Introduction
Asus and more specifically the Republic of Gamers division has always been pretty straight-forward about its smartphone goals and priorities. To put it in their own word, the ROG Phone II is meant to deliver: "The ultimate smartphone gaming experience".
Just like its predecessor, the latest ROG Phone has been designed from the ground up as a professional gaming tool. The kind potentially aimed at the growing professional mobile e-sports crowd. An extremely niche, exuberant product offering for the very pro-grade and/or very affluent gamers out there.
This is an important point to make straight off the bat before we start drooling over the beastly ROG Phone II and its unparalleled accessory ecosystem.
Asus ROG Phone II specs
- Body: Metal frame; Gorilla Glass 6 front; 170.99x77.6x9.48mm, 240g.
- Display: 6.59" AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, 240Hz touch response rate; 1080x2340px resolution display (19.5:9 aspect ratio), 391ppi pixel density; 111.8% DCI-P3 color gamut; True 10-bit HDR support.
- Rear camera: Main module: 48MP, 1/2.0" SONY IMX586 Quad Bayer sensor, f/1.79 aperture, 79-degree FOV (26mm equiv. focal length), PDAF/laser autofocus; Ultra wide module: 13MP, f/2.4 aperture, 125-degree FOV (11mm equiv. focal length), fixed focus. LED flash. 3-axis EIS for video on both cameras.
- Front camera: 24MP, f/2.0 aperture, 0.9µm, Quad Bayer Technology.
- OS/Software: Android 9.0 Pie; optional ROG UI overlay.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus (7 nm): octa-core CPU (1x2.96GHz & 3x2.4GHz Kryo Gold & 4x1.7GHz Kryo 485 Silver); Adreno 640 GPU (unlocked 400MHz).
- Memory: 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM, up to 1TB of UFS3.0 storage.
- Battery: 6,000 mAh Li-Po (sealed); 30W HyperCharge (25W for phone and 5W for accessories), QC4.0+/USB Power Delivery compliant.
- Connectivity: Dual SIM (Nano), 4G on both slots; LTE Cat. 18 (1Gpbs download) on Elite edition/Cat. 20 (up to 2Gbps) on Ultimate Edition, Cat. 13 (150Mbps upload); 2x Type-C USB 3.0 port (USB 2.0 on bottom, USB 3.1 gen2/DP 1.4 on side); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac/ad, WiGig Wi-Fi ad 60GHz; GPS, GLONASS, BDS; NFC; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio.
- Audio: Dual front-facing 5-magnet speakers; Hi-Res audio 192kHz/24-bit DAC; DTS:X Ultra; 4 microphones for noise cancellation.
- Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader; 3.5mm jack; proprietary 48-pin Side-mount connector for accessories (a second Type-C port is part of it); ultrasonic sensors for AirTriggers and grip press.
When it comes to gaming Asus is definitely on its home turf and the company's analysis and projections more than justify an investment and sustained effort into mobile gaming hardware development. Mobile gaming actually comprises 37% on the entire world wide gaming industry, with a whopping 50 billion dollar revenue stream. It is also the fastest growing niche in gaming - 29% year over year, especially in Asia - 3.5 times faster than PC growth and 6.3 faster than console.
So mobile gaming is unsurprisingly getting bigger by the day. Granted, most of these numbers stem from a casual gaming crowd. Firing up the occasional puzzle or clicker game on your daily driver smartphone. But this general growth has also translated pretty well in serious and even professional mobile gaming. An average gaming session of Honor of Kings lasts about 116 minutes and the average daily playtime for PUBG Mobile is about 80 minutes. Multiply that by 100 million active users and you can quickly see why more and more specialized gaming smartphones might just have a place under the sun. That being said, even by gaming phone standards the ROG Phone II takes things to a whole different level.
The ROG Phone II is meant to be an overkill device - one that is meant to satisfy a gamer's every whim. It takes absolutely every bit of the original ROG Phone, with no exception or omission, and somehow manages to improve every aspect of the already impressive formula.
Calling the ROG Phone an incremental update over the original would be an insult. Even with its near showcase status, the ROG Phone II can still be considered a milestone device for the industry as a whole. Boasting the title of "world's first and fastest 120Hz 1ms AMOLED with 240Hz touch response", it offers a glimpse into the future of smartphone and general end-user display tech as a whole. And that's just the cherry on top of the sundae. The ROG Phone II is so vastly overengineered in so many ways that even trying to go through it all in a review manner is a daunting task. That being said, we'll do our very best to showcase it in all of its trend-setting and affluent gaming glory.
Unboxing
Starting with the box, things already start getting out of hand. Just like the original ROG Phone, the second edition came to our office in a special reviewer's kit. It's a briefcase, which houses all the possible accessories you can get for your ROG Phone II. In case anybody's counting really cares (pun intended), the briefcase is exactly the same as the original ROG Phone one.
While you won't be able to buy this kit, you can get pretty much all of the contents separately, but they are going to cost you.
Its contents, however, are slightly different this time since Asus made some changes to its accessory ecosystem. First the familiar bits from last year - the Desktop Dock is an impressive docking station for the ROG Phone II, complete with a number of powerful expandability options, as well as seamless passthrough for a regular PC. The WiGig Display Dock II also looks the same as last year's 60GHz wireless display solution. The second version has been refined, though. The same goes for the TwinView Dock II. Just like the original, it offers a second display for the ROG Phone II, along with physical controls and extra battery. It, however, has been re-thought from the ground up this time around to address most of the issues with the original.
Also in the briefcase is the new ROG Phone II Lighting Armour Case. It is an intriguing edge protector that incorporates light guides for RGB goodness and integrates an NFC chip for unlocking exclusive content. All pretty lavish and over the top and a perfect fit for the general tone of the phone. A nifty carrying case for the phone and all of its accessories is also included.
