Technologies
Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate Review: A Gaming Phone With a Hidden Door
A lot of small changes tailored for mobile phone gamers.

The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is a gaming phone that takes a few small steps forward with its design, and substantial leaps ahead when it comes to its internals and software. The phone, revealed Thursday with a starting price of $1,000, keeps many of the design aesthetics and personality of last year’s Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro. These include its LED indicator on the back, a 6,000mAh battery that can easily last two days and a highly responsive touchscreen with a 720Hz touch sampling rate. But it’s inside where the most substantial changes are including an upgraded Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and new software features for customizing game play.
There’s even a hidden door on the back of the phone, dubbed the AeroActive portal, that opens when you attach the included AeroActive Cooler 7 fan. This door helps blow cool air directly into the phone to keep it from overheating during longer gaming sessions.
These gaming-specific features arrive alongside improvements to how the new ROG functions as a phone, too. Asus is committing to two years of software updates and four years of security updates. That’s on the low side compared to the four years of software updates Samsung provides for its Galaxy S series, but it’s still good to see Asus now commit to such a support timeline. The Phone 7 Ultimate also has a Background mode to set an automatic task up in any game and have that run while you use the phone for anything else.
Like
- Striking design
- Lots of custom options
- AeroActive Portal opening for cooling
Don’t Like
- Tall and heavy
- Photos lack detail
- No wireless charging
Yet even with these improvements, the Phone 7 Ultimate still prioritizes gaming over other functions and features that typically get the spotlight in this price range. Specifically, the Asus phone is tall, partly because the front-facing camera is placed in a bezel above the 6.7-inch AMOLED screen instead of within a display cutout like on many other Android phones. This could benefit gamers since you don’t have anything obstructing the gameplay on your screen. But if you’re used to a large-screen phone like the Galaxy S23 Plus or the iPhone 14 Pro Max, you might wince at the ROG being even bigger than its display. The phone also feels heavy, coming in at 239 grams (just a gram shy of the iPhone 14 Pro Max) compared with the similarly sized 196-gram Galaxy S23 Plus.
The phone lacks wireless charging but makes up for that with speedy wired 65W charging. And yes, the power brick is even included in the box.


Background mode lets you continue running a game while you use your phone to do other things.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETPhotography is fine. It’s not in the same league as what the cameras and software shoot on similarly priced Galaxy or Pixel phones. Photos from the Phone 7 Ultimate have a reasonable amount of detail in both indoor and outdoor settings.
The Phone 7 Ultimate also arrives as the handheld PC gaming market is gaining traction, with Asus itself even announcing the ROG Ally as a competitor to the Steam Deck. While the Phone 7 Ultimate isn’t claiming to be the mobile gaming device for your PC game library, it does include lots of features and customizations for those seeking to get the most out of games built for Android.
Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate specs, software and gaming performance
The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate has specs that might outperform your PC, even though it’s not trying to be one. The review unit I tested includes 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage space, which is a small step down from the 18GB of RAM seen on last year’s Phone 6 Pro, but still a ludicrous amount.
Alongside the aforementioned Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, the phone has a Qualcomm Adreno 740 GPU. The Phone 7 Ultimate’s display has a 165Hz refresh rate. It runs Android 13, has two front-facing stereo speakers and a headphone jack. Like with last year’s Phone 6 Pro, the phone’s rear LED display shows customizable animations and notification icons. There’s two USB-C ports, one on the bottom and another on the left side, meant to make it easier to charge while playing a game horizontally. Passthrough charging is also available, which lets you play games without charging the battery so the phone doesn’t get warmer.


You can add a persistent gauge during games showing stats like the temperature of the phone, frames per second and the battery.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe Phone 7 Ultimate is especially speedy, and when I open games I can easily crank up the graphics and frame rate settings to their highest. Setting Fortnite to run at 90 frames per second didn’t bog down the phone, nor did playing Mortal Kombat at 160 frames per second. Even games that don’t support a high frame rate still benefit from the Snapdragon chip and the phone’s memory. For instance Marvel Snap’s cards animations looked very smooth as did Mario Kart.
In benchmark tests, the Phone 7 Ultimate performed comparable to phones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 and the OnePlus 11. While raw power isn’t necessarily what separates gaming phones from mainstream ones, it does underscore that Asus’ software additions and hardware customizations are focused on its gamer audience.
Benchmarks
Legend:
Note:
Higher scores are better
3DMark frames per second
Legend:
Note:
Higher scores are better.
The Phone 7 Ultimate emphasizes horizontal game play. It has an updated version of its AirTriggers system to program the phone’s various sensors on a game by game basis. Like RedMagic gaming phones, you can use the corners of the phone to respond as shoulder buttons. For instance, when playing Fortnite, I set up the right shoulder button to shoot and the left shoulder button to swap between aiming modes.


