Gaming phone that can play it normal

Review: Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro - Gives More to More

On one hand, flashing lights, extreme performance, and total gaming focus. On the other hand, a phone that can actually play it normal too and doesn't need to be ashamed of either the camera, sober design, or anything else.

Erik Mörner

Published 22 November 2024 - 00:00 Modified 24 January 2025 - 16:40

This distinctive gaming phone is a testament to courage. It is impressive that Asus, year after year, is early to adopt the sharpest possible system chip, in this case, the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Of course, it is a given that a new gaming phone should have the chip that provides the absolute best performance.

Asus took somewhat of a step back last year and made the ROG Phone more universal. It is not just a gaming phone now but can actually function in more contexts and as a high-performing everyday phone without attracting too much attention.

Top-notch screen, top-notch performance

A first-class screen and performance required for gaming are advantages in many other contexts as well. This makes the ROG Phone 9 Pro suitable for movies, photo viewing, web browsing, and other activities everyone does with their phones every day. Then the phone also meets other requirements and avoids compromises by also supporting, for example, fast charging, wireless charging, and being waterproof. All of this makes it not only attractive to gaming enthusiasts but also to many others.

You can choose yourself how extreme your ROG Phone 9 should be. This series of phones comes in three variants. The ROG 9 phone is the base version, ROG Phone 9 Pro has the extended mini-screen on the back as well as maxed storage and memory, and ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition also adds the external fan that can be useful during long performance-demanding gaming sessions.

ROG Phone 9 and its appearance can definitely be described as sleek. Most eye-catching is, of course, the small screen in the form of LEDs on the back. In the Pro model that I am testing, it is more developed and can, in addition to showing constant information and blinking with details about charging, time, and so on, also let you play. Yes, there are actually small primitive retro games that you can play with the game controls on the edges of the device and with the small screen as the game board. These are simple games where, for example, I have to jump over boxes, a clear retro feeling with Nintendo's Game & Watch and similar as a model. Charming.

Can do more

In addition to gaming, the small screen on the back has also gained more functions. I associate it a bit with what the mobile manufacturer Nothing does, and in Asus's version, there is so much information to choose from that it rather feels like a constant PowerPoint presentation on the back of the phone than a design detail meant to give the phone a tough gaming attitude. You can, of course, choose and deselect what you want to display on the back screen, and it's worth noting that the included case clearly obscures the rear screen so it is not visible at all. A transparent case instead would have avoided that problem, but on the other hand, the case's clear cooling effect when I play demanding games would have been lost. The phone becomes noticeably warm when I push it and utilize the performance, but it never crosses the line and becomes too hot, so it becomes a problem. However, I notice that the use of the external fan that comes with the Pro Edition model makes a noticeable difference. With it mounted, the whole package becomes significantly more cumbersome, and the fan makes quite a bit of noise, but I also get maximum performance during long gaming sessions, while performance can otherwise be throttled to avoid overheating.

Even though Asus has somewhat toned down the most extreme gaming features of ROG Phones in recent years, there are still many special solutions that distinguish the phone. You have unbeatable sound quality with the built-in speakers, you have the clearly unique feature of two charging ports, one in the corner of the short side, one in the middle of the long side. And you have a real headphone jack, which Asus is almost alone in offering among top models today. This is all adapted so that you can play, charge, listen with the phone in landscape mode and with your hands around the short sides and on the game buttons, all without any cables or ports getting in the way of gaming.

Sure, you can notice that the cameras in ROG Phone 9, despite having a high-resolution main camera, zoom camera, and wide-angle, cannot compete with the best. Iphone 16 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S24 series, and Xiaomi 14 Ultra are a notch better. The dynamic range of the ROG Phone is limited, especially in the dark, but they still don't need to be ashamed. They are good without being able to compete with the very best.

More mainstream

Despite the extreme performance that makes the phone always feel lightning-fast, the ROG Phone 9 series is a bit more mainstream than before. The selfie camera is in a hole in the screen instead of hidden in the edge, and just like exactly all other manufacturers, Asus is beating the drum for its AI services. They are actually quite extensive. We have the ability to record calls that can then be transcribed to text, real-time translation of calls with voice, actually even to and from Swedish. When I test it, it misses some words here and there, and it is pointed out that the function is in beta version, but it is at least functional enough that I can book a table at a restaurant without knowing the language and get the host's response in understandable Swedish.

Call recording, translation, and gaming on the extra screen on the back. But no more than two promised system updates of Android.

Then we can ask ourselves how often we actually benefit from such functions when they are not completely flawless. The clearest added value in the ROG Phone series is the screen and lightning-fast performance as well as the sound, which makes it both a good gaming phone and good for much else.

Questions and Answers

Is it one of the few phones with built-in call recording?

Yes, activate the feature in Settings, and a button will appear in the phone app so you can record calls. A message will be read to the other party so they know you are recording.

What if I'm not interested in gaming?

...then there are cheaper and better phones for you. However, if you are a bit interested in gaming, the ROG Phone series can meet your needs without any clear compromises.

First with the top chip?

Yes, this is the first phone released in Sweden with Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it is therefore also the fastest phone we have tested. However, many manufacturers will use the same chip, so Asus won't be alone at the top for long. They are, however, skilled at optimizing performance and cooling, so they may very well offer the best performance compared to upcoming flagships from other manufacturers.

An alternative

If you want good performance, Oneplus and then at the beginning of next year, the Samsung Galaxy S25 seem to be next in line with this chip.

Camera example

Good without being the best. You get high resolution, wide-angle, and optical zoom, but when it is most demanding, the phone does not reach what the best competitors achieve, especially in more challenging situations with poorer light where sharpness and dynamic range can suffer.