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

 

[dimmidice]

At least it looks cool

Does not look cool.

 

[fatsquirrel]

At least it looks cool

Cool? You kidding right? It looks like all ''gamer'' branded stuff out there.

 

[VitaType]

Asus makes ARM based products? Is that anything new?

Edit: Turns out Asus already has quiet a few ARM based products.

 

[SavageNoble]

I dream of playing upscaled Dragon Quest on the TwinView. Besides that, gaming phones are a meme to me.

 

[Taleweaver]

I...urm...what?

Okay, this seriously calls for...

TTTRRRRIPPPLE FACEPALM!!!!!


I mean, yeah...I've read stories about starting game companies lead by someone only having vague clues about actual games...but that was when it was in a time where the gaming industry was just in its infancy. By this time shouldn't you at least expect SOME KIND of expertise with the matter at hand? It's like they design a chair of which you can barely sit down on, FFS!


*sigh*

Okay...so the thing has at least...

Wait...sorry. I misread it having buttons. Instead it has "sensors which can be programmed to serve as shoulder buttons", and...

...I just want to add another facepalm. It's bad enough that it misses buttons (about the one thing gamers ACTUALLY want from a gaming device), but shoulder buttons are even worse to emulate. I'm not an aficionado on the field, but I understand very well that racing gamers want to have full control over the tightness of their squeeze to correspond with the screen. This is just a slap to their faces ("hey guys...do you like hot chicks?" "YEEEEEAAAAH!" "well, we got a hot guy instead. You're all open minded, right?").

Those peripherals...I'm a geek, but these seriously push their luck.
-a powerbank you can clip to your phone might be worth something. But 'with their own fan'? And seeing how the phone has three (THREE!!!) USB-C adapters, I'm guessing it plugs in one (or two) of those. Meaning: the potential idea is smothered by it being locked to one single phone.
-honestly: that clamshell battery with added secondary screen is a joke, right? I mean...it has to be. Who in their right mind came up with something so utterly stupid? The kinect was a stupid accessory, but at least it was attempting something. This would need a STRONG killer app to even sell the system, but instead this is an optional component. That's just...seriously? You can just as well slap a "ROB ME! I'M TOO RICH TO HANDLE MONEY RESPONSIBLY!!!" bumper sticker on the device.
-the mobile desktop dock...I won't lie: this device is interesting. I've seen it pitched as a concept before and I'm hoping it becomes mainstream some day...for a business environment. With all the mobility these days, it makes more sense as a company to just give everyone a phone and put these chargers and peripherals in the offices. As a gaming solution...I don't see the appeal. Mostly because the amount of android games that actually use keyboard and mouse is pretty much nill for obvious reasons.
-and finally: gamevice. My first thought was "hang on...how is that NOT a switch rip-off?". I even wanted to joke that if they'd be successful with it, they could just as well being sued by those guys suing nintendo for stealing their product.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't work, as it turns out these are the very same guys. In other words: these clowns are suing the switch for stealing their design, despite the fact that THEY JUST NOW ANNOUNCED THEIR DEVICE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

In other words: this is how I feel about this:


EDIT: oops...almost forgot: why the freaking hell isn't the operating system not part of the specs? Okay, I'm being the devil's advocate here because it shows android in the pictures, but Jesus...how is that NOT a spec?
(normally I'd also say something about missing a microSD card slot, but at least it has THAT covered up pretty nicely)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

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. The Xperia Play is the only true gaming phone, too bad they never made a followup.

 

[SomeGamer]

An ugly SwitchDS. Wonder how it'll work with DraStic though.

 

[Kingy]

Who in the world would need 8GB RAM on their phone? Seems like a huge waste.

 

[Jiehfeng]

I would personally love a device like this, but the price seems everything at this point. Fingers crossed.

 

[osaka35]

I had an ROG laptop once, broke within 2 months. It'll be interesting to see if this last. What a great phone to play pokemon go on X'D

 

[Taffy]

Temper Tantrums No.5

We're now getting into satirical territory...

time for an issue of ten cents I guess


...Does every gaming device just have glowy bits? I mean, I GUESS they look cool, but...

 

[Foxi4]

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.

Not really. Modern Li-ion cells have huge capacity, most manufacturers just don't use the latest chemistries and cathode/anode materials. I myself use 3350mAh 18650's in my projects and they're only slightly larger than a AA. A flat pack cell can easily hold 6000mAh while remaining relatively small in size.

 

[Kioku]

Who in the world would need 8GB RAM on their phone? Seems like a huge waste.

Every generation it's the same thing.. I remember being told 16GB in my computer was too much.. I remember 4GB in my phone was too much... Ehhhhh

 

[SuperDan]

what is the price of this switch wanna be ? Looks bloody ugly as sin

 

[WhiteMaze]

Considering the latest webcomic entry, this is just icing on the cake.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Not really. Modern Li-ion cells have huge capacity, most manufacturers just don't use the latest chemistries and cathode/anode materials. I myself use 3350mAh 18650's in my projects and they're only slightly larger than a AA. A flat pack cell can easily hold 6000mAh while remaining relatively small in size.

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.

 

[Pluupy]

I'm sick of all these companies release these idiotic "gaming" phones. There are no good games on Android which use controller besides emulators, and even if they do they are likely to be incompatible. They always include a shitty market app of select few games the manufacturer could confirm works with the controller and that's it. Sick of this.

Buy a Samsung flagship for latest mobile hardware. This shit is embarassing for both parties.

 

[GhostLatte]

Now I can watch my 4K porn over 60 fps on the go. Thanks ASUS!

 

[CeeDee]

Gaming phones seem like a real silly idea to me.

This one especially, it's a phone, and a DS, and a Switch? How odd. How useless, honestly. Full HD Candy Crush and all.

 

[BlastedGuy9905]

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