The Game Genie dashboard lets you turn on many of the phone’s settings while you are playing a game.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETAsus also lets you program the phone’s gyroscope for various motion controls and gestures. Overall, there’s a lot of options for those that link to tinker, but I would like to see Asus include suggested controller templates for popular mobile games in future updates.
There’s also program macros — a series of commands that repeat over and over — which, when combined with Background mode, lets you set and forget certain game tasks. In order to protect your phone’s battery, a persistent notification will display when a game is in Background mode so you eventually remember to turn it off.


The AeroActive Cooler 7 attaches to the back of the phone. When attached, a door opens on the phone to let in more of the fan’s air.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETAsus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate cooling system
The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate makes cooling a priority, whether or not you are using the included AeroActive Cooler attachment. Asus designed the inside of the phone to help with heat dissipation, and while I could certainly feel the phone become warm while playing games or fast charging, it was never uncomfortable to hold. Though adding a case goes a long way to keep heat away from your hands. According to the phone’s temperature gauge, after 30 minutes of gameplay it reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
The AeroActive Cooler plugs into the side USB-C port and clamps down over the power button. The attachment has cooling fans and opens the hidden door on the back to push cool air inside. There’s also programmable buttons and LED lights on it. During another 30-minute stretch of gameplay with the fan attached, the phone’s temperature dropped to 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). Cooling aside, the AeroActive Cooler feels like there’s a big metal spider on the back of the phone. It’s uncomfortable, especially when I played touchscreen-heavy games.
The accessory also has a kickstand for propping it up on a table and using a Bluetooth game controller, which could be more comfortable.


The bottom of the cooling accessory includes another USB-C port and a headphone jack.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETAsus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate cameras, photography
The Phone 7 Ultimate has a 50-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera and an 8-megapixel macro camera. The front-facing camera has a 32-megapixel sensor. There’s Portrait mode and Night mode. You can record videos at 8K 24fps (frames per second) and in 4K at either 60fps or 30fps.


Photo of Citi Field taken on the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETPhotos are adequate. The Phone 7 Ultimate performed just fine in a variety of settings like at Citi Field or in Central Park for a wedding. This isn’t going to be a phone that you use for taking the best Instagram photos, but it works as a way to grab a quick picture in most environments.


Wagner Cove in New York’s Central Park, taken on the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETOn the whole, Phone 7 Ultimate photos lacked detail, especially compared to images from my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Take a look at the photos below of me standing in Central Park. You can see the flowers’ details substantially clearer in the iPhone photo. I’m shocked at how different the lighting looks in the two photos.


Here’s the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate’s photo
Mike Sorrentino/CNET

And here’s the one from the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe Asus’ Portrait mode fared slightly better, despite the background blur on the flowers looking inconsistent. Selfies similarly lacked detail, but the front-facing camera is serviceable for video calls. Photo and video capture is a common compromise for most gaming phones.


Using Portrait mode on the Phone 7 Ultimate helped bring out more color during this Central Park scene.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETIndoor front-facing camera photo on the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, taken while filming the video review for this phone.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETAsus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate bottom line
The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is tailored for mobile phone gamers that want to tweak Android games while playing them at their highest graphics settings. New additions like the phone’s new Snapdragon chip, controller options and upgraded cooling system further refine that experience, while providing a sharp refresh rate with fast speeds that benefit non-gaming tasks like apps and reading.
Most people will likely be happier with a phone like a Galaxy S23 that has better cameras and a slimmer body. Also, many Android games run just fine on regular phones.
For a gamer that puts specs above all and wants lots and lots of customizable options, this ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is packed with them. We haven’t yet reviewed the competing RedMagic 8 Pro series which has the same chip with a lower $649 starting price. However, the software experience on the Asus is very good, achieving a nice balance between being a gaming device and a mobile phone.
How we test phones
Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using both standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.
All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.
We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds, foldable displays among others that can be useful. And we of course balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value.
Technologies
The Future’s Here: Testing Out Gemini’s Live Camera Mode
Gemini Live’s new camera mode feels like the future when it works. I put it through a stress test with my offbeat collectibles.