Last, but definitely not least - the ROG Kunai Gamepad. It comes to replace last year's third-party GAMEVICE accessory and is probably the extra most ROG Phone II owners are going to want and buy. This time around Asus designed its own solution and quite a versatile one at that, complete with the option of using it as a separate wireless controller.
For more in-depth info on the ROG Phone II accessories, skip forward a few pages in the review.
As for the core retail package of the ROG Phone II itself - it's pretty rich in terms of goodies and very eye-catching. It has an asymmetrical hexagon shape with a distinctly alien look to it. Pretty much the aesthetic you would expect from a Republic of Gamers product. Shape-wise, it is not too dissimilar from the original ROG Phone box, but has a totally different "slide-out" two piece design. Oddly enough, actually getting the stuff out of it turned out to be just as convoluted as its predecessor. Just in a different way.
Inside the odd container, you get the phone itself, which also features similar design language, but more on that in a bit. Alongside it - a Type-C to Type-C braided USB cable and a pretty compact wall adapter, rated for a maximum output of the hefty 30W. The adapter is actually rated for QC4.0, PD3.0, as well as a proprietary Asus direct charging standard, making it amazingly versatile to carry around.
On the surface, the brick itself and all the charging rates look airily similar to those on the original ROG Phone as well. However, Asus' own proprietary HYPERCHARGE Technology has been pumped up from 20W to 25W in this generation. The clever 30W HyperCharger will deliver up to 25W to the phones and another 5W directly to whatever accessory is connected to the phone at that time.
Just like the original, the ROG Phone II still supports Quick Charge 4.0 as well, using its internal IC which in turn can accept a PD current, making it pretty versatile. But, more on charging in the battery section.
Back to the retail box and the run-down of its contents, which is far from over. Bundled with every ROG Phone II you get the new AeroActive Cooler II. Just like the original, it incorporates a snap-on design and it's powered by the proprietary side port. It also has RGB lighting on both sides, a Type-C port for charging an a 3.5mm jack. Along with it you also get an optional small rubber stand attachment, which allows the AeroActive Cooler II to act as a stand and hold the phone upright. The fan itself is improved compared to the first generation, which we will also discuss in the accessory section.
Speaking of rubber attachments, Asus also provides a couple of spare rubber plugs for the side port in the box. Apparently these are purely there for aesthetic and comfort purposes while you grip the phone. Leaving the port exposed is also perfectly fine. But it's still nice to see some nifty spares are included.
You also get a pair of earbuds in the box. Better still, like the phone itself, these are HRA certified. Finally, in certain markets, users will also find the funky ROG Aero case in the box. Well, it's sort of a case and more of a bumper protector since it barely covers any of the rest of the phone. Of course, this was done entirely purposefully to strike the best possible balance between protection and the ability to use the AeroActive Cooler II while the case is on.
Actually, this is sort of a core design principle for the ROG Phone II and all of its accessories which we will definitely be bringing up time and time again during the review. Every little detail was clearly adjusted and perfected with one thing in mind - to deliver the best possible gaming experience. Of course, that mission takes many shapes and has numerous nuances. And it all starts with design. Join us on the next pages as we first take a look at that.
Design
There is A LOT that does into designing a modern smartphone, both inside and out. Even more so a flagship, especially one packed full of optional features. Connectivity in particular takes up a huge amount of space and antenna positioning is a real challenge. Soa lot of thought has went in that department to provide the best possible connectivity.
As for the exterior, Asus didn't simply curve a couple of Gorilla Glass pieces, slap them on to a metal frame and call it a day either. Whether you personally like the aesthetic or not, there is no denying that the particular "gaming" look of the ROG Phone II takes a lot of meticulous crafting to do just right. So, all and all, the engineers and designers all deserve plenty of praise for this one.
Speaking of the proverbial "gaming look", there are definitely some things worth mentioning about the direction ROG has taken is second generation smartphone. Compromising on looks in a personal "gaming" laptop for the sake of better performance and at the cost of a few weird glances in public is one thing, but having to endure the same every time you whip out your phone just takes things to the next level. Asus appears to be arriving at this realization as well, or at least taking it to heart, since the ROG Phone II is definitely more subdued in the "gamersness" of its design. In fact, we would even go as far as to call its take on the gaming aesthetic tame and "stealth".
To be fair, the original ROG Phone also tried to moderate its gamer's looks quite a bit. The general shape and silhouette hasn't really changed much from the previous generation. You still get some aggressive "strong" and sharp lines, like the "alien" diagonal patterns on the back. However, all of these accents end up fitted in a surprisingly rounded and ergonomically comfy body at the same time. Asus has really managed to strike a great balance in more ways than one in our opinion.
Since we are already talking generational comparison, is is definitely worth noting that the ROG Phone has grown bigger in pretty much every single way. It stands taller at 171mm (compared to 158.8mm) and thicker at 9.5mm (up from 8.3mm). It is also 40 grams heavier, tipping the scale at a hefty 240 grams. To be honest this might just be a bit too much weight for many to carry around and use one-handed.
On the flip side, to Asus' credit, the growth spurt was clearly not unsupervised. Quite the contrary, the ROG Phone II has the huge 6,000 mAh to show for some of its extra volume and weight. Also the noticeably bigger 6.59-inch display. This is the part where designers took extra case not to go overboard. It is worth noting that the extra real estate comes mostly at no added width to the phone - 77.6mm (compared to 76.2mm on the original). This was a conscious and actively sought-after design feature, since Asus wanted users to still be able to comfortably reach the edges of the display with one finger.
