden programmable mini-LED panel with 341 LEDs. When turned off, the LEDs are invisible. When active, it can display notifications, battery levels, or custom animations based on your activities. To customize it, open the Armoury Crate app, go to Console, then scroll down to AniMe Vision.

The ROG Phone 8 Pro uses a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED screen (2400 x 1080 resolution) with a 165Hz refresh rate, 2500 nits peak brightness, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. It offers sharp, vibrant visuals, buttery-smooth animations, and excellent outdoor visibility.

The phone features a 50MP Sony IMX890 main camera, a 12.5MP Quad Bayer 3x telephoto lens, and a 13MP ultra-wide camera. It also comes with OIS and EIS for blur-free photos and stable videos. For selfies, it has a 32MP front camera with pixel binning. Although primarily a gaming phone, these cameras make it a capable companion for photography and content creation.

Under the hood, the ROG Phone 8 Pro is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile chipset with a 3.3GHz octa-core CPU and Adreno 750 GPU. It offers up to 24GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB UFS 4.0 storage. For connectivity, it supports dual-SIM, 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, and GNSS.

Performance, as expected from a flagship smartphone, is exceptional. For gamers, it comes with several software features designed to enhance the gaming experience:

• X Sense 2.0: Detects key events in games, collects items, and progresses conversations automatically.
• X Capture: Uses AI to automatically record in-game achievements.
• Background Mode: Keeps your game running in the background.
• AI Grabber: Uses AI to identify key words in dialogues, making it easy to copy content.
• Vibration Mapping: Lets you set different haptic feedback levels for each virtual on-screen button.

Heat is a common concern for high-performance smartphones, but the ROG Phone 8 Pro manages it well with its GameCool 8 thermal system. It features graphite sheets, rapid-cooling conductors, Boron Nitride, and a vapor chamber to improve heat dissipation. While the phone still gets warm during gaming, it remains comfortable to hold. For those who need additional cooling, the AeroActive Cooler X is available, though it would have been great if it came bundled with the phone.

The phone is equipped with a 5,500mAh battery, providing up to 23 hours of video streaming or 3.4 hours of heavy gaming. With 65W HyperCharge, the battery can go from 0 to 100% in just 39 minutes. It also supports wireless charging up to 15W, although you’ll need to provide your own charger.

Having tested previous ROG Phones, I can confidently say that the ROG Phone 8 Pro feels more mature than its predecessors. It now looks like a serious phone for work, entertainment, and content creation—but it’s still a gaming beast at heart. When it’s time to play, the ROG Phone 8 Pro unleashes everything in its arsenal to deliver an outstanding gaming experience.

The ROG Phone 8 Pro 16GB + 512GB is priced at PHP 58,995. See the listing here: https://s.shopee.ph/sUyBznuJ.