94 PCWorld NOVEMBER 2020FEATURE 3 WAYS GAMING PHONES EXCEL
stubbornly clung to the timeless 3.5mm
headphone jack. For some damn reason the
ROG Phone 3 requires the AeroActive Cooler
3 to be attached in order to get to it, but at
least it’s there, and to be fair I’d much rather
have it in the ROG Phone 3’s horizontal
orientation when actually gaming.- MORE CONTROL
OPTIONS
I don’t always want to pair a console
controller to games on my phone, or strap on
a device like the Razer Kishi (go.pcworld.
com/rksh). Most gaming phones now offer
extra control options simply that aren’t
present on mainstream handsets. The Asus
ROG Phone 3 and Lenovo Legion Phone Duel
(go.pcworld.com/lnlg) both feature
touch-sensitive buttons along one side of the
phone used to trigger onscreen actions. The
tools to set them up differ between
manufacturers but all of the ones I’ve used so
far have been pretty simple.
Having those extra inputs can make all
the difference when you’re playing games
like Call of Duty: Mobile or Fortnite. Some
games don’t support controllers whatsoever,
or limit them to specific uses, so gaming
phones provide a definite advantage as
opposed to relying on touchscreen-only
methods. In a typical game of COD: Mobile, I
keep the left “bumper” trigger aiming down
the sights of the gun, with the right “bumper”
mapped to firing. This frees up my thumbs to
focus on moving my character and aiming.
Without the extra bumper triggers I would
have to pause
movement with either
thumb to press a button
to fire, making me a
much easier target.
While the Lenovo
Legion Phone Duel is
limited to just tapping
the two bumpers along
one side, some phones
include even more
options. Each bumper
on the ROG Phone 3
can also be split into
two different inputs,
offering four “buttons.”If a Razer Phone 3 ever comes out it will most likely include some sort of
extra control options.