Still, the ROG Phone II is a "big beast", no two ways about it. Asus also worked actively to, get this, PRESERVE, a lot of the bezels around the display! Wouldn't you know it, as it turns out, having the extra room is a great way to accommodate great powered speakers, of which the ROG Phone II has two, also all the front-facing sensors you might need and a decent selfie camera. Then there are the ergonomic aspects of having space to let your fingers idle. Or rather the issues that arise from having to constantly touch the display on a phone that has it curving all over the place in a bid to look cool. Turns out that gamers really don't benefit from or particularly enjoy the accidental touch inputs. Who would have thought? Well, we may be taking this joke too far but we're sure there are many power users out there who are disgruntled by the sea of all-display flagship devices. And thankfully Asus and ROG as well.
Pretty sensible decision all around. And like we already mentioned, all done with one singular purpose in mind - to provide the best possible gaming experience. In fact, since we are already on the topic, Asus has another explanation still for going with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio instead of something even taller. Most android games aren't really optimised for every exotic and boundary-pushing aspect ratio out there. And the company's research deemed 19.5:9 the best possible option to go with to ensure maximum compatibility. This kind of sound mentality and clear work towards a singular goal simply puts a smile on our faces.
Also, after spending some time with the ROG Phone II we can safely say that it does not feel "chunky", if that makes any sense.
The weight takes some getting used to, but the overall body shape combined with the solid in-hand feel and good weight distribution make the ROG Phone II a surprisingly easy to handle phone.
Another benefit from the extra girth of the unit, besides the beefy battery, is that Asus has managed to hide the complex internal cooling solution a lot better this time around. Where the back of the original ROG Phone protruded quite a bit, the area around the copper heat pipe on the ROG Phone II is barely raised and almost sits flush with the rest of the Gorilla Glass 6 back. Asus calls its new refined cooling GameCool II. It is still a very complicated layered vapour chamber affair, incorporating copper and graphite pads, a 3D vapour chamber and actually extending on both sides of the main phone PCB effectively sandwiching it in.
We'll be looking in more detail at the performance of the new thermal solution and validating Asus' claims that it can keep the beefed-up Snapdragon 855+ perfectly thermal-throttling free for prolonged periods in the performance section. Our first impressions are that it's not the coolest phone out there.
The ROG Phone II can get quite toasty under load. Especially certain areas of the metal central frame. To be fair though, this is expected and happens with most gaming phones.
The general idea is that when you are after top performance on what is essentially a passively cooled system, the only natural sacrifice to allow for higher than usual surface temperatures so that you take away more of the heat generated inside without throttling the processor performance. Also worth noting is that Asus offers an unprecedented level of control over the behaviour of the internals via their Armoury Crate app, including their power and relative heat output. So you could easily set it up for a perfectly comfortable in-hand temperature at the expense of some performance, if that is what you want. More on that in the software section.
What you really can't get around though, no matter how much clever software Asus puts on the ROG Phone II is the fact that it is extremely slippery. Using a case is highly advisable. This phone skids around even on level surfaces. It might have something to do with the particular curvature of the back or the finish. Although it is worth noting that we have the Ultimate Edition ROG Phone II for review, which comes with a Matte Black finish, instead of the glossy one on the lesser Elite version. If nothing else, this definitely contributes to the "stealth" gaming look we mentioned earlier.
Of course, if you are into the gamer's look, the ROG Phone is more than happy to oblige with its pretty big RGB Logo on the back. It seems to be pretty much unchanged compared to the original ROG Phone and still leaves little to be desired as far as RGB implementations go. It can shine really bright if that is your thing and offers a full-color spectrum to choose from. Light modes include Static, Breathing, Strobing and Color Cycle. The logo is also Aura sync compatible and offers quite a few tweaks through software.
Besides the RGB Logo, the ROG Phone II also has a full-featured RGB status LED on the front. Also, we were surprised to discover that there is still more RGB baked right into the phone. If you look at the back side of the phone, you can clearly see two LED modules next to the camera. The natural thing to assume is that they make up a dual LED flash setup. Well, turns out on of these is actually meant to shine through a ingenious light guides built inside the optional Lighting Armour Case.
This allows for various designs, likely to be provided by third-party partners, which can offer custom lit-up decals or logos. That way you can have a cool case and not sacrifice any of the RGB goodness. The attention to detail is just mind-boggling. And clearly yet another example of Asus having its priorities squarely aimed at the hardcore gamer crowd.
Controls
The set of controls you get on the ROG Phone II is pretty much identical to that on the original ROG Phone. No courageous omissions or moving forward to new horizons or anything of the sort. Everything is present and in a proper place. That being said, what has effectively become standard now for an ROG Phone is hardly a common sight, if at all found on any other device.
Let's start with the basics - the buttons. The ROG Phone II has a total of three physical ones - a power button and volume rockers, all on the right-hand side. Positioning works great and we are happy to say that compared to the original ROG Phone, the buttons are no longer a mushy mess! On the contrary, they feel great, tactile and responsive.
Also on the same right frame of the phone are the rest of the phone's "buttons" or rather air triggers. Carried over from the original phone, these apparently use the same ultrasonic sensor. However, they've also been massively improved enough for Asus to brand them a second generation - AirTrigger II. Now the touch areas recognise both taps and swipes. Also, it is now possible to press the triggers continuously without the need to remove the finger from the sensor between every press. The sensors themselves are apparently more precise and their haptic vibration feedback is three times faster - from 63ms down to just 20ms - to avoid any subjective lag or delay in the feedback.
The vibration feedback comes from a pair of powerful haptic actuators that provide 3D feedback. These can be engaged individually and offer up to six times faster and three times more powerful operation than an average phone. And the end results are really impressive. Pressing the air triggers is eerily similar to pushing actual buttons. Other than that, the premise behind the extra control layer is the same - you can map two extra on-screen buttons in any game to the air triggers for added convenience. The system is really versatile and can easily be tweaked, in terms of sensitivity.
