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00:00Okay, so the ROG Phone 5 is the best gaming phone in the world, right?
00:04Well, not if Lenovo have anything to say about it.
00:08This is the new Legion Phone Duel 2.
00:12Terrible name, but it's bigger, slightly faster, it literally has the fan built into the body
00:17rather than relying on an optional attachment, and we even get a whopping 44 megapixel pop-up
00:23selfie camera for streaming.
00:25Lenovo have really upped their game with this.
00:27Hey guys, I'm Tomatek Jap, and this is a monster 6.92 inches.
00:33It's the Legion Phone, of course.
00:34This is massive, nearly 7 inches, and a fair bit bigger than the 6.78 inch screen that
00:40you get on the ROG Phone 5.
00:42But honestly, they're both massive, and they actually have a lot in common.
00:46AMOLED screens, 144 hertz refresh, shoulder triggers, they're designed to use horizontally
00:51with the dual USB-C ports so cables don't get in your way.
00:55They're both dual SIM, 5G, have stereo speakers, and dual haptic vibration motors, and they're
01:00both powered by the latest Snapdragon 888, with more RAM than you can shake a stick at,
01:05up to a whopping 18 gigabytes of the stuff.
01:08Both also have pretty average rear cameras, with all the effort really being put into
01:12the front camera for recording and streaming.
01:14And of course, no gaming phone would be complete without a bit of go-faster RGB, although if
01:20you are a more sophisticated gamer, and all this flashy RGB and gamer-themed UI is all
01:26a bit too much, you can turn it all off, and also switch back to a stock Android 11-like
01:30theme on both phones.
01:33So before we get any further, you are going to have a very similar, awesome gaming experience
01:37on both these phones.
01:39But there are a few significant differences, and it is of course also going to come down
01:42to the price.
01:44Lenovo haven't actually given me final pricing for this yet, but I will pin a comment below
01:48with the pricing for both these phones so you can compare them, so check that out below.
01:52And also let me know, as we go, which one you think is better.
01:56And if you are new to the channel, then a cheeky subscribe and maybe a ding of the bell
01:59icon would be amazing.
02:01So let's dive a little bit deeper, and for my own sanity, I'm just going to call this
02:04the Legion, and this the ROG.
02:06Now starting with the Legion, I'm sure you'll agree, the big standout here is that bloody
02:11great bulge out of the back.
02:13Lenovo have integrated the fans, so whereas on the ROG phone, if I can get all my bits
02:17and pieces together, it's obviously a little bit thinner and lighter, and you've got this
02:21flashy RGB ROG logo there, struggling with my words, but with this you have to buy the
02:28optional accessory, which costs about £50, although it does come bundled, I think, with
02:31the Pro and Ultimate models, and you actually have to slot it in yourself, and then you've
02:37got your fancy active fan on the back, whereas Lenovo have basically taken it to the next
02:42level and integrated it into the actual phone.
02:45So you can't take it off, which means it is a little bit thicker and heavier than the
02:49ROG, but it also means you don't have to fumble around putting one on, you don't have to carry
02:53it with you, and it basically means you can jump into your game, pull down the Legion
02:58Control Center, and turn on Rampage mode, which boosts the CPU and GPU, and get the
03:02best performance possible.
03:07Whereas on the ROG, you still have X-Mode, but you do need the AeroActive cooler to unlock
03:11X-Mode Plus.
03:13So I think Lenovo's been pretty smart here, and they've crammed all the hotter components
03:16into this middle section, so where you hold it on the outside is a little bit cooler,
03:20although both phones do still get pretty toasty while gaming.
03:24You can definitely hear both the fans whirring, the Lenovo's slightly higher pitched and maybe
03:30a little bit more annoying.
03:31Either way, once you have some volume in your games or a pair of headphones on, you're not
03:34going to notice it, but you can hear the fans.
03:37Anyway, the big question is, when it comes to a video about gaming phones, which is faster?
03:41So I've got the 3DMark Wildlife Stress Test running here, if I can avoid my annoying studio
03:47lights, and this is a 20 minute long benchmark, so it should give us an idea of sustained
03:52performance as well, because that I think is going to be the big difference really between
03:56a gaming phone like this, and something like this.
03:59And it turns out the Legion is just a little bit faster, only 2% on the best loop score,
04:05but 5.5% in the lowest loop, with a higher stability percentage as well.
04:10Not only that, but the ROG phone dropped 20% of its battery versus 14% on the Legion.
04:16Now for a bit of context, if I bring in the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which also has a Snapdragon
04:21888, just look at that difference in the lowest loop score and the stability.
04:26And if you're interested, here are the 3 phones compared in Geekbench 5, for both the CPU
04:31and also the OpenCL Compute Test.
04:34So on both the ROG and the Legion, the vapor chamber cooler and the active fans make a
04:38huge difference to sustained performance, which is as I say, where gaming phones really
04:42stand out.
