Asus ROG Phone II review: The only gaming phone to get 

Since time of its inception in 2006, Republic of Gamers or ROG brand has h just one goal - and Asus defines it clearly on its official website – to “deliver most invative hardcore hardware for truly dedicated gamers.” ROG brand doesn’t shy away from experimenting with diverse form factors eir. Why else would a brand, long associated with laptops and PCs, launch a smartphone? Just like its laptops and PCs, ROG Phone – launched last year – was also an unapologetic gaming rig. But it was also rough around edges – literally and figuratively – and it cost a bomb to own.  

second-generation ROG Phone or ROG Phone II tries to fix both se aspects – and succeeds mostly. ROG Phone II is, as a result, a much more refined product that’s priced just right. Especially in India where base variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB stor has been launched at Rs 37,999. For those looking to splurge, Asus also has a maxed-out 12GB RAM and 512GB stor variant of ROG Phone II priced at Rs 59,999 which will be available later. For some perspective, original ROG Phone was launched in India at a whopping Rs 69,999. 

If you’re serious about mobile gaming, Asus ROG Phone II is only gaming phone to get – re are two ways about it. ROG Phone II just beats hell out of every gaming phone in market out re, in every perceivable way. And n some. 

Design 

This starts with design. While original ROG Phone was ripped and too-out-re for its own good, ROG Phone II is a lot more subdued and stealthier to look at. Make mistake though, this is still a gaming phone and it’s still t subtle about where it’s coming from – or where it’s going. It’s a glass and metal sandwich, ROG Phone II, with sharp lines tattooed across entire back panel – se riate a rainbow-like effect when light hits m at specific angles. An equally sharp ROG logo studded with RGB lighting sits de center to complete whole pack.  

same sharpness in looks is thankfully t carried over to ergomics. ROG Phone II has curved edges that ease into your palms making life sort of bearable – for this is a big phone. scratch that, this is a very big phone.  

Standing tall at 6.59-inches and weighing in at 240 grams, ROG Phone II’s physical dimensions will test you. At 9.5mm, ROG Phone II is quite thick too. But at least, Asus hasn’t wasted all that you kw. phone has a girmous 6,000mAh battery inside for starters. Plus, it has most elaborate set of rmals that you can get in a smartphone at this point of time – including an exquisitely crafted vent to flush out all excess heat. re are two USB -C ports, and ar proprietary connector to attach accessories to it. ROG Phone II also retains hephone jack.

And ROG Phone II is built well. And it’s built intelligently. All buttons, for instance, lie on one side on right. y’re well positioned and offer good tactile feedback. se are flanked by dedicated areas earmarked for Asus’ one-of-ir-kind AirTriggers, or AirTriggers II as y’re w called suggesting re’s some sort of improvement over last-gen. And re is. AirTriggers, which essentially let you re-map and mimic two on-screen buttons, can w identify a casual tap and an actual press. This means you can rest your fingers on m without having to worry about accidental triggers – this feels more natural, sort of like using shoulder buttons of an actual game controller. sensors mselves w have a response time of 20ms which is three times faster than last-gen version (63ms). Also, you can w squeeze sides of Asus’ phone for ded functionality like activating Google Assistant. 

Let me tell you that once you get a knack for se AirTriggers, re’ll be looking back. If that’s t eugh, ROG Phone II also supports individual key mapping, so you can get rid of every on-screen button with physical ones – you'll need to get accessories for that though. 

same attention to detail has gone in positioning connectivity ports as well. While one USB -C port lies at bottom, or (along with a proprietary connector for accessories) lies on left. idea is to offer a charging solution that doesn’t come in way of gaming. Asus has also thrown in four mics on this one, so matter how you hold your phone, you’ll still be able to talk your way through it – again, without compromising on your usual gaming style.  

Display 

front remains largely unchanged – but only in design. Thick bezels, while y may seem so yesteryear, have a method here – so I can’t say I mind m at all. For one, you get plenty of to comfortably rest your palms while gaming. Secondly, you get loudest pair of stereo speakers I have heard in and around this price – even more expensive phones don’t sound this good. So, I’ll take it. 

Everything else changes. ROG Phone II has a 6.59-inch AMOLED 1080p+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time – screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6. Asus is using a 10-bit (also called deep colour) panel here which in tandem with HDR can, on paper, help create depth and a sense of reality while watching content (that supports HDR). Asus has also me under hood changes to Android to achieve a touch sensor sampling rate of 240Hz making ROG Phone II smoor than even latest and greatest iPhones. screen of ROG Phone II is an absolute delight. t only is it fastest in its segment, it is also high-quality in terms of peak brightness and colour accuracy. 

phone’s optical in-screen fingerprint scanner could do better though. It’s fast but it’s t very reliable – a software update could change that of course. 

Software 

Speaking of software, Asus lets you choose from two distinct styles here – a stock Android-based Zen UI 6 and a gamer-centric ROG UI. You can do that in beginning while setting up your phone, or as and when you like later as well. difference will be like night and day, in looks that is because se are simply mes at end of day – and t two different ROMs. As for user experience, it’s same across board mostly, at least at heart. Which means it’s mostly same as one inside Asus 6Z – a flipping genius of a phone I recently reviewed. software inside is near stock Android with a few Asus tidbits thrown in – that remain largely unticed unless you really want to put m to use. And, it really helps that Asus has been able to well optimize software with hardware, so everything runs effortlessly – all time.  

Being a ROG gaming phone does bring in some gamer-centric ditions – because, well, obviously. re are two that really stand out.   