This functionality is actually just one bit of a potent input mapping system, as implemented on a system level within the ROG Game Genie platform. We will get into more detail when we discuss the ROG Kunai Gamepad, as well as docking the phone and using it with a mouse and keyboard, where the system really comes into its own and shows its potential.
The whole setup works amazingly well. In fact, so much so that we frankly consider it cheating for the most part, as far as competitive mobile gaming is concerned. Even if you don't spring for any of the other available ROG Phone accessories that enable broader remapping functionality, the pair of AirTriggers alone offers an enormous edge in online games where everyone esle is playing on a touchscreen.
The AirTriggers also enables the phone to be long- or short- "squeezed" in portrait mode for different quick-actions depending on the phones state.
While most aspects of the ROG Phone II's display are pretty traditional and intentionally so, Asus did decide to jump on the under display fingerprint reader wagon. The module in question is a pretty conventional optical one. Nothing too fancy. When it works, the reader is pretty snappy. However, we did experience some issues with accuracy and reliability. Pretty odd, in fact. Right after a finger is set up it seems to work splendidly. But give it a day or two and recognition rate drops rapidly. Hopefully this is a mere software issue Asus can address.
For audio on the ROG Phone II you get a dual speaker setup. Both of these front-firing units uses a 5-magnet design for better clarity and louder distortion-free output and are powered by a dedicated NXP amplifier. There is also DTS:X Ultra virtual surround sound technology, if you have the video content to make use of that. Asus also did its best to position the speakers in such a way that they can't really be easily covered up by your hands.
The company also tried to do the same for the microphones on the ROG Phone II. But since that is significantly harder to pull off, they just fitted a Quad-Mic Noise Cancelling Array instead. So no matter how you hold your device or what attachment you have on, you voice will always come out background-noise free while streaming your favourite game with a face cam.
Since we are already on the subject of audio, we are happy to see that the 3.5mm audio jack is alive and well. Not only this, but Asus also has it hooked up to an impressive 192kHz/24-bit DAC capable of playing back Hi-Res Audio. DTS Headphone:X is also part of the mix.
And if you have moved on to an entirely Bluetooth setup already, you will be happy to leans that aptX HD, adaptive, LDAC and AAC are all supported.
Finallytm, the most unusual part about the ROG Phone II design is the set of Type-C ports. Or rather one standard Type-C at the bottom and one proprietary 48-pin Side-mount connector. The latter is primarily intended for use with accessories like the dock or fan. However, it still has a regular Type-C port as part of its design. The other bit just seems to be a shrunken-down Type-C as well to prevent any accidental insertions. Probably for the better since Asus is likely way outside the USB specification on that side of the Side-mount connector.
Connectivity
This is actually a perfect segue into connectivity on the ROG Phone II in general since the two normal USB Type-C ports are actually different in terms of the controllers they are housing. The Side-mount one is actually more advanced, offering a USB 3.1 gen.2 connection, as well as Display Port 1.4 output. The bottom one, on the other hand, is limited to USB 2.0 data transfer. Charging capabilities differ as well, even if slightly. Both ports apparently support Asus' 25W direct charge implementation and both can do Quick Charge 3.0 and Power Delivery 3.0/. Only the Side-mount USB is, however, listed as having Quick Charge 4.0 capabilities. Frankly, this doesn't really make a ton of sense, considering both apparently do Power Delivery 3.0 identically. Still, if you ever find yourself trying to charge the ROG Phone II with a Quick Charge charger, you might just want to use the side port.
As a side note, yes, if course we tried plugging the ROG Phone II into itself. And just like the original ROG Phone, nothing happened. We also tried other ambiguous setups, so you don't really have to, like hooking up to separate power sources to the two USB-C ports as well as two other smartphones. Also a combination of the two. We even threw in a PC conection, to see just how the whole Type-C host/client negotiation works while having to manage two ports at once. Long story short - nothing bad happened. Asus clearly anticipated such mucking about. Generally speaking, the side Type-C port tends to take precedence over the bottom one when both are in use and whatever it say, goes.
That's enough cable plugging fun for one day. On to wireless. The ROG Phone II has a total of four Wi-Fi antennas for its regular 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band networking. The idea behind this was the exact same one that motivated four microphones - maintaining perfect operational efficiency no matter how you hold the phone or what you have attached to it.
Then there is WLAN 802.11ad, also known as 60GHz or WiGig. It is great for short-distance ultra fast and low-latency connections, which its wireless display accessory actually leverages masterfully.
For network connectivity, the ROG Phone II has two nanoSIM cards, each going up to 4G (4x4 MIMO and CA) and with dual-SIM standby. As for speeds, there is a slight note worth making here, namely that the higher-tier Ultimate edition ROG Phone II, the one with 1TB storage comes with Cat.20 LTE, capable of speeds up to 2Gbps.
Not all chips are made equal and the layers of the LTE modem are just one of the ways two chips that bear the same marketing name, in this case Snapdragon 855+, can actually incorporate different features. The regular Elite Edition ROG Phone II "only" gets a Cat.18 theoretical speed maximum for its LTE. In other words, not the full 20 layers. This is a point Asus has brought up in its promotional material and which comes to basically illustrate that the SD855+ inside the Ultimate Edition is the very best Qualcomm currently has - overclocked, speed-binned, unlocked and with the best LTE speeds. The message here being - "we are not saving money by cutting any corners". A no-compromise gaming experience simply demands no-compromise hardware.
Just to finish up the supported connectivity section, in no particular order we have: CDMA Less, VoLTE/VoWiFi, Bluetooth 5.0 (aptX HD, aptX adaptive, LDAC and AAC), Wi-Fi direct, GPS (L1+L5), GLO, BDS, GAL (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5), NFC and, of course, the all-important FM radio receiver. In all seriousness though, it really seems like the only notable omission in terms of I/O remains the lack of a microSD card slot. But with up to 1TB of fast on-board storage, we feel like we should kind of let this one slide. Not to mention the built-in UFS 3.0 storage is much faster than a microSD card.
