Android Authority has already published its rating for the Asus ROG Phone 3 - Spoiler Alert: We love it. However, our review focuses on a lot of different things that interest the average smartphone user. Today we're just focusing on one thing: How the Asus ROG Phone 3 works as a retro game emulation machine.
The ROG Phone 3 is a gaming phone and is specially designed for big gamers. For some, this may mean mobile games like Fortnite or Dead Cells, but to me it means Zelda, Mario, God of War, and other console-only franchises. As a big retro gamer, my main concern with a phone like this is whether it can handle the resource-intensive console emulators that I use to play GameCube, Nintendo 3DS, and PS2 games.
Our verdict: Asus ROG Phone 3 review: A gaming powerhouse for everyone
I've already done some emulation tests for Asus ROG Phone 3 and was pretty excited. Today I want to talk about why I think it's the ultimate emulation machine for smartphones.
I'll also address some of the criticisms I made regarding the ROG Phone 3. If your main interest is grabbing the phone to play all of your favorite old games, then you should check out the Asus ROG Phone 3 Emulator Review!
Obviously the specs are unreal
I don't want to spend too much time on tech specs as they are pretty well known at this point. However, if you are not familiar with the Asus ROG Phone 3, I can assure you: this thing is a special beast. It packs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus with a clock speed of 3.1 GHz. The maximum capacity is 16 GB RAM and 512 GB UFS 3.1 storage.
There are probably people reading this who have laptops that are not as powerful as the ROG Phone 3. It's a monster.
However, it's not just raw processing power that matters to the Asus ROG Phone 3's emulation capabilities. It also has a massive 6,000 mAh battery that ensures your phone can withstand heavy sessions. Are you running out of juice? Don't worry, it has a 30W fast charge that will get you up and running again in no time. For more information on the battery life of the Asus ROG Phone 3, see the article linked below.
Continue reading: Asus ROG Phone 3 battery tested: is it the new champion for battery life?
It also has a 144Hz refresh rate that you can leave on for anything you do, which will give you an incredibly smooth experience. You can even cut that down to 120, 90 or even 60 Hz if you want to save battery.
Finally, it has 802.11ax Wi-Fi with four antennas so you always have the best connection to your network. This makes a huge difference when you play online multiplayer games.
The specs are definitely great, but they only tell part of the story.
Hardware for games makes all the difference
Even if you just look at it, you can immediately tell that the Asus ROG Phone 3 is a gaming phone. The Republic of Gamers logo is very noticeable on the back and the design aesthetic of the entire phone just screams "hardcore gamers".
This may or may not be to your liking, but the other elements of the hardware really matter. Probably the best thing about the ROG Phone 3 is that it has two front-facing speakers - one on top and one on the bottom. This creates a sound experience that just about any other flagship cannot offer this year. When emulating game with Asus ROG Phone 3, this makes a big difference as the sound is clear and full.
Connected: The best Android phones to play with
If you want to play with a physical controller, you may want to connect to the phone with a cable instead of using bluetooth. Asus has two different USB-C ports on this phone - one offset on the bottom and one centered on the left - that allow you to plug in a controller in either location. This way you can also play with a wired controller and charge the phone at the same time - another godsend for emulation gamers.
Asus will also offer some nice accessories for the ROG Phone 3 that will be useful for emulation enemies. This includes a tiny cooling attachment (see image above) that is included with certain models. This attachment also has a stand, a USB-C port and a headphone jack. Asus has first-party controllers and desktop solutions on the way too.
Asus ROG Phone 3 emulator software improvements
If you want the Asus ROG Phone 3 to be an emulation machine for Nintendo 3DS and PS2 games, you need to be able to milk as much power from it as possible. You can do just that using a number of software tools that come with the ROG Phone 3. For example, you can also customize the phone settings to your liking so that calls are not interrupted while you play.
Basically, Armory Crate - the custom software system with the ROG Phone 3 - behaves just like the multitude of different PC gaming optimization systems. You can set everything up the way you like and then turn everything on automatically when you start a game. You can also map buttons, change the display, write macros, and even adjust the screen sensitivity when you're playing something that involves the touchscreen.
The Asus ROG Phone 3 has tons of software optimizations available to help you get every possible drop of power out of the phone.
You can even change all of these settings for each specific system so that the profile created for Citra does not have to match the profile used for Dolphin. You are in control of everything.
Armory Crate also lets you tweak the air triggers, which are touch-sensitive buttons on the sides of the device. These can be assigned as required, e.g. B. the L and R triggers in Dolphin. You can use touch controls in combination with the air triggers for a better feel if you decide against using a physical controller.
There are honestly so many options in Armory Crate that can drastically change the way you use emulation on the ROG Phone 3.
However, there is still room for improvement
Unfortunately, there are a few things that hold the ROG Phone 3 back from a Completely perfect emulator machine.
- Placement of the buttons: The power switch is located exactly in the middle on the right side of the phone. If you have a simple smartphone clip for your controller it will inevitably be pushed onto this button, resulting in what you see in the image above. This was a really bad design move.
- No expandable memory: Asus was kind enough to provide us with the high-end model of the ROG Phone 3 with 512 GB of internal storage. That's great, but when you go for a lower-tier model, you don't have that much space and there's nothing more to add. My ROM collection is over 600GB so this lack of space is a problem.
- No built-in headphone jack: Although the aforementioned cooling system attachment has a 3.5mm connector, the phone itself doesn't have one. If you want to use latency-free wired headphones while enjoying Asus ROG Phone 3 emulation, you will need a USB-C dongle. Fortunately, the two USB-C ports help here, but a standard socket would have been better.
- This phone is literally hot: Not sure if it's the Snapdragon 865 Plus or all of the components working together, but this phone is getting warm. I played for about an hour and noticed that the phone was causing heat.
- Software updates: Android security patches and yearly upgrades probably don't matter if you only plan to use the ROG Phone 3 for emulation. However, if you want to use this as your daily driver as well, then you should know that Asus has a pretty poor track record of software updates.
Asus ROG Phone 3 Emulator Verdict: Is It Worth the Price?
The entry-level version of the Asus ROG Phone 3 - known as the Strix Edition - costs € 799 (~ $ 944). That brings you 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. The high-end model with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage that we used here costs € 1,099 (~ $ 1,299). That's not cheap no matter how you cut it.
However, after using this phone solely as an emulation device, I can tell you that it is well worth the price. There is simply no other phone on the market right now that can handle the games and emulators I was able to play for this Asus ROG Phone 3 emulator review. If you're looking for a portable system that can play pretty much anything that's available on Android, this is the device you want.
Granted, there are other phones that offer similar specs. The recently released Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra shares a similar pedigree and has expandable storage. With this phone, however, you give up on the software optimization suite, the two USB-C ports, the air triggers and the other aspects that make the ROG Phone 3 unique. You'll also be spending a little more as the Note 20 Ultra starts at $ 1,449 with 512GB of storage.
The bottom line is that the Asus ROG Phone 3 is for you if you want the best of the best. It's not cheap, but the best in its class are rare.