04:44The thing is though, even if the Legion is a couple of percent faster in these synthetic
04:50benchmarks, does that translate to any real world noticeable difference?
04:54Well the answer is no, actually.
04:56After 20 minutes of playing Arma Mobile Ops on both phones, which is a fairly demanding
05:00game and also supports higher refresh rates, using the GameBench Pro software, it turns
05:05out there's no difference between them.
05:07We're getting the same median frame rate, although again, the ROG's battery is draining
05:11a little bit faster.
05:13If we are playing the numbers game, then the Legion phone does have a 720Hz touch sampling
05:18rate over double the ROG's 300Hz, so that means the time it takes for your phone to
05:23react to your press is even faster.
05:25It's a fraction of a second difference, which I would not notice, but for eSports gamers,
05:30it's worth knowing.
05:31Now a staple of any good gaming phone are these shoulder buttons, in fact as many buttons
05:37as possible really, so that when you're playing games, you can avoid having to use the virtual
05:41on-screen buttons, and we're getting pretty much exactly the same experience on both the
05:46phones.
05:47Launch a game, swipe open the game center, and then customize the triggers.
05:50On both, each shoulder trigger can be split into two, so an L1 and L2, R1 and R2 for example,
05:56although that can make it a little bit more tricky to tap the right part of it, and then
05:59just drag the corresponding trigger onto the screen, and then when you press it, it'll
06:03virtually tap that point.
06:05Altogether, the Legion has 8 buttons, 4 on the shoulder, 2 on the back, and if the game
06:10supports it, 2 on the screen as well, which are activated by a firm press.
06:15It's pretty much the same setup on the ROG, but without the on-screen push buttons, and
06:20you only get the 2 rear ones built in on the Pro and the Ultimate editions, or if you attach
06:24the AirActive cooler.
06:26Now I must admit, I do feel a little bit stupid, because it took me a little while to figure
06:31out where the selfie camera was on the Legion phone, and I thought, well it's not at the
06:35top where it is on the ROG, in fact, on the ROG, they've brought it in just a little bit
06:40so your thumb's less likely to cover it, I couldn't figure it out, until I went to the
06:43camera app, and then I turned the camera around to the selfie mode, and saw this.
06:49It's a 44 megapixel pop-up selfie camera, which as you can see is right in the middle
06:55of the phone, and even the power button is actually on top of it.
06:58Definitely an interesting design, and it does make sense if you are gaming, and maybe you're
07:02Twitch streaming, or live recording yourself, you've got your camera in a really nice location,
07:06your finger's not going to cover it, and you are central to the frame, whereas you're probably
07:10slightly to the outside on the ROG phone.
07:12Having said that, it means face unlocking is a little tricky, because, well, it sticks
07:17out the side, and you may be holding it, and it jabs your finger, and also taking an actual
07:21selfie with this, I don't know, it takes a minute to get used to, but I suppose it's
07:25maybe a better location, you're not quite as high as you would normally be.
07:29Okay, so this is being shot on the ROG phone 5, with a 24 megapixel selfie camera.
07:34You can see it's off-center, because as I'm looking at this, I'm holding it in landscape
07:38mode, as if I were gaming and live streaming, I am off-center, because it's on the left
07:43bezel, as I'm looking at it.
07:45It's also full HD resolution, and quite tight on my face, so yeah, let me know what you
07:50think of the video quality, and also the audio quality from the microphone.
07:54But if we then switch over to the Legion phone, well straight away you can see we've got this
07:58central position, because we've got the pop-out camera, a much wider field of view, which
08:02is nice, and also it's high resolution, you can shoot 4K with the front camera on the
08:07Lenovo, whereas only full HD on the ROG.
08:10So again, if I bring that one back in, I think it's a pretty clear win for the Lenovo.
08:15Well, in terms of audio quality and video, let me know which one you think looks and
08:20sounds better in the comments below.
08:24As for the rear cameras, well, neither company's put a whole lot of effort into these.
08:29They both have wide and ultra-wide lenses, but the ROG also throws in a macro as well.
08:33And here's a few shots side-by-side.
08:34I mean, they're decent, especially in good light, but really, the camera quality is the
08:39biggest compromise you're making when you're buying a gaming phone.
08:43So far we've talked a lot about the Legion phone, but let's talk about the ROG Phone 5
08:48a little bit, because this has a few aces up its sleeve, which might convince you to
08:52stick with the Republic of Gamers.
08:55Firstly, we get a headphone jack, which also supports high-res audio.
08:58And maybe with ROG's own Cetra 2 headphones, this is definitely a selling point for a lot
09:02of people.
09:03Speaking of accessories, I'll be right back.
09:07Because one of the big selling points of the ROG Phone is its compatibility with these
09:12accessories.
09:13The only essential one is the AirActive cooler.
09:15Definitely get one of these if you're not getting the Pro Ultimate Edition.
