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MagyarAsus ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro Review - Top-tier gaming smartphones with a minor boost
Likely Competitors
Bewertung | Datum | Modell | Gewicht | Laufwerk | Groesse | Aufloesung | Preis ab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88.7 % | 12/2021 | Asus ROG Phone 5s SD 888+ 5G, Adreno 660 | 238 g | 512 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | 6.78" | 2448x1080 | |
| 87.7 % | 04/2021 | Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 SD 888 5G, Adreno 660 | 259 g | 512 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | 6.92" | 2460x1080 | |
| 83.6 % | 10/2021 | Nubia RedMagic 6S Pro SD 888+ 5G, Adreno 660 | 220 g | 128 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | 6.80" | 2400x1080 | |
| 88 % | 04/2021 | Asus ROG Phone 5 SD 888 5G, Adreno 660 | 239 g | 256 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | 6.78" | 2448x1080 |
Case, Connectivity & Handling
Visually, the Asus ROG Phone 5s is identical to its predecessor. While the standard model once again has a dot RGB display on the back, the Pro variant once again uses a PMOLED panel. Both smartphones are still very well built and heavy.
Nothing has changed in terms of features. The ROG Phone 5s has two USB ports. The USB 3.2 (Gen. 2) port on the side provides high data transfer speeds and the ability to cast display content to an external monitor. The bottom port (USB 2.0) is slower and less versatile in terms of connectivity. Both ports support QuickCharge as well as PowerDelivery 3.0. However, only the port on the side supports QC 5.0. Both devices still comes with AirTrigger5 sensor keys and a powerful Quad DAC.
Asus's smartphones run Android 11 with the proprietary skin known as ROG UI. Users who find it too gaudy can switch to a less showy theme. The security patches were last updated on November 5, 2021. At the time of our review, they are up-to-date. The update to Android 12 is supposed to be distributed in the first quarter of 2022
The ROG Phone 5s offers slower Wi-Fi speeds. In combination with our reference router, the Netgear Nighthawk AX12, the data transfer rates are 31% lower than those of the predecessor. Asus has increased the number of LTE bands for its gaming smartphones.
The four integrated microphones ensure a good voice quality. Users of Asus' ROG Phone 5s can be understood very well when the smartphone is held close to the ear. Minor background noise is reliably filtered out. Loud ambient noise on the other hand results in distorted voice reproduction without affecting the intelligibility too much. The Asus smartphone can take two nano-SIM cards. VoLTE is supported, but Wi-Fi Calling is not. However, SIP accounts can be configured and managed directly in the call app. A call recording function is also included again.
In terms of inputs, there is no change compared to the ROG Phone 5. The device can recognize taps, squeezes and swipes. The optical fingerprint sensor integrated into the display delivers good recognition rates and a decent unlock speed.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| Asus ROG Phone 5 | |
| Nubia RedMagic 6S Pro | |
| Asus ROG Phone 5s | |
| Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 | |
| iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| Nubia RedMagic 6S Pro | |
| Asus ROG Phone 5s | |
| Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 | |
| Asus ROG Phone 5 | |
Cameras - Nothing new for the ROG Phone 5s
The camera setup of the ROG Phone 5s is basically identical to that of the ROG Phone 3. Asus still relies on the 64 MP Sony IMX686 as the main image sensor. It takes appealing pictures in daylight, but sometimes tends to have a slight red cast. Especially in low light, the difference to the non-gaming competition in the same price range becomes quite obvious and the shutter lag is noticeably elevated. The lens correction of the ultra-wide angle lens is a fine feature. However, the images have slight chromatic aberrations at the edges and are not particularly detailed.
The front-facing camera takes decent selfies with rather natural colors. Videos can be recorded in Full HD (60 FPS) with this lens, and even 8k recordings (30 FPS) are possible with the main camera.
Image Comparison
Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.
HauptkameraHauptkameraUltraweitwinkel5-facher ZoomLow-Light
Display - 144 Hz AMOLED for the full gaming experience
Compared to the predecessor, the display of the Asus ROG Phone 5s is completely unchanged. The slightly lower brightness of the panel could be due to manufacturing variations. The AMOLED panel can hit up to 1013 cd/m². Thanks to an even distribution of brightness and a high peak brightness, HDR content should look great. We only wish that the minimum luminance were a bit lower.
