Last Wednesday, ASUS announced the ROG Phone 3, the Taiwanese company’s third smartphone under its ROG gaming sub-brand. The spec sheet for the phone is as big as the phone itself, with features like Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+, up to 16GB of RAM, a 6,000mAh battery, two USB-C ports, and a 144Hz refresh rate display. In the phone’s display settings, you can choose the default “automatic” refresh rate mode that allows the system to decide what the display refresh rate should be, or you can choose to run the phone at 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz or 144Hz. Interestingly, it appears that ASUS has been testing a sixth hidden refresh rate mode: 160Hz.
ASUS ROG Phone 3 forums
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While researching how the ROG Phone 3 handles its refresh rate change, I discovered references to the 160Hz refresh rate stealth mode in the Settings app. Digging deeper, I discovered a debug command that can be used to display 160Hz mode in settings! All you have to do is configure the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) on your PC (we have a guide on how to do it here) and then run the following command from a command prompt or terminal window:
adb shell setprop debug.vendor.asus.fps.eng 1Once you enter this command, restart your phone. After your phone restarts, you can toggle the 160Hz display mode in Settings> Display> Refresh Rate or from the Quick Refresh Settings tile.
If you’re skeptical that this really works, you can test the refresh rate in one of several ways. First, you can go to testufo.com to see the frame rate of UFOs moving through space. Second, you can test the Fluid Simulation app and set the refresh rate to 160 in the app settings. (This is my favorite way to test, as you can really see the impact of a higher refresh rate as fluid movement becomes much smoother.) Lastly, you can try one of the many games that support 144 fps playback on your ROG 3 phone —If the game supports 144 fps playback on your device, then there is a good chance that your frame rate is really ” unlocked “and can also run at 160 fps. The Pac-Man app, for example, worked at 160 fps for me, and I’m sure many others will too.
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering right now if it’s safe to do so. I don’t think ASUS would have tested this higher refresh rate if it wasn’t panel safe. I have been running my ROG Phone 3 at 160Hz for several days and have not had any stability issues. However, it is clear that ASUS left this display mode unfinished as it appears that the display has not been properly calibrated in this mode. You can adjust some of the display parameters in Settings> Display> Splendid until you find a setting that you find appealing, but this refresh rate mode is hidden for a reason: it is not a rating for the end user. Since the phone and display are capable of handling 2340 × 1080 at 160Hz, I hope ASUS will revisit this display mode and enable it in a future software update after calibrating it properly. The ROG Phone 3 certainly has the muscle (Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+) and battery (6000mAh) to handle it, so why not?