«I just spotted your scissors on the table, right next to the green package of pistachios. Do you see them?»
Gemini Live’s chatty new camera feature was right. My scissors were exactly where it said they were, and all I did was pass my camera in front of them at some point during a 15-minute live session of me giving the AI chatbot a tour of my apartment. Google’s been rolling out the new camera mode to all Android phones using the Gemini app for free after a two-week exclusive to Pixel 9 (including the new Pixel 9A) and Galaxy S5 smartphones. So, what exactly is this camera mode and how does it work?
When you start a live session with Gemini, you now how have the option to enable a live camera view, where you can talk to the chatbot and ask it about anything the camera sees. Not only can it identify objects, but you can also ask questions about them — and it works pretty well for the most part. In addition, you can share your screen with Gemini so it can identify things you surface on your phone’s display.
When the new camera feature popped up on my phone, I didn’t hesitate to try it out. In one of my longer tests, I turned it on and started walking through my apartment, asking Gemini what it saw. It identified some fruit, ChapStick and a few other everyday items with no problem. I was wowed when it found my scissors.
That’s because I hadn’t mentioned the scissors at all. Gemini had silently identified them somewhere along the way and then recalled the location with precision. It felt so much like the future, I had to do further testing.
My experiment with Gemini Live’s camera feature was following the lead of the demo that Google did last summer when it first showed off these live video AI capabilities. Gemini reminded the person giving the demo where they’d left their glasses, and it seemed too good to be true. But as I discovered, it was very true indeed.
Gemini Live will recognize a whole lot more than household odds and ends. Google says it’ll help you navigate a crowded train station or figure out the filling of a pastry. It can give you deeper information about artwork, like where an object originated and whether it was a limited edition piece.
It’s more than just a souped-up Google Lens. You talk with it, and it talks to you. I didn’t need to speak to Gemini in any particular way — it was as casual as any conversation. Way better than talking with the old Google Assistant that the company is quickly phasing out.
Google also released a new YouTube video for the April 2025 Pixel Drop showcasing the feature, and there’s now a dedicated page on the Google Store for it.
To get started, you can go live with Gemini, enable the camera and start talking. That’s it.
Gemini Live follows on from Google’s Project Astra, first revealed last year as possibly the company’s biggest «we’re in the future» feature, an experimental next step for generative AI capabilities, beyond your simply typing or even speaking prompts into a chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It comes as AI companies continue to dramatically increase the skills of AI tools, from video generation to raw processing power. Similar to Gemini Live, there’s Apple’s Visual Intelligence, which the iPhone maker released in a beta form late last year.
My big takeaway is that a feature like Gemini Live has the potential to change how we interact with the world around us, melding our digital and physical worlds together just by holding your camera in front of almost anything.
I put Gemini Live to a real test
The first time I tried it, Gemini was shockingly accurate when I placed a very specific gaming collectible of a stuffed rabbit in my camera’s view. The second time, I showed it to a friend in an art gallery. It identified the tortoise on a cross (don’t ask me) and immediately identified and translated the kanji right next to the tortoise, giving both of us chills and leaving us more than a little creeped out. In a good way, I think.
I got to thinking about how I could stress-test the feature. I tried to screen-record it in action, but it consistently fell apart at that task. And what if I went off the beaten path with it? I’m a huge fan of the horror genre — movies, TV shows, video games — and have countless collectibles, trinkets and what have you. How well would it do with more obscure stuff — like my horror-themed collectibles?
