We are at the end of another year that saw some amazing tech. Smartphones took the cake again by being the most important launches of the year. While dedicated gaming smartphones were the in-thing for 2019, the year 2020 saw some of the basic flagship smartphones introducing features geared towards gaming.
While we did have specific gaming smartphones, which were marketed as such, other flagships offered features like 120 fps and specialized modes which made the flagships worthy gaming smartphones. And here we will be taking a look at five smartphones that did this the best this year.
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Asus ROG Phone 3
We start off our list with the Asus ROG Phone 3 because we must. It is the basis of every gaming smartphone list. Asus has been doing everything right when it comes to gaming smartphones ever since it launched the first Asus ROG Phone, and it is no different with the third one. It is priced at Rs 47,999 for the 12GB RAM and 128GB storage variant.
For starters, the device is powered by the latest Snapdragon 865 Plus SoC, this is also India’s first smartphone to feature the latest silicon from Qualcomm. The primary core on the 865 Plus clocked at 3.1GHz, three gold cores at 2.42GHz, and four silver cores clocked at 1.8GHz. It is coupled with the Adreno 650 GPU.
In India, the gaming device is available in two configurations—8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage and 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage. Across the board, the phone ships with LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The 16GB + 512GB variant will not be available, but Asus tells us that it could launch if there’s enough demand.
The Asus ROG Phone 3 features a 6.59-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel with a high refresh rate of 144Hz, 270Hz touch sampling rate, and 25ms touch latency. It has a resolution of 2,340 x 1,080 pixel and comes in 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The display is HDR10+ certified, has a peak brightness of 1000 nits and covers 113% DCI-P3 colour gamut. It is protected by a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 6. It also sports an in-display fingerprint scanner from Goodix. Like last time, the bezels are sizable to help gamers grip the phone better.
OnePlus 8T
This had to be included in this list since OnePlus has been making smartphones that are more than capable of being termed gaming smartphones. Competitively priced, these come with top-of-the-line specifications making them ideal gaming devices. And the OnePlus 8T 5G is no different. It is priced at Rs 42,999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant.
The biggest change over its predecessor is the new display. This time, we get a flat 6.55-inch Fluid AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and support for sRGB and DCI-P3 colour space. With a peak brightness of 1,100 nits and a JNCD of 0.55, it is one of the most colour accurate displays ever on a smartphone. The resolution is retained at 2,400 x 1,080.
For the internal specifications there’s the Snapdragon 865 chipset (with 5G) at its heart along with UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR4X RAM. While the battery only gets a small bump up to 4,500mAh, the OnePlus 8T is now the fastest charging phone from the brand. With Warp Charge 65, it can go from 0 to full in just about 40 minutes. The same charger can also charge other devices at up to 45W.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra ranked as the best smartphone according to us. And that is so because it does so many things so well, and this includes gaming as well. Be is the performance or the high refresh rate display. It is priced at Rs 1,04,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant.
It comes with a 6.9-inch 1440 x 3088 AMOLED screen with 496 pixels per inch, a 19.3:9 aspect ratio, and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a 4,500mAh battery with 25W fast charging. The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has an Exynos 990 CPU with 12GB RAM and 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB storage options.
It comes with UFS 3.0 storage which means seamless performance for games. It also features dual-speaker setup shines once again in providing a spatial output that clearly distinguishes between sounds coming from different directions.
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
The Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro is part of the Mi 10 smartphones that were launched in India this year, and they were surprisingly good. Xiaomi outdid themselves with the performance of these smartphones, and the Mi 10T Pro is no exception. It is priced at Rs 39,999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant.
This smartphone comes with new intelligent 144Hz LCD panel. It uses AdaptiveSync to switch the refresh rate between 30Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz based on the type of content. This should also reduce power consumption by a bit.
The display spans 6.67-inches across with a resolution of 2400 x 1080. It has a peak brightness of 650 nits and is also capable of HDR10+ playback. A new Sunlight Mode 3.0 feature matches the display’s colour temperature and brightness based on the ambient light conditions.
As for specifications, the Mi 10T Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 865 chipset with UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR5 RAM — all best-in-class. There’s a large 5,000mAh battery inside with support for 33W Dual-Split charging (charger included in the box). The fingerprint scanner is now embedded within the power button on the side.
Realme X50 Pro
The Realme X50 Pro is another surprise package on this list. The smartphone is one of the first 5G smartphones to be launched in India, though we are not sure why, because 5G technology isn’t even available. Besides this, the device boasts of a surprisingly great set of features that makes it ideal for gaming. It is priced at Rs 34,999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant.
Realme X50 Pro features a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED screen with a Full HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. The screen is topped with a layer of Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 for added protection against regular wear and tear.
Realme X50 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 650 GPU. The SD 865 chip is claimed to be 25% faster and more efficient than the previous generation of processors. The phone also comes with a Vapor Cooling Pro thermal solution for faster heat dissipation. This is paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 storage options to choose from. The X50 Pro runs on Realme UI out of the box which is based on Android 10.
