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

 

[The Real Jdbye]

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.

Gamevice is not cheap though, and you can buy those for non "gaming" phones as well, there's nothing really making these gaming phones any different from normal phones.

 

[guily6669]

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

Same opinion here... I have the Nvidia Shield Tablet and I never finished a single game or played almost any game at all... I just install them play 10 minutes and I mostly never open them anymore .

The ones I played more was strategy games, but since on android 99% is just base rape based kiddy strategy games, yeah, theres like only 2 or 3 max RTS games to actually play and I never finished a single one, they are even worse than a command and conquer from the 90's... I even wonder why doesnt EA start selling the old C&C on android like RED ALERT 2 from the 2000's...

The most advanced one is Z Steel Soldiers and really look like a nice windows strategy game and has enhancements for tegra, however the game is hard as hell...

ps: At the end I only play MINESWEEPER on my tablet LOOOL

 

[I_like_hacks]

probably running android. what a waste.

 

[LightyKD]

Gamevice is not cheap though, and you can buy those for non "gaming" phones as well, there's nothing really making these gaming phones any different from normal phones.

At this point in Android gaming, i completely agree. Shield TV has a few good PC ports but that's it. Higher end AAA games (by higher end, I mean PS3/360 era stuff) are not plentiful on the Play Store making these phones pointless.

 

[FAST6191]

Re: "there are no good games" then while we might have be able to debate that have you never heard the phrase "build it and they will come"? Similar response to "where is the market?".

I don't know if this will be the thing to do it -- my bollocks aren't tingling but then again no phone has ever done that and I still have no desire to own one, at least until pay as you go internet that lasts until it runs out of bandwidth is a thing. Similarly this republic of gamers lark occasionally percolates up into my awareness and it seems cheap and tacky even by companies deciding to do the "create a community" path in life.

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

People like portable games (cards, magnetic/peg games and more go back possibly centuries) and phones have more or less destroyed every other dedicated market. I don't think it was a matter of looking at the Switch's "success" and saying "that" as much as a generally obvious choice for a device maker.

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

How many said that about cameras on phones or media players on phones? How many now have dedicated devices like that any more, and even those that do how many of those have the big boy toys for truly serious stuff and still use a phone for the day to day thing?

 

[anhminh]

Oh wow, look at all those sharp edge and corner. It look so manly, so mature, definitely a machine for true gamer... who stupid enough to buy this bullshit console with no game except shitty android mobage.

 

[SS4]

ROFL, be ready to pay a premium just coz of the ROG moniker
Phones were never meant for gaming anyways, guess someone wants to change this.
If it can break the trend of the fucking bazillions of apps that are tailored to milk the shit of ppl that are so popular nowadays and called "games" by some ppl . . . well i'm all for it then!

 

[guily6669]

call me when triple AA current games are playable on a phone with almost as good graphics as on the PS4 and with all multiplatform games available like Battlefields and shitz...

And anyway RGB LOL why would I want to waste any battery for a god damn stupid kiddy RGB jeez...

 

[RedBlueGreen]

This thing is super ugly looking. Like every other "gaming" device it has to have a super ugly "futuristic" look. You just know that aesthetics will be included in the purchase price and with specs like those the price will already be super high

 

[smilodon]

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

More like every other company wants the PUBG/fortnite mobile audiance.

 

[Hurtz007]

The only way I'm getting a "gaming" phone is when Project Hangover (port of x86 wine to arm64 devices) gets completed (or in a very usable state like Wine stable)... Then I MIGHT pick one up if I deem it worth the money... Must have specs are 8GB ram and 16GB storage (I know that's low but I rely on micro SD cards anyways for large files) as well as whatever arm64 CPU is best at the time... I mean I like the idea... I just want it implemented better... If anyone wants to look at Hangover (or my project "Hold My Beer") both r on github... Oh sorry... Micro$ub formerly known as github

 

[KingVamp]

Not sure, does this take SD cards?

Aside the problem of not including controls on the phone itself or a controller attachment in the box, this does seems like the best attempt at a gaming phone.

It is pretty funny that this phone managed to have three USB ports and a headphone jack, when some other companies not only take away the jack, but can't even be bother to give you more than one USB port.

 

[supergamer368]

jokes on you i just got a gaming fitbit

 

[Jonna]

jokes on you i just got a gaming fitbit

Can't compete with my gaming contact lens.

 

[supergamer368]

Can't compete with my gaming contact lens.

i also got a gaming hearing aid

 

[Jonna]

i also got a gaming hearing aid

Ooo, nice. I would get that, if it didn't have compatibility issues with my gaming brain implant.

 

[supergamer368]

Ooo, nice. I would get that, if it didn't have compatibility issues with my gaming brain implant.

of course, nothing compares to my gAMiNg PaCemAKER

 

[KingVamp]

Not sure why you guys didn't update and replace the whole thing yet. My gaming body and brain is great.