120Hz AMOLED screen
"The world's first and fastest 120Hz 1ms AMOLED with 240Hz touch response" - that's the official title Asus PR is sticking with and it does sound mighty impressive to the right display enthusiast crowd. A marriage between OLED, with its infinite contrast, perfect blacks, punchy colors and fast pixel response times and high-refresh rate technology is a coveted one and has been a long time coming.
Without getting too technical, for all their benefits OLED pixels do have a few inherent disadvantages. Most notably, due, in part to their organic nature, they tend to be quite slow when completely turning off and turning back on. In technical terms this is referred to as MPRT (Moving Picture Response Time) and is quite different from the otherwise stellar GtG (Grey-To-Grey) OLEDs have. The latter can easily go as low as the advertised 1ms on the ROG Phone II, since such a color change does not require the OLED pixel to be turned off.
In a theoretical perfect 60Hz OLED display, you can expect a minimum persistence in pixel visibility time of about 16.7ms. That is the primary cause of the so called "smearing" or "jello" effect on most smartphone OLED panels. There are certain approaches to combating this OLED blurriness, like rolling scan (commonly used in VR headsets) and Black frame insertion (BFI). The best thing you can do to reduce the effect, however, is a higher refresh rate. Generally speaking, this is what makes the 120Hz native refresh rate of the ROG Phone II so valuable for a crispy fast moving image - great for gaming and general UI operation.
Once you experience the smoothness and sharpness of moving images on the ROG Phone II at 120Hz you won't want to go back. It pretty much blows any other smartphone display out of the water.
Of course, this is a bit of an oversimplification of the tech and hurdles of high refresh rate and OLED panels in general. If you want a more in-depth dive on the matter in a future article, be sure to drop a comment.
Unfortunately, Asus doesn't really disclose all the inner-workings of its industry-leading 120Hz panel. The main thing we would be interested in from a consumer standpoint is whether or not some compromises like constantly running all the pixels in dark grey to reduce response times and blur have been put into place. This is somewhat of a common practice. The major downside being potentially not ideal blacks and more importantly - much higher power consumption on average. OLEDs are great for power efficiency, but not if you keep all the pixel on all the time. Unfortunately, we did record some unfortunate spikes in power consumption using the 120Hz mode on the ROG Phone II, which you can read about in the battery section.
As for the black concern, we can at least say with confidence that our color accuracy test picked up perfect blacks. Asus talks a pretty big talk regarding colors on its fancy panel as well, quoting numbers like 108.6%, or even 111.8% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, depending on which version of the press materials you choose to believe. Also, deltaE values lower than 1.
While the display on the ROG Phone II is indeed incredibly accurate under the "Standard" display mode, we didn't really match the quoted deltaE number. Even so, a max deltaE of 2.2 and an average of 1.3 are perfect even for professional color work. So, we won't hold too much of a grudge.
There are quite a few other built-in display modes to choose from as well. The default "Optimal" setting strikes a nice balance and is great for showing off the "punchy" nature of OLED displays. "Natural" tents to warm the image up a bit, taking away too harsh blues and ramping up greens and reds. "Cinematic" pretty much keeps the same color profile as "Natural", but takes color intensity down all around.
Speaking of colors, we also can't fail to mention that the ROG Phone II's display is true 10-bit, rather than 8-bit with FRC. The actual perceivable difference might be minute, but this is yet another instance of top-level hardware for the best possible gaming experience. Naturally, that means HDR support as well. Just like last year, however, Asus is not openly sharing any particular certification (Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and the like). Still, both Netflix and Amazon video were perfectly happy serving us up their HDR video streams and these looked great on the ROG Phone II.
Asus has also promised a pair of visual optimization modes will be part of a future software update - Contrast Enhancement mode and an SDR-to-HDR converter. Unfortunately, we can't test either at this time.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 794 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 665 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 643 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 626 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 620 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 616 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 605 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 571 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 542 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 479 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0.399 | 455 | 1140 | |
| 0 | 453 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 436 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 428 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 428 | ∞ | |
| 0.403 | 426 | 1057 | |
| 0.353 | 424 | 1201 | |
| 0 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 381 | ∞ | |
| 0.401 | 380 | 948 | |
| 0 | 377 | ∞ | |
The ROG Phone II is no slouch when it comes to brightness and contrast. Asus claims it can reach 600 nits outdoors, which is definitely true. In fact, we measured a max auto boost brightness of 626 nits with our standard test that shines 75% of the display. Without any extreme external light sources, you can expect the brightness slider at 100% to give you around 480 nits, which is still a great result.
Speaking of the brightness slider, the ROG Phone II has a really odd one. Pretty much every mobile slider is non-linear by nature. However, most tend to space things out a bit more. On our review unit, the 200 nit brightness level we use for our battery test ended up at 85% on the brightness slider. That leaves 250 or so nits crammed up in just 15% of the slider. Not a major deal, but still worth mentioning.
Touch latency is another area where Asus has clearly spent a lot of time and effort. It is only logical, seeing how important it is as part of the input lag chain for gaming performance.
A high refresh rate display also demands faster input polling. On the ROG Phone II it is set at an impressive 240Hz. But, the engineering team didn't just slap on a fast digitizer and leave it at that. They also optimized the rest of the touch data pipeline from hardware to software, tweaking the Android Framework. As per their own in-house metrics this resulted in a whopping touch latency of just 49ms. Industry leading, in fact, if we are to believe the rest of the numbers Asus quoted for a few of its competitors: iPhone XS Max - 75ms, Xiaomi Black Shark 2 - 82ms, OnePlus 7 Pro - 85ms, Samsung Galaxy S10+ - 87ms.
