ROG Phone 7 Ultimate Review | Too Much...

The ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate: A Gaming Powerhouse with a Twist

I've had the chance to spend some time with the ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, and I must say, it's a beast of a device that checks all the boxes for a gaming phone. With its powerful processor, high-quality speakers, and impressive camera capabilities, this phone is sure to appeal to gamers and tech enthusiasts alike.

One of the standout features of the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is its speaker quality. I don't usually talk about speakers in my phone reviews because they often don't impress me, but with this device, that's not the case. The Aero Active Cooler, which features a subwoofer, delivers some of the best sound I've ever heard on a phone. The sound is surprisingly directional, deep, and full-bodied, especially when it comes to lower frequencies.

Another feature that caught my attention is the camera capabilities. While the 50-megapixel shooter may not be the most impressive in terms of raw megapixels, it performs way better than I expected for a dedicated gaming phone. However, what really sold me on the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is the software experience.

Asus isn't trying to reinvent the wheel with Android; instead, they're offering two core UI settings: Stock Android and a light, tastefully optimized version of Android 13. There's no bloatware installed on this system whatsoever, which is a refreshing change from some other devices I've reviewed in the past.

In addition to the software experience, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate also features ultrasonic touch triggers that aim to mimic the feel of shoulder buttons. These can be mapped to anything on your screen essentially giving you two extra thumbs to better control what's happening on screen. This is especially handy for games that don't have controller support.

However, there are a few downsides to consider if you're thinking of daily driving this absolutely bonkers gaming device. Despite all the gratuitous features, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate does not have expandable storage. Even with 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, which offers plenty of capacity and speed for most people, you might run into issues in the long run.

Additionally, there is no wireless charging on this phone, which isn't a major deal for someone like me, but it's still something to know. And let's be honest; this phone is huge. You'll certainly look like a happy gamer when you put it in your pocket.

Most of all, I don't feel great about the price for this entire package. The ROG Phone 7 Ultimate comes in at over $1,500, which is one of the most expensive high-end smartphones you can buy in 2023. While Asus isn't necessarily aiming to compete with flagship offerings like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, there's an argument to be made that this phone is overpriced.

In fact, I think the best way to approach this purchase would be to get the base model ROG Phone 7 at $1,000. You'll lose out on features like the cover display and the motorized cooling flap, but otherwise, it's the same general package without all the extra fluff. If you're willing to sacrifice those extras for the price difference, I think you'd be hard-pressed not to be happy with your purchase.

So, what do you think about this phone in the comments below?

