Personal Experience Coming from ROG Phone 5 to ROG Phone 6

[Slnn3R]

ROG Phone 5 Pre Order
RM2999
Free Kunai 3 Controller (RRP: RM599)
AeroActive Cooler 5
RM149 (Actual Price Paid RM44)
ROG Phone 5 Bad Experience Highlights
When the phone first arrived (Initial Firmware Version - Not Updated to any new firmware patch/update), try a few long gaming session such as Genshin Impact (Very High Graphic Setting), the FPS is stable around 50-60 FPS but the Temperature is able to reach 58-60 Degree Celsius in around 20-30mins, most of the time I using Kunai 3 Controller so doesn't feel the heat, but it kinda scary when touching the screen and feel the heat from there.
So decided to get the AeroActive Cooler 5 as I think it may help to improve the situation, it does help improve a bit in a short gaming session, however even with AeroActive Cooler 5 attached, while using By Pass Charging and having around 50mins-60mins gaming session with Genshin Impact, the phone will pop out an Error message saying something like "Temperature in the USB is too High" please unplug, etc. This kinda make me feel I only pay for the AeroActive Cooler 5 Back Button feature but the cooling feature isn't giving any benefit.
KUNAI 3 Controller started to getting some updates (when attach it will auto update), then the KUNAI 3 Controller start behave weirdly, sometimes right controller not able to function, the controller keep connect and disconnecting unexpectedly, bluetooth connection sometime works and sometime not works, etc, basically after KUNAI 3 Controller getting updates, I notice the Controller not able to work normally in a consistent manner, most of the time the controller keep having weird behavior and it works in a very rare manner. I enjoy the KUNAI 3 Controller in the beginning when everything works but after the updates it become Brick for me.
After few firmware updates, the phone doesn't able to heat up until 50-60 Degree Celsius anymore, playing Genshin Impact (Very High Graphic Setting) in very long gaming session the Maximum Temperature is around 45-46 Degree Celsius as well, however the FPS performance is noticeable unstable and the FPS just keep jumping between 30-55 FPS throughout the gaming session. It is playable, however just feel the phone have degraded, it exchange performance over cooler temperature. I heard my other peers with the same phone as mine saying they have no issue to achieve stable 60fps in a long gaming session in Highest Graphical Setting, but the games they play is MOBA and FPS games such as Honor of Glory, PUBG, etc which I don't play.
Around Two Months before my warranty end, the Speaker died, interestingly its morning Alarm did wake me up normally, but for unknown reason, in the afternoon the sound never come out anymore. Send to claim warranty, took around 1 month to receive the phone back, everything work normally.
Bad Experience Conclusion
- The Accessories just doesn't work (cooler don't cool down the phone, controller don't function normally) even they are design for ROG Phone 5. Luckily they don't cost me anything, but they just like some extra bricks for me.
- The updates did solved Genshin Impact overheat issue, but it doesn't solve Genshin Impact performance issue, from feedback from others, the performance on other games are High Tier but I only play Genshin Impact and the experience is feel like Mid Tier for me.
- So overall, this gaming phone doesn't give me the Best Gaming Experience I am expecting. The Main Issue I have above is all about Gaming Experience and my gaming experience score for this ROG Phone 5 would be 6.5/10 (Because I ONLY play Genshin Impact, maybe other games can offer 8/10 or higher experience)
ROG Phone 5 Good Experience Highlights
Speaker are so great, I often feel I didn't utilize the Headphone 3.5mm jackport at all because the Speaker Audio Quality is so good that I don't need earphone to enjoy best sound in Most Situation.
The screen experience is superb, its brightness can be still very high and clear under the Sun, in all visual media I that I consume with the phone, it is the best visual experience I ever experience in a mobile device.
Performance in all apps (except gaming with Genshin Impact) and connectivity software (wifi, bluetooth, hotspot, mobile data, gps, etc) is superb, over 60hz above visual performance, very responsive in every tab, switch from app to app is very instant, never experience any lag, freeze or performance issue on my daily apps usage. I got no issue with the Connectivity function in the phone and I feel they perform much more better compare to my last phone.
The build quality of the phone is very good, I love the phone allow me to hold it firmly and it gave me a premium touch/holding feeling, I don't use screen protector and just use the phone free case, after year of using, I don't see any Obvious scratch or physical damage on anywhere of my phone.
I am very satisfy with the battery performance as well, it last so long and the fast charging just way to fast. I never find myself worry about no enough battery in my whole year of usage and my phone never shutdown due to low battery ever.
Some additional bonus, the On Screen Finger Thumbprint, for me they function very well and very convenience. The LED Notification Indicator is a Good Plus for me, I prefer the LED Notification on top of the screen Indicator than the RGB Light Indicator on the back of the phone. The squeeze to open Apps feature, Double tab lock screen feature are also something I don't ever want to miss out from my phone, they are just some feature I rely and use too often everyday.
Good Experience Conclusion
- My previous phone is Google Pixel 2XL, ROG Phone 5 just gave me another next next level of "Smart Phone Experience" in my daily usage of the phone in all use case scenarios (except Gaming)
- Technically I utilized all of the phone feature and they gave me the Best Experience I ever had everyday, I definitely gave 9/10 score for my daily practical usage of the phone.

