ASUS ROG PHONE ANNOUNCED

ASUS, the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer has announced a brand new smartphone designed for gamers. Using a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon  845 processor that clocks 200MHz higher than the stock 845 chip. Using the phones X Mode by squeezing the device. It allows you to clock those higher speeds, this can be especially useful when playing games or using power-hungry apps. The display is also pretty impressive on paper. Rocking a 6”, 18:9 aspect ratio, 2160x1080 AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 90Hz. HDR support built into the device and comes with dual front-facing speakers. Built-in, 8GB of RAM and offers 128GB or 512GB of internal storage. The 4,000mAh battery is capable of what ASUS calls HyperCharge. With the HyperCharge adapter, it allows for a 60% charge in 33 minutes and 85% in just over an hour according to ASUS. The device comes with a dual rear camera setup, a 12MP primary shooter, and an 8MP secondary wide-angle camera.

Now onto the interesting part of this device, the ASUS ROG Phone offers different accessories that plug into the dual USB-C ports on the side of the device. One of the main accessories is the AeroActive Cooler. Sold with the phone, it adds a fan with a USB-C port for charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack. This allows for convenient use while gaming in the landscape orientation. Another interesting accessory is the TwinView Dock. This is a portable gaming accessory dock includes a secondary display, a 6,000mAh battery, and physical trigger buttons. This thing almost resembles a modern Nintendo DS. The WiGig dock is a standalone dock that uses WiFi to broadcast its display to its base station connected to your display. You can also connect the GameVice controller to add gamepad joysticks and buttons to play on the WiGig dock from across the room.

In my opinion, I feel extremely excited but yet worried. Looking at the specs, everything looks amazing for daily use (besides no water resistance).  I just I don't think the state of Android is ready for accessories like this. With the current fragmentation of the Android operating system and the niche following of gaming, I believe that this will not be enough to attract developers, let alone to encourage consumers to purchase the additional accessories that are being offered. In terms of games, one great example to look at is Fortnite, yet to be released on Android. Unfortunately, fans on Android were only left with an expected summer launch date while iOS users have been enjoying the game since March of 2018. At this rate, having to wait for a game to be launched on Android will not encourage the sale of any accessories. I am also nervous about that lack of additional software support from ASUS. With many Android OEM’s still missing the mark in terms of software updates, this will not help in encouraging third-party developers to continue supporting the latest Android updates and the future support of the accessories for the ROG Phone.

The only reasonable competition for a device like this is the Razer Phone. While the display on the Razer Phone has a 120Hz refresh rate, it is an LCD panel. So it is up to consumers to decide whether it's worth the downgrade in frames per second to upgrade the display panel. With Razer’s THX certification and its inclusion of Dolby Atmos in the phone, I am skeptical about the ROG Phone being able to compete in that aspect. One last thing to note on the comparison is that the Razer phone still runs last years Snapdragon 835 processor. Although, I do expect Razer to release a sequel to their flagship phone later this year.

At this point, the ROG Phone and its accessories do not have a price yet. Asus has stated that they do expect to release the device in the third quarter of this year, we will have to see how this device compares and hope that Androids gaming scene improves by then.

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