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate and normally we don't do unboxings here on the channel but this packaging is looking pretty sweet to not do one so I'm gonna crack it open take a look try the phone out for a week and give you guys my thoughts let's Jump Right In this box looks insane kind of like a spaceship and honestly it kind of needs to be because this is the one that Asus goes all out on now I can feel with the texture on this box that it is made out of recycled material which makes sense because a lot of companies are doing that nowadays but uh that means I can throw this in a patch of grass and it'll be part of it at some point that's how that works right compost I know my nature judging by the fact that this top part's pretty heavy this is probably the phone itself so I'm going to set that off to the side first because I want to see the rest of it save the surprise for last you have a charging brick here which is 65 Watts this phone will charge really quick then we also have obviously a USBC cable as well nicely braided and a whole top part here what is that what is this oh look at this thing it's a cooling fan other buttons those are back buttons oh those are really tactile oh this phone is nuts I'm assuming this is also a carrying case that would be correct and I assume there's also yes a piece of Celica which uh ah you can eat this week Fred comes in this household but of course the story here is about the Rog phone itself oh wait no there's more than oh this is not even documentation there's a case in here wow this case looks really neat as well take out our phone itself oh that is meaty but also it kind of has to be because it's a gaming oriented phone you want maximum performance and I'm gonna just say that right off the bat there's probably insane Cooling in here and also how does this attachment work put this in like this I'm gonna that's not oh there's an unlock button I should uh used that this is a midi package meaty or package those speakers were really good I felt the base on that one there's loading music we're in the gamer zone now so I'm not gonna set this up on camera give me a few days and we're gonna come back and give you more of my long-term Impressions on this okay I've had about a week with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate and let me tell you between the Striking looks gorgeous display and the sheer power of it all this phone is absolutely nuts Deez Nuts got em first off I want to talk about the design it's definitely an acquired taste aimed at the sophisticated gamer with all these shapes and angles to it but in all seriousness the aesthetic is relatively clean especially in this white colorway so in my opinion it could use with a little less branding the coolest thing on the back however is this cover display through the Armory crate app that comes pre-installed you can customize what it's showing to let you know things like battery percentage whenever you're getting a phone call or even load it with custom images and effects as someone that loves to put anime stuff anywhere and everywhere in my life this is the ticket plus the phone is pretty smart about turning it on only when you pick up the device so it's not using a battery while it's in your pocket moving on to the side profile of the Rog phone 7. ultimate it looks chunky as Frank but there are some good reasons for this not like uh not like me after I had one too many double cheeseburgers there aren't too many good reasons for that just a lot of Shame for one it is a gaming phone so of course it needs a gigantic battery six thousand milliamp hours divided up between two cells which lets you charge at a total of 65 Watts getting you to a hundred percent in less than 50 minutes what's also neat is that the batteries are arranged around the soc instead of directly on top of it which allows the phone to manage thermals better on top of preserving the overall battery life secondly this phone actually has ports Asus is pretty good about this even on their Zenfone line but the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate has a 2.0 USB C port on the bottom that's mainly for charging a 3.2 USBC on the side for our cooler attachment and yes there is also a headphone jack this is especially useful if you're one of those people that play Rhythm games and need that low latency hop on over to the front and the bezels are surprisingly thick for a flagship phone in 2023 while it's easy to write this off as a loss honestly I find it important on a gaming phone it acts as a buffer so that your palms are less likely to register as a touch which can be quite annoying In the Heat of gameplay sorry Amber oh I'm still while using the included case which has clever ergonomics that guide your grip when holding the phone in landscape it's certainly no Gamepad replacement but goes a long way toward feeling comfortable and confident when playing on the go I think the Asus designers did a wonderful job with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate but what's it actually like to use put simply this phone is hella fast with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SOC and 16 gigs of RAM you can throw everything in the kitchen sink of this phone and it'll take it no problem it's especially helpful that inside the phone Asus put in a pair of graphite sheets and Vapor chamber cooling to keep thermal throttling down to a minimum however beyond the raw performance also key to this phone's Snappy and fluid feel especially in more General use is the 165 Hertz refresh rate on its large 6.8 inch AMOLED display it's certainly Overkill to run it at this setting all the time but I never really want to turn it off because it actually makes the phone feel even faster while I'm on the topic of the screen it's also been wonderful for media consumption the calibration leans a touch over saturated in color though it still looks pleasing in games and watching video but back onto core performance let's talk about this huge cooling apparatus the aeroactive cooler 7. this monstrosity attaches via the USBC port on the side and also with these two