ASUS ROG Phone 5 Succumbs To JerryRigEverything Bend Test

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 packs a lot of powerful components on the inside. But it may be a phone that you’d want to handle with care. Because as JerryRigEverything points out in a new durability test video, it bends relatively easily under pressure.

The durability test starts off well enough, with the glass over the display only scratching at Mohs level six hardness. That’s about the expected kind of performance from the new Gorilla Glass Victus. But things start going south for the ASUS ROG Phone 5 from there.

As the process continues to the bend test, we see the antenna line being a weak point that gives way to the bending. For some reason, this causes the vibration motor to malfunction. Another bend killed the display, even when the Gorilla Glass Victus remains intact.

Flipping the ASUS ROG Phone 5 to the back, another bend sees the side USB-C port serve as another weak point. This bend shatters the glass back, showing the discrepancy in durability between the front and back glass. While phone makers usually don’t disclose what sort of glass they use at the back, unlike with what covers the display, in this case it’s probably not the Gorilla Glass Victus, judging from the way it shatters.

Of course, no phone is expected to endure that kind of force under normal use scenarios. But as the ROG Phone 5 is a gaming phone, the chances of it happening are higher. After all, emotions do run high in certain situations while gaming.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Pre-Order Coming To Shopee On 19 March

Almost immediately after it was officially unveiled to the world, ASUS has begun accepting pre-orders for its new gaming phone, the ROG Phone 5 in Malaysia ahead of the phone’s release in April. At that time, the pre-order can only be done through physical dealers but that is about to change later this week as gamers will soon be able to pre-order the device via Shopee.

In today’s announcement, ASUS stated that the ROG Phone 5 pre-order on Shopee will take place on 19 March. That being said, the exact starting time mentioned on the listing is 11:59 PM on 18 March, in case you are really eager to book your unit.

Just like the initial early-bird units, gamers that pre-order ROG Phone 5 through Shopee will also receive ROG Kunai Gamepad alongside their new gaming phone. We have confirmed with ASUS Malaysia that the price of the phone for the Shopee pre-order program also remains as RM 2,999 for the 8GB/128GB setup and RM 3,799 for the 16GB/256GB option, despite the inaccurate figures stated on the listing.

ASUS Malaysia’s representative also pointed out that only 400 units will be made available through the pre-order program at Shopee. For those who are wondering about the higher-end ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate models which will only be available in May, unfortunately, the company has no announcement for them at the moment.

ASUS ROG Phone 5 Goes Official: Features 144Hz Display, Snapdragon 888 and Up To 18GB of RAM

ASUS today has officially taken the drape off the latest iteration of its gaming mobile device, the ROG Phone. Despite being the fourth-generation model, the 2021 release is called the ROG Phone 5 likely because number four is considered unlucky in the Chinese culture.

This time around, the ROG Phone 5 can be obtained in three models which can be differentiated through their exterior features as well as memory and internal storage setup. Nevertheless, all three versions still have plenty of components that they share with each other.

Among them is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor although this time around, ASUS is not using a speed-binned version of the chip for ROG Phone 5. This is simply because the option is not being made available to the company at the moment, according to its response to our query.

To help cool the new Qualcomm’s flagship chip, the ROG Phone 5 is equipped with GameCool 5 solution that apparently features a new layout to help provide higher thermal efficiency according to ASUS. It includes positioning the CPU at the centre of the layout, so that heat can be dispersed evenly throughout the device with the help of a large 3D vapour chamber and a copious amount of graphite sheets.

At the same time, ASUS has also designed a new AeroActive external cooler for ROG Phone 5 that can help shave as much as 10C off its CPU temperature as well as tone down the phone surface temperature by 15C. Additionally, the new cooler also now comes with two customisable buttons that gamers can utilise for their games.

Speaking about game buttons, ASUS continues to equip the ROG Phone 5 with AirTrigger ultrasonic sensors. On the Pro and Ultimate variant of the phone which we are going to discuss a little bit more later in the article, the company has also added another set of touch sensor on their back which generally designed to mimic the L2/R2 trigger buttons on game controllers.

The ROG Phone 5 is also equipped with a 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display that ASUS has sourced from Samsung. With a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and 300Hz touch sampling rate, the HDR10+ certified display has a peak brightness capability of 1200nits alongside DCI-P33 colour gamut coverage of 111.23%, sub-1 Delta-E rating, and is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

In terms of photography, the ROG Phone 5 Series still features the same camera module from ROG Phone 3 which was also used by ZenFone 7 Pro. It comes with a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor alongside 13MP ultra-wide and 5MP macro cameras while there is also a 24MP selfie camera on the front side of all ROG Phone 5 Series devices.

ASUS has also retained the front-facing dual speakers for ROG Phone 5 alongside a 3.5mm headphone jack that is being enhanced by an ESS Tech ES9280AC Pro DAC chip. Completing the ROG Phone 5 Series general specifications is a 6000mAh battery that supports a 65W HyperCharge charger which allows the gaming phone to obtain around 73% of its capacity in just 30 minutes.

As mentioned earlier, the ROG Phone 5 Series can be obtained in three different models. Available in Phantom Black and Storm White colourway, the standard variant of the gaming phone features a ROG logo in dotted matrix style with customisable Aura RGB lighting alongside up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 internal storage.

On another hand, the ROG Phone 5 Pro which comes solely in Phantom Black as well as 16GB/512GB configuration is also equipped with a small matrix display called ROG Vision on its back that would output animations during selected system events such as incoming call, X Mode activation, phone charging, and more. Gamers also create up to three custom animations for the display as well.

ASUS will also be releasing the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate that will be available in just Storm White. Similar to the Pro model, it is equipped with 512GB internal storage but with even more memory capacity at 18GB although the company decided to provide this particular model with a monochrome version of the ROG Vision rear display.

As opposed to its predecessor, the new AeroCooler 5 will only be provided as standard for ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate while those who chose to get their hands on the vanilla variant have to purchase it separately. The Ultimate variant will also be accompanied by a ROG Fan Gift Collection boxset that contains a variety of ROG swags such as a cap, face mask, pins, badges, towel, and more.

In terms of pricing, the standard ROG Phone 5 starts at EUR 799 (~RM 3,921) while the ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate will be available for EUR 1,199 (~RM 5,884) and EUR 1,299 (~RM 6,375) respectively. The exact release date for these three models will be different from one market to another but generally, their rollout will begin from this month onwards.

For those who are wondering, yes, ASUS is planning to release the ROG Phone 5 Series in Malaysia very soon. Keep a look at our subsequent report regarding its pricing and release dates shortly. (UPDATE: Here is the pricing for ROG Phone 5 Series in Malaysia!)

ASUS ROG Phone 5 To Launch On 10 March

Prior leaked photos and videos have shown us what the next ROG Phone would look like. They also suggested that it will be called the ASUS ROG Phone 5, skipping the number 4. It looks like the Taiwanese company is indeed skipping a number. And it has also decided a launch date for the phone.

The company now has a dedicated web page for the ROG Phone 5. And on it is a countdown to 7PM of 10 March 2021. Unfortunately, the page has nothing else besides the countdown timer. Which means we still have no confirmation about what the phone is packing on the inside.

With that, we will just have to go with what we’ve heard of via the previous leaks. Back then, we’ve heard that the ASUS ROG Phone 5 will be running with a 6.6-inch, 144Hz display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and support for 65W fast charging. The leaked images also suggest a triple camera setup at the back, but no specifics on what they are exactly.

It looks like we’ll just have to wait until the official unveiling of the ASUS ROG Phone 5 to find out more. And being just about three weeks away, it’s not too long a wait.