Rounding the display section off, we feel like we need to reiterate certain concious design choices and how they came about. Asus remains firm in its assessment and commitment to mobile gamer needs. The average "prosumer" or ROG gamer allegedly wants the biggest display feasible, which is how the 6.6-inch diagonal came about. The panel needs to be easy to handle as well, which is part of the reason for the thicker bezels and the lack of curves. The 19.5:9 aspect ratio apparently hits a pretty nice "sweet spot" as far as mobile game engine tech and optimization goes.
The same rational can also be used to explain the FullHD resolution. Of course, there are many other technological limitations at play as well. Plus, the simple fact that driving demanding games at 4K or QHD in high refresh rate is not really within reach for current generation mobile GPUs. Still, if we had to point out a single downside of the magnificent ROG Phone II display it would have to be the resolution.
Battery Life
One pretty major aspect of the ROG Phone II that seems to take a little bit of a back seat, overshadowed by its other features is the enormous 6,000 mAh battery. Seeing how portable power is vital for an on-the-go gaming experience, Asus paid plenty of attention to in. In more ways that one, in fact. Beyond its sheer capacity, which is advertised as lasting 35% longer than other gaming phones under the same gaming load, there are also a few other bits and pieces worth mentioning.
Before that, though, lets get the numbers of out of the way. We ran the ROG Phone II through our standard battery test routine quite a few times, jut to cover all scenarios and validate the results. Turns out that running X Mode does not intrinsically increase battery consumption in any meaningful way in the absence of a load. That is kid of logical, since all X Mode does is adjust maximum thresholds for various things, but we still had to check. What does make a noticeable difference in on-screen tests is display refresh rate.
Set at the lowest 60Hz, the ROG Phone II manages pretty solid on-screen scores. It is worth keeping in mind that 6.59" AMOLED panel is still pretty huge.
Even at its maximum 120Hz refresh rate, the ROG Phone II still holds its own in on-screen tests. Looking at the difference in numbers, our web browser test clearly seems less affected by the change in refresh rate. That's actually pretty easily explainable once you consider that the Wi-Fi radio is a major contributor to battery usage in this scenario. All the while, our video test is entirely offline, meaning that any additional battery strain can only come from the display working at a different refresh rate. This does lead us to another observation, though, namely that Asus has no intelligent system in place to detect things like a 30fps video being plaid back and have the refresh rate automatically lowered to save battery. That might be a good idea for a future update, since it does make a difference.
As for 3G talk time and standby - both were understandably excellent on the 6,000 mAh ROG Phone II. Overall, it is one of the top battery champions we have ever tested at the office. And it kind of has to be when you consider its intended typical use case - extended periods of high performance load and increased heat with with what will likely be frequent top-offs and prolonged periods of stressful usage while tethered to the wall for power. Generally speaking, this is the worst kind of abuse you can inflict on any Li-Ion pack. Frequent charge cycles, a lot of heat, spending a lot of time at full charge.
However, to Asus's credit, all of this does appear to have been taken into consideration while designing the ROG Phone II. For one, simply having a larger battery pack means less recharge cycles. Plus, ROG claims its ROG Kernel Optimization feature ba save up to 180mA per four of gaming, allegedly resulting in over seven hours of gameplay in PUBG and Arena of Valor on a single charge.
Then there is the question of charging - an area where Asus also clearly made quite a few proactive decisions. Most notably, it's the choice to skip on the modern trend of pushing extremely fast charging speeds. On the one hand, that saves room within the battery itself due to the smaller separator between the anode and the cathode. Also, slower charging is generally better for the battery itself.
Asus' own HYPERCHARGE technology is also pretty sparing when it comes to heat generation. Since it is a for of direct charging, it actually has all the necessary conversion circuitry within the power brick itself, instead of the phone. That means even less heat while charging. The bundled charger itself is rated at 30W, but it should be noted that the phone can only take a 25W HYPERCHARGE current. The other 5W are convenient overhear for accessories. HYPERCHARGE also works with any good quality 3A Type-C to Type-C cable and does not require a more expensive 5A one.
As a fallback, the ROG Phone II also supoprts Quick Charge 4.0. As for the power brick, it can also output a PD current making it really versatile for charging other tech. Even though Asus made a conscious decision to go for a bigger battery instead of a faster charging one, it is actually about 20% faster from zero to 4,000 mAh than a modern 4,000 mAh fast charging pack. This is due to the fact that current fast-charging techniques only charge the battery rapidly to about 70% capacity and then switch to a slower constant voltage mode.
But more importantly, Asus is clearly taking steps to ensure the heath and longevity of its battery pack. In addition to all the hardware steps discussed so far there is also the built-in PowerMaster feature. It works kind of similar to Qnovo, albeit a bit simpler and prevents against a constant prolonged trickle-charge overnight while the phone is already at 100%. It is basically a charging scheduler which makes sure the phone will not fully charge until the user is ready to unplug it.
