I’M A KLUTZ.
A minute into unboxing my ROG Phone 6D MLBB M5 Special Edition, I accidentally dropped it on the floor from the table. I haven’t even put on its protective casing.
But thank god it came with an already installed plastic screen protector, so there’s some protection there. That was the first of over 30 times in two months that I accidentally dropped my phone everywhere (I stopped counting after 30).
I dropped it in my garage as I received packages, I dropped it a couple of times at the M5 when I was covering the world championship, and I dropped it from my pants pocket as I got out of my car.
After the 10th drop, my biggest worry was no longer the screen—but the phone’s microphone and speakers, which I know are some of the most sensitive parts of any phone. By this time, I already installed the hard plastic casing that came with my ROG Phone 6D.
Superficially, my ROG Phone 6D MLBB M5 Special Edition still looks brand-new. This review is being made considering the phone has been through a series of accidental stress tests I never intended to happen.
ROG Phone 6D Performance
More than 30 drops later, the ROG Phone 6D lives up to the brand’s reputation as the world’s fastest gaming phone. Since this is the limited-edition MLBB M5 gaming phone, the first game I installed and played on the phone was Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which needs over 8.05 GB of storage space and at least 2 GB of RAM to play.
The ROG Phone 6D makes easy work of these requirements. I am always the first to finish loading resources during matchmaking. When you use the ROG Phone 6D to play MLBB, you will have additional options to further enhance your game’s graphics and frame rate.
On a normal phone, maxing out these settings (overclocking) will result in a slower game pace or lag. However, with the ROG Phone 6D, I did not encounter this.
As you can see in the screenshots below, my frame rate is set to Ultra (better than Super), and my graphics quality is also set to Ultra. I ran the performance test using these settings, and the phone clocked at an average grade of 195, better than 99.3% of all players.
What’s the difference when you play on Ultra settings? The graphics quality is better—the bushes actually move now, and the water features on the battlefield are more realistic. I love how battle effects are also more detailed for the more expensive skins because I feel like I get the most out of all the skins I have bought in the game.
The best part about the gaming experience with the ROG Phone 6D is that I win more. Take a look at this montage of Xavier.
As you can see, the frame rate is smooth, latency is very low, and the graphics are very detailed since MLBB takes up 2 GB RAM, a fraction of the 16 GB RAM capacity of the ROG Phone 6D.
ROG Phone 6D Battery
Powered by a 6,000 mAh battery, the ROG Phone 6D has super fast charging—taking around 30 minutes to charge from 0% to over 95%. The juice does not run out quickly, too, even with the AeroActive Cooler 6 plugged on.
With my overclocked settings on Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, I was able to play 5 to 6 games even with the cooling fan plugged in, and the battery was not even fully charged. This is a big deal, considering I maxed the phone’s FPS settings to 165 Hz, and yet I was still able to play for 2 hours without charging my phone. I was concurrently using wifi and data connection during my games.
ROG Phone 6D Speakers
Surprisingly, ASUS engineers did some good stuff on the speakers of the ROG Phone 6D. It has really good bass and dynamic for a smartphone, ideal for watching Netflix and Disney+ on the phone. The speakers also have surround sound thanks to its symmetrical dual front-facing stereo speakers found at the top and bottom of the device.
Sound quality-wise, the audio remains crisp without that cracking noise you usually encounter on other Android phones. If you’re an audiophile, you’d find the Dirac | ROG AudioWizard a welcome treat. After accidentally dropping my phone over 30 times, the speakers remain undamaged. I can still enjoy my movies and music on my phone if I am not using my earphones or soundbar.
ROG Phone 6D Camera
Honestly, if you’re considering the ROG Phone 6D as your next phone, the camera is not something that stands out—there are better camera phones out there with more affordable price tags. But the ROG Phone 6D snaps are not bad, either. “Decent” is the word we are looking for.
Ever since ASUS released its 13-megapixel Zenfone 2 nearly a decade ago, I’ve realized that photo quality does not rely on your phone’s megapixel count. That Zenfone 2 phone still produced some of the best photos I’ve ever shot on mobile, even better than the 50-mp phones I’ve owned over the years.
Nevertheless, the ROG Phone 6D is primarily a gaming phone, and it gives you fast, uninterrupted, and smooth gaming experience unlike any other phone. It comes as no surprise that it was chosen by players and teams around the world to use it at the M5 World Championship.
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