09:19But by far the most fun one is the Kunai 3 GamePad.
09:22This is the same one that came out with last year's ROG Phone 3.
09:25They skipped the 4 because the number 4 has some superstitious things around it in Chinese
09:31and Taiwanese culture.
09:32But the Kunai 3 is still compatible with the 5, and it basically means you can use the
09:36ROG Phone a bit like a Switch.
09:39With proper joycons, you can use it in multiple different modes, and you just get a ton of
09:43extra buttons.
09:44And it makes gaming on this a whole lot more comfortable, and also a lot more practical.
09:49Although like the ROG, the Legion can also support regular keyboard, mouse, and controller
09:53peripherals over a USB or Bluetooth connection.
09:57The other big selling point of the ROG is its Armoury Crate software, which is so much
10:02more useful than the Legion Assistant.
10:04You can tinker and tweak to your heart's content with per-game clock speeds, fan controls,
10:09anything you can think of, it's here.
10:11And there's also a community tab so you can share tips and game profiles with other
10:16gamers.
10:17The Legion, on the other hand, is pretty basic.
10:19There's none of this fine control, no game profiles or custom performance settings.
10:24You can change what Beast mode does, which I'm assuming is the same as Rampage mode,
10:28but they couldn't decide what name to settle on.
10:30But there's no community tab, just their Twitter feed, and all the RGB lighting is
10:34hidden away in the phone's normal display settings.
10:38We do also get a bigger battery on the ROG, 6000mAh vs 5500mAh, but weirdly, this one
10:45in my tests at least lasts longer.
10:47After 2 hours of intense gaming, the ROG phone had 69% of its battery left vs 71% on
10:53the Legion.
10:54Although, they'll both get you between 5 and 6 hours of intensive gaming.
10:59Hang on, one more thing I want to show you, which I've got over here, a whole bundle
11:04of cables.
11:06The chargers.
11:07This is really interesting actually.
11:08They both come with 65 watt chargers in the box, so they top up pretty quickly, it takes
11:13like 30 to 40 minutes.
11:15This is the ROG charger, pretty standard stuff, but then this is the Legion charger.
11:21You actually get two USB-C cables bundled in the box, and it supports two in the back
11:27of the plug.
11:28So what you can actually do is plug it in with both cables at the same time to give
11:31you even faster turbo charging.
11:34Both phones do also support bypass charging, so you can basically power the phone without
11:38topping up the battery, which keeps it a bit cooler, and also slower charging modes if
11:42you want better battery health over years and years.
11:45So let's wrap up.
11:46Which is better, and which should you buy?
11:48Well, the Legion has the built-in fan, which I like.
11:51In my benchmarks, it was a tiny bit faster, but in real life, there's no appreciable
11:56difference.
11:57It has a slightly bigger screen with faster touch sampling.
11:59The battery lasts a little bit longer, and I also really like the placement of the pop-up
12:03camera, although you might actually find that really annoying.
12:06The speakers are also a little bit punchier, and it's also the fastest charging gaming
12:10phone you can buy, especially if you upgrade to the 90-watt charger.
12:14Whereas the ROG Phone 5 is thinner and lighter, although it does lose that advantage when
12:19you have the AeroActive cooler attached.
12:21We get a headphone jack with high-res audio, much better support for accessories, which
12:25are genuinely useful, and the armory crate is miles better.
12:29The ROG also has a few higher-end features than the Legion, including the latest Gorilla
12:34Glass Victus, and also Wi-Fi 6e support, which makes it a little bit more future-proof.
12:39And also, something I haven't really touched on because I have the standard ROG Phone 5,
12:44but the Pro and the Ultimate Editions have this customizable OLED screen on the back
12:48instead of the ROG Eye, which looks kinda cool.
12:52Downsides for both?
12:53Well, they do run pretty hot even with the fans whirring, so it did get a little bit
12:57uncomfortable, or at least my fingers got a little bit sweaty after half an hour of
13:01gaming.
13:02Also, neither support any kind of IP water-resistance rating, there's no wireless charging, which
13:06I guess is to be expected given their designs.
13:08They also both take about a million years to charge if you don't use their bundled chargers.
13:13So the fact is, you really can't go wrong with either, you'll have a very similar experience
13:16on both.
13:17It's gonna come down to pricing, which is annoying because I don't have the final pricing
13:21of the Legion Phone.
13:22If the Legion is cheaper in any way, I'd probably go with this.
13:27But what about you?
13:28Even if you're not a big mobile gamer, which one would you go for?
13:31The Legion or the ROG?
13:33Let me know in the comments below.
13:34And if you did enjoy this video, give me a thumbs up and subscribe and all those annoying
13:38YouTuber things.
13:39And if you've also got any questions at all about these phones, let me know below and
13:43I'll do my best to answer them.
13:44I read every single one of your comments.
13:46Thank you so much for watching guys, and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Channel.