ROG Phone 3 or ROG Phone 5?

[robin98]

To all Asus ROG Phone Users,

I have been doing a lot of research recently about both the ROG Phones, and I can’t seem to wrap my thoughts on which one to purchase!! I love how Asus dedicated these phones specifically for gamers; which is something most daily users typically don’t understand; from what I’ve been reading lately, anyways.

Asus really did put a lot of thought into these products and delivered a better experience for mobile gaming. Their attention to detail was so blind sided by reviewers I’ve watched, and I just didn’t get how they still had something negative to say? 🥺

Like, who even has dedicated compatible gaming devices that connects to your phone, such as the Areoactive cooler, the Kunai Gaming pad, etc.. WHATTT!! Not even Apple has anything like that, and the closest thing to that would be a BackBone One. (Which i heard was very impressive)

I am a iOS owner, currently have a iPhone 11. I don’t like gaming on this phone as much, considering the notch can be kinda annoying. It generates quite some heat when playing certain mobile games, so instead I just play them on my iPad. I would prefer the iPhone 11 to be a daily user, since they give off better camera quality than any of the ROG Phones.

[BPM]

As I still use my ROG Phone 3, I can still highly recommend it. Just make sure to avoid the "Tencent Games" version, as that is intended for China. Some resellers flash it with the global ROM, but the experience still has issues. It'll be much cheaper than the actual global versions, but... well, you get what you pay for.

The ROG Phone 3 is solidly built. The newer models have design issues that make them easier to bend than the 3. Check out the bend tests from JerryRigEverything on YouTube for more details. The 5 and 6 die from being bent too much, but the 7 Ultimate managed survive 3 bends.

The downsides to getting the ROG Phone 3 NOW is that it's a 3 year old phone. It will NOT be updated past Android 12 (as we quickly approach the release of Android 14), but ASUS is still slowly providing updates to it. A couple of weeks ago they released a security update (sadly, it's only the June update), and I just got a system stability update today. So, honestly, I'll give them points for still updating this phone despite having THREE successors. Outside of Google and Samsung, you don't see a lot of Android phones getting updates 3 years after release.

The other issue with the Phone 3 is it lacks a headphone jack. Whether or not this is a big issue you depends on how much of an audiophile you are. It does come with a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter, but it's funny this is the ONLY ROG Phone to not have it built in (the 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 all have headphone jacks).

Aside from that, the specs are still really good. Depending on which model you get, you have 128 to 512 GB storage, 8 to 16 GB RAM (I have the 512/16 model), and the Snapdragon 865(+) is still no slouch. It's not like mobile games are really pushing hardware like PC games do.

I would not recommend the 5 or 6 at this point at all. If you're wanting an old phone, the 3 is still the king of ROG. If you want something newer, the 7 or 7 Ultimate would be the better choice.

My main issue with the newer phones is they no longer support the TwinView Dock double screen accessory. This might not be a big issue for a lot of people (which is why I'm guessing they stopped making it), but it's something I love using (great for multitasking) and has been the main factor stopping me from upgrading to a newer phone.