First, let me say that Gemini can be both absolutely incredible and ridiculously frustrating in the same round of questions. I had roughly 11 objects that I was asking Gemini to identify, and it would sometimes get worse the longer the live session ran, so I had to limit sessions to only one or two objects. My guess is that Gemini attempted to use contextual information from previously identified objects to guess new objects put in front of it, which sort of makes sense, but ultimately, neither I nor it benefited from this.
Sometimes, Gemini was just on point, easily landing the correct answers with no fuss or confusion, but this tended to happen with more recent or popular objects. For example, I was surprised when it immediately guessed one of my test objects was not only from Destiny 2, but was a limited edition from a seasonal event from last year.
At other times, Gemini would be way off the mark, and I would need to give it more hints to get into the ballpark of the right answer. And sometimes, it seemed as though Gemini was taking context from my previous live sessions to come up with answers, identifying multiple objects as coming from Silent Hill when they were not. I have a display case dedicated to the game series, so I could see why it would want to dip into that territory quickly.
Gemini can get full-on bugged out at times. On more than one occasion, Gemini misidentified one of the items as a made-up character from the unreleased Silent Hill: f game, clearly merging pieces of different titles into something that never was. The other consistent bug I experienced was when Gemini would produce an incorrect answer, and I would correct it and hint closer at the answer — or straight up give it the answer, only to have it repeat the incorrect answer as if it was a new guess. When that happened, I would close the session and start a new one, which wasn’t always helpful.
One trick I found was that some conversations did better than others. If I scrolled through my Gemini conversation list, tapped an old chat that had gotten a specific item correct, and then went live again from that chat, it would be able to identify the items without issue. While that’s not necessarily surprising, it was interesting to see that some conversations worked better than others, even if you used the same language.
Google didn’t respond to my requests for more information on how Gemini Live works.
I wanted Gemini to successfully answer my sometimes highly specific questions, so I provided plenty of hints to get there. The nudges were often helpful, but not always. Below are a series of objects I tried to get Gemini to identify and provide information about.
Technologies
Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 26, #1407
Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,407 for April 26. Hint: Fans of a certain musical group will rock out with this puzzle.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Wordle puzzle isn’t too tough. The letters are fairly common, and fans of a certain rock band might get a kick out of the answer. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.
Today’s Wordle hints
Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.
Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats
Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.
Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels
There is one vowel in today’s Wordle answer.
Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter
Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter C.
Wordle hint No. 4: Rock out
Today’s Wordle answer is the name of a legendary English rock band.
Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning
Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a violent confrontation.
TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER
Today’s Wordle answer is CLASH.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer
Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 25, No. 1406 was KNOWN.
Recent Wordle answers
April 21, No. 1402: SPATE
April 22, No. 1403: ARTSY
April 23, No. 1404: OZONE.
April 24, No. 1405: GENIE
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.
Some solid starter words to try:
ADIEU
TRAIN
CLOSE
STARE
NOISE
Technologies
T-Mobile Adds New Top 5G Plans, T-Satellite and New 5-Year Price Locks
The new top unlimited plans, Experience More and Experience Beyond, shave some costs and add data and satellite options.

