In front of us today we have a $1400.00 ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. And I'm not going to lie,
from a durability perspective, ROG phones have not been very confidence inducing lately.
However, ASUS has completely redesigned the internal hardware of this 7 Ultimate
to now include a motorized trap door, or convertible flap, which allows for an
almost 200% more efficient cooling system. Might help things...and might hurt things.
There's only one way to find out. Let's get started.
[Intro]
From the beginning, the ROG line of phones has always been eye-catching and iconic.
Extravagant exteriors to match the unbridled power in performance. And this time around
is no different. We have a pretty cool looking two inch display on the back,
and I'm not complaining. For $1400 bucks it better have gimmicks up the wazoo. Speaking of gimmicks,
we've seen phones in the past that have motorized parts, like the OnePlus popup cameras, or the
flippy cameras on the Oppo Phones. But we've never seen a phone with a motorized air vent.
Like the Aileron on a fighter jet, this guy's supposed to flip open to allow heat to escape.
But the only way to get it open is if we install the AeroActive peltier cooler, which I've made
videos on before. With its built-in fan, RGBs, and 4 more programmable gaming buttons,
this accessory is what triggers the trap door to open while protecting it from dust...and me.
And unfortunately, with how big, bulky, and obscuring it is,
it's hard to see the flap function under all that protection. Sometimes protection is no fun.
I tried flipping it over to trick the flap into opening, but apparently ROG is one
step ahead of me and made sure that doesn't happen. There's probably some kind of sensor
inside that can detect where the AeroActive cooler is, but I'm not out of solutions yet.
The transparent air direction panels are not designed to be removed,
but that's never stopped us before. With a little extra light we can see the door in action.
It's even got some cool AeroActive portal text inside that becomes visible when the door is open.
ASUS says the stepper motor is good for 40,000 actuations. So if you use it once a day from the
day you're born, you should be about 109 years old before it breaks, give or take a few years.
One cool little trick that I learned from the trash compactor scene in Star Wars is
that we might be able to stop the doors from closing with a long pole. I'm a genius. With
the door propped open we can get a glimpse of literal copper cooling fins inside the phone,
and it gives me hope that this is indeed not a gimmick, but a useful,
functional feature of the 7 Ultimate. However, as cool as it looks, I can't help but notice that
there are no other vents or conduits to help facilitate the internal airflow, which means
that this one hole is both the ingress and egress point for the air flowing over the copper fins.
If we take a look back at the AeroActive cooler before I broke it open, that is indeed the case.
The clear plastic windows we popped off earlier would indeed direct the airflow.
I'm no meteorologist, but it does seem like wind is directed downhill into the heatsink chamber
and back up again out the other side. Pretty unique, ingenious, and fun seeing something
new. I'm looking forward to getting an even better view during the teardown, or maybe later in this
video if the phone snaps in half...again. Speaking of which, let's get back to the durability test.
We checked the screen of every new mainstream phone that comes out to see what it's made
of. Some phones have a plastic screen that scratches at a 2 or 3. Some have a sapphire
screen which scratches at a level 8 or 9. Most phones, however, have a tempered glass screen,
which as you can see scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. The ROG
Phone 7 Ultimate is using Gorilla Glass Victus. Up in the top bezel there is a 32 megapixel front
facing camera. Also up here is the earpiece slit for the top stereo speaker. No grills or anything
to get dirty. The right side of the phone has some ultrasonic triggers for more control while gaming,
along with a blue tinted power button and volume rocker, all of which is made from metal. The
power button is also removable. Even with the trap doors and removable buttons, the ROG 7 Ultimate is
ip54 water resistant, which does protect against splashes. The top of the phone is metal. The side
of the phone has a secondary USB-C accessory port. The additional pins are probably what
tell the phone when the AeroActive cooler is installed and it's safe to open the trap door.
There is an anodized blue SIM card tray which does have a rubber gasket, but no expandable memory.
Of course here at the bottom of the phone we do have more metal,
along with a 65 watt USB-C port and a headphone jack. One of the few phones where this feature
remains. The trap door is also made from metal. Speaking of which, I'll pop the hood one more
time just for kicks and giggles, add a few more mechanical movements, and we'd have a full-blown
decepticon. The rear glass back panel does cover the two inch OLED screen. And at first glance the
glass looks to be of multiple textures, but in reality the entire Storm White panel feels
frosted, while only the bottom portion looks frosted. Up top in a refreshingly normal sized
camera bump is our 50 megapixel main camera, 13 megapixel ultrawide, and 5 megapixel macro camera,
all protected under the glass. There's also a little lip of metal underneath the lens.
Security-wise, we do have an underscreen fingerprint scanner which sets my fingerprint
rather easily. And even after adding some level 7 deeper grooves to the surface above the optical
reader, it is still able to function just fine. Not every phone can handle those extra grooves.
Thumbs up for that. We also know that gaming phones need to have good screens. And in this
case, $1500 buys us a 6.8 inch 1080p with 1 billion colors. And since after about 30
seconds the screen starts going white, we know it's an AMOLED. And now we can crank up the heat
even further with the bend test. ROG has failed two times in a row before this so I don't have
super high hopes. This is a massive phone with a massive battery, and moving motorized components.
So when bent from the front, my heart drops as it flexes far more than any phone should...but
does not break. It is permanently kinked, but no judgement here. Flipping the phone around to the
other side and bending again, this direction flexes as well, but feels far more solid.
Trying again from the front, it looks like on the third try ROG has once again made a phone that
survives my durability test. Congratulations. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest
of that cooling system during the teardown, so hit that subscribe button if you haven't
already so you don't miss it. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.