Asus Unveils High-End 'ROG Phone II' Smartphone With 120Hz Display, Snapdragon 855 Plus, and Giant Battery (phonedog.com) 102
Asus has unveiled a spec-heavy gaming phone called the ROG Phone II. When it launches later this year, it'll be one of the only phones to feature Qualcomm's new gaming-focused Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, a 120Hz AMOLED display, and massive 6,000mAh battery. PhoneDog reports: The ROG Phone II features a 6.59-inch 2340x1080 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and it's the first phone to include Qualcomm's gaming-focused Snapdragon 855 Plus processor. Both the CPU and GPU in the SD855 Plus are clocked higher than in the standard SD855, helping you get better performance. ASUS has crammed 12GB of RAM inside the ROG Phone II's body, too. Another gaming-centric feature of the ROG Phone II are its AirTrigger buttons. Located on the side of the device, they give you extra buttons for your games and an improved software algorithm over the first ROG Phone that lets you rest your fingers on the AirTriggers, meaning you can react more quickly since you're not having to move your fingers to reach for the buttons.
Other notable features of the ROG Phone II include a 48MP main camera with Sony IMX586 sensor, a 13MP ultra wide rear camera with a 125-degree field of view, and a 24MP front camera. There's up to 512GB of built-in storage available, an in-display fingerprint reader, dual front-facing speakers, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Powering the whole package is a whopping 6000mAh battery. There are two USB-C ports on the ROG Phone II, with one in a traditional place on the bottom of the device and the other on the side of the phone so that it doesn't get in your way when you're gaming and charging. Both ports support Quick Charge 3.0, but the side port can charge more quickly with QuickCharge 4.0 support. It also includes support for 4K video output using DisplayPort 1.4. We don't have an official price or release date yet, but it's likely to start shipping later this year at around $899, which was the cost of the original ROG Phone.
Other notable features of the ROG Phone II include a 48MP main camera with Sony IMX586 sensor, a 13MP ultra wide rear camera with a 125-degree field of view, and a 24MP front camera. There's up to 512GB of built-in storage available, an in-display fingerprint reader, dual front-facing speakers, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Powering the whole package is a whopping 6000mAh battery. There are two USB-C ports on the ROG Phone II, with one in a traditional place on the bottom of the device and the other on the side of the phone so that it doesn't get in your way when you're gaming and charging. Both ports support Quick Charge 3.0, but the side port can charge more quickly with QuickCharge 4.0 support. It also includes support for 4K video output using DisplayPort 1.4. We don't have an official price or release date yet, but it's likely to start shipping later this year at around $899, which was the cost of the original ROG Phone.
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You got modded down because you did it wrong.
It's, "frist psot". Try again.
19.5:9 Aspect Ratio (Score:2)
Aspect ratio is gradually creeping up, especially considering this phone has no notch. In terms of gaming experience on mobile, a wider screen beats a higher refresh rate every time (given the constraints of mobile hardware). Take the Xperia 1 for example with its 21:9 display, the wider screen mean you have a higher FOV, and so that any control elements on the screen is well off to the side and out of the way. I'd say that the next Asus ROG phone would probably adopt a 21:9 (or over) display.
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Having a wider display surface isn't the only way to increase FOV. Most games have some way, even if it's not in the OSD, to tweak this setting. Sometimes you have to modify a configuration file. Personally, with 16:9 aspect, I find setting the FOV in games up a little bit works perfectly fine. You have to get it just to the point of avoiding a distracting fish eye lens effect though.
I also don't know that bigger, wider aspect ratio screens is going to help because what I've noticed is on much larger s
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"In terms of gaming experience *on mobile*, a wider screen beats a higher refresh rate every time (given the constraints of *mobile* hardware)"
ain't no phone wide enough to cause head turning, but plenty are narrow enough that the touch controls obscure the view
Re: 19.5:9 Aspect Ratio (Score:1)
Why 21:9 and not 7:3?
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Because bigger numbers sound bigger and more expensive. Who the hell would want a tiny 7:3 screen when they can get a big ass 16:9? /s
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I wouldn't be surprised by that one bit.
Snapdragon 855 whacks a12 (Score:2)
Snapdragon 855 makes a12 look a bit pathetic. Both more powerful and power power efficient. Better at everything than Apple's aging toy.
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Snapdragon 855 makes a12 look a bit pathetic. Both more powerful and power power efficient. Better at everything than Apple's aging toy.
Interestign, according to this benchmark they are pretty similar except the 855 is a bit slower in single core mode while the A12 bionic is: "... more power efficient and consumes less power".
https://www.guidingtech.com/ap... [guidingtech.com]
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Snapdragon 855 has 5G while a12 only has 4G. Snapdragon 855 has 7 TeraOps of neural net while a12 only has 5.
