So in the past year we have seen a new catagory of mobile users emerge. They are not power users, or camera geeks but the do share alot of the things that these users demand. That is first and foremost power. Power for multi-tasking and switching between apps seemlessly and smoothly or having multiple apps open at any one time. Power for image processing and video render in real time to allow you get the beat out of the photos that you are taking or videos you are recording.
The segment I am talking about is of course mobile gamers. This is a big business opportunity for hardware makers andnit has tempted two of the biggest players in the PC gaming world to dive into mobile. The first being Razer, the second being Asus. Whilst we have seen the Razer offerings and we have reviewed both of them. We had not seen what Asus can do, until now…
Asus are bringing their all singing all dancinf hell raising ROG Phone to the UK shore finally. It will be goong up for pre-order tomorrow morning at 9am (if you are reading this on the 15th Oct). The asking price is normally £799 but if you are quick enough you may be able to snag one for £699 as part of a launch day special. The phone will then ship out to you starting on the 14th of Decemeber.
I am really looking forward to seeing this phone in the flesh as I was impressed with Razer’s first effort apart from a few shortcoming’s that were largly resolved in the V2 earlier this month.
What I am liking the most is that Asus have taken a modular approach to the phone by way of accessories in order to maximise your gaming experience. These include a TwinView Dock, Mobile Desktop Dock, and Gamevice controller. All of these accessories are designed to allow you to game like never before on a phone.
I have not had any hands in time but in what I have discovered during my research of this phone and these accessories the do look awesome and I am very much looking forward to testing them out.
Game-changing smartphone with unique console-inspired design delivers epic performance, unbeatable visuals, total gaming control and endless possibilities
Unbeatable visuals:AMOLED HDR display with ultrafast 90Hz refresh, 1ms response for smooth, blur-free gaming and 108% DCI-P3 gamut for vivid realism
Total control:Designed for comfortable gaming with unique side-mounted port, programmable ultrasonic AirTrigger sensors and powerful force-feedback system
Endless possibilities:Enhanced gaming experiences with optional TwinView Dock, Mobile Desktop Dock, and Gamevice controller with WiGig Dock
London, UK, 15thNovember, 2018—At an exclusive event at the BelowZero Ice Bar in Mayfair, London, ASUS UK today announced details of the launch for the ROG Phone in the UK. Pre-Orders will begin on Friday 16thof November 2018 at 9am and the ROG Phone will begin shipping on 14thDecember 2018. The ROG Phone will retail in the UK for £799 and will be available from the ASUS E-Shop. For a limited run from 16thof November, there will be £100 off the device when pre-ordering bringing the price down to £699.
Epic performance Designed and built to uncompromising ROG standards, ROG Phone takes mobile gaming performance to the next level, with each and every component optimized for a lag-free, responsive experience. Each specially selected octa-core Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform is speed-binned for maximum performance — delivering the world’s fastest sustained clock speeds of up to an incredible 2.96GHz — and the gaming-optimized Adreno 630 GPU is a graphics powerhouse, with performance outstripping the previous generation by up to 30%. This awesome power is complemented by up to 8GB of RAM and a massive 128GB of onboard ROM storage. A high-end phone running graphics-intense, fast-paced AAA action games can generate a killer amount of heat. As well as being uncomfortable to hold, a hot phone is a slow phone: thermal throttling can bring even the fastest CPU to its knees. ROG Phone is built from the ground up to run smoothly even when the action gets frenetic: its exclusive GameCool system features highly efficient 3D vapor-chamber cooling inside that provides a 16X-larger surface area1for heat dissipation than a standard heat-pipe cooling system. This cooling system is enhanced with a copper heat spreader and carbon cooling pads on the circuit board for maximum cooling performance. The end result is a superb cooling system that enables sustained clock speeds up to 50% faster2than a standard smartphone CPU, and which can achieve peak clock speeds for 5X longer than a conventional cooling system. There’s also a detachable external AeroActive Cooler for an extra cooling boost when the going gets really tough. With GameCool, hot hands and spoiled games are a thing of the past. ROG Phone delivers consistent, smooth and stable frame rates with no lag, even during the toughest marathons. And since performance means nothing if the internet connection is slow, ROG Phone also packs ultrafast wireless connectivity in its inventory, including Cat 16 LTE and the latest gigabit-class 60GHz 802.11ad Wi-Fi. It’s easy for users to get optimum gaming performance on ROG Phone with the special X Mode. Just a single tap frees up all background RAM and dedicates it to games, optimizes game-data processing performance, and maximizes the efficiency of the AeroActive Cooler. X Mode also prevents RAM-eating and battery-sapping app activity, based on a customizable list of apps. Unbeatable visuals The ultimate gaming phone deserves the ultimate display — something that the ROG gaming heritage is uniquely qualified to deliver. ROG Phone uses an ultrafast AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a jaw-dropping 1ms pixel response time for blur-free visuals that are as smooth as silk. With a wide 108.6% DCI-P3 color gamut, colors are incredibly vivid too, so game worlds look as glorious as they were intended, and high-dynamic-range (HDR) visuals with a 10,000:1 contrast ratio help reveal every hidden detail in the shadows.
