After crossing the finish line at the Galaxy Manila Marathon, my friends and I pointed the Ford Everest Titanium+ north toward La Union.

The 12-inch touchscreen glowed softly in the dark, and our playlist connected wirelessly before we even reached the expressway gates.

Adaptive Cruise Control took over the repetitive parts of the drive not long after. We were cruising toward the coast, and for the first time in recent memory, I had nowhere else to be.

That lack of urgency might sound unremarkable. To me, it felt foreign. My life runs on calendars. There’s always a race to train for, a campaign to launch, a production to wrap, or a deadline waiting somewhere down the road.

Even weekends tend to arrive with a checklist. A long weekend with no race, no deliverable, and no training block doesn’t happen naturally. It has to be chosen.

When Ford Philippines handed me the keys to the Everest Titanium+ and suggested a road trip, I said yes almost immediately.

I spent the following week wondering why saying yes had felt so effortless, but I packed my bags regardless. I brought along three companions who have witnessed nearly every version of me over the past decade, sharing in my victories, heartbreaks, career milestones, and constant reinventions.

With 30 approaching next month, I wanted this trip to hold all of that. A celebration of who I’ve been, and a look at who I’m becoming.

What followed was the most complete weekend I’ve had in years. The Everest was exactly the right car for it.

Taking the open road

The route from Manila to San Juan covers hundreds of kilometers of expressways, provincial roads, and coastal highways. On a clear Saturday, the Everest handled it with enough ease that long drives stopped feeling like something to get through.

Ford’s Co-Pilot360 suite earns its keep on stretches like this. Adaptive Cruise Control maintained speed and distance naturally, while Lane Centering offered gentle corrections along the long runs of TPLEX.

For someone who spends most days managing too many things at once, it’s genuinely comforting when a car removes some of that mental load.

I’d planned to use the drive to process everything from the weeks before. Instead, I watched the landscape change. Concrete gave way to open fields. Fields gave way to mountains. Mountains eventually led us to the sea. For once, that was enough.

My friend, Echo, shared driving duties while Kelly and Noela drifted between conversations and naps. Up front, Echo and I turned the cabin into a private concert.

The B&O sound system filled the space without overwhelming it, and the insulation kept road noise distant enough that the outside world felt like a silent movie playing through the glass.

Our phones stayed charged the whole drive; the wireless pad handled that quietly, the way good technology should. With everything running through SYNC 4A, navigation and music just worked. The less we had to manage, the more we could enjoy the drive.

Luxury of staying put

Arriving at Casitas in San Juan, La Union, we settled in Villa Nikholai which felt less like a resort and more like a friend’s rest house in the province.

We didn’t rush out to explore and instead, settled around the dining table and talked about nothing in particular. The good nothing; the sort that fills a whole afternoon without you noticing.

The older I get, the less I want to maximize every trip. We used to try to squeeze every attraction into a single weekend.

These days, we trust that places will still be there when we come back. We spent the afternoon unpacking far more than just our luggage. Marathon stories, life updates, a decade’s worth of reflection over comfort food from Tagpuan.

Later, we watched Good Girls on Netflix until sleep won. No arguments. No suggestions of something else to do. Nobody felt guilty for resting.

The falls as the destination

Sunday morning took nearly two hours to start. Nobody seemed concerned. That collective patience felt like a small marker of growth.

We drove from San Juan toward San Gabriel, where Tangadan Falls was waiting. The road narrowed as we climbed, the scenery shifting into layers of green and winding mountain paths.

What the maps don’t tell you is that the last stretch — about 27 minutes from the municipal hall to the jump-off point — is steep, narrow, and in some sections, right beside a cliff with no guardrails.

We were careful the entire way up. And the entire way down. But we always knew where the car was, and that made the difference between a stressful drive and a manageable one.

At the jump-off, it’s a stairway down to the falls now; the original route through the boulders and river is closed. The climb down doesn’t prepare you for what’s waiting.

The falls are cold, loud, and completely indifferent to how long it took you to get there. We swam and didn’t say much.

A few years ago, I’d have been looking for the next thing the moment we arrived. This time, getting there was enough.

