ROG Phone 9 Pro In-Depth Review: More Than Just Specs, It's the Ultimate Expression of Personality and Innovation

ROG Phone 9 Pro In-Depth Review: More Than Just Specs, It's the Ultimate Expression of Personality and InnovationROG gaming phones have always been known for their unique personality and precise understanding of gamer needs. IT Home recently conducted an in-depth review of the ROG Phone 9 Pro, a new product that doesn't simply pile on hardware, but perfectly blends innovative design with extreme performance to deliver a unique gaming experience

ROG Phone 9 Pro In-Depth Review: More Than Just Specs, It's the Ultimate Expression of Personality and Innovation

ROG gaming phones have always been known for their unique personality and precise understanding of gamer needs. IT Home recently conducted an in-depth review of the ROG Phone 9 Pro, a new product that doesn't simply pile on hardware, but perfectly blends innovative design with extreme performance to deliver a unique gaming experience. While it may not cater to every mobile gamer's needs, its distinctive personality and innovative features undoubtedly make it a shining star in the gaming phone market.

I. Appearance and Design: Quality Reflected in the Details

The ROG 9 Pro's packaging returns to a square design with a lift-up hinge, featuring the full ROG Republic of Gamers logo and a pixel-art "big eye" logo on the front, foreshadowing the return of its iconic illuminated matrix display. The package includes a wealth of accessories: a 65W USB-C fast charger, a dual USB-C nylon braided cable, the new AeroActive Cooler X Pro and its carrying case, two black phone cases (one with a cutout back design, one a full-body design), a custom metal SIM ejector tool, and a quick start guide and warranty card.

The phone's official dimensions are 163.8 x 76 x 8.9mm, with IT Home measuring a thickness of 9.6mm (including the factory-applied screen protector) and a weight of 227g, consistent with the official data. The back cover uses smooth, finely textured black AG glass with an ice crystal nano-texture process. The edges have micro-arc chamfers for improved grip. Notably, the ROG 9 Pro removes the Tencent Games logo present on its predecessor.

On the right-hand side frame, there are two AirTriggers pressure-sensitive shoulder buttons, offering efficient assistance in games, but also newly added camera capture functionality, and interaction with the rear illuminated matrix display for a new level of gameplay.

The Mini-LED illuminated matrix display, comprised of 648 LEDs, displays the ROG logo, current time, and battery level when idle. It also lights up with corresponding animations for app notifications. The LEDs are hidden inside the back cover, preventing any protrusion or affecting the grip, and are also very energy-efficient.

Users can customize the illuminated matrix display's animations in the control center for various scenarios (incoming calls, notifications, charging, gaming, music rhythm, photo/video recording, etc.), with at least two animation styles preset for each scenario, and up to six for some. Custom animations can be created by hand-drawing or importing external files. The hand-drawing mode offers five preset animation effects and the option to show or hide a red template. Imported GIFs must be 266 x 247 pixels.

The ROG 9 Pro adds the AnimePlay rear screen pixel mini-game function, featuring four classic retro pixel-style games: a runner, Snake, Air Combat, and Pinball. Games are controlled using the AirTriggers pressure-sensitive shoulder buttons, with the top half of the illuminated matrix display showing the game screen and the bottom half displaying the score and health information. The main screen automatically enables touch lockout during gameplay to prevent accidental touches and save power.

The camera module design is largely unchanged from the previous generation, but the chamfer now incorporates red and white decorative lines. The screen uses a Samsung E6 material, a 6.78-inch 1080P AMOLED flexible straight screen, with a maximum 185Hz refresh rate, supporting LTPO adaptive refresh rate adjustment, low-brightness anti-flicker, 1600nit global brightness, and 2500nit peak brightness. In daily use, the refresh rate can be selected from presets of 165Hz, 120Hz, and 60Hz, or automatic mode can be used to enable the LTPO adaptive refresh rate. For games that support it, a 185Hz refresh rate can be enabled in the Game Genie.

A centrally located USB-C port on the left-hand side facilitates connecting the external cooling fan, while the asymmetrical USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom are conveniently placed for landscape gaming.

The included AeroActive Cooler X Pro has been redesigned, retaining the dual white physical buttons, press-fit latch switch, rear acrylic RGB lighting, and angled fan vents. Users can customize the lighting effects via the control center and unlock the X+ performance mode and rapid cooling mode when connected. The cooler also features a retractable stand at the bottom, a 3.5mm audio port, and a combined fan and semi-conductive cooling system.

II. Hardware and Performance: Flagship Configuration, Powerful Performance

The ROG 9 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Elite processor, offering a 45% CPU performance improvement and a 40% GPU performance improvement. Memory options go up to 24GB LPDDR5X 9600MHz, and storage up to 1TB UFS 4.0. The battery capacity is 5800mAh (dual-cell), supporting 65W fast charging.

The ROG 9 Pro uses an improved matrix liquid cooling architecture, including a centrally located, symmetrical CPU design, and customized cooling solutions for three different game scenarios: short-duration games (under 15 minutes) use boron nitride and thermal copper columns; medium-duration games (15-30 minutes) increase the volume of graphene by 57%, improving cooling capacity by 12%; and long-duration games (over 30 minutes) can use the external AeroActive Cooler X Pro.

AnTuTu benchmark scores (with X mode enabled) reached 3.16 million, a 40.3% increase over the previous generation. During the benchmark test, the maximum temperature was only 38.1C, 2.3C lower than the previous generation, indicating significantly less passive cooling pressure. In the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, the score stability over 20 loops in X mode reached 98.1%.

III. Gaming Tests: Smooth Operation, Efficient Cooling

The ROG 9 Pro's control center provides three performance modes: X mode, Balanced mode, and Ultra-long battery life mode.

In Balanced mode, a 26-minute test of Honor of Kings (120fps + highest graphics) showed an average frame rate consistently at 120fps, an average power consumption of 3.5W, a maximum front temperature of 39C, and a maximum rear temperature of 38.8C.

In X mode, tests of Genshin Impact (60fps + highest graphics) and Honkai: Star Rail (60fps + highest graphics) showed Genshin Impact performing better, with an average power consumption of 4.4W and a maximum temperature of 39C. Honkai: Star Rail placed a higher load, with an average power consumption of 6.4W and a maximum temperature of 43.2C.

With the cooling fan attached (extreme cooling mode, X+ performance mode), the frame rate curve of Honkai: Star Rail improved significantly, with the average frame rate increasing to 61fps and the stable frame rate index dropping to 1.1. In X+ mode, users can enable enhanced touch sampling rate options for further optimized touch experience.

IV. AI Assistance Features: Enhancing Gaming Efficiency and Convenience

Leveraging the powerful computing power of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Elite, the ROG 9 Pro offers a range of AI-assisted gaming features:

• Smart Game Hints: Automatic item picking, running lock, auto-accelerated dialogue, and control release.

• Quick Controls: Customizable quick function buttons (screen recording/screenshot), adjustable size, transparency, and position.

• Screen Recognition: Automatically recognizes in-game task text, allowing for copying or searching for related strategies.

• X Smart Screen Recording: Automatically records game gacha video clips.

V. Conclusion: A Perfect Fusion of Personality and Innovation

The ROG Phone 9 Pro demonstrates ROG's deep understanding of gamer needs. It doesn't just focus on hardware specifications; it prioritizes personalized design and innovative features to create a better gaming experience. The combination of the illuminated matrix display, AnimePlay, AirTriggers, the Game Genie's AI assistance, and the efficient cooling system makes the ROG 9 Pro a truly impressive gaming phone, offering an ideal choice for users seeking the ultimate mobile gaming experience.