ASUS ROG Phone II vies for gaming phone crown

ASUS Republic of Gamers

The gaming phone segment isn’t exactly a big market. But there are several contenders there. And after a year since it launched its first model, ASUS is back with a bigger and better model. ASUS didn’t change much with the phone’s design but improved it in other respects. The ROG Phone II is the first smartphone to sport the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset, a tweaked version of the 855 built for better gaming and virtual reality use. The phone now has a 6.59-inch display with a 120Hz 10-bit HDR screen with 1ms latency. It now shows images twice as fast as the 60Hz of a normal phone, but this also has 60Hz and 90Hz modes available.

The ROG Phone II also now gets a bigger 6,000mAh battery, which is one of the biggest out there for a smartphone. But if you expect to game a lot on this device, then you’ll burn through this quicker. ASUS promises up to seven hours of non-stop PUBG action on this device. And with 30W ROG HyperCharge using a standard 3A cable, it can charge up pretty quickly, too.

The phone has been optimized for landscape use. With weight kept under 78mm, it should still be easy to use with one hand. The ROG Phone II still has a 3.5mm headphone jack and two USB-C ports. Its front-facing stereo speakers come with DTS:X Ultra support, allowing you to simulate multi-channel audio. The chambers are larger this time to make these 2.5 times louder than the original one.

ASUS Republic of Gamers

ASUS improved the Air Triggers on the ROG Phone II. It’ll let you rest your fingers on them like you would an actual trigger and it can tell if you press down. These also recognize new swiping gestures. ASUS also installed new vibration motors on the left and right for directional haptic feedback. To address any heating issues, ASUS put in vents that lead the heat away from the vapor chamber.

If you’re wondering what the camera is on this phone, the ones at the back of the phone borrow sensors from the ZenFone 6. It has a 48-megapixel Quad Bayer for the main camera and a 13-megapixel sensor behind the 125-degree ultra-wide-angle lens. It doesn’t have the flip-up mechanism of the ZenFone 6 but you get a 24-megapixel selfie camera.

It’ll be launching in China first in partnership with Tencent. And so far its starting price for the vanilla version of the phone (12GB RAM/128GB storage) is at CNY 6,000 (around CA$1,150). The global launch of the phone will be in the first week of September.

Source: GSMArena 1 + 2 + The Verge