+2. I love Andrei's writing. He is not always right, and he can be overly defensive/confrontational, but I respect that he takes a view and makes the effort to be data driven instead of the "always neutral, don't write anything negative" stuff that is the norm everywhere else. At least he advances the discussion even if you disagree with him.
It’s a wonder how companies can put a device out like this. Did they even try it out?
We’ll have to see what the camera software updates bring, but if anyone is actually interested in this, I can only tell them to not buy something on promises of future upgrades. That’s something this site also says. Maybe those updates will result in a seriously improved camera system, but maybe not. I would have preferred at least a preliminary testing suite to see if those updates do what Qualcomm claims. But since that wasn’t done, we won’t know.
Does "3x optical zoom, 80mm eq." mean an 27-80mm equivalent zoom, or 80-240mm equivalent zoom? The former would start the optical zoom at roughly the same point; but you'd be dropping from 64 to 8MP directly. The latter would start at roughly where the main sensor would be with just taking an 8MP area in the center of the sensor for a "zoom by crop" effect; so both interpretations seem plausible.
Phones don't have true zooms, the 3x is in reference to the the 27mm equivalent main module. The telephoto is 80mm, anything beyond is crop magnification.
Removing the headphone jack is a very obvious tactic to push people towards wireless headphones, which are worse in every way. More expensive, limited battery life, even inferior quality. I would be willing to accept that crap if they had unlimited battery life, but they don't. They should have tiny swappable battery cells that you can slide inside the phone to charge them (like the Note Stylus). I am not carrying some separate box and waiting for those things to charge, that is completely crazy.
You forgot to include that TWS has a hard planned obsolescence of recharge cycles. A $300 TWS is guaranteed to die after 3-4 years while a $300 wired headphone that sounds 10x better could last decades.
I seriously don't understand how there's a market for phones heavier than 140 grams for hardcore users. What kind of herculean fingers do you people have? My fingers and wrists are on fire with the case off on a 5.2 inch by the end of the day
Some people think "hardcore" means being tough enough to use a 6 - 7" screen to do your work while you have a elite desktop rig w/ triple monitors sitting across the room.
What's this? A "smart" phone for dumb buyers? As an otherwise convinced Android user, this phone is one of the best arguments to get a top flight iPhone instead; for what this thing here costs, you can get much better value for your money. Or just get a decent, current Android phone, and buy 2-3 really nice ANC headsets with the money you saved.
Came here to say the same thing. I expect QC to be worse than ASUS in photography, or at the best; not much better.
The ASUS RoG 5, gets so much right that it is one of the best phones of 2021. My only suggestions would be to make it smaller and lighter, better ergonomics, durability upgrades, perhaps IP68 certification, more available/affordable, and have better software support (AndroidOne? Bootloader?). Overall, its great and only outdone by the Sony phones.
Actually they may well do, I think they're cherry-picking the samples in recent years, at least for certain devices. Perception could be manipulated by manually discarding samples with minor focusing errors, vibrations, AWB issues, questionable lighting etc. and that could matter more than the actual performance of the device. Of course anybody could do that, but it's DXO we're talking about.
Most people don't know that the Adreno 660 is just a 5nm overclocked Adreno 650. They both have the same 1,024 ALU count and design. The Adreno 650/+ runs at 540MHz-670MHz depending on the phone. The Adreno 660 runs at 840MHz. With these SOC's performance scales almost perfect. Each 100MHz clock bump gives the GPU a 100GFlops of FP32 compute. The Adreno 650/+ is rated at 1.2TFlops-1.38TFlops FP32. The Adeno 660 is rated at 1.78TFlops FP32. So you see the picture. And yes i said TFlops. Phones now have 1Teraflop+ GPU's. What's even better is a SD865 device with an Adreno 650 that holds a sustained clock can basically match a overheating, throttling 660.
Also, the ROG 5's 2Vrms 3.5mm headphone jack uses the latest 32bit ESS SABRE qDAC and can push 700Ω 🎧. That with a 6000mAh battery and dual USB-C 3.1 has HDMI and MicroSD storage. So, its basically an upgrade for LG users. Though, i'm plenty happy with my modded LG v60 running A11 and Note 20 U5. The SD865/+ is all anyone would actually ever need for the next 5 years. That's why i bought 2 of each. With the v60 only costing $350-$400 new and the Note 20 UG at $600, who could pass on those deals. I got one v60 basically running at a HTPC hooked up to my LG OLED with a 512GB MicroSD loaded up.
It's been a while since I've looked into the iGPU performance of phones.
But with figures like that, it's pretty close to the power of the XB1 and PS4. Impressive. Not to mention, it getting access to newer software/hardware features, and using a more powerful CPU, you could argue they're even closer to that mainstream-2013-benchmark. Well, that is if you actually dock the phone and give it a steady supply of electricity and use some sort of Active Cooling to regulate it.
Then you have Apple. They might actually be more powerful (slightly) than last-gen console's performance. Add the SteamDeck to the conversation, and it's a good time to be a mobile gamer.
