Asus has today announced the launch of its latest gaming smartphone in India with ROG Phone II. The smartphone comes with a price tag of Rs 37,999 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage variant, while the 12GB RAM with 512GB option is priced at Rs 59,999. and it will be available for purchase from Flipkart starting from September 30.
The latest gaming smartphone is the best offering from Asus to its users. The smartphone comes loaded with top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Processor along with an AMOLED screen that features 120Hz Refresh Rate and 240ms response time. Apart from this, the phone is built keeping gamers in mind. So, can it be the gaming smartphone of this year? We got some time with the device and here are our first impressions.
Design and Display
The ROG Phone II is a beautifully-designed smartphone for sure. The back panel comes loaded with a glass finish and there are some gaming-centric engraving on the panel. The company has also added a heat pipe outlet at the right side of the back panel, while the dual-camera setup with dual-LED flash is situated at the top-left area. The front is equipped with a large screen with dual stereo speakers with one at the base and top. The right side of the phone comes with AirTiggers II at the top and base. There is also volume controls and power on/off button.
The left side features side-mounted ports and a Dual-SIM slot. The base of the phone is equipped with a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack. Overall, the smartphone is quite big when you hold in your hand and it is a bit slippery so a protective case is a must.
Coming to the display, the ROG Phone 2 is loaded with a 6.59-inch Full HD+ AMOLED Display with a screen resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection. The display is crisp and text appears to be sharp. The major highlight of the phone is the new 120Hz refresh rate, which is generally seen in high-end gaming laptops. Furthermore, to make it more promising, Asus has added 240ms response time making a delight for mobile gamers.
Hardware and Software
The ROG Phone 2 is a gaming beast in true sense. The smartphone is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor along with Adreno 640 GPU. The phone is backed by up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. The specifications are top-notch and it comes loaded with some gaming-centric features as well.
To start with, the company has added AirTriggers 2, which are touch-sensitive buttons, placed on the right side. The buttons can be configured according to the game and they are quite helpful in games like PUBG Mobile. Furthermore, for better heat management, the company has added GameCool II with vapour-chamber heat dissipation design, which keeps the phone cool during intensive gameplay. It also features dual haptic actuators for 3D feedback.
Coming to the software, the ROG Phone 2 runs on Android 9.0 Pie, which is based on ROG UI. The user interface offers a near-stock experience, though it comes with some customisation from Asus. You get minimal bloatware with Netflix, and few other third-party apps are installed on this smartphone. We will talk more about this in our upcoming review.
Camera
On the camera front, the phone is loaded with a dual-camera setup, which comes with a combination of 48-megapixel primary lens along with a 13-megapixel Wide-Angle lens with a 125-degree field of view. For the front, the company has added a 24-megapixel selfie shooter. The camera mode is pretty simple to use and easy-to-understand. It comes with different modes including Time-Lapse, Slo-Mo, Motion Tracking, Video, Photo, Portrait, Pano, Night and Pro. Although it is too early to comment on the camera performance, we managed to click some photos from this device, which you can check out here.
Battery, Security and Connectivity
It is backed by a 6000mAh battery with 30W HyperCharge Fast charging technology. Interestingly, the base model comes with an 18W fast charger, though the top-end model comes bundled with 30W fast charger. The battery should ideally one full day of power usage and one could expect to give almost two days of battery life under normal usage.
The smartphone also supports in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock. The fingerprint is quite fast to unlock the device. It also comes with stereo speakers, which delivers good volume at high levels. On the connectivity front, it supports WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth V 5.0 ( EDR + A2DP), GPS(L1+L5), GLO, BDS, GAL(E1+E5a), QZSS(L1+L5), USB Type-C port, 3.5mm Audio Jack and dual-SIM support.