Loudspeaker
Audio is definitely an essential part of the gaming experience. Hence, it gets plenty of attention from the Asus design and engineering team. Those two fairly wide areas on top and bottom of the ROG Phone's display house what might very well be the most impressive pair of smartphone speakers we have heard. Failing that, they are definitely somewhere in the Top 5.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 67.7 | 73.6 | 82.9 | Very Good | |
| 69.8 | 74.5 | 81.0 | Very Good | |
| 70.1 | 74.2 | 81.6 | Very Good | |
| 66.8 | 73.2 | 86.0 | Very Good | |
| 68.4 | 73.7 | 86.3 | Excellent | |
| 74.4 | 74.2 | 83.6 | Excellent | |
| 77.0 | 75.9 | 81.2 | Excellent | |
| 70.9 | 73.8 | 90.9 | Excellent | |
| 79.0 | 77.5 | 84.9 | Excellent | |
| 76.7 | 77.7 | 87.7 | Excellent | |
| 78.2 | 78.8 | 86.9 | Excellent | |
| 79.6 | 77.7 | 87.2 | Excellent | |
| 86.2 | 79.0 | 87.0 | Excellent | |
| 88.1 | 77.2 | 87.1 | Excellent | |
| 90.0 | 81.3 | 85.7 | Excellent |
Each of these uses a 5 magnet design and gets its own dedicated Smart NXP amplifier. This results in some impressive loudness numbers. So much so that you might rarely find yourself actually cranking the volume to the max. Which would frankly be a shame, since the ROG Phone II is not only loud enough to punch through a hall of talking people, but also do so with impressive depth and clarity.
Seriously, we don't know if we need to praise the DTS:X Ultra tech alone for this accomplishment, but the ROG Phone II has an amazing sound stage. You actually feel the bass while holding the phone and best we can tell it's not the vibration motors contributing to the effect, like certain Xperia phones try to do. The speakers simply resonate, as it should be. Mids also come out very rich and full and highs remain crisp.
AudioWizard
You also get quite a few equalizer options in the settings menu, including an Outdoors mode. The latter seems to boost the average volume even more, but also pushes down lows and mids and brings up higs to almost unpleasantly squeaking levels. We don't particularly like what it does to the otherwise splendid sound stage, but to Asus' credit it does result in an even more piercing and permeating sound - assuming it's really needed.
Audio quality
After being blown away by the speakers on the ROG Phone II we frankly couldn't wait to test the audio output via the 3.5 jack out. After all the phone has a 24-bit/192kH DAC with Hi-Res audio support. Plus, it comes with a DTS Headphone:X tag, which promises to provide surround sound for headphones.
Unfortunately, our review unit came with a disclaimer that the frequency response reading my suffer from a bug with the audio output which is on its was to be fixed via a software update before the phone becomes available. This meant that any results we got would have been spoiled by it. So, given the circumstances, plus Asus' promise to provide an update to fix this some time is September, we decided to temporarily hold off on posting any audio quality results for now.
ZenUI meets ROG UI
As far as gaming-styled launches go, the ROG UI is very, very out there. Straight out of the box, the UI screams "gamer". Seriously, it's like browsing your alien friend's phone who just happens to be very much into fighter jets and the all the known shades of red. Sharp lines flying all over the place. One swipe down for the quick toggles and you might just feel like you are operating a nuclear reactor. The amount of options you are expected to want to "quick access" is a bit staggering.
ROG UI
The there is the X Mode toggle, which is definitely the first one you absolutely need to press. Doing so triggers an animation on the wallpaper, symbols start shifting, glowing borders start shining around icons. If set up accordingly, the RGB logo on the back fires up, as well as any compatible Aura Sync logo on attached ROG accessories. Yes, it's full on battle mode engaged!
ROG UI with X Mode On
All of this is ROG UI hard at work. Interestingly enough, however, it sits on top of the new ZenUI 6, which is borrowed from the Zenfone 6 and couldn't be more on the polar opposite in terms of its styling. Popping into the Theme menu in Settings illustrates this perfectly, since Asus decided to still leave the default ZenUI 6 there as an option on the ROG Phone II.
Classic ZenUI
What you get is basically an AOSP experience. With just a few click, no less. It's frankly a bit eerie. Almost feels like what a kid would alt and tab to if you catch them playing instead of studying on the computer. It's almost too clean, is what we're getting at. Still, it's a great alternative to have for when you get a bit tired from the overly aggressive gamer's looks.
Theme store
And since we already touched upon themes, it is worth mentioning that ZenUI 6 has a fairly versatile theming engine in place and a rather rich online library with plenty of free and paid options.
Actually, speaking of options, that seems to be a good place to start the OS tour. To be perfectly honest, there really isn't all that bloat added to the ROG Phone II. Certain extra features ace scattered here and there, but most of these are useful and really non-obtrusive. Also, they are often hidden out of sight. In fact, the most advanced pieces of additional software aren't really apparent since they have to do with gaming optimization and things like control mapping frameworks. But more on that in a bit.
Battery options
The battery menu, for instance, has a few interesting gems hidden away. First off is the PowerMaster which offers a centralized place for managing app consumption, scanning for issues, as well as toggling battery savings options and managing autostart. Since the ROG Phone II is tuned for gaming above all else, it kind of makes sense that most apps are barred from autostarting by default. This is the menu you should hit up if you have issues with something like a messenger service not running fine in the background.
Battery Care is particularly nifty. It offers you the option to set off hours and have the phone charge in the most efficient and battery-friendly way possible during said period. It's not as sophisticated as Qnovo, but still good enough to keep your battery healthy for a longer time without altering your overnight charging habits.
Display settings
The display settings menu has a few interesting entries of its own. Most notable among which is the screen refresh rate selector. It has three options - 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. 90 offers a pretty decent middle--ground between fluidity and extra power consumption. It might just be a good idea to run the UI at 90Hz then set up any 120fps capable game to toggle 120Hz through the X Mode game launcher we will talk about in a bit. In case you were wondering, there is an always-on mode for the AMOLED on the ROG Phone II, as well as an option to only pop-up notifications, if that is your thing.
And if you are not into the under-display fingerprint reader, or are having some issues with it, like us. Face unlock is present and works great.
Advanced settings menu
The Advanced settings menu houses pretty much all the other system-wide additional goodies ROG and Asus added on top of the Android Pie core. Mobile Manager is actually a sister tab to PowerMaster. It handles all the rest of the phone maintenance aside from the battery. Things like memory and storage cleanup, permission and security as well as data caps and usage.
