ROG Phone! The time has come... pic.twitter.com/5qp66oMpyr

— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) June 4, 2018

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During a surprise announcement today at Computex, ASUS announced that it's jumping on the gaming smartphone bandwagon with the ASUS ROG Phone. Somewhat akin other recent gaming smartphone like the Razer Phone, Red Magic or Black Magic, the ROG Phone boasts high end specs and more unique accessories to emphasize on the gaming aspect.

First off, let's see the specs:

• Processor: Octa-core Snapdragon 845 chipset up to 2.96GHz
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 630
• 6-inch 2,160 x 1,080 AMOLED screen (with HDR support and 90 Hz refresh rate)
  
• 8 GB RAM
• Storage: UFS 2.1, 128GB / 512GB
• 4 000mAh battery
  
• Dimensions: 158.8 x 76.2 x 8.6mm
• Weight: 200g
• Dual rear cameras: 12MP + 8MP ultra-wide
  
• Front camera: 8MP
• Rear fingerprint reader

No word pricing or release window yet but let's take a look at what has actually been revealed other than the available specs!

ASUS did not fail to include the "must have" gaming feature in any peripheral worthy of that title as it slapped a customizable RGB ROG logo at the back of the phone.

The sides of the ROG Phone pack programmable ultrasonic sensors: 2 on the sides in landscape which serve as shoulder buttons allowing you to use these functions without touching the screen. A third one is found at the bottom left in portrait which allows the phone to toggle apps when squeezed.

The smartphone also packs 3 USB Type-C ports: 1 on the bottom and 2 conjoined on the side. The idea behind being that it'll prevent the charging cable from getting in the way in landscape mode while gaming.

The 2 conjoined ports also serve as the entry port for the dedicated peripherals revealed during the event. The AeroActive Cooler is one such clip-on accessory with a 6 000 mAh battery with a built-in fan that can be adjusted to your liking with the companion app.

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Another intriguing dedicated accessory announced is the TwinView Dock. The latter is a clamshell dock with a built-in battery and secondary screen at the bottom while the ROG Phone is attached to the top via the USB port. The end product looks very much like an NDS Phat and ASUS actually hopes that developers will come up with ideas to use both screens.

There's also a Mobile Desktop dock that allows streaming of the phone's content onto your bigger desktop screen.

GameVice also announced its own peripheral for the ROG Phone, the GameVice controller, which clips on either sides of the phone to provide physical controller buttons.

If the ROG Phone gets popular enough, we might see more such dedicated add-ons released in the future. What do you think? Will the ASUS ROG Phone the gaming phone that gamers have been waiting for all this time? Or will it go down in history like the N-Gage?

SOURCE

 

[LightyKD]

That phone must be really massive if that powerbank is 6000 mAh.
This whole "gaming phone" thing is ridiculous when none of them even have physical buttons. They could have added some buttons to the side of that extra screen, missed opportunity IMO.

That's what the Gamevice controller is for. That said, Gamevice keeps making shitty looking controllers for Android and gives iOS all the pretty looking ones. Seriously, WTF?! Someone make a better looking controller! As for a comparison of all three Android gaming phones. This one is obviously the best. Now Android just needs the software and Google Play needs to straighten the fuck up! It's been years and we still don't have an icon or dedicated section for games with controller support.

 

[Dexxy]

• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 630
• 6-inch 2,160 x 1,080 AMOLED screen (with HDR support and 90 Hz refresh rate)
  
• 8 GB RAM

So we have a joke GPU with 2160x1080 resolution and 8 gb ram and what about games?

 

[Xzi]

Fucks sake, put Windows on it. Nobody would buy a 1000$ phone for playing PUBG Mobile.

Precisely. It's not a gaming phone, it's just like any other phone with Android. Except you triple or quadruple the price tag.

 

[chirogan]

This seems a nice idea. I wonder how dolphin emulator runs here.

And i wonder about the price. Because apart from ram, and battery, this is a glorified flagship phone (samsung, oneplus, huawei, I̶p̶h̶o̶n̶e̶)

 

[Delerious]

I mean... is there really even much of a market for gaming phones? The peripherals are neat and all, but this is probably going to be wasted effort.

 

[the_randomizer]

Following the Switch's success every other company wants a slice of the cake

Only based of the fact that other companies can't come up with anything legitimately original, so if they can't do something good on their own, they have to resort to imitation. Talk about lazy.

I mean... is there really even much of a market for gaming phones? The peripherals are neat and all, but this is probably going to be wasted effort.

