Competitive mobile gaming has seen a rise in recent years, with the likes of Mobile Legends Bang Bang, PUBG and soon even Apex Legends among the more graphically-intense games on a mobile phone. Last year, Asus burst onto the handheld scene with their sleek and shiny Asus ROG Phone.
As a dedicated gaming phone, the Asus ROG Phone was a decent first outing by the Taiwanese tech giant, impressing many by its superb refresh rate, enhanced display and even dedicated peripherals such as grips and docks.
However, this year, they’re ramping it up with the new Asus ROG Phone 2. This beast holds improvements over its predecessor across all aspects, making it a mouth-watering prospect for many a dedicated mobile gamer.
The Asus ROG Phone 2’s convex design takes cues from its previous iteration, which again is a nice subtle feature that enables one to hold it comfortably for prolonged periods. Slim bezels were never really part of the Asus ROG Phone 2’s agenda, but it still manages to hold a slim profile at approximately 9.5mm.
High refresh rates are a staple in most dedicated gaming devices these days, and mobile phones are no exception. The Asus ROG Phone 2 boasts an impressive 120Hz AMOLED screen, a significant improvement over its 90Hz predecessor, making running the abovementioned titles a breeze.
Another impressive improvement is its battery life of a whopping 6,000mAh. Definitely a step up from the standard 4,000mAh batteries of most smartphones these days, the Asus ROG Phone 2 should be able to last you a good full day even if you’re gaming majority of the time.
The Asus ROG Phone 2 will be launched in China later this month, with a global release of September. No price has been stated yet for this phone, but considering how the first ROG Phone cost a whopping S$1,598, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see this one being priced similarly, or even higher.
Specifications
| Model | Asus ROG Phone 2 |
| OS | Android 9.0 (Pie) |
| CPU | Qualcomm SDC855 Snapdragon 855 Plus (7 nm) |
| Display | 120Hz AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 aspect ratio Corning Gorilla Glass 6 |
| Memory | 256/512 GB 12 GB RAM |
| Camera | Rear 48 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide) 13 MP, f/2.4, 11mm (ultrawide) Front 24 MP, f/2.2 |
| Dimensions | 171 x 77.6 x 9.5mm |
| Weight | 240g |
| Battery | 6,000mAh |
| Colour(s) | Black |
| Retail Price | TBC |
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Si Jia
Kevin Low