little bitty Pogo pins and the idea here is that it helps exhaust heat out the back it also makes a cool sound too when you do it takes a little while but kind of neat this isn't just by simply making contact with the glass on the back the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate has a Secret Vent that opens up when the Aero active cooler is attached to reveal a heat sink that's properly making contact with the internals of the phone to help dissipate more heat actually channels all the air in which is really neat if you're curious about what it looks like without the attachment on you can manually open it via a maintenance menu in the settings this is so you could clean it out if it gets dusty but otherwise it's tucked away behind this motorized door and most people probably wouldn't even know it existed otherwise going back to the Aero active cooler itself it has some neat RGB lighting effects programmable buttons to control stuff in game as well as a bottom facing 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and pass-through USBC for power that's perfectly placed for landscape it even has a built-in subwoofer to add some extra boom to those speakers if you need it actually the speakers sound pretty good on this thing but we'll talk about that a little later all this extra cooling is super neat and all but in all honesty this phone already does a wonderful job managing its thermals to a point where it's not critical to Performance without the cooler I'm able to max out gentian impact at 60 FPS the phone would certainly get warm which is understandable when you're running a demanding game like that but this was still comfortable to hold even after an hour of straight use so there's a ton of power as well as some interesting quirks but there are some genuinely good quality of life features that I wasn't expecting to see on this phone normally I don't talk about speakers in my phone reviews because oftentimes they don't sound that good however with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate it actually has some of the best speakers I've ever heard on a phone play a little sound clip all right there is a surprising amount of directionality depth and body especially with the lower frequencies add on the Aero active cooler with its subwoofer and this Smartphone has no right sounding this good I also didn't think the cameras would be as good as they are the 50 megapixel shooter isn't amazing but it performs way better than I expected for a dedicated gaming phone but what sold me on the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate is the software experience I think it's pretty neat that Asus isn't trying to reinvent the wheel with Android when you first set up the phone they let you choose between two core UI settings stock Android or they're light but Tastefully optimized version of Android 13. in fact there's no bloatware installed on this system whatsoever Asus does have their Rog Armory crate app installed on this phone which is mainly for game optimization but alongside this is The Game Genie overlay that runs during gameplay you can toggle between performance modes refresh rates record your screen open up apps in a pop-up window or configure button macros this phone much like its predecessors from years prior has ultrasonic touch triggers which aim to mimic the feel of shoulder buttons these can be mapped to anything on your screen essentially giving you two extra thumbs to better control what's happening on screen this is especially handy for games that don't have controller support I've talked a lot about the positives I have with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate but there are a couple of downsides to keep in mind if you're considering daily driving this absolutely Bonkers gaming device despite all the gratuitous features a sue slapped on here the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate does not have expandable storage even if this is becoming more of a common Trend in the industry with phones in this price point still disappointing 512 gigs of ufs 4.0 storage offers plenty of capacity and speed for most people but if you wield a lot of games or media you might run into some issues in the long run additionally there is no wireless charging on here which isn't much of a big deal with a phone like this but it's still something to know also I can't stress enough how large this phone is you'll certainly look like a happy gamer when you put in your pocket is that an Rog Phone 7 Ultimate in your pocket or are you just happy to see me why aren't you putting this Center pockets are in now I don't know what to tell you however most of all I don't feel great about the price for this entire package the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate is one of the most expensive high-end smartphones you can buy in 2023 coming in at over fifteen hundred dollars what while I don't think Asus is necessarily aiming for this phone to compete with Flagship offerings like the Galaxy s23 Ultra but rather more with gaming smartphones like the xiaomi black shark there is an argument to be made that the phone is alive that is the argument there is an argument to be made that Samsung offers a more well-rounded package that's suitable for a daily driver that can certainly game but with also better cameras and especially more long-term software support it sucks to say but Asus only commits to two major Android OS upgrades and up to four years of security on its phones that's kind of a bummer when there's 500 options that can guarantee a longer support pipeline I know it Friends sucks when you're spending over a thousand dollars on a smartphone you shouldn't expect anything less now if this package is even remotely enticing to you I'd suggest getting the base model Rog Phone 7 at one thousand dollars you'll lose out on things like the cover display and this neat motorized cooling flap but otherwise it's the same general package without all of that extra fluff but let me know what do you think about this phone in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode of denki Channel smooth smooth