When it comes to gaming phones, all you can think of is hardcore exterior design, extreme performance, and a cooling fan for smooth gaming. But is that all gaming phones have to offer? This time, ROG 9 Pro not only brings better performance, but also gives some new ways to play, how is the specific performance? Let's take a look.
Hardcore design as always
ROG 9 Pro still adopts the hardcore design style as usual, so that people will know it is a gaming phone at a glance. The bezels and corners are more rounded for a more comfortable grip when playing games in landscape.
The back cover of the ROG 9 Pro is made of nano-grade frosted glass with precision etching to bring a stronger sense of unity. The ROG 9 Pro comes in only one “Phantom Black” color, while the standard version comes in a “Phantom White” color, which is something to keep in mind. Personally, I feel that the “Phantom White” is more understated and less gaming-inspired than the “Phantom Black” color scheme, and is more of a classic phone.
In terms of details, the ROG 9 Pro's back cover is designed with a crystal nano texture, which is very silky to the touch and is not prone to fingerprints, which is also very commendable. The back cover also features ROG's signature Fearless Eyes and diagonal cut lines for a more recognizable, gaming-inspired look.
As you may have noticed, the back cover of the ROG 9 Pro also utilizes the AniMe Vision Matrix Display from the previous generation, but this time the number of light beads on the Pro has been increased to 648, which is nearly twice as many as the previous generation 8 Pro. More beads also allow the ROG 9 Pro to display Chinese text with a higher degree of customization, and you can even upload your favorite GIFs to better express your personality.
Also thanks to more light beads, the ROG 9 Pro's optical matrix screen also allows you to experience original pixel-inspired games. Currently supports four retro pixel style games, namely Snake, Parkour, Airplane Wars and Pinball. With the shoulder buttons to control the direction, it's still very enjoyable to play a couple of games in your spare time.
(Snake game)
To the front of the body, ROG 9 Pro is equipped with a 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED flexible screen, supporting 1-120Hz LTPO adaptive refresh rate, and in the game the highest can come to 185Hz ultra-high refresh rate, which reaches the current industry's first level, smoother picture brings a more enjoyable gaming experience.
Performance is still strong
Unsurprisingly, the ROG 9 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Ultra mobile platform, which utilizes TSMC's 3nm process and the new Oryon architecture, consisting of 2 Prime cores and 6 Performance cores, with the Prime cores reaching a maximum frequency of 4.32GHz for a very strong performance.
To get a feel for the ROG 9 Pro's performance, we adjusted the phone's brightness to 200nit and turned on X mode (the ROG phone's gaming mode) in a room temperature of 25 degrees. Half an hour of “Original God” Sumeru city back and forth running average frame rate of 59.7 frames, the average power consumption of 5W, in line with the performance of the frame rate of the game phone, the actual game screen is also very smooth.
The average frame rate for a half-hour sprint run in Zone Zero was 59.6 frames, with a power consumption of 4.9 W. As you can see from the frame rate chart, there is occasional lag in the game, but it doesn't affect the actual gaming performance, which is still very good overall.
Looking back at the CPU utilization after the test, we see that both games only call on one Prime core, while the other one is idle. Even so, the ROG 9 Pro's gaming performance is still very good, and it shows that the ROG 9 Pro can ensure smooth gameplay with just the right performance scheduling, demonstrating excellent performance intelligence.
It's also worth mentioning that the ROG 9 Pro's top version (24GB+1TB) comes with a Cooler X Pro cooling fan, which makes it especially suitable for games like ProtoGod and Jedi Zone Zero that require long hours of play. We also tested the ROG 9 Pro with the cooling clip on the front of the ROG 9 Pro at 36.9 degrees and the back of the ROG 9 Pro at 33.5 degrees after half an hour of testing, so the cooling effect is still very obvious.
Not only that, but the X Pro also has an integrated bass speaker, which can be paired with the phone's stereo dual speakers to form a 2.1-channel soundtrack for even more impressive bass performance and a more immersive gaming experience.
The ROG 9 Pro with cooling fan X Pro does have a good gaming performance, but in the highest intensity “Freeze” mode, the airflow from the left and right sides will be cold, which may affect the gaming operation, so this is something to be aware of.
Briefly talk about the details of the experience
In terms of battery life, the ROG 9 Pro is equipped with a large 5800mAh battery, the advantage of which is that it has been increased by 300mAh compared to the previous generation, while the overall size and weight of the body remains almost unchanged. Measured half an hour of Jieyin browsing consumes 5%, half an hour of microblogging browsing consumes 5%, half an hour of 1080P video playback consumes 3%, which is a relatively moderate battery life performance.
In terms of charging, the ROG 9 Pro supports 65W wired fast charging and 15W wireless charging. Tested in wired charging, 5 minutes to charge 20% of the capacity, half an hour to charge 75%, and finally charged to 100% in 46 minutes. Most importantly, the ROG 9 Pro also has a C port on the side of the body, which makes it easy to access the cooling clip for charging while playing, without affecting the gaming experience by charging at the bottom.
To ensure a better gaming experience, the ROG 9 Pro is IP68-rated dust and water resistant with two charging ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The ROG 9 Pro is IP68 rated and waterproof with two charging ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the thickness has not increased compared to its predecessor.
ROG 9 Pro also brings a lot of AI functions, for example, in the “Honor of Kings” can prompt the battlefield BUFF refresh information, to help players better control the field resources. In “Original God”, it supports automatic pickup, dialog acceleration, running lock and other functions to enhance players' gaming experience.
Summarize
ROG 9 Pro has a hardcore exterior design, with a more rounded body that brings better grip and gaming experience; the upgraded AniMe Vision Matrix screen on the back cover not only supports more customizable graphics, but also allows you to play retro pixel style games, giving gaming phones some new ways to play; the Snapdragon 8 Ultra chip with ROG's excellent tuning capabilities, gaming performance can also put your mind at ease! The Snapdragon 8 Ultimate chip with ROG's excellent tuning capabilities will also give you peace of mind about gaming performance.
Overall the ROG 9 Pro adds more interest just by looking at this light matrix screen alone, and the performance is in the top tier of current flagship phones. If you're serious about your phone's gaming performance, the ROG 9 Pro is a good choice, and with the Cooling Fan X Pro, it's also recommended for longer, smoother gaming performance.
