ASUS ROG Phone Announced
ROG Phone! The time has come... pic.twitter.com/5qp66oMpyr
— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) June 4, 2018
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
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.
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?
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