Initial Verdict: Asus knows how to make gaming phones very well, and the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate tweaks all the great things about the ROG Phone 6 series to make it one of the best dedicated gaming phones you can buy in the Philippines once it arrives in the country this June.
Pros
-Gamer-focused design
-Functional cooling system design
Cons
-Cameras are not its forte
Unboxing and packaging contents
Since we have the Ultimate model here, we get the huge AeroActive Cooler 7 to keep the ROG Phone 7 cool for prolonged gaming sessions. The vanilla ROG Phone 7 will have the AeroActive Cooler 7 sold separately. Aside from the phone itself, you also get a 65w charger and a USB-C to USB-C cable.
Design
With most flagship phones gearing for better cameras, this means that they have to implement large camera modules at the back, which usually leads to phones being top-heavy and uncomfortable to hold in landscape mode when playing games. the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is made for gaming, which is why ASUS stuck with the same design principle of placing the motherboard in the middle and splitting the 6000mAh batteries into two 3000mAh cells placed on both sides of the phone.
This makes the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate balanced and comfortable when using it in landscape mode. With the way the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is designed, you have two USB-C ports, each oriented in portrait and landscape mode–the latter being important so that you can charge it AND play games comfortably.
Aside from getting a ROG Vision rear display, the Ultimate version has a vent that opens up when you attach the AeroActive Cooler 7 to it. This makes the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate run very cool under heavy loads–even if you choose to play for more than an hour with it.
Speaking of the AeroActive Cooler 7, ASUS added a subwoofer to it on top of the usual features–extra controls and additional cooling, among other things–to give the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate a 2.1 sound system. The addition of a subwoofer makes the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate one of the best phones in the market as far as audio is concerned.
Display
Since the overall design of the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is the same as its predecessor, you are getting the same 6.78-inch Full HD+ 165hz AMOLED display that is arguably one of the best displays in the market. While you are not getting a QHD resolution, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate’s panel is very, very responsive. its 720hz touch sampling rate is a must-have feature on any gaming phone, and the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate performs very well in that aspect, making us enjoy our games with lightning-quick responses to the display.
Like its predecessor, you get additional ultrasonic AirTriggers that are mappable according to your gaming needs to give you a slight edge with your playing experience.
Cameras
Oftentimes, the weak point of gaming phones is the cameras since they are not the main focus. Don’t get us wrong: the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate has a capable rear camera setup that consists of a 50-megapixel IMX766 main camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 5-megapixel macro camera.
The IMX766 is a favorite among many phones as it is tried and tested to be a good all-around sensor. In the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, however, you don’t get things like a dedicated ISP or OIS–only plain PDAF and the ISP of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powering it. The latter does allow the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate to shoot 8K video at 24FPS. It may not be the best video quality out there, but at least you have that option on this gaming phone.
Internals and Battery
The ROG Phone 7 Ultimate has the most powerful internals you can ask for in a phone. That consists of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. While we have proven that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is already a good flagship chip for gaming in other phones, the tweaks ASUS made on the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate further maximizes the chip’s potential–especially with thermal management.
To further prove our point, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is the ONLY phone we’ve tested so far that scored beyond 20,000 (20,059 to be specific) in PCMark Work, which shows that its design is optimized to manage temps well so that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 can push itself to its highest potential.
Like previous ROG Phones, you are also getting a 6000mAh battery that’s split into two 3000mAh cells and supports 65w USB-PD. The charging speed may not be the fastest in the market out there, but we think that 65w is the sweet spot right now for portable devices.
Wrap-up and Initial Conclusions
Despite looking very similar to its predecessor, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate proves that ASUS knows how to make gaming phones well with its balanced, gamer-focused design and gamer-centric accessories that aim to give you the best experience even during long gaming sessions.
The remaining factor that is unanswered is how much the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate will be priced in the Philippines. For comparision, the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate was priced at Php 69,995 last year. While the global pricing of the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is 1399 Euros or around Php 85.5k, our best guess is that it will be priced somewhere around Php 70k.
ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate Philippines Specs:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
- 16GB LPDDR5 RAM
- 512GB UFS 3.1 storage
- 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display, 165hz refresh rate, 1ms response rate, 720hz touch sampling rate, 10-bit color
- ROG Vision rear display
- 50-megapixel f/1.8 IMX 766 main camera with PDAF, 13-megapixel f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle camera, 5-megapixel f/2.4 macro camera
- 12-megapixel IMX 663 selfie camera
- 4G, LTE, 5G
- WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
- Stereo speakers, in-display fingerprint scanner, IPx4 Rating
- 6000mAh battery
- 65w wired charging
- Android 13, ROG UI