I wouldn't waste $1500 on an alpha device that's not even remarkable by any means, let alone one with no 3.5mm jack or can remain cool, or have removable memory, the additional headphones are worthless for me, so what about 16GB DRAM, the fact it's got 512GB of ReadOnlyMemory is great but, still not for the additional $500. Wishy-washy camera, overheating, and complete 5G networks doesn't add up to $1400, the rest are boring stats, it even doesn't have the next gen of processors in it, which may have gone a long ways but, still not worth that. Even looks cheap, not sure if that's a Qualcomm decision or an Asus one but, someone dropped the leaded loaded iron ball on someone's head on that one for sure.
Kudos to Andrei for calling out the OEMs on battery and especially 3.5mm Jack. Thank you DOCUMENTING TWS vs Wired headphones. Maybe the OEMs won't listen, but I appreciate that he went against the fashion and dared to call a spade a shovel.
Andrei, could you confirm whether or not the bootloader can be unlocked on this device? A snapdragon rep says it can't but a user report says they can.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
43 Comments
Back to Article
shabby - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Lol at the battery life, utter junkGreat_Scott - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
It's a worse phone for more money. Which is surprisingly common.tom-fox-29 - Thursday, September 9, 2021 - link
Rightjamesb2147 - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Savage.This is why I read AnandTech!
Moizy - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
+1warreo - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
+2. I love Andrei's writing. He is not always right, and he can be overly defensive/confrontational, but I respect that he takes a view and makes the effort to be data driven instead of the "always neutral, don't write anything negative" stuff that is the norm everywhere else. At least he advances the discussion even if you disagree with him.Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
As you say I write based on data or facts, so I'd like to hear what you say I'm not "right" on.melgross - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
It’s a wonder how companies can put a device out like this. Did they even try it out?We’ll have to see what the camera software updates bring, but if anyone is actually interested in this, I can only tell them to not buy something on promises of future upgrades. That’s something this site also says. Maybe those updates will result in a seriously improved camera system, but maybe not. I would have preferred at least a preliminary testing suite to see if those updates do what Qualcomm claims. But since that wasn’t done, we won’t know.
BedfordTim - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
I wonder if it was meant to be a low volume subsidised device for them to experiment with, but someone in management failed to understand.DanNeely - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Does "3x optical zoom, 80mm eq." mean an 27-80mm equivalent zoom, or 80-240mm equivalent zoom? The former would start the optical zoom at roughly the same point; but you'd be dropping from 64 to 8MP directly. The latter would start at roughly where the main sensor would be with just taking an 8MP area in the center of the sensor for a "zoom by crop" effect; so both interpretations seem plausible.Andrei Frumusanu - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Phones don't have true zooms, the 3x is in reference to the the 27mm equivalent main module. The telephoto is 80mm, anything beyond is crop magnification.Arbie - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
One important use for my phone is audiobooks. No headphone jack means no sale - even at $500 more...xTRICKYxx - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Same here!flyingpants265 - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Removing the headphone jack is a very obvious tactic to push people towards wireless headphones, which are worse in every way. More expensive, limited battery life, even inferior quality. I would be willing to accept that crap if they had unlimited battery life, but they don't. They should have tiny swappable battery cells that you can slide inside the phone to charge them (like the Note Stylus). I am not carrying some separate box and waiting for those things to charge, that is completely crazy.29a - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Removing the headphone jack is a way to make the phone more waterproof.s.yu - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
No it is not. Sonys are regularly waterproof and still have the jack.Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
We've had the S7 to S10 all with 3.5mm and IP68.drajitshnew - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
Galaxy S5 was also waterproof with a headphone jack AND a removable battery.wr3zzz - Thursday, August 19, 2021 - link
You forgot to include that TWS has a hard planned obsolescence of recharge cycles. A $300 TWS is guaranteed to die after 3-4 years while a $300 wired headphone that sounds 10x better could last decades.eek2121 - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Somehow they managed to charge more than Apple. Impressive.29a - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
I was thinking to myself why would anyone pay that much for a non Apple phone.Dakhil - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Did Qualcomm not learn from McDonald's? Because a skin temperature of 59°C sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.Leeea - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
that is only 138F, what are you complaining about?Another 7 degrees and it would be at a safe temperature for cooking pork. Now that would be a sweet secondary function.
Spunjji - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Qualcomm SSI PorckChop EditionMassacreHugs - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
I seriously don't understand how there's a market for phones heavier than 140 grams for hardcore users. What kind of herculean fingers do you people have? My fingers and wrists are on fire with the case off on a 5.2 inch by the end of the dayabufrejoval - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
I am afraid you really only have one choice: You really need toa) stop using your phone while driving (or similar)
b) use you other hand for touching
Millions of Chinese women with deinty hands manage devices far bigger using this approach.
As to hardcore: Perhaps a PC or laptop might also help getting through 8-12 hours of "hard core" a day?
And for nails a hammer might do better, too.
