Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate

Not so long ago, I started a review of a new Xiaomi smartphone in a slightly crude way, when I stated how difficult it can be as a reviewer to find an exciting approach to a new, static smartphone that does not do much more than improve about 5-10% for selected specifications, and which therefore gives you a performance boost of the same 5-10% in selected games that don't really need it anyway.

Sure, we can show you AnTuTu benchmarks, or GeekBench scores that demonstrate the gradual upgrade on these key parameters, but the user experience remains, for the most part, Android, and real new features can be very, very few and far between.

Take Asus' ROG Phone 7 as a result. We're served up a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, 512GB of UFS 4.0 memory, a 6.78-inch 2448x1080p AMOLED panel at a whopping 165Hz, a 6000mAh battery that can charge up to 65W. It even has two USB-C ports and an audio jack port. All of this is insanely impressive, and as a package, it's pretty unique. Do you know the spice mix "Ras el Hanout"? Directly translated from Arabic, it means "the best in the shop" - and it's been ROG Phone's mantra from the start.

It's the same Phantom White colour on the back, with the same cool little OLED panel you can either program to display specific animations or write a special message. There's also room for the AeroActive Portal, a feature we saw introduced on last year's 6D model. If you attach the included AeroActive Cooler 7, this little motorised hatch opens up, allowing direct airflow to the hot components.

This means that Asus can easily claim that the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate can run at 165Hz without having to reduce the frame rate due to high internal temperatures - ever. For example, we recently reviewed Mighty Doom on the device, and ran for something like 2.5 hours without ever seeing the heat affect performance.

Combine that with the amazing AirTriggers and the new "subwoofer" that Asus claims gives a whole new dimension to the sound. It's housed in the AeroActive Cooler, and it's actually really surprising. Never has a phone sounded so good. Incidentally, the entire phone is still IP54 certified, even though there is indeed a motorised opening into the phone's fragile parts.

There are still compromises here. At the back there's a 50 megapixel camera sensor, which is quite decent, and which delivers 12.5 megapixels per image. There's also 2x optical zoom, which works... well, fine. There's no wireless charging, and while wireless charging isn't particularly "GamerTM", it would be a nice addition for Asus to provide.

But to get back to the points at the top of this review, the one thing that again ensures Asus escapes criticism, in the form of a lack of innovation as the market drags its feet towards the next annual launch cycle, is identity. The Asus ROG Phone 7 doesn't take itself too seriously - it opens with an animated story that even has dedicated gaming mechanics where you control a spaceship. It utilises its packaging in an innovative way. The whole thing oozes a specific desire to be something... well, specific. ROG Phones aren't the only gaming phones on the market, but the ROG Phone 7 has reminded me again how crucial it is to have personality, to walk the plank with an idea, and Asus is constantly pushing itself to convince you, the consumer, that this is where you'll find the most fun Android experience among the established flagships.

The reviews get a little shorter as time goes on, as the expected spec bumps simply don't require in-depth analysis, but that doesn't mean we're not happy that the ROG Phone line exists, as cheesy as they can be.

So the grade remains the same, and it will until the day when Asus' runs out of ideas, or loses that glow, that spark that makes ROG Phone launches such a breath of fresh air every single year.