light butterthis is the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate and normally we don't do unboxings here on the channel but this packaging is looking pretty sweet to not do one so I'm gonna crack it open take a look try the phone out for a week and give you guys my thoughts let's Jump Right In this box looks insane kind of like a spaceship and honestly it kind of needs to be because this is the one that Asus goes all out on now I can feel with the texture on this box that it is made out of recycled material which makes sense because a lot of companies are doing that nowadays but uh that means I can throw this in a patch of grass and it'll be part of it at some point that's how that works right compost I know my nature judging by the fact that this top part's pretty heavy this is probably the phone itself so I'm going to set that off to the side first because I want to see the rest of it save the surprise for last you have a charging brick here which is 65 Watts this phone will charge really quick then we also have obviously a USBC cable as well nicely braided and a whole top part here what is that what is this oh look at this thing it's a cooling fan other buttons those are back buttons oh those are really tactile oh this phone is nuts I'm assuming this is also a carrying case that would be correct and I assume there's also yes a piece of Celica which uh ah you can eat this week Fred comes in this household but of course the story here is about the Rog phone itself oh wait no there's more than oh this is not even documentation there's a case in here wow this case looks really neat as well take out our phone itself oh that is meaty but also it kind of has to be because it's a gaming oriented phone you want maximum performance and I'm gonna just say that right off the bat there's probably insane Cooling in here and also how does this attachment work put this in like this I'm gonna that's not oh there's an unlock button I should uh used that this is a midi package meaty or package those speakers were really good I felt the base on that one there's loading music we're in the gamer zone now so I'm not gonna set this up on camera give me a few days and we're gonna come back and give you more of my long-term Impressions on this okay I've had about a week with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate and let me tell you between the Striking looks gorgeous display and the sheer power of it all this phone is absolutely nuts Deez Nuts got em first off I want to talk about the design it's definitely an acquired taste aimed at the sophisticated gamer with all these shapes and angles to it but in all seriousness the aesthetic is relatively clean especially in this white colorway so in my opinion it could use with a little less branding the coolest thing on the back however is this cover display through the Armory crate app that comes pre-installed you can customize what it's showing to let you know things like battery percentage whenever you're getting a phone call or even load it with custom images and effects as someone that loves to put anime stuff anywhere and everywhere in my life this is the ticket plus the phone is pretty smart about turning it on only when you pick up the device so it's not using a battery while it's in your pocket moving on to the side profile of the Rog phone 7. ultimate it looks chunky as Frank but there are some good reasons for this not like uh not like me after I had one too many double cheeseburgers there aren't too many good reasons for that just a lot of Shame for one it is a gaming phone so of course it needs a gigantic battery six thousand milliamp hours divided up between two cells which lets you charge at a total of 65 Watts getting you to a hundred percent in less than 50 minutes what's also neat is that the batteries are arranged around the soc instead of directly on top of it which allows the phone to manage thermals better on top of preserving the overall battery life secondly this phone actually has ports Asus is pretty good about this even on their Zenfone line but the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate has a 2.0 USB C port on the bottom that's mainly for charging a 3.2 USBC on the side for our cooler attachment and yes there is also a headphone jack this is especially useful if you're one of those people that play Rhythm games and need that low latency hop on over to the front and the bezels are surprisingly thick for a flagship phone in 2023 while it's easy to write this off as a loss honestly I find it important on a gaming phone it acts as a buffer so that your palms are less likely to register as a touch which can be quite annoying In the Heat of gameplay sorry Amber oh I'm still while using the included case which has clever ergonomics that guide your grip when holding the phone in landscape it's certainly no Gamepad replacement but goes a long way toward feeling comfortable and confident when playing on the go I think the Asus designers did a wonderful job with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate but what's it actually like to use put simply this phone is hella fast with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SOC and 16 gigs of RAM you can throw everything in the kitchen sink of this phone and it'll take it no problem it's especially helpful that inside the phone Asus put in a pair of graphite sheets and Vapor chamber cooling to keep thermal throttling down to a minimum however beyond the raw performance also key to this phone's Snappy and fluid feel especially in more General use is the 165 Hertz refresh rate on its large 6.8 inch AMOLED display it's certainly Overkill to run it at this setting all the time but I never really want to turn it off because it actually makes the phone feel even faster while I'm on the topic of the screen it's also been wonderful for media consumption the calibration leans a touch over saturated in color though it still looks pleasing in games and watching video but back onto core performance let's talk about this huge cooling apparatus the aeroactive cooler 7. this monstrosity attaches via the USBC port on the side and