-- ROG’s hallmark Armoury Crate which allows for per game customizations - level of granular control on offer here is just ridiculous especially for a smartphone. You can manually tweak CPU clock speed, temperature, refresh rate and touch sensitivity, audio as well as network settings – all from within  Armoury Crate’s console-like interface. 

-- Game Genie which allows you to view CPU and GPU, temperature, battery level and FPS count stats, all in real-time while playing a game. 

Performance, rmals and battery life 

Just like original, second-generation ROG Phone also packs more firepower than you’ll probably ever need. ROG Phone II is powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 855+ processor – which is an enhanced Snapdragon 855 designed specifically for gaming with 15 per cent faster GPU performance. You’re free to push both CPU and GPU to ir limits – if you want to. That’s up to 2.96Ghz for CPU and up to 740MHz for accompanying re 640 GPU. This is paired with up to 12GB LPDDR4X RAM and up to 512GB UFS 3.0 stor (n-expandable). 

ROG Phone II is so powerful, I don’t even have words to describe it – and I've been using 8GB/128GB variant just so you kw. t once has this thing hung up on me or kept me waiting. Everything’s snappy, snappier than any or phone out re – even new OnePlus phones, if you’ve been wondering.  

And it games like a champ. I must say, I h approached ROG Phone II’s 120Hz display, with assumption that it was an overkill. I was wrong. I have been pleasantly surprised with sheer number of games that w support 120Hz refresh rate. And number’s growing. Asus compiles m in a handy blog (that’s also being updated frequently) that you should totally check out, and just in case you’re too lazy to do that, ROG Phone II’s Armoury Crate app also lists m as featured. It’s as if Asus really wants you to play se games, and it wants you to play m all on ROG Phone II – or gaming phone gives you so much opportunity. 

Speaking of opportunity, ROG Phone II has a dedicated X Mode that you’ll need to hit if you’re looking to unlock phone’s full gaming potential. re are a few presets that you can eir toy with, or you can also choose to go rogue – all options are in re, depending on how much performance gains you'd like to squeeze from all that hardware. 

All that power does come at a price though. ROG Phone II has a tendency to get hot – sometimes even alarmingly so – when pushed to edge which isn’t surprising, but Asus also has a neat way to cool things down. An improved cooling system – Asus calls it GameCool II - that consists of a vapour chamber and vents keeps check on temperature and resultant throttling. re’s also an active cooler accessory that you can get separately if you’re in habit of pushing ROG Phone II to extremes more often than t.  

ROG Phone II furr packs a 6,000mAh battery inside which is claimed to offer 7 hours of n-stop PUBG playback. phone also supports 30W fast charging and 10W reverse charging. Even with everything maxed out, this thing refused to die on me before a full day while toning things down will easily take you through one and a half/two days with ease. Simply put, you can set ROG Phone II’s display to 120Hz and play all demanding games you want, without looking at its battery stat most of time. In our video loop test, ROG Phone II lasted for just over 15 hours – in X Mode and 120Hz – which is thing short of phemenal. 

Cameras 

Gaming phones have built quite a reputation when it comes to cameras - y’re expected to be b at photography, because gamers don’t somehow, eng in photography? I am t sure where it came from, but thing is, gaming phones have h disappointing cameras – so far. And one seems to be trying to change that perception eir. ROG Phone II is different, but at least Asus isn’t shying from putting in good hardware here. In fact, setup has been directly lifted from Asus 6Z – and that one did t disappoint much. ROG Phone II doesn’t disappoint much eir but re’s certainly room for improvement. It has best cameras on a gaming phone though, if you’re into that sort of thing. 

ROG Phone II has a 48MP primary rear camera with Sony’s IMX586 sensor with f/1.79 aperture. re’s also a secondary 13MP ultra-wide camera on back with a 125-degree field-of-view. dual cameras don’t flip like in Asus 6Z, so this one gets a 24MP front camera. 

Like Asus 6Z, ROG Phone II is also a jack of all tres. Camera quality is good, if t great. 48MP main sensor (that shoots 12MP photos by default) can capture good-looking photos with good detail and good dynamic range in good light. I really like fact that it shoots photos with a more pleasing and a neutral colour palette, inste of going overboard with saturation. That main camera really takes a tumble in tricky and low light situations though – photos come out soft and mushy in such cases.  

As for wide-angle camera, it offers a wider perspective so you can capture a lot more of your subject. quality may t be as good as primary camera, but at least you get option. So that’s nice. 

front camera, likewise, performs well in good light but low light selfies leave a lot to be desired. 

Should you buy Asus ROG Phone II? 

Asus ROG Phone II has a lot going for itself. It’s by far best gaming phone that you can get in market today, and unlike say last year, you don’t even have to burn a hole in your pocket to get it. price is just right. or smartphone – gaming or orwise – offers you so much power, and so much control over it. It’s like, Asus isn’t even playing fair here - re’s doubt, those interested in competitive mobile gaming, will have ir work cut out quite a bit should y be looking to invest in ROG Phone II. rest of deal will be sealed by ir own skill set. 

Which is why you’ll have to be serious about mobile gaming should you be looking to invest in ROG Phone II. If t, it’s just power without responsibility – you won’t even kw what to do with it. This is because every mid-range phone, from OnePlus 7T to Redmi K20 Pro to even Asus’ own 6Z, today has necessary hardware to play PUBG and Call of Duty well – if you’re a casual gamer. It’s going to take something special to appreciate everything that Asus ROG Phone II brings to table. 

(Photos by Saurabh Singh)

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