Uninterrupted sunset

Back in San Juan, we returned to our easy yet different rhythm. Noela had another beach outfit ready. Kelly rotted on bed watching Good Girls.

Echo alternated between napping and watching the same episodes. He’s a man fully committed to the art of doing nothing, which, I realized, was the whole point of the weekend.

So I uploaded photos, cleared a few work emails, then gave up on productivity and went outside.

As the afternoon light softened, we drove to a spot near the shoreline and settled in. We didn’t have any agenda or urgency. Nowhere to be after this.

At some point I realized I hadn’t checked my phone in hours — not because I was being disciplined about it or because I’d set some boundary for myself. I’d simply forgotten.

The sun was changing the color of the water. People moved in and out of the shoreline. Waves kept their conversation with the sand going, indifferent to all of us.

I sat with that longer than I expected. A genuinely restorative weekend doesn’t really announce itself. It arrives quietly, while you’re watching the tide, or while you’re noticing light on the water. It arrives while your phone is at the bottom of your bag and the world isn’t asking anything of you.

The rain came in before evening. We rushed back to the villa, which by then felt entirely ours. I jumped into the pool while it poured and sang Taylor Swift at a volume that required my friends to develop selective hearing. Nobody tried to stop me. That’s fourteen years of friendship.

I’m choosing to take that as love.

On the drive home…

Monday arrived slowly. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, lingered by the shoreline, and appreciated a peaceful version of La Union that felt deeply nostalgic. Devoid of the typical weekend crowds, Urbiztondo reminded me of the serene province I used to visit years ago.

While we seriously considered extending our stay for another day, reality eventually won because we had obligations waiting in Manila and an absolute lack of fresh clothes. That evening we loaded the Everest and drove home.

Echo and I split the night driving again. Along the dark stretches of TPLEX, my mind drifted. The last time I was in La Union, I was standing at the edge of something much harder: a reconciliation with someone who’d broken my heart.

The province had offered space for that. The waves listened while we said things neither of us knew how to say anywhere else.

That was three years ago. My life looks almost unrecognizable now.

This trip wasn’t about any of that, though. It was about gratitude. For friendships that have survived every version of who I’ve been. For growth that tends to happen quietly, without announcing itself. And for reaching a point where rest doesn’t feel like something to be earned.

As the Everest carried us home, I realized the weekend had given me exactly what I needed. Not an adventure or a revelation. Just a reminder that sometimes the greatest luxury isn’t arriving somewhere extraordinary.

It’s having nowhere else to be.

Every time a company announces an unusual product, someone inevitably asks, “But who asked for this?”

It’s a fair question. Practicality matters.

But after spending years reviewing tech, I’ve started appreciating another question just as much.

What if nobody had tried?

That, to me, is the story of ROG.

I only really noticed ROG when we started GadgetMatch back in 2015. Back then, they certainly didn’t feel like the powerhouse they do now. But even then, there was something different about the brand.

Looking back after more than a decade of reviewing their devices, I don’t think what defines ROG is that every product has been the best in its category.

It’s that they were rarely afraid to try something new. That’s a much harder thing to pull off.

The courage to experiment

I think ROG has always been willing to do things other gaming brands usually played safe with.

The late 2010s are probably the best example.

Gaming laptops were these behemoths that would break your back if you carried them around for an extended period. Then came the first iterations of the Zephyrus. It wasn’t just another gaming laptop. It was one of the first that genuinely attempted to shrink the gaming laptop form factor without giving up what made it a gaming machine.

From there, the attempts to try new things just kept happening. There was the ROG Phone. The Mothership. The Flow series. Dual-screen head scratchers. The ROG Ally. And more.

Not every experiment was perfect. That’s okay.

Because experimentation isn’t about getting everything right the first time. It’s about giving yourself permission to build something that doesn’t already exist.

That’s why, through all these years, the products I remember most aren’t the ones that played it safe.

The one that kept me curious

If I had to pick one ROG lineup that best represents that mindset, it’d be the Flow Series.

My first brush with it was the original Flow X13. My honest reaction?

“That’s… novel.”