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Snapdragon 855 blows away a12 in graphics, 5603 3DMark vs 3660
Re:Snapdragon 855 whacks a12 (Score:5, Informative)
"more power efficient and consumes less power"
Read your link again, that is vs a11, not the Snapdragon 855. Given that a12 has twice the transistors of 855, it is a cinch that a12 eats more battery than 855. But I haven't seen actual measurements yet.
Re:Snapdragon 855 whacks a12 (Score:4, Informative)
Mobile chips would overheat in seconds if they cranked on all the transistors they have now. They have different cores that focus on particular metrics, a lot of burst/sleep stages to ramp power up and down, dedicated circuits for hardware acceleration, co-processors and so on. I wouldn't bet too much on the relation between number of transistors and power consumption, very often the A12 will use less [anandtech.com] power than the A11 even with higher performance.
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Mobile chips would overheat in seconds if they cranked on all the transistors they have now.
Right. Now that you point it out, Apple's single core win is most likely cooked, just like the chip would be if they tried to sustain that load for long enough to find out the actual single core _sustainable_ throughput.
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Why did you link a bench from 2018? Why should anybody care how the a12 does against the obsolete a11?
Now, what Apple really cares about, and is sweating about, is the fact that 855 costs half as much to make, while being a better chip.
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"more power efficient and consumes less power"
Read your link again, that is vs a11, not the Snapdragon 855. Given that a12 has twice the transistors of 855, it is a cinch that a12 eats more battery than 855. But I haven't seen actual measurements yet.
True, I should have read that article better. However, according to Tom's Hardware the only area where the 855 really beats the competition is 3D. It's on par with the A12 bioninc in Geekbench and the 855 gets it's ass kicked in video editing. I'm actually having a hard time finding any real world testing of the 855s energy efficiency but even if it wins there I'd hardly call that wiping the floor with the A12 on every level and making it look 'pathetic' like the OP insinuated. The A12 is also almost a year
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The SD855 right now is the most efficient mobile processor platform hands down. The die size is the smallest in this generation of flagship mobile SoCs -
73.27 mm for the SD855 (X24 Cat 20 LTE 4G modem)
83.27 mm for the A12 (modem not inc.)
127 mm for the Exynos 9820 (Cat 20 LTE 4G modem)
What's more, the A12 doesn't even include a modem. That's the trade-off by optimising single-core speed - more silicon and power draw. The Cortex-A76 cores that the SD855 uses is probably optimal in that regard. It's also the
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according to Tom's Hardware the only area where the 855 really beats the competition is 3D
And the beat is massive. Something that people actually care about, as opposed to... single... what? Why do I care about single?
Actually, Tom's message is the opposite of what you imply: the a12 only wins by one measure, single core, and gets trounced in a bunch of other important areas. Roughly a tie in multicore, within margin of error, and that with half the transistors. Is Apple worried about this? You betcha. Get ready for the wall of lie and astrofurfing spin. It's coming, just like a tsnami comes aft
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perhaps realize that mobile devices are shitty gaming devices to begin with
Ha, the "those grapes were sour anyway" defence! Isn't that just so Apple?
News flash: the overwhelming majority of games are played on phones today, and 100% of those use the 3D rendering hardware, even the 2D ones. So 3D performance is a huge deal, no spinning that one away. And power efficiency is also a huge deal, that's the next shoe to drop.
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Whine whine whine. Just let your Apple cult go and come on over. Android is fine. Linux is fine. Way more better than I-os/freebsd.
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What are you talking about? The 855 blows away a12 resoundingly in 3D performance, this is widely reported. You're living in dreamland.
Where 866 really blocks away a12 is manufacturing cost. That's really going to kick Apple in the nads. And with half the transistors it will run cooler and longer too. Bad luck Apple.
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Snapdragon 855 is also likely what is going to be in the Quest 2, the existing Quest has a Snapdragon 835
Quick Charge ? (Score:3)
Both ports support Quick Charge 3.0, but the side port can charge more quickly with QuickCharge 4.0 support.
Quick Charge is a proprietary Qualcomm-only thing. Why doesn't that phone support Power Delivery instead ?
Re:Quick Charge ? (Score:4, Informative)
Annoyingly, you need to support both. PD only helps if you're using a charger with a USB C socket and a USB C-C cable that's fully populated for PD. Many people are still using USB A socketed chargers and a USB A-C cable. If you only support baseline USB + PD standards, that'll charge at 5v@500mA
Until USB C becomes more ubiquitous, phones will still need to support QC or they'll review badly for taking 8 hours to charge.
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Annoyingly, you need to support both. PD only helps if you're using a charger with a USB C socket and a USB C-C cable that's fully populated for PD.
