[REVIEW] ASUS ROG Phone 2 – The Alpha Android Mobile Gaming Phone

ASUS ROG Phone 2 is an updated already great ASUS ROG Phone that released last year. It still has more add-on accessories than my car.

Key Specification

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+
  • 12GB LPDDR4x RAM
  • 6.59-inch SuperAMOLED Display with 120Hz Refresh Rate, 10-bit HDR, Dolby Vision
  • 512GB / 1TB UFS 3.0 Storage
  • 48MP SONY IMX586 + 13MP Ultra-wide
  • 24MP Front Camera
  • In-display Fingerprint Scanner
  • 6,000 mAh Battery with 30W ROG HyperCharge

Unboxing & First Impression

Design

ASUS ROG Phone 2 is an enormous phone, it’s huge and heavy. It sports a 6.59-inch display that has some chin and fore for more gaming ergonomic handling. The bezels also provide space for great-sounding stereo speakers that loud yet solid even at maximum volume. It has nearly 10mm thickness to house the vapor-cooling heat-sink and also 6,000 mAh battery.

It sandwiches with curved-side glasses on the front and back. Similar to the first ROG Phone, the design is pretty familiar, the aggressive design edge, RGB-lite ROG logo and multi-colour reflective glass highlights. The copper vent is not just for the look, it works to dissipate heats efficiently.

Buttery Smooth Screen

The ROG Phone 2 not only rated native 10-bit HDR, but the refresh rate is also switchable between 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. The responses are very smooth and slick even navigating Android’s menu and app scrolling like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and etc. It tricked my eye, the phone performs faster compared to the same Snapdragon 855+ powered smartphone.

It uses an optical in-display fingerprint scanner that’s work pretty fast and accurate. If you enabled Face-Unlock, you wouldn’t really need to place your finger on the display as the Face-Unlock unlocked your device before you even placed your finger for scanning.

Gaming & Performance

Gaming is the reason why you want to get the ASUS ROG Phone 2. It’s rated The World’s Best Performing Gaming Phone by AnTuTU.

Its Snapdragon 855+ is clocked at 2.96Ghz and coupled with faster 12GB LPDDR4x RAM putting it top of the AnTuTu best-ranking phone list.

Here are some benchmark score that I tested on the device;

  • AnTuTu 3D Benchmark – 399,712
  • Geekbench Mark – 779 (Single Core), 2846 (Multi-Core)
  • AndroBench – 1,433 MB/s (Read) / 386 MB/s (Write)

Out-of-box the ROG Phone is bundled with AeroActive Cooler II that not only give extra cooling to the device, it also expands its USB port and 3.5mm audio port for landscape game-play where you can hook up USB Cable for charging and use your favourite pair of earphone for gaming.

There’s also AirTriggers features on the topside when you holding the phone in landscape. It’s ultrasonic buttons that work as L and R buttons where you found it on normal console’s controller. It can be customized to any keys that you want. The AirTriggers has been updated where it can recognize tapping and swiping.

Just like the original ROG Phone, it has X-Mode which allows you to adjust the fan’s speed (if you put on the AeroActive Cooler II), RGB lighting and tunes the max out the power from the Snapdragon 855+ to ensure you get the highest performance. There’s a new Amory Crate app that brings up your Games Lobby and it lets you customize specific game profiles, CPU speeds, display refresh rate, manage notification, screen touch sensitivity and more.

Camera

Although this is a gaming-centric phone, ASUS didn’t disappoint us with the camera. It features the same dual-cameras that found on the ASUS ZenFone 6; 48-megapixels SONY IMX586 coupled with a 13-megapixels ultra-wide camera. ASUS has positioned the front 24-megapixels camera to the top right for more ideal spot for live streaming.

Camera outcome was pretty good in good lighting conditions with the supports of Auto HDR, Portrait, Night Mode and Pro Mode if you prefer in-control of the camera settings. Video recording-wise, it can shoot up to 4K@60fps with EIS supports.

Here are some photos were taken with the ASUS ROG Phone 2

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ROG UI or ZenUI

The ASUS ROG Phone 2 given the choice to choose between a more aggressive ROG UI Theme or much or simpler clean ZenUI that seen on the ASUS ZenFone 6.

Battery

The 6,000 mAh battery is arguably huge for normal usage for a smartphone. It could easily deliver 2 days of battery like with moderate use. Even if you are playing games, you would need a break-time even before the phone need to be charged.

If you still think 6,000 mAh battery insufficient, ASUS has ROG HyperCharge that output 25W + 5W (Accessories)

Accessories

It comes with a pre-bundled AeroActive Cooler II and Aero Case. The optional accessories are TwinView Dock II, ROG Kunai GamePad, Mobile Desktop Dock, Pro Dock, WiGig Display Dock Plus and ROG Lighting Armour Case.

Price & Availability

The ASUS ROG Phone is available starting 17th October 2019 and offers two versions; 12GB + 512GB (Elite, Glossy Black) and 12GB + 1TB (Ultimate, Matte Black) for the price of RM 3,499 and RM 4,499 respectively.

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ASUS ROG Phone 2 Review
  • Build
  • Design
  • Performance
  • Software
  • Battery
4.6

Verdict

No others Mobile Gaming smartphone out there come close with the ASUS ROG Phone 2. The seriousness gaming features were packed in one beast smartphone. Offering 120Hz AMOLED display, the Snapdragon 855+ and 6,000 mAh all-day-long battery life.

It’s the most powerful Android smartphone you can buy right now.