At the time, I saw it as another attempt at shrinking a gaming machine. It came with the ROG XG Mobile—a proprietary external GPU that even used its own custom connector. That particular idea didn’t exactly age too well.

But what really made me gravitate toward the Flow series was the Flow Z13.

ROG calls it a tablet. Form factor-wise, it is. But that thing was chunky. Still, it became my work-and-play buddy for a good few months.

I took it with me on overseas coverage. During the day, it handled everything I needed for work. At night, I could finally unwind with a few games—something I don’t usually get to do while traveling for work.

I use NBA 2K to destress. The Flow Z13 felt like bringing a more-than-competent workhorse and an Xbox Series S in one convenient package.

The Flow didn’t necessarily solve a problem I already had. What intrigued me was what it represented.

To me, the Flow Series is ROG’s promise to keep trying new things. It constantly reimagines what a mobile work-and-play machine can be.

Where the Zephyrus now feels like a promise fulfilled, the Flow still feels like a promise to keep experimenting.

The easiest recommendation

If the Flow represents experimentation, then the Zephyrus represents refinement.

Whenever someone asks me for one gaming laptop recommendation, I almost always end up pointing them toward a Zephyrus.

It’s just the perfect marriage between a sleek work laptop and a gaming rig. There’s very little friction in recommending it because it looks like what most people expect a premium laptop to look like. Then, in an instant, it shifts gears and handles practically anything you throw at it.

That’s also why I’d recommend a Zephyrus over something like a Strix for most people. The Strix feels like it’s built for someone who fully embraces the gamer aesthetic. The Zephyrus feels more understated.

It’s the machine I’d recommend to someone who wants to look professional in a business meeting, then decompress at a café afterward by firing up a favorite game for a quick round or a side quest.

Through the years, that’s probably been the recommendation I’ve given more than any other.

Gaming, untethered

Then came the ROG Ally.

Before the Ally, I almost never played PC games away from a desk. All my life, PC gaming meant sitting at a table somewhere. The Ally really opened up the idea that PC gaming could happen anywhere.

That became especially obvious during the holidays. Whenever I went back to my hometown, I used to bring a bulky gaming console with me.

Last Christmas, I only packed the ROG Xbox Ally X. It completely satisfied my gaming needs.

Back in my tiny studio unit—which, admittedly, isn’t the ideal setup—it’s also become a great way to wind down before bed by knocking out a side quest or advancing a story for a bit. I don’t exactly recommend lying on your side while gaming, but hey, the use case exists.

One memory sticks out more than any benchmark ever could. Growing up, my older brother and I had to take turns using the TV to play games. Last Christmas, he was using the living room TV while I sat nearby playing on the Ally.

For the first time, we were both playing our own games at the same time. No taking turns.

That’s the kind of moment specs don’t really capture.

The products that stay with you

After using what is probably well over a dozen ROG devices at GadgetMatch, I’ve realized something. Their products might all be PCs—save for the ROG Phone—but they aren’t trying to be the same PC.

Each one is built for a different kind of user.

And because GadgetMatch has spent so much time reviewing ROG’s lineup over the years, they’ve naturally become one of the measuring sticks I use when evaluating gaming laptops.

Not necessarily because they’re always the best. Mostly because of the breadth and depth of the lineup—and the amount of time we’ve spent living with these machines.

You start to see the ideas evolve. Some stick immediately. Some need another generation. Meanwhile, some never quite find their audience. That’s part of experimenting.

Even today, I still think the dual-screen concept is on the cusp of something. It hasn’t completely made sense just yet, but I also don’t think we’ve seen its final form.

Years ago, I probably would’ve asked, “Who asked for this?”

Now I find myself asking something else.

“What if this is simply the first step?”

A legacy worth celebrating

Twenty years later, I don’t think ROG’s legacy is about always building the best gaming machine.

I think it’s about being brave and bold enough to keep trying new things—and having enough faith that its community will be there with honest feedback to help shape what comes next.

That’s probably why the ROG devices I remember most aren’t necessarily the ones with the highest frame rates or the biggest performance gains.