Based on my 1 years+ usage of ROG Phone 5, If this is a "Zenfone", I will gave 9/10 Score, but this is a "ROG Phone", so I think it is reasonable for me to expect the Accessories will Work and the Performance of Genshin Impact should stable, the only Gaming Experience I feel it work well upon my expectation so far is ONLY the AirTrigger. So my final score of this phone would be 7/10 which consider an above mid-tier experience.
Moving On, I have sold everything of my ROG PHONE 5 with RM1500 and Pre-Order ROG Phone 6.
ROG Phone 6 Pre Order
RM3590
Free Additional 1 Year Warranty
Free AeroActive Cooler 6
Why ROG PHONE again?
In term of daily practical usage, my score is 9/10, so there no reason for me to not experience it on ROG Phone again, but the main feature I don't wanna lose is the Speaker Audio Experience, so ROG Phone's Speaker is always on my mind and wish list.
Pre-order gave me extra warranty so the phone basically have 2 years warranty just like ROG laptops which gave me more confidence on its quality and peace of mind in case there is any issue. My current ROG Phone 5 already out of warranty so I kinda just wanna get rid of this "time bomb".
It seem like the Temperature did improve without AeroActive Cooler, with the new AeroActive Cooler 6 it feel like something would really improve the Gaming Experience, so I would like to it give it another chance and hope ROG Phone 6 would gave me better gaming experience.
My Expectation
Just continue to do well in everything I mentioned on "ROG Phone 5 Good Experience Highlights" section, then I am definitely cool with it, however based on the spec it seem like it surely will gave me better experience on my daily practical phone usage.
Stable 50-60 FPS on Genshin Impact Highest Graphical Setting (I don't mind Disable Anti-aliasing and in Low Shadow setting ONLY) in 30mins game play session.
Stable 50-60 FPS on Genshin Impact Highest Graphical Setting (I don't mind Disable Anti-aliasing and in Low Shadow setting ONLY) in 1hours+ game play session with the AeroActive Cooler 6.
Is my expectation reasonable enough or I expecting too much? Will ROG Phone 6 achieve these expectation or is it impossible to achieve (for the Gaming Experience Expectation)?
What do you guys think? 🤔

[FunBike31]

You can get an idea with these videos, I was careful in selecting them but it's not perfect, the ambient temperature is missing, the graphic details are missing and one of the tests is done with the pre-series model.
Compared to your experience with the first firmware of the rog 5, we can clearly see the FPS drops when the temperature rises, the limit is higher than the new firmware of the Rog5 and it's a little better but not enough to do without the Aerocooler 6, which remains indispensable and which is really effective.
Otherwise, the LED is still there :), the speakers are on the front
Without Aerocooler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYV_2yix_pw
With Aeroccoli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNoYg2IUgM

[Slnn3R]

FunBike31

You can get an idea with these videos, I was careful in selecting them but it's not perfect, the ambient temperature is missing, the graphic details are missing and one of the tests is done with the pre-series model.

Compared to your experience with the first firmware of the rog 5, we can clearly see the FPS drops when the temperature rises, the limit is higher than the new firmware of the Rog5 and it's a little better but not enough to do without the Aerocooler 6, which remains indispensable and which is really effective.

Otherwise, the LED is still there :), the speakers are on the front

Without Aerocooler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYV_2yix_pw

With Aeroccoli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNoYg2IUgM

View post

I am sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean for your temperature explanation.
I just wonder, based on your opinion with those video you saw, will ROG Phone 6 have the same issue where the temperature stuck at 45 Degree Celsius and Genshin Impact performance run unstably at 30-50 FPS?

[ktw]

Slnn3R

https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/comment/217825#Comment_217825

I am sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean for your temperature explanation.

I just wonder, based on your opinion with those video you saw, will ROG Phone 6 have the same issue where the temperature stuck at 45 Degree Celsius and Genshin Impact performance run unstably at 30-50 FPS?

View post

tl;dr: we can't say for sure because the firmware on the media review models could be different from the firmware on the publicly available ones, but it seems that ROG Phone 6 won't have the issue from those reviews since it has an improved cooling system and is using Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which is manufactured by TSMC (as opposed to 888/8 Gen 1 by Samsung).

I think most, if not all, would agree that the Snapdragon 888 on the ROG Phone 5 is just a poor chip -- it's really energy inefficient and can heat up easily. All 888 (and even 8 Gen 1) phone models struggle to play Genshin impact and run into the issue of heating, which the manufacturers/devs tried to resolve by either locking the max frame rate or setting the temperature cap (which is probably why you experienced the "jitter" in FPS).
As far as the reviews go, it looks like the 8+ Gen 1 on ROG Phone 6 is a much better chip in its CPU and GPU performance (in terms of performance/watt) than 888, as well as 8 Gen 1. ROG Phone 6 seems to be able to keep up an average of 59-ish FPS (stable 50-60 FPS) at the highest graphic setting on Genshin Impact and reach just about 43~47 Degree Celcius after 30 min - 1 hr of playing time WITHOUT the AeroCooler. With the AeroCoolr, it's said that the temperature can be reduced the phone temperature to around 37~42 Degree Celcius.

[Danishblunt]

FunBike31

You can get an idea with these videos, I was careful in selecting them but it's not perfect, the ambient temperature is missing, the graphic details are missing and one of the tests is done with the pre-series model.

Compared to your experience with the first firmware of the rog 5, we can clearly see the FPS drops when the temperature rises, the limit is higher than the new firmware of the Rog5 and it's a little better but not enough to do without the Aerocooler 6, which remains indispensable and which is really effective.

Otherwise, the LED is still there :), the speakers are on the front

Without Aerocooler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYV_2yix_pw

With Aeroccoli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNoYg2IUgM

View post

sadly the first video shows the exact problem. The FPS only are stable in low demand dungeon, however once demand is high they just tank. Look at 6:35, FPS go to sht.
As for the other video, it was quite worthless, we had no clue where he played, if it was demanding or just another light load.
What bothers me is the fact that the input lag in CODM seems to be massive. And the battery drain on more demanding games like genshin is just friggn insane. The phone has a worse battery live than a fking switch. I'm sorry but the optimization is just piss poor.