Total control In any game, precise control is the key to victory, but the lack of physical buttons on phones all too often compromises gameplay. ROG Phone is designed to give gamers total control and a more console-like experience, with three unique ultrasonic AirTrigger touch sensors. Two of these ultra-responsive sensors are optimized as left/right triggers at the top of the display for landscape-mode gaming (the third is designed for use in portrait mode), and they’re fully programmable to activate any available on-screen action: aiming, firing, inventory selection — in fact, anything that normally requires a screen tap. With ROG Phone, gamers free up two extra fingers to control gameplay, giving them the edge over their thumb-bound rivals. AirTriggers use ultrasonic technology, so they only need a feather-light touch — just 20g compared to rival touch-sensitive controls that need up to 4X the force. An advanced haptic actuator provides a powerful force-feedback system for totally immersive gameplay. Charging a phone while playing can make gaming impossibly awkward. ROG Phone throws away the design book away and starts from scratch, optimizing the entire layout for landscape-mode gaming. There’s an additional side-mounted custom USB-CTMconnector that supports direct charging, HDMI output, gigabit LAN and headphones. And when the AeroActive Cooler is deployed, it provides a side- mounted USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack for unhindered gameplay. The side connector’s also used for the exclusive expansion modules, including the Mobile Desktop Dock and TwinView Dock. Engineered for battle Using a combination of tough, precision-crafted 2.5D- and 3D-curved Corning®Gorilla®glass, diamond- cut highlights and copper detailing, the metal-framed, water-resistant ROG Phone combines battle- hardened construction with a supremely comfortable gaming grip for an unrivaled gaming experience. ROG Phone feels instantly good in the hand, ready and waiting for the call of duty. ROG Phone is the world’s first phone with ASUS Aura RGB lighting, featuring an illuminated rear ROG logo that can display a whole rainbow of lighting schemes: static, breathing, strobing or color cycling. Lighting effects can be triggered with phone events such as incoming calls, notifications and more, to give ROG Phone a unique personality. The ultra-powerful front-facing stereo speakers on ROG Phone are driven by smart amplifiers to maximize volume and minimize distortion, with an audio engine that supports 24-bit/192Khz Hi-Res Audio playback. DTS Headphone:XTMprovides theater-quality virtual surround-sound over headphones, and there’s support for high-definition audio via Bluetooth®.
ROG Phone is built to cope with the power-intensive demands of gaming, with a high-capacity 4000mAh battery. The bundled ROG Phone power adapter supports ASUS HyperCharge, a direct-charge technology that delivers more power (up to 20W) for shorter, safer charge times, and also means ROG Phone stays cooler when it’s charging.
Endless possibilities ROG Phone features a unique range of optional expansion peripherals designed to take the mobile gaming experience to new heights. The amazing TwinView Dock turns ROG Phone into a powerful dual-screen console for the ultimate gaming and live-streaming experience. As well as a 6-inch AMOLED (2160 x 1080) auxiliary screen that’s great for split-screen live-streaming, extended game display or group communication, it packs a front- facing quad-speaker system, two extra physical trigger buttons, dual-haptic force-feedback engine, an enhanced cooling system and a high-capacity 6000mAh extended battery pack. With the Gamevice controller and the WiGig Dock — using 60GHz 802.11ad Wi-Fi — ROG Phone morphs into a portable console with a full inventory of physical gaming controls and ultra-low-latency wireless display connectivity for a seamless big-screen gaming experience that’s perfect for group viewing. It packs dual analog joysticks, left and right fire triggers and bumpers, a D-pad, along with A,B,X,Y and L3, R3 buttons.