Just two years after expanding its lineup of cellular plans, T-Mobile this week announced two new plans that replace its Go5G Plus and Go5G Next offerings, refreshed its prepaid Metro line and wrapped them all in a promised five-year pricing guarantee.
To convert more subscribers, the carrier is also offering up to $800 to help customers pay off phone balances when switching from another carrier.
In a briefing with CNET, Jon Friar, president of T-Mobile’s consumer group, explained why the company is revamping and simplifying its array of mobile plans. «The pain point that’s out there over the last couple of years is rising costs all around consumers,» Friar said. «For us to be able to bring more value and even lower prices on [plans like] Experience More versus our former Go5G Plus is a huge win for consumers.»
The new plans went into effect April 23.
With these changes, CNET is already hard at work updating our picks for Best T-Mobile Plans, so check back soon for our recommendations.
More Experiences to define the T-Mobile experience
The top of the new T-Mobile postpaid lineup is two new plans: Experience More and Experience Beyond.
Experience More is the next generation of the Go5G Plus plan, which has unlimited 5G and 4G LTE access and unlimited Premium Data (download speeds up to 418Mbps and upload speeds up to 31Mbps). High-speed hotspot data is bumped up to 60GB from 50GB per month. The monthly price is now $5 lower per line than Go5G Plus.
The Experience More plan also gets free T-Satellite with Starlink service (the new name for T-Mobile’s satellite feature that uses Starlink’s constellation of satellites) through the end of 2025. Although T-Satellite is still officially in beta until July, customers can continue to get free access to the beta starting now. At the start of the new year, the service will cost $10 per month, a $5 drop from T-Mobile’s originally announced pricing. T-Satellite will be open to customers of other carriers for the same pricing beginning in July.
The new top-tier plan, Experience Beyond, also comes in $5 per line cheaper than its predecessor, Go5G Next. It has 250GB of high-speed hotspot data per month, up from 50GB, and more data when you’re traveling outside the US: 30GB in Canada and Mexico (versus 15GB) and 15GB in 215 countries (up from 5GB). T-Satellite service is included in the Experience Beyond plan.
However, one small change to the Experience plans affects that pricing: Taxes and fees, previously included in the Go5G Plus and Go5G Next prices, are now broken out separately. T-Mobile recently announced that one such fee, the Regulatory Programs and Telco Recovery Fee, would increase up to 50 cents per month.
According to T-Mobile, the Experience Beyond rates and features will be «rolling out soon» for customers currently on the Go5G Next plan.
The Essentials plan is staying in the lineup at the same cost of $60 per month for a single line, the same 50GB of Premium Data and unlimited 5G and 4G LTE data. High-speed hotspot data is an optional $10 add-on, as is T-Satellite access, for $15 (both per month).
Also still in the mix is the Essentials Saver plan, an affordable option that has ranked high in CNET’s Best Cellphone Plans recommendations.
Corresponding T-Mobile plans, such as those for military, first responders and people age 55 and older are also getting refreshed with the new lineup.
T-Mobile’s plan shakeup is being driven in part by the current economic climate. Explaining the rationale behind the price reductions and the streamlined number of plans, Mike Katz, president of marketing, innovation and experience at T-Mobile told CNET, «We’re in a weird time right now where prices everywhere are going up and they’ve happened over the last several years. We felt like there was an opportunity to compete with some simplicity, but more importantly, some peace of mind for customers.»
Existing customers who want to switch to one of the new plans can do so at the same rates offered to new customers. Or, if a current plan still works for them, they can continue without changes (although keep in mind that T-Mobile earlier this year increased prices for some legacy plans).
Five years of price stability
It’s nearly impossible to think about prices these days without warily eyeing how tariffs and US economic policy will affect what we pay for things. So it’s not surprising to see carriers implement some cost stability into their plans. For instance, Verizon recently locked prices for three years on their plans.
Now, T-Mobile is building a five-year price guarantee for its T-Mobile and Metro plans. That pricing applies to talk, text and data amounts — not necessarily taxes and other fees that can fluctuate.
Given the uncertain outlook, it seems counterintuitive to lock in a longer rate. When asked about this, Katz said, «We feel like our job is to solve pain points for customers and we feel like this helps with this exact sentiment. It shifts the risk from customers to us. We’ll take the risk so they don’t have to.»
The price hold applies to new customers signing up for the plans as well as current customers switching to one. T-Mobile is offering the same deals and pricing to new and existing subscribers. Also, the five-year deal applies to pricing; it’s not a five-year plan commitment.
More money and options to encourage switchers
The promise of a five-year price guarantee is also intended to lure people from other carriers, particularly AT&T and Verizon. As further incentive, T-Mobile is offering up to $800 per line (distributed via a virtual prepaid Mastercard) to help pay off other carriers’ device contracts. This is a limited-time offer. There are also options to trade in old devices, including locked phones, to get up to four new flagship phones.
Or, if getting out of a contract isn’t an issue, T-Mobile can offer $200 in credit (up to $800 for four lines) to bring an existing number to the network.
Four new Metro prepaid plans
On the prepaid side, T-Mobile is rolling out four new Metro plans, which are also covered by the new five-year price guarantee:
• Metro Starter costs $25 per line per month for a family of four and there is no need to bring an existing number. (The cost is $105 the first month.)
• Metro Starter Plus runs $40 per month for a new phone, unlimited talk, text and 5G data when bringing an existing number. For $65 per month, new customers can get two lines and two new Samsung A15 phones. No autopay is required.
• Metro Flex Unlimited is $30 per line per month with autopay for four lines ($125 the first month) with unlimited talk, text and 5G data.
• Metro Flex Unlimited Plus costs $60 per line per month, then $35 for lines two and three and then lowers the price of the fourth line to $10 per month as more family members are added. Adding a tablet or smartwatch to an existing line costs $5. And streaming video, such as from the included Amazon Prime membership, comes through at HD quality.
See more: If you’re looking for phone plans, you may also be looking for a new cell phone. Here are CNET’s picks.
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