So here we are face to face with one of the world's most powerful gaming smartphones:
the ROG Phone 3. And judging by the looks of it, there are some secrets inside that
need telling. Is this window actually looking into something useful, or is it all just decoration...for
the third time in a row? There's only one way to find out. This video is sponsored by
Audible. Let's get started.
[Intro]
Opening up the ROG 3 is a bit easier this time around. Without the exterior metal protrusion,
the glass is just a single slab like other smartphones these days. There is no IP rating
this time around either, and the glue isn't super excessive so the glass is easier to
remove. You can see the tip of my razor blade through the transparent glass. Turns out though
that the adhesive isn't just around the edge of the glass, it's also a little deeper into
the phone surrounding that heat sink. But with a deeper slice it's still not too hard
to reach and cut away.
The back glass can start to peel off, exposing the white LED pad for the rear RGBs, as well
as giving us a better look at that clear window of the phone. It's got a rainbow-like reflection
over the glass and does give a realistic look into what's underneath it. At first touch
the heatsink really does feel like real metal – hard and cold...like Apple's heart while
dealing with Fortnite in the app store. But cold thick metal also means it might actually
be useful for removing heat this time. Keeping the powerful processors inside the phone cool
while under load from extreme gaming or scrolling through the internet really fast.
One app that actually won't need to use a lot of processing power is Audible. Thanks
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how one guy survived. He details what happens to civilization, the roads, crops, and animals
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gives a unique look into the past and how life was lived 70 years ago. You can get your
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where they can listen to a massive selection of entertaining and educational stories to
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of any young-ins who need constructive entertainment for free, Audible has you covered.
Now let's get back to this self-proclaimed aerodynamic system. It really is all metal.
There are 11 little black screws holding the rear plastics in place and instead of the
plastic backing coming off in two pieces, it's just one giant piece with the NFC pad
attached as well. Let's take a closer look at the glass thermal vent. There is a hole
in the glass supposedly to let heat escape out of the phone, and it does have water resistant
mesh on the underside, which will also double to help keep dust and stuff out of the circuits
as well. Kind of smart. There is a strange little raised board sticking out from the
motherboard with its own builtin Lego-style connector. It's got 4 little pins on the back
– probably used for communicating with the RGB LEDs on that back glass.
I'll start unplugging all the little ribbon cables down by the top of the battery. None
of them look like the battery plug, but I'll just disconnect all of them to be safe. There
is one more long extension ribbon going around the metal heat sink. And then finally we can
remove the heat sink itself. It's held in place by two t4 screws. A little more decorative
than the Phillips head. Since the whole thing is visible from the outside, it's got to look
good. Take a look at that – thermal paste galore. ROG really is using that slab of metal
as a heat sink this time around, which is a substantial improvement over last year's
decoration. Major thumbs up for that design upgrade.
Oh, there's the battery connector. I'll just disconnect that really quick...like a little
Lego. The flash also has its own little board, just like that smaller RGB board down at the
bottom we lifted off earlier. Then I can remove the two motherboard screws, along with two
more screws holding down the camera units. And I can take out the SIM card tray. This
step is interchangeable with step number one if you're into that kind of thing.
I'll unlatch the last ribbon cable plugged in between the copper pads, and pop off the
front facing 24 megapixel camera. This guy films in 1080p. Then, with a little persuasion,
the whole motherboard can come out of the phone, exposing even more thermal paste and
copper below it. We'll explore that copper more thoroughly in just a second. But first
let's remove the three rear cameras.
The 64 megapixel main camera capable of filming in 8k, along with the 13 megapixel ultra wide
camera in the center, and the 5 megapixel macro camera on the edge. None of which have
optical image stabilization. The bottom loud speaker can come out next. This looks like
it's downward firing but the frame of the phone redirects the sound out the front. And
it does have some water resistant mesh on the opening. So while the ROG 3 doesn't have
an official IP rating, it does have some liquid protection installed which is nice to see.
There are no foam balls inside the speaker though. The one top loudspeaker is a bit smaller
but still forward firing. And then we have the haptic vibration motor down here at the
bottom. In the past ROG has installed two vibrators since it's a gaming phone. But this
time around there is only one. And speaking of only one, there is only one magical battery
pull tab under the left side of the battery. And it's rather quiet. Since it's only on
one side of the battery I still do have to pry up the other side. But it's still better
than nothing. Pulling the mammoth battery out of the frame and flipping it right side
up, we can see that the battery is a 6,000 milliamp hour capacity. Pretty insane. For
reference, the large iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 3969 milliamp hour battery. And the Samsung
Galaxy Note 10 Plus has a 4300 milliamp hour capacity.
Now that the battery is out we get to see another little secret the ROG's been hiding.
Or I guess we could say large secret. There is an extreme amount of copper in here, spilling
out from behind the battery all the way to the edge of the phone.
Now normally I really do like to reassemble my phones into working devices after I'm finished
with the tear down. But I think this vapor chamber is worth a look. Which means that
we'll have to sacrifice the screen. I'll take out the tiny charging port first which actually
doesn't have a rubber ring around the tip. So maybe the phone is not as water resistant
as we thought. But it's interesting that each of the 4 microphones do have cute little water
screens over the inside shaft openings.
There are 4 microphones surrounding the sides of this phone for the noise canceling. Now
for the screen. I'll use a little heat to help my razor get between the screen and the
frame. And then a little brute force to finish off the separation. You can see that the surface
of the glass is still intact. It's just the super fragile AMOLED screen underneath that
is not intact. Either way though, mission accomplished. The screen folds open like a
book and we get our first look at the flat non-camera lens first generation style fingerprint
reader. It's rather large but it didn't end up working out very well for me. The screen
is almost transparent enough to see my Teardown Skin through the pixels. Kind of cool.
I'll peel off the layer of black tape and underneath that is more tape. But this time
around it's made with more copper. Copper tape is covering the largest copper vapor
chamber we've ever seen in a cell phone. I would even go as far to say that it's number
1. Smooth move Asus. Subtle. If you listen really carefully when I slice open the vapor
chamber, you can hear the vacuum release. I'll open up the vapor chamber and slice through
the mesh wicking layer inside and we can see the liquid slowly start to evaporate. The
heat from the processor warms up the liquid inside of the vapor chamber and the mesh is
there to wick the cooler liquid from the edges back into the chamber's center to help keep
the processor cool. It's an interesting little cycle.
Overall I'm impressed with the ROG Phone 3. They've improved their design quite a bit
from last year's version. Instead of an aesthetic gimmick, it's turned into the most functional
heat dissipation system we've ever come across inside of a cell phone. And they've even let
us get a glimpse of all that coolness from outside with their little window. I'm always
a fan of that. This is definitely the best ROG phone yet. And I'm already looking forward
to seeing what they come up with next.
Don't forget to grab your free audio book with the link in the description. If you have
any questions, leave them down in the comments. Come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter.
And thanks a ton for watching, I'll see you around.