The Asus ROG Phone 5 has 18 GB of RAM, two USB ports, incredible rear display

Welcome to the world of maximum Android hype with the Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate! It has two monitors, two USB ports and two … batteries? It is the new Android phone of the highest specification on the market, available in Europe for € 1,299, or about $ 1,545. This is a follow-up to last year’s Asus ROG Phone 3 – a ROG Phone 4 is not happening because Asus is a bunch of tetraphics.

Let’s talk about these crazy specs. The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate features a 144 Hz, 6.78 inch, 2448 × 1080 OLED display; a Snapdragon 888 SoC; 18 GB of RAM; 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage; and a 6000 mAh battery. Eighteen gigabytes of RAM is a new milestone for Android phones and (I’m not sure if this is good or bad for Android) is more RAM than you would get on some laptops. The phone comes with Android 11, supports Wi-Fi 6E and supports 65W wired fast charging with in-box charger. There is also a fingerprint reader on the screen, a headset, two USB-C ports and front stereo speakers. The cameras are definitely later, with a 64 MP Sony IMX686 as the main camera, a 12 MP ultra-wide secondary camera, a 5 MP macro camera and a 24 MP front camera.

The addition of the title is the second screen on the back, which appears to be just for fun. Embedded diagonally on the back of the phone is a tiny, low-resolution monochrome OLED display. There are no official specifications for it, but it appears to have a 1.7-inch, 256 × 64 screen. Last year, the ROG phone had an RGB LED logo on the back, and similarly, this appears to be mainly for decoration. There are several predefined animations for it, like a motorcycle passing through a city, and it is programmable with a personalized message. One animation is for an incoming call, while another is for charging, but for real data, it looks like this. The small screen does not appear to show notification or time information, like other secondary screens that we see on foldable phones. Samsung did a lot more with a 1.1-inch screen on the Galaxy Z Flip.

In the PC world, the “gamer” brand is automatically placed on almost all state-of-the-art parts and products, so you get better performance. But for phones, “gamer” stuff is hard to sell, since everyone uses the same parts. The highest bidder for the Asus player revolves around extra control schemes that you can map in games. In landscape, the ultrasonic sensors in the left and right corners of the phone provide virtual buttons on the shoulders, while the touch sensors on the back of the phone provide virtual “L2 / R2 triggers” There are also tilt motion control schemes for the phone. It looks like all of this can be mapped to emulate the touch screen input, so you can press the buttons on the screen without actually locking the screen.

Another Asus consideration for games is the design of two USB-C ports, with one on the bottom in the usual area and the other centered on the side, allowing easy charging during landscape games. Next to the side USB port is an accessory connector for an optional fan connection. The internal design of the phone is very unusual. Typically, you get a large battery in the center of the phone, with SoC and other main components pushed to the top (Samsung) or side (Apple) of the phone. Asus has two 3,000 mAh batteries separated at the top and bottom of the phone, and the main motherboard is the center device, allowing easy connection of the side USB port. It also means that the attachable centralized fan can actually do something. Of course, the fan is aimed at solid glass and underneath it is the rear OLED display then you have reached SoC. But at least it is in the right stadium. The fan, by the way, has two more touch points, so between the upper triggers, the rear trigger and the two fan buttons, you can have six virtual buttons on the rear.

Most of the ROG Phone 3 accessories from last year are supported. There is the Nintendo Joycon-style ROG Kunai 3 gamepad, which consists of two control halves that can be mounted on the sides of the phone or slide into a control handle. There is also a “ROG Clip” phone mount for a Playstation or Xbox controller. The TV dock is different this year, and the ROG Phone 5 is incompatible with last year’s version.

Some low-level versions of the ROG Phone 5 are available without the rear screen and reduced specs, but we are only here because of the player’s insane excess. The “Ultimate” model, which destroys technical specifications, will go on sale in May in Europe.

Asus listing image