The ROG Phone 5s is not spared from the typical OLED flickering. It has a very large amplitude in the lower brightness range with fluctuations between 193.8 and 574.7 Hz. With the brightness slider set to 73%, the screen flickers at a constant frequency of 144 Hz. The DC dimming mode is a good alternative for sensitive people, but it limits the refresh rate to 60 Hz.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 97 %
Center on Battery: 749 cd/m²
Contrast: ∞:1 (Black: 0 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 1.4 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 1.8 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
98.8% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.29
| Asus ROG Phone 5s AMOLED, 2448x1080, 6.78 | Asus ROG Phone 5 AMOLED, 2448x1080, 6.78 | Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 AMOLED, 2460x1080, 6.92 | Nubia RedMagic 6S Pro AMOLED, 2400x1080, 6.80 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | -0% | -128% | -28% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 2.4 ? | 2.4 ? -0% | 8 ? -233% | 2.4 ? -0% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 2.4 ? | 2.4 ? -0% | 6 ? -150% | 2.4 ? -0% |
| PWM Frequency | 575 ? | 568 ? -1% | 568 -1% | 90.6 ? -84% |
| Screen | 2% | -76% | -137% | |
| Brightness middle | 749 | 789 5% | 463 -38% | 714 -5% |
| Brightness | 750 | 795 6% | 466 -38% | 705 -6% |
| Brightness Distribution | 97 | 98 1% | 98 1% | 96 -1% |
| Black Level * | ||||
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 1.4 | 1.4 -0% | 3.24 -131% | 5.9 -321% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 2.8 | 3 -7% | 5.75 -105% | 8.7 -211% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 1.8 | 1.7 6% | 4.4 -144% | 6.8 -278% |
| Gamma | 2.29 96% | 2.27 97% | 2.201 100% | 2.25 98% |
| CCT | 6602 98% | 6596 99% | 7273 89% | 7774 84% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 1% /
1% | -102% /
-93% | -83% /
-101% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 1.2 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 1.2 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 7 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (21.5 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 2.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 1.2 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 1.2 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 7 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (33.7 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM detected | 575 Hz | ≤ 73 % brightness setting |   |
The display backlight flickers at 575 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 73 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting. The frequency of 575 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 17915 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance, Emissions & Battery life
Both the Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro and the 5s are powered by the Snapdragon 888+. While the normal 5s already has an impressive 16 GB of RAM, the Pro goes one step further and offers 18 GB of RAM. However, the additional 2 GB of RAM is neither noticeable in everyday use nor in the benchmarks. The slightly higher-clocked Prime Core of the Qualcomm SoC offers no advantages when compared to the ROG Phone 5 (Snapdragon 888) as well.
The Asus smartphone gets quite warm under load, but it never gets too hot. Furthermore, the long-term performance does not drop too much even without the attachable fan, which comes with the Pro model.
The dual speakers flank the display and offer a good sound quality thanks to GameFX & Dirac HD Sound, which also makes a powerful impression in everyday use and offers a lot of depth and a fairly balanced sound for a smartphone. The audio jack offers a very good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR: 93.47 dBFS)
The good battery runtimes are on par with the predecessor, but could be a bit longer due to the large 6,000 mAh battery.
| Asus ROG Phone 5s | Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 | Nubia RedMagic 6S Pro | Asus ROG Phone 5 | Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro | Average 512 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -6% | -9% | -3% | 0% | 14% | -1% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 1972 | 1999 1% | 1607 -19% | 1779 -10% | 1930 -2% | 1877 ? -5% | 1505 ? -24% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 770 | 754 -2% | 765 -1% | 795 3% | 793 3% | 1156 ? 50% | 1112 ? 44% |
| Random Read 4KB | 297.8 | 262.6 -12% | 285.8 -4% | 291.4 -2% | 298.8 0% | 281 ? -6% | 247 ? -17% |
| Random Write 4KB | 287.2 | 261.5 -9% | 254.9 -11% | 278 -3% | 287.4 0% | 333 ? 16% | 271 ? -6% |
Temperature
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 41.5 °C / 107 F, compared to the average of 35 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 56 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 37.8 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 25.8 °C / 78 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.
3DMark Wild Life Stress Tests
Speakers
Asus ROG Phone 5s audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (90.5 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 20.9% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (6.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 3.3% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (4.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 4.9% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (3.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (14.9% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 1% of all tested devices in this class were better, 1% similar, 98% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 38%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 16% of all tested devices were better, 4% similar, 80% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (84.9 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 17.7% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (7.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.1% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (4.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 0.9% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (12.9% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 0% of all tested devices in this class were better, 0% similar, 100% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 38%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 9% of all tested devices were better, 2% similar, 88% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Battery life
| Asus ROG Phone 5s 6000 mAh | Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 5500 mAh | Nubia RedMagic 6S Pro 5050 mAh | Asus ROG Phone 5 6000 mAh | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | |||||
| WiFi Websurfing | 734 | 907 24% | 829 13% | 754 3% | 913 ? 24% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict - Slim upgrade
The Asus ROG Phone 5s and the 5s Pro are very good smartphones. However, the improvements compared to the predecessor are only minor, so the question arises whether the upgrade was necessary at all. It is certainly nice to have the latest chip on the specs sheet, but there is no real advantage from the minimal upgrade. There are also no major differences between the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro, the most obvious being the different displays on the back and the AeroCooler 5 fan that comes with the Pro model. The few additional cellular bands will be important for very few users.
The Asus ROG Phone 5s (Pro) is still the best gaming smartphone, but the s model does not make any real progress compared to the predecessor
The fast 144 Hz display, great speakers, good haptic feedback, responsive shoulder buttons and stable performance make the ROG Phone 5s series the first choice for gamers. However, the Pro model is aimed at enthusiasts. It is positioned as an upgrade for ROG Phone 5 users. Good alternatives to the ROG phones are the Legion Phone Duel 2 and the cheaper RedMagic 6S Pro.
Price and availability
You can buy various ROG Phone 5s models via the Asus store. These smartphones are currently out of stock on Amazon.
Asus ROG Phone 5s
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08/30/2022 v7
Daniel Schmidt
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