They’re the ones that made me stop and think,

“I didn’t expect someone to build this.”

As ROG celebrates its 20th anniversary and introduces its latest lineup—from the refined Zephyrus family to new Strix machines and the continued evolution of ideas like the Zephyrus Duo—I’m reminded that innovation doesn’t always happen in one giant leap. Sometimes it’s a series of bold attempts, small refinements, and the willingness to keep asking “what if?” until the answer finally clicks.

And after all these years, that’s still the part of ROG I remember most.

---

Learn more about the latest ROG lineup

As ROG celebrates its 20th anniversary, you can explore the latest additions to the Republic of Gamers lineup, locate an ROG Store near you, or learn more about ASUS’ No. 1 Quality and Service Package through the links below.

• 2026 ROG Gaming Laptop Series 
• Find an ROG Store
• ASUS No. 1 Quality and Service Package

Year after year, major phone brands are defying the manufacturing and costing challenges just to give the mid-class the smartphone cameras they deserve.

This 2026 and beyond, it seems like it’s the new norm for the freshest breed of premium midrangers.

Mainlander Midranger

The HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro are two smartphones positioned in the peak of the midranger pyramid.

On paper, they are highly likely the closest in terms of camera hardware.

	HONOR 600 Pro	OPPO Reno15 Pro
Wide	200MP f/1.9 1/1.4” Samsung ISOCELL HP3 sensor	200MP f/1.8 1/1.56” Samsung ISOCELL HP5 sensor
Ultra-Wide	12MP f/2.2 112º FoV	50MP f/2.0 116º FoV
Telephoto	50MP f/2.8 3.5x optical zoom	50MP f/2.8 3.5x optical zoom
Selfie	50MP f/2.0	50MP f/2.0

First and foremost, while these phones rock a similar 200MP cameras by Samsung, the sensor sizes and age are quite different.

The HONOR 600 Pro has a bigger yet older (2022) 1/1.4-inch ISOCELL HP3. Meanwhile, a newer (2025) yet standard-sized ISOCELL HP5 was used in the Reno15 Pro.

The biggest disparity can be seen in their ultra-wide modules. HONOR didn’t focus too much on it by giving a smaller 12MP f/2.2 with a tighter 112-degree FoV (Field of View).

On the other hand, the OPPO equipped a bigger 50MP module with a brighter f/2.0 aperture, and an even wider 116-degree FoV.

Lastly, both the telephoto and selfie shooters are at 50MP. Both telephoto cameras are capable of optically zooming in to 3.5x.

Fair and Square

Both of these midrangers have their own set of special sauces. But, for the sake of fairness, I’ve stuck with each of their default camera color profiles: Natural for the HONOR 600 Pro while Original in the OPPO Reno15 Pro.

Disclaimer: If you are new here, sample photos were all taken using the default AI Camera Mode. These images were resized and labeled for faster loading and better online preview. No color correction, zoomed-in cropping, nor any other type of photo manipulation were applied.

3.5x Telephoto

Starting with the common denominator of both phones: their 3.5x 50MP f/2.8 telephoto shooters

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9

T10

T11

T12

Beyond Telephoto Zoom

We have to break the barriers just to test each phones’ telephoto unit limit.

ZB1

ZB2

ZB3

ZB4

ZB5

ZB6

1x Wide (Main)

Again, both phones rock a 200MP camera but of different aperture and sensor sizes. Can you differentiate them from another though?

W1

W2

W3

W4

W5

W6

W7

W8

W9

W10

Ultra-Wide Angle (UWA)

Each FoV value can be your primary hint to determine which is which. But, is it enough for you to tell who’s the better performer?

U1

U2

U3

U4

U5

Mood for Food

A separate section for prospective users who will use one of these for food shots.

F1

F2

F3

F4

F5

Furry Friends

Whether it’s our pets or wild animals, they all have one thing in common: they are all very hard to capture especially when in motion.

FF1

FF2

FF3

FF4

FF5

FF6

FF7

FF8

Indoors

Subjects taken in any controlled lighting is another tricky test for both of these smartphones.

