Today we're going to be durability testing the brand new ROG 3 gaming smartphone. Today's
video is sponsored by Omaze who have teamed up to giveaway a brand new Tesla Model S Performance
and $20,000 in cash. Omaze does these massive giveaways while supporting non-profits. In
our particular case we're supporting a non-profit called Give Power who uses solar power to
give energy and clean water to regions who need it around the world. Celesia was the
winner of the last Tesla Model X giveaway I'll explain more at the end of the video,
but you can always go to Omaze.com/Jerry to donate. I'll also put a link in the description.
And let's get started.
[Intro]
The ROG Phone 3 is one of the most powerful smartphones in the world...maybe even the
most powerful smartphone. And we're lucky enough to have one here on my desk to durability
test. Well, we're lucky...the phone, not so much. Inside the rather crazy looking box
is the phone itself tucked up into one side of the origami block.
It's very reminiscent of last year's ROG Phone 2, and the year before's ROG Phone 1...each
of which had a giant metallic growth on the back. It was implied that that metal was there
to cool down the phone's intense processing and gaming power. Turns out though, after
a tear down, that the protruding metal was actually super thin and backed with plastic.
And also nowhere near touching the processor. So the metal on the old phones didn't actually
do anything. The vent however did vent, so I'm totally fine with the new ROG 3 getting
rid of that metal since it was just for decoration. We'll take a closer look at this in just a
second, but the vent hole still does exist. It'll be super interesting to take this one
apart.
Inside the box we get our little external fan. We'll get a closer look at that in just
a second. Also inside the box we have...wait for it...apparently I'm not smart enough for
this unboxing experience. Once we finally do get inside there is a super thin plastic
case, braided power cable, and thankfully a 30 watt charging brick. Charging up a massive
6,000 milliamp hour battery is no joke. The thin black case is there more for an aesthetic
fit rather than functional protection. But I'm still glad it's included. Any case is
better than no case.
Let's take a closer look at this cooling fan. ROG or Republic of Gamers is claiming that
this active cooling system can drop the surface temperature of the phone by 4 degrees, which
might sound kind of cool until you realize that the Black Shark Pro cooling system can
drop the phone by a full 14 degrees in less than a minute since it has that thermal electric
cooler inside. This fan, however, is just that – a fan. No heat sink, no thermal electric
cooler. It just blows. It does bring back the headphone jack, some cool RGBs, and I
guess, four degrees is still four degrees. But taking a closer look inside the cooler,
the fan pops off its copper coils. Once I go find it again, it's surprisingly lightweight
and flimsy. The little fins snap off very easily, so if over time you hear a little
rattling inside of the unit, it's probably just a fan blade that decided it was done
being cool. There is no heat sink or other form of cooling really, just plastic and the
fan. And while it does move air outside of the phone, calling it “active” would be
similar to calling yourself “active” after thumbing through Instagram for an hour. Nothing
really compares to that Black Shark system we saw earlier this year. And I don't want
to add insult to injury, but the fan doesn't even utilize the vent built into the phone.
I could almost justify it if it was actually moving the air inside of the phone, but it's
really just more of a gentle breeze for your fingers...which you'll probably need after
scrolling through Instagram for an hour.
Jumping into the scratch test. You already know that plastic is a level 2 or 3, glass
is a 5 or 6, and sapphire is a level 8 or 9. This ROG Phone 3 is using Gorilla Glass
6, which as we know, starts scratching at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7.
There are dual front firing stereo speakers. The top one is next to the 24 megapixel selfie
camera. And the bottom one is at the bottom. Neither of the large plastic grills will ever
fall out or come off on their own. Sometimes Facebook does open up on it's own though,
and we'll just exit out of that slice of dark web as quick as possible.