I guess that explains why my phone charges so slowly from my PC, I'm only using a USB 3.1 to C cable. Time to actually get a cable to go with the Type C port that's also on there, I guess.
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USB A-C works fine for USB PD. Granted, in an ideal world it's USB C as the USB C cable
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PD only helps if you're using a charger with a USB C socket
Errr nope. PD helps whenever PD is supported. The Spec has evolved over the years but USB PD has provided quick charging support since the bad old days of USB 2.0 The fact that you didn't find much support for it is the fault of the manufacturers.
The most recent USB PD spec that can provide >45W *that* is a USB C only option.
but why? (Score:5, Insightful)
is there any mobile game that warrants a high performance mobile phone with a special cpu etc?
i must admit that i'm not up-to-date with the current state of affairs of mobile gaming, but is there even a big enough market for this?
sure, a lot of people game on their phone, but those are mostly casual games/gamers.
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Pubg mobile is huge in China. Not sure about the west
Not really, if you want to play proper games you'll use a console or pc. The only real reason to play mobile is you can't compete.
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Pubg mobile is huge in China. Not sure about the west
Not really, if you want to play proper games you'll use a console or pc. The only real reason to play mobile is you can't compete.
Or possibly because you're away from home and trying to kill time.
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Mobile gaming is huge. A lot of companies in mobile gaming can do over 1 billion in profit alone. Its insane so ya the high performance phone could be justified.
... selling speed this up gems and loot box coins, not high performance gaming experiences.
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Logically, mobile games shouldn't be aimed at high-end phones. First, a good chunk are lower-end Android phones with weak CPUs/GPUs. Second, running high-end games will eat through battery life quickly.
So, most mobile games should run on lower-end hardware.
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Even as of 2016, the gaming market was dominated by phones and tablets. The ad spend alone on mobile gaming is vast. Mobile gaming is larger than PC and console gaming put together in both market dollars and game releases, and is growing much faster than either.
PC gaming is a niche compared to mobile. So yes, there is a strong market for gaming phones, especially in Asia. People play PUBG, FPS, RTS, everything on mobile now.
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Just think how fast the glorified slot machines known as mobile games will run.
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I know it would be great to have this kind of power for emulation. Other than that, there are only a tiny handful of mobile games that could benefit from this kind of power, Fortnite being the big one.
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is there any mobile game that warrants a high performance mobile phone with a special cpu etc?
There's loads of 3d games on phones now. There have been all along, maybe you just didn't know because your phone didn't play them. The market has moved away from gaming-dedicated phones, though. We had the nGage, and the Xperia Play, and neither one did particularly well even though they were both basically comparable in performance to handheld gaming platforms at the time. Maybe this will do better because it doesn't have any controls, as wacky as that is. nGage was never said to be particularly comfortab
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is there any mobile game that warrants a high performance mobile phone with a special cpu etc?
What's also funny to me is the $900 this Asus ROG phone is expected to sell for could get someone a decent gaming PC or PC upgrades. I understand people need a phone, but how many people really need a $900 phone that they will probably replace in ~2 years? But...
i must admit that i'm not up-to-date with the current state of affairs of mobile gaming, but is there even a big enough market for this?
sure, a lot of people game on their phone, but those are mostly casual games/gamers.
As others have said, the market is big. Mobile gaming is very popular worldwide, growing, and profitable. The numbers I don't lie, even if don't personally understand why people would invest in gear for mobile gaming. I am a gamer (PC mainly), but m
Great specs (Score:1)
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Why is it useless when a new Android rolls out? With Android, critical modules of the system are rolled out as component updates in the Play Store. Just because the whole system isn't updated regularly doesn't mean critical updates don't continue for a long time.
Just what everyone needs... (Score:1)
And expensive phone to play games that are really just store fronts and gambling box casinos to take even more money away from you with prettier graphics all while plugging you in to so much telemetry a tagged bear in the woods would be jealous it's not being paid attention to like you are. Good one!
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Who cares?
Just put a spam catcher account on the damn thing and enjoy.
Too bad the video isn't wireless though...
Oh, does it run Linux?
Battery not powerful enough (Score:1)
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Not 2 days, with all the features on maybe 3-4 hours of screen on time. 120hz really eats battery. But if you're not gaming and set the phone to a power efficient mode at 60hz, yeah you can get a couple days out of it.
User-removable battery? (Score:4, Insightful)
Batteries, with their fixed number of recharge cycles, are a clear weak point (planned obsolescence) of a smartphone. If I can't easily replace it, I won't buy the phone, especially an expensive one.
So that's the deal as far as i'm concerned.
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Dear not-user,
We don't care. We're still selling 100s of millions of phones with non-replacable batteries. If you would like to shop around for another brand please do. LOL. JK. There is no other brand. Sucker.
Sincerely,
Phone vendors.