IN1

IN2

IN3

IN4

IN5

IN6

IN7

IN8

IN9

IN10

IN11

IN12

The Night is Right

The ultimate camera test all boils down to shots taken at night (or low-light).

Actual camera processing is one. Added AI algorithms and the actual output for another.

N1A  |  1x Wide

N1B  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N2  |  Ultra-Wide

N3A  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N3B  |  5x Lossless Zoom

N4  |  5x Zoom

N5  |  2x In-Sensor Zoom

N6  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N7  |  1x Wide

N8A  |  UWA

N8B  |  1x Wide

N9  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N10  |  5x Lossless Zoom

BONUS: Super Moon

That same telephoto module gives both the HONOR and OPPO midrangers a zoom reach as far as 120x.

M1  |  40x Digital Zoom

M2  |  120x Max Zoom

Results

Were you able to write down and tally your picks? Well, here are the results:

A — OPPO Reno15 Pro 5G 

B — HONOR 600 Pro

Conclusion

For the most part, samples taken on the HONOR 600 Pro are already social media-ready. They require little to no effort prior sharing it as your Facebook post or Instagram story.

And by that, the saturation and contrast game is strong as opposed to its rival — a look preferred by most users. These are clearly seen in Sets T1 / T5 / ZB5 / W1 / W2 / N1A.

Meanwhile, the OPPO Reno15 Pro leans more into the “natural” side.

Despite the absence of that premium Hasselblad partnership, it still gave desirable results for those who want the less “AI-processed” look (softer, reduced saturation, minimized contrast) which are evident in Photos T2 / T4 / T8 / T12 / ZB1 / ZB3 / W7 / W8 / FF7 / FF8.

Definitely, the results are not totally consistent. The OPPO Reno15 Pro mostly had a brighter and warmer output (T1 / T5 ~T7 / ZB6 / W1 / W4 / W5 / W8 / W10 / U1 / U2 / F1 / F2 / F4 / FF1 / FF2 / IN3 / IN8 / IN12 / N3A / N5).

Other times, the latter is brighter yet cooler (T12 / ZB1 / ZB2 / ZB3 / ZB4 / FF3 / FF8 / IN1 / IN2 / IN7 / IN9 / IN10 / IN11). Even the super moon shots on the HONOR 600 Pro were brighter, too.

These differences and inconsistencies might make or break your final decision which smartphone best suits your overall camera taste.

Pro-grade for less

Despite the continuous innovation and evolution of flagship smartphones when it comes to mobile imaging, phone manufacturers still try to balance everything out with midrange smartphones in the horizon.

The HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro are two among the handful midranger wonders meant for any pro-grade user who lacks the purchasing power to buy the bestest in the lineup — but, still want a very capable device for their smartphone-tography needs.

Clearly, the camera hardware isn’t the most “powerful” out there. Still, they are clear with the positioning of these phones. They are your pro-grade cameras for less.

As similar as their camera hardware, the HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro also have similar SRPs — at least the 12+512GB configuration.

• HONOR 600 Pro = PhP 48,999 / MYR 3299 / SG$ 1049
• OPPO Reno15 Pro = PhP 48,999 / MYR 3299 / SG$ 1049 (as Reno15 Pro Max)

HONOR your Reno?

Over the years of making dedicated camera shootout write-ups, I always thought that photos that look closer to our naked eyes is something that I should call “the better smartphone camera” — especially because of the accuracy of their output.

Now, with the advent of smartphone cameras with countless camera partnerships and all the imaginable profiles / presets / styles / recipes (or whatever you want to call ’em) to ever exist, it got harder to decide which smartphone to recommend for most users.

Such sentiment made me realize that there is no single clear winner at all.

So what’s the point of making another extensive camera comparison like this? Well, it’s still for you to show how each phone is capable (or incapable) both in camera hardware and software. It’s also for you to choose the camera look that’s closer to your liking.

Clearly, both the HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro are very capable smartphone cameras. But, at the end of the day, it’s your power as a buyer which pro-grade midranger wins your eyes and heart.

Now, if you will consider other aspects such as their core hardware, OS skin, and even after-sales service, that’s clearly for another story.