The sides of the ROG Phone 3 are made from aluminum. You can see the shiny metal under
the black anodizing. Same goes for the power button and volume rocker. This gaming phone
also has non-mechanical capacitive triggers at the corners that can be programmed for
different games. The top of the phone is blank. The left side does have a SIM card tray and
an accessory port for plugging in the cooling fan and controllers. One cool thing is that
the ROG 2 accessories are mostly all compatible with this ROG 3 so you won't need to buy an
entirely new set of accessories if you already own the two. Thumbs up for that. There is
no built in headphone jack anymore though – just the bottom USB-C port.
The physical footprint of this phone is not to be underestimated. People always know that
the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus is one of the largest phones in existence, but this
ROG 3 has a screen that's .3 inches larger than my Note 10 Plus. It's a big boy.
The back of the phone is entirely made of glass and at first glance I initially thought
that this design on the edge was just part of that glass design – a nostalgic 2-D representation
of the former 3D metal hump since the screws are flat like a facade. But as I looked closer,
those screws and that design is actually real. The rainbow reflective glass is actually a
window into the phone itself. The ROG Phone 3 is transparent and we're not looking at
artwork on the top, we're looking inside at a metal heat sink, which means that this time
around that metal might actually be good for something. The teardown of this phone is really
going to be interesting.
The cameras have two flashes. One flush with the glass and one underneath the glass, right
next to the 3 cameras. A 64 megapixel main camera, along with a 13 megapixel ultra wide,
and then a 12 megapixel macro camera in the center which is totally fine. Any camera is
still a good camera. There's nothing wrong with small units. I'm just saying it would
be a real shame if suddenly there were a lot of I love macro camera comments on MKBHD's
ROG video.
One of the most important aspects of gaming though is the screen. This is a 6.6 inch massive
1080p display with a 144hz refresh rate...which out of the gaming phones is pretty phenomenal.
It is AMOLED and starting to go white after about 30 seconds under the heat from my lighter,
and did not recover. Now personally I enjoy gaming phones since they are usually the ones
pushing mobile technology and innovating the most. And while this phone is the most powerful
in a lot of different categories, that doesn't mean a lot if it fails in the basics. And
one of those basics is fingerprint reading. I can't even set my fingerprint on the ROG
3 because I was working on a car earlier and my finger isn't 100% clean. Washing my hands
every time I want to unlock my phone just isn't real feasible. So this fingerprint scanner
is not going to work for me. I can't test the fingerprint durability if the fingerprint
doesn't work in the first place.
It's time for the bend test. This ROG 3 weighs about 44 grams more than my Note 10 Plus.
For Americans, that's about the equivalent weight of a golf ball. And the structural
integrity matches that heavier weight. With almost no flex from the front or the back,
the ROG Phone 3 survives my bend test.
I'll be interested to see where it's hiding that extra 44 grams of material inside when
we do the teardown. And more importantly, we'll get to see how transparent that rear
window really is. Now it's time to talk a little bit more about that Tesla Model S Performance
giveaway.
Like I said earlier, Omaze is a company that works with creators to support nonprofits.
And for each donation made you get entered to win super large prizes. In our case it's
a Tesla Model A Performance and $20,000 in cash. The non-profit we are supporting is
called Give Power. There are over 2.2 billion people in the world who don't have access
to clean water and Give Power is able to provide electricity, clean drinking water, and power
to those people who need it. Give Power can also take the salt out of the oceans and make
drinking water or water for crops for people who live in dry environments. For your chance
to win a Tesla Model S Performance and $20,000 in cash while simultaneously supporting a
good cause, just head to Omaze.com/Jerry. And by using my code you get an additional
50 entries into the giveaway.
Huge thanks to Omaze for putting this on and supporting non-profits like Give Power, and
making things a little more interesting for the people who donate. What are your predictions
for what's underneath the back glass in the ROG 3? Do you think it's a facade or do you
think it's the real deal? Let me know down in the comments.
If you have any other questions leave them down there in the comments as well. Come hang
out with me on Instagram and Twitter. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.