also with these two little bitty Pogo pins and the idea here is that it helps exhaust heat out the back it also makes a cool sound too when you do it takes a little while but kind of neat this isn't just by simply making contact with the glass on the back the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate has a Secret Vent that opens up when the Aero active cooler is attached to reveal a heat sink that's properly making contact with the internals of the phone to help dissipate more heat actually channels all the air in which is really neat if you're curious about what it looks like without the attachment on you can manually open it via a maintenance menu in the settings this is so you could clean it out if it gets dusty but otherwise it's tucked away behind this motorized door and most people probably wouldn't even know it existed otherwise going back to the Aero active cooler itself it has some neat RGB lighting effects programmable buttons to control stuff in game as well as a bottom facing 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and pass-through USBC for power that's perfectly placed for landscape it even has a built-in subwoofer to add some extra boom to those speakers if you need it actually the speakers sound pretty good on this thing but we'll talk about that a little later all this extra cooling is super neat and all but in all honesty this phone already does a wonderful job managing its thermals to a point where it's not critical to Performance without the cooler I'm able to max out gentian impact at 60 FPS the phone would certainly get warm which is understandable when you're running a demanding game like that but this was still comfortable to hold even after an hour of straight use so there's a ton of power as well as some interesting quirks but there are some genuinely good quality of life features that I wasn't expecting to see on this phone normally I don't talk about speakers in my phone reviews because oftentimes they don't sound that good however with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate it actually has some of the best speakers I've ever heard on a phone play a little sound clip all right there is a surprising amount of directionality depth and body especially with the lower frequencies add on the Aero active cooler with its subwoofer and this Smartphone has no right sounding this good I also didn't think the cameras would be as good as they are the 50 megapixel shooter isn't amazing but it performs way better than I expected for a dedicated gaming phone but what sold me on the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate is the software experience I think it's pretty neat that Asus isn't trying to reinvent the wheel with Android when you first set up the phone they let you choose between two core UI settings stock Android or they're light but Tastefully optimized version of Android 13. in fact there's no bloatware installed on this system whatsoever Asus does have their Rog Armory crate app installed on this phone which is mainly for game optimization but alongside this is The Game Genie overlay that runs during gameplay you can toggle between performance modes refresh rates record your screen open up apps in a pop-up window or configure button macros this phone much like its predecessors from years prior has ultrasonic touch triggers which aim to mimic the feel of shoulder buttons these can be mapped to anything on your screen essentially giving you two extra thumbs to better control what's happening on screen this is especially handy for games that don't have controller support I've talked a lot about the positives I have with the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate but there are a couple of downsides to keep in mind if you're considering daily driving this absolutely Bonkers gaming device despite all the gratuitous features a sue slapped on here the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate does not have expandable storage even if this is becoming more of a common Trend in the industry with phones in this price point still disappointing 512 gigs of ufs 4.0 storage offers plenty of capacity and speed for most people but if you wield a lot of games or media you might run into some issues in the long run additionally there is no wireless charging on here which isn't much of a big deal with a phone like this but it's still something to know also I can't stress enough how large this phone is you'll certainly look like a happy gamer when you put in your pocket is that an Rog Phone 7 Ultimate in your pocket or are you just happy to see me why aren't you putting this Center pockets are in now I don't know what to tell you however most of all I don't feel great about the price for this entire package the Rog Phone 7 Ultimate is one of the most expensive high-end smartphones you can buy in 2023 coming in at over fifteen hundred dollars what while I don't think Asus is necessarily aiming for this phone to compete with Flagship offerings like the Galaxy s23 Ultra but rather more with gaming smartphones like the xiaomi black shark there is an argument to be made that the phone is alive that is the argument there is an argument to be made that Samsung offers a more well-rounded package that's suitable for a daily driver that can certainly game but with also better cameras and especially more long-term software support it sucks to say but Asus only commits to two major Android OS upgrades and up to four years of security on its phones that's kind of a bummer when there's 500 options that can guarantee a longer support pipeline I know it Friends sucks when you're spending over a thousand dollars on a smartphone you shouldn't expect anything less now if this package is even remotely enticing to you I'd suggest getting the base model Rog Phone 7 at one thousand dollars you'll lose out on things like the cover display and this neat motorized cooling flap but otherwise it's the same general package without all of that extra fluff but let me know what do you think about this phone in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode of denki Channel smooth smooth light butter