Gaming phones almost sounds like an oxymoron. Nothing says "fun" more than controlling a game where your fingers cover 75% of the screen

 

[GBADWB]

I mean... is there really even much of a market for gaming phones? The peripherals are neat and all, but this is probably going to be wasted effort.

I believe the gaming phone design targets china moreso the west

 

[the_randomizer]

Precisely. It's not a gaming phone, it's just like any other phone with Android. Except you triple or quadruple the price tag.

Apparently, some people think that automatically makes a phone superior.

 

[Delerious]

I believe the gaming phone design targets china moreso the west

The poor saps. And all they really needed was a Huawei or a Xiaomi.

 

[Bladexdsl]

look switch...look what you've done

 

[ertaboy356b]

Wow! Win every game with this ultra HD Mobile MOBA action!

 

[the_randomizer]

• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 630
• 6-inch 2,160 x 1,080 AMOLED screen (with HDR support and 90 Hz refresh rate)
  
• 8 GB RAM

So we have a joke GPU with 2160x1080 resolution and 8 gb ram and what about games?

Why use a Tegra X1 when you can use a low-grade cheap-ass GPU?

 

[Bladexdsl]

and what about games?

all android pay to play/paywall GARBAGE.

 

[the_randomizer]

all android pay to play/paywall GARBAGE.

Only games worth playing on phones/tablets are emulators.

 

[Foxi4]

18650s are a lot larger than an AA. They're like 50% thicker.
I know about high capacity cells, but that powerbank doesn't look big enough to fit more than 3000mAh max.

You're thinking about volume. An AA battery is 14.5mm in diameter and 50.5mm in height at the extreme, an 18650 is 18mm in diameter and 65.5mm in height. They're only a little bit bigger when side by side, and it's only to prevent users from plugging them into the wrong appliance since they have a higher voltage. If the pack uses a flat pouch battery, it's perfectly plausible to store 6000mAh in capacity - I own a 10000mAh pack which is about the size of my phone (4x2500mAh 18650) - the one in the picture is about half the size of it, so the capacity is perfectly plausible to me.



 

[Jonna]

What is WRONG with these people??!
if I want great big clunky controller Add-ons then I buy a gaming console.
If I want a little pocketable phone, I DO NOT WANT the giant clunky controller add on.

What I ACTUALLY want from "Gaming Phone" is a little nice phone, that looks like a standard candybar phone, but that then has a lovely little slideout controller.
I don’t care if it ends up being a little bit thicker than a standard phone.. the 3DS fits snuggly in my pocket. Just make sure it has a screen on the front, and a decent slidy-out control panel, with buttons that work properly and don't break.
That’s what I want.
That's a "Gaming Phone"

Agreed I want my Sony Xperia Play 2, damnit.

 

[leon315]

Finally i can play Candy rush at 2k! and...
THE DETACH-ABLE gamepad is NOT INCLUDED!

 

[Arolandis]

Unless they make one of these "gaming phones" in the design of an Xperia Play (slide-out controls,but with today's more powerful mobile hardware), then I don't think anybody is going to care.

I do kind of like it, but it still can't replace my current phone and portable consoles. Not with that design.

 

[guily6669]

Why use a Tegra X1 when you can use a low-grade cheap-ass GPU?

The Adreno 630 goes up to 737Glops, it is more than double the performance of the Switch in portable clocks (theoretically, not real world performance)...

But yeah, Android games? LOL what a bloody joke. For the price of this phone I can most likely make a full PC that can play even the CRAP BFV above 60FPS...

This phone to me looks like a gimmick for rick kids.

Same goes for their ROG laptops... For the price of them, you can actually buy a cheaper clevo with true DESKTOP hardware in a laptop and also get finger print scanner, 4K HDR screen and also RGB keyboard for around the price of a ROG with laptop hardware and not desktop hardware which is still considerably faster, and also Clevo comes with Prema unlocked bios if you know where to buy and supports OC...

 

[the_randomizer]

The Adreno 630 goes up to 737Glops, it is more than double the performance of the Switch in portable clcoks (theoretically, not real world performance)...

But yeah, Android games? LOL what a bloody joke. For the price of this phone I can most likely make a full PC that can play even the CRAP BFV above 60FPS...

This phone to me looks like a gimmick for rick kids.

Gaming and phone, again, seem like an oxymoron, and yeah, most Android games are boring at best. You're better off using this as a camera, playing media or emulators