If you love mobile gaming and money is no object, there’s clearly one option and one option only – ASUS’ mind-blogging, in-your-face ROG Phone. Unveiled in June this year, the Mack Daddy of gaming phones is finally in Malaysia.
I don’t want to come across sounding like a fanboy. But it’s hard not to be completely drawn to the ROG Phone. It’s deliberate, it’s no-hold-barred, it’s every bit a gamers kit built by gamers.
So, it has a love-it-or-hate-it type of design, but admit it, no other phone (and certainly those proclaiming to be gaming phones) look anything like this.
If the brash exterior doesn’t turn you on then I can assure you the rest will. There’s attention to detail, well-thought out features, orgasmic hardware and some neat software to boot. And that “breathing” illuminated RGB ROG logo on the back. Sold.
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: this is how you build a gaming phone.
The ROG Phone has ASUS’ and ROG’s gaming DNA written all over it. The device is well built, an edgy, over-the-top concoction of metal and glass and asymmetry.
And then there’s the thoughtful details like an additional USB-C port on the side, so when you’re holding the phone and playing games in a horizontal orientation you can keep the device charged by plugging a cable at the bottom with disrupting gameplay.
There’s a pair of haptic AirTriggers on the side of the device, so if you’re playing games like PUBG Mobile or Free Fire, you can use them as triggers.
The 6-inch FHD+ AMOLED display is crisp and it boasts a high 90Hz refresh rate and 1ms pixel response time. You may argue that the Razer Phone has a 120Hz refresh rate, but take note, that’s an LCD panel.
As a gamer, you’ll absolutely appreciate the speed-binned Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip that tops 2.96GHz, 200MHz higher than stock. It’s a scorcher, even if you’re not interested in benchmark scores. It tops 300,000 points on AnTuTu by the way.
ASUS didn’t hold back on memory either – there’s 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM coupled with either 128GB or 512GB of storage.
So far so good?
Whether you’re talking about car engines, CPUs or GPUs, heat is detrimental to performance. ASUS made sure the ROG Phone stays cool no matter what. The device has a unique 3D vapour chamber design and a nickel-plated cooler. ASUS also bundles the AeroActive Cooler – a cooling accessory that can be attached to the back of the device.
There’s a pair of front-facing stereo speakers and a large 4,000mAh battery that charges via USB Type-C. ASUS even supplies a USB-PD power brick in the box, which supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.
But wait, why just build a phone? Let’s do the whole shebang ASUS thought. And they did.
There’s a range of cool accessories that can be purchased separately with the ROG Phone. First up, you have the TwinDock that provides a secondary 6-inch AMOLED screen for dual-screen goodness. It comes with additional stereo speakers, two extra physical buttons, enhanced cooling and a built-in 6,000mAh battery.
There’s a GameVice controller with a WiGig Dock that adds physical gaming controls with dual analogue joysticks and a D-Pad.
The Mobile Desktop Dock gives you more ports to connect to an external display (up to 4K UHD resolution), keyboard and mouse, and Gigabit LAN.
Key specs at a glance
| ROG Phone | |
| Processor | Exclusive 2.96GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 630 |
| Display | 6.0“ 18:9 (2160×1080) AMOLED 90Hz refresh rate with 1ms pixel response time 108.6% DCI-P3 color gamut and 10000:1 contrast ratio 10-point multi-touch (supports Glove Touch) Discrete image processing chip supports HDR |
| Memory | LPDDR4X 8GB RAM |
| Storage | UFS 2.1, 128GB / 512GB |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, e-compass, proximity sensor, Hall sensor, ambient-light sensor, fingerprint sensor, gyroscope, 2 x ultrasonic AirTriggers |
| Wireless | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi Direct and WiGig 802.11ad wireless display support Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC |
| GPS | Supports GPS, aGPS, Glonass, BeiDou |
| Side I/O | Custom USB-C supports USB 3.1 Gen 1, DP 1.4, fast charging (15W) ASUS HyperCharge direct charging |
| Bottom I/O | USB-C supports USB 2.0, fast charging (20W), Direct Charge 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Cameras | Main: 12MP + 8MP (120° wide-angle) Front: 8MP |
| Audio | Dual front-facing stereo speakers with smart amplifier 24-bit/192KHz Hi-Res Audio DTS Headphone:X 7.1 virtual surround-sound Qualcomm aptX High-definition Bluetooth® wireless audio |
| Battery | 4,000mAh |
| Dimensions | 158.8 x 76.2 x 8.6mm |
| Weight | 200g |
Pricing and availability
The ROG Phone retails for MYR3,499 and MYR3,999 for the 128GB and 512GB storage models respectively. Both options come with an accessories bundle worth MYR450 that includes the AeroActive Cooler and ROG Phone Case.
ASUS is also making available the entire range of accessories:
- ROG Phone Case – MYR199
- ASUS Professional Dock – MYR299
- GAMEVice Controller – MYR349
- Mobile Desktop Dock – MYR599
- ROG Suitcase – MYR599
- ASUS WiGig Display Dock – MYR899
- TwinView Dock – MYR999
You can pre-order now until 4 November 2018 at all authorised ASUS Brand Stores as well as at Shopee and Lazada. Warning: stocks are limited and there’s no official date on when the phone will be in stores.
For more information, visit the official ROG Phone page.
What do you think of the ROG Phone? Will you get one?