But in a more serious note, the market has well and truly spoken and many phones have been put on the market with replaceable batteries and headphone jacks and have failed miserably. The sad reality is, people claim to care, but they don't care enough to make sacrifices in othe
Re:LOL (Score:5, Informative)
And no repair option? (Score:3)
I swore off buying anything ASUS again, if I can help it.
About a year and a half ago, I decided to buy a gaming laptop. (I'm predominantly a Mac user, but as we all know? Macs are a joke for gaming.) I figured as long as I was going to buy one, I'd go "all out" and get something high end, because being a laptop, it wasn't going to be very expandable after the fact. ASUS had just released the new ROG Zephyrus with the nVidia 1080 video chipset, and managed to keep the machine fairly thin with a unique design where the bottom panel raised up in back as you lifted the lid, for sufficient cooling. My local Micro Center got a couple in stock so I jumped at the chance and paid the $2800 or so.
Performance-wise, it worked pretty well. Battery life was terrible .... but wasn't expecting a lot from a gaming laptop anyway. But about 6 months ago, I started noticing a bit of a warping of its keyboard. Initially, I thought it was just me, but it got worse with time, until the area around the A,S,D and F keys were clearing bulging up higher than the others. A brief Google search confirmed my fears; the batteries in these were bulging/ballooning up and pressing on the underside of the keyboard.
A few people got ASUS to replace theirs under warranty, but others said they were charged $450 for the battery replacement. Mine was outside the 1 year warranty period already, so I decided I'd just buy a new battery and swap it myself. (I work in I.T. and service laptops all the time.) Turns out, this one's a really difficult battery to locate. The first one I found turned out to be ALMOST correct, but it didn't quite fit because the exact one has a square notch cut out of one corner of it. A laptop battery shop out of Hong Kong got me the correct ASUS replacement battery once I provided the part number off the old one. Waited weeks for that to arrive, installed it, and ..... nothing! Just a flashing orange light for the charging indicator (as opposed to solid orange or solid green when charged). Computer said no battery was detected. Tried re-seating it but same issue. Exchanged the battery for another one. Waited weeks for that and then .... same issue!
Finally determined the bad battery must have killed the charging circuit on the motherboard. Gave up and went to ASUS for service. Got charged $75 just for them to accept the RMA and agree to look at it. They sat on it for about 2 weeks, and finally gave me a repair estimate via email. The verdict? A little over $2,800 to repair the motherboard! I thought this had to be a mistake. Tried to explain that it made NO sense to charge me the same price the computer cost new, 1 1/2 years ago. Fell on deaf ears. Kept getting morons reading off of cards, instructing me to please visit the web site and click a link to dispute the repair if I had a problem. When I went to try that? The site wanted me to submit photographic evidence the product wasn't damaged before packing it up for shipping. Had nothing to do with my problem with the repair cost!
Oh, and on top of all that? I should also mention that even calling in to find out the laptop's repair status was a total circus. ASUS corporate, out in California,had some customer service lady who kept giving me a non-working phone number to reach the division that handles service. I tried the online chat support and was given the same non-working number! I *finally* realized the correct number was given near the bottom of the email they sent me with the repair estimate. It had 2 digits transposed from what everyone else kept giving me.
I finally just asked them to mail me my broken laptop back and was out the $75 "diagnostic fee". I'm in the process of letting a company out in Georgia try to tackle a component level repair of the laptop for me. For $175, their bench tech was willing to give it a shot. I can't find anyplace else that will even touch this ASUS laptop. ASUS themselves only provides 3 possible drop-off locations for servicing their products for American customers, and one of those is in Puerto Rico!
I'd say "good f'ing luck" getting one of these new phones of theirs repaired if anything goes wrong at all, out of warranty!
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I'm sorry that Asus crapped on you, that's sad because I've always enjoyed their product, but poor service is a dealbreaker for me. But you should really have got a 3 year warranty for a laptop that was that expensive. I had an EliteBook shit the bed on me, but it had a 3 year warranty, which wound up saving my ass. After something like 24 hours on the phone with various support personnel they wound up sending me a replacement that was significantly superior to the model I'd had. Then I sold it :)
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Gaming laptops are just crap anyway with a terrible battery life and heatsink issues. These days you can just get an external GPU enclosure for your Mac and just run Windows on it.
https://egpu.io/external-gpu-b... [egpu.io]
Huh? (Score:2)
Are you trying to emulated PS2 games?
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My girlfriend actually plays two different games split screen at the same time on her Galaxy Note 9. It handles it with no lag too.
That said though there are some games that absolutely do render a lot of 3D polygons to the screen and if you want to use that 120 FPS screen you're gonna need a mobile GPU to handle it.
Let's See (Score:1)
As long as it's a phone that I actually own, meaning I can install whatever OS I want, then I might be interested.