DillholeMcRib - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
Some people think "hardcore" means being tough enough to use a 6 - 7" screen to do your work while you have a elite desktop rig w/ triple monitors sitting across the room.eastcoast_pete - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
What's this? A "smart" phone for dumb buyers?As an otherwise convinced Android user, this phone is one of the best arguments to get a top flight iPhone instead; for what this thing here costs, you can get much better value for your money. Or just get a decent, current Android phone, and buy 2-3 really nice ANC headsets with the money you saved.
drajitshnew - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
You said it. At this price an iPhone makes sensebrucethemoose - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Its is rather worrying.If Qualcomm has dreams of pushing ARM laptops, and maybe even ARM desktops some day, is this what we can expect from 1st party hardware?
Spunjji - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Willing to bet that the image samples on that DXOMark review won't gel with the official rating...Kangal - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Came here to say the same thing.I expect QC to be worse than ASUS in photography, or at the best; not much better.
The ASUS RoG 5, gets so much right that it is one of the best phones of 2021. My only suggestions would be to make it smaller and lighter, better ergonomics, durability upgrades, perhaps IP68 certification, more available/affordable, and have better software support (AndroidOne? Bootloader?). Overall, its great and only outdone by the Sony phones.
s.yu - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Actually they may well do, I think they're cherry-picking the samples in recent years, at least for certain devices. Perception could be manipulated by manually discarding samples with minor focusing errors, vibrations, AWB issues, questionable lighting etc. and that could matter more than the actual performance of the device.Of course anybody could do that, but it's DXO we're talking about.
Mil0 - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
Review is posted https://www.dxomark.com/smartphone-for-snapdragon-...It seems like dxomark reviewed the phone themselves, and they did find some issues with the algorithms.
BAllen - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Most people don't know that the Adreno 660 is just a 5nm overclocked Adreno 650. They both have the same 1,024 ALU count and design. The Adreno 650/+ runs at 540MHz-670MHz depending on the phone. The Adreno 660 runs at 840MHz. With these SOC's performance scales almost perfect. Each 100MHz clock bump gives the GPU a 100GFlops of FP32 compute. The Adreno 650/+ is rated at 1.2TFlops-1.38TFlops FP32. The Adeno 660 is rated at 1.78TFlops FP32. So you see the picture. And yes i said TFlops. Phones now have 1Teraflop+ GPU's. What's even better is a SD865 device with an Adreno 650 that holds a sustained clock can basically match a overheating, throttling 660.BAllen - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Also, the ROG 5's 2Vrms 3.5mm headphone jack uses the latest 32bit ESS SABRE qDAC and can push 700Ω 🎧. That with a 6000mAh battery and dual USB-C 3.1 has HDMI and MicroSD storage. So, its basically an upgrade for LG users. Though, i'm plenty happy with my modded LG v60 running A11 and Note 20 U5. The SD865/+ is all anyone would actually ever need for the next 5 years. That's why i bought 2 of each. With the v60 only costing $350-$400 new and the Note 20 UG at $600, who could pass on those deals. I got one v60 basically running at a HTPC hooked up to my LG OLED with a 512GB MicroSD loaded up.Kangal - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
It's been a while since I've looked into the iGPU performance of phones.But with figures like that, it's pretty close to the power of the XB1 and PS4. Impressive. Not to mention, it getting access to newer software/hardware features, and using a more powerful CPU, you could argue they're even closer to that mainstream-2013-benchmark. Well, that is if you actually dock the phone and give it a steady supply of electricity and use some sort of Active Cooling to regulate it.
Then you have Apple. They might actually be more powerful (slightly) than last-gen console's performance. Add the SteamDeck to the conversation, and it's a good time to be a mobile gamer.
zodiacfml - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
dont know whats going with Q these days. they should have Apple M1 like hardware by now but no, we get this 🤮abufrejoval - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Looks like you're trying to get somebody fired.Just sure hope it's not you!
CyborgAlienRay - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
I wouldn't waste $1500 on an alpha device that's not even remarkable by any means, let alone one with no 3.5mm jack or can remain cool, or have removable memory, the additional headphones are worthless for me, so what about 16GB DRAM, the fact it's got 512GB of ReadOnlyMemory is great but, still not for the additional $500. Wishy-washy camera, overheating, and complete 5G networks doesn't add up to $1400, the rest are boring stats, it even doesn't have the next gen of processors in it, which may have gone a long ways but, still not worth that. Even looks cheap, not sure if that's a Qualcomm decision or an Asus one but, someone dropped the leaded loaded iron ball on someone's head on that one for sure.drajitshnew - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
Kudos to Andrei for calling out the OEMs on battery and especially 3.5mm Jack.Thank you DOCUMENTING TWS vs Wired headphones.
Maybe the OEMs won't listen, but I appreciate that he went against the fashion and dared to call a spade a shovel.
Yuhfhrh - Thursday, August 19, 2021 - link
Andrei, could you confirm whether or not the bootloader can be unlocked on this device? A snapdragon rep says it can't but a user report says they can.5j3rul3 - Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - link
SSI Get DxO Camera verison and stock TWS firmware update today.