The Asus ROG Phone 8 series — demonstrated at CES 2024 in Las Vegas last week — is generating excellent reviews for its gaming capabilities and additional praise for its functionality as a smartphone. The devices start at $1,100 and tick up to an entry level of $1,500 for the ROG Phone 8 Pro. Asus calls the ROG Phone 8 series “the biggest redesign in its history,” and says it has evolved from just a gaming phone into a device suitable for streamers and content creators. At the heart of that is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform, supported by 8,533 Mbps LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage.

A Rapid-Cooling Conductor, part GameCool 8 thermal design, allows for marathon gaming sessions without overheating by conducting heat away from the center of the device to the back cover. The phone is also 15 percent slimmer than its 7 series predecessor.

The series has three models: the mainstay ROG Phone 8, the ROG Phone 8 Pro, and the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition. All have a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen that refreshes at up to 165Hz, with peak brightness of 2,500 nits. They also come with a 5,500mAh battery that can fast-charge at up to 65W.

The back camera is a triple-camera array with a 50-megapixel main sensor, plus a 13-megapixel ultrawide, complimented with a 32-megapixel telephoto and 3x optical zoom. The front facing camera is capable of up to 32-megapixels.

Setting the models apart, the ROG Phone 8 features 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The Phone 8 Pro comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, while the Phone 8 Pro Edition includes 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The two premium models have LED dot-matrix displays on the back covers.

“Since this is 2024, there are naturally some AI-powered inclusions,” writes The Verge, noting that the “‘AI Grabber’ is a feature that’s designed to make it easier to search online for gaming walkthroughs by recognizing and copying in-game text.”

The Asus press release says AI also enhances search results when using the phone’s launcher, as well as the Gallery and Settings apps. There’s also an “AI Wallpaper” feature for auto-generating custom wallpapers with Stable Diffusion that will be available in a future update.

“Asus has given its ROG gaming phone line a redesign that keeps its focus on games while also improving general phone function,” writes CNET of the 8 series. Asus says the ROG Phone 8 series “is the world’s first IP68-compliant gaming smartphone, built to resist dust and water ingress so that users can enjoy worry-free operation wherever they are.”

The Verge says the ROG Phone 8 series “releases in February in the UK and Europe, with U.S. availability to be announced.”