Mobile Manager • Twin Apps • Safeguard • OptiFlex
Thin Apps is fairly self-explanatory. It does require support from the app itself to work though. For convenience, there is a nifty list of apps you can download in alphabetical order. Neat! Safeguard offers SOS emergency contact options. And OptiFlex is a proprietary app launch optimizer that works in the usual way - caching certain resources, often times in RAM, so that they can remain easily accessible.
None of these are really new since we've seen them on the original ROG Phone, as well as some other Asus handsets. Still, compared to the original ROG Phone, every bit of software seems a bit more refined this time around. Even if it's little touches like having the apps comply to the system-wide dark color scheme option. Which, by the way, you should definitely use with the ROG Phone's OLED panel.
Then we get to the good stuff, the things meant to improve gaming experience. Game Genie is the name Asus chose for its in-game optimizer/tools interface, which slides out from the left side of the display while in game.
Game Genie settings
There are plenty of options on it, most of which absolutely self-explanatory. In order to work properly, or at all, certain bits of Game Genie do need some extra setup. Most notably, the live streaming functions. Once set up you can use a single key to go live on YouTube and Twitch. Pretty great.
Another great bit about Game Genie is that it offers real-time readouts for things like CPU and GPU, temperature, battery level and and fps count within the Game toolbar. There is even an experimental feature that tries its best to estimate how much game time you have based on your current load with the battery charge remaining in the phone.
Game Genie is also where you can map your two AirTriggers to certain on-screen controls. If it is a button, you can map it. There is even a macro interface, which is really powerful and can be used to map whole sequences of inputs.
If that sounds a bit like cheating to you, wait until you hear about Key Mapping. In our books, it is probably the single greatest gaming-geared software tool Asus has brought to the table with the ROG Phone family. It's an incredibly in-depth interface for mapping on-screen controls to physical ones. Directional pads, buttons, sliders all work and do so really well.
So the real fun begins when you connect the ROG Phone II to a compatible accessory, like the new ROG Kunai Gamepad. Every button on that controller can then be mapped to an on-screen control, effectively giving you console-grade physical controls inside a game meant to be played on touch screens.
In fact, it gets even better once you connect the ROG Phone II to a mouse and keyboard via the Mobile Desktop Dock or the Asus professional dock. Then you can map all the controls to an actual mouse and keyboard. Imagine using a mouse to aim and look around in PUBG!
Well, that bit you can actually keep imagining since PUBG is one of the few titles that has become aware of the ROG Phone's "secret sauce" and can detect the use of control mapping. At least currently, that is. And even so, the majority of games we tested, even competitive online ones are perfectly fine with you totally owning the scene due to the huge advantage in controls precision.
We are aware that other similar mapping solutions do exist on Android (most notable Octopus), but they seem to operate with a lot more restrictions and naturally all sorts of warnings for drawing over other apps and the like. What Asus have crafted for the ROG is clearly done right and on a much lower software level, making it a really added-value offer for any hardcore mobile gaming enthusiasts. Or are they even mobile once a keyboard and mouse come into play?
Screen recorder • Screenshots
Anyway, if you're not really the streaming type but still want to capture your game sessions or other content in some manner, the ROG Phone II does offer a quite in-depth screen recorder. Beyond things like resolution and audio capture, you can also set delays on capture, block notifications from showing up and show touch inputs. As for screenshots, you could opt for JPG or PNG, depending on your needs.
ASUS Armoury Crate - Gaming portal
But even if you couldn't care less about streaming or game capture of any kind, if you bought the ROG Phone II, it's fair to assume that you will be using it for some serious gaming sessions. For those you definitely want to pop into the ASUS Armoury Crate - Gaming portal. It basically augments your entire smartphone experience, bringing it as close to a portable gaming console as possible.
Once here, your phone is locked in landscape mode and your recent apps button or gesture is disabled. The only way to quit out of the launcher is a rather small dedicated "X" button near the top left corner. This is very much intentional design to prevent any manner of accidental minimizing of the active game.
Armoury Crate UI
From the main ASUS Armoury Crate interface you get a few options. The most obvious one being your game card interface (or benchmark and any app you would like to run with a custom performance profile). Each entry gets its own "crate", as the Asus terminology goes. And each crate has its own Game Profile. Profiles are a set of settings for different aspects of the ROG Phone II that get automatically applied when the game/app is launched via ASUS Armoury Crate.
Armoury Crate Performance settings
Quickly going through the various tabs available, you get a lot of control on Performance Here you can choose to have X Mode enabled for the app alone, as opposed the default where it follows the system-wide toggle, as seen in the quick toggle bar above the notification shade.
Manually enabling X Mode from this menu actually allows you choose between thee levels of X Mode. Each consecutive step pushes the hardware a bit further, including clocks and tolerance to heat. If you are really feeling adventurous and know what you are doing Hardcore Tuning actually gives you access to sliders for internal Android System value pertaining to performance. That's the level of tuning Asus is commited to giving its users. Pretty much unparalleled in our experience.
Armoury Crate Hardcore tuning
If you are not really feeling quite so adventurous, there is also a simpler CPU frequency slider in the main profile menu. That and a Temperature control slider. The latter allows you to choose between optimal heat dissipation through the body of the ROG Phone II and hand comfort. If you value performance and are ready to sacrifice pretty much anything else you can let the ROG Phone II raise its external temperature quite a bit. And that's while even in its default setting, the ROG Phone II is not exactly a cool phone under load.
Armoury Crate Display settings
Moving past raw internal performance, game profiles also let users choose a custom Refresh rate on a per-app basis. There is also the option to turn on addition anti-aliasing if you think the edges of any particular game are just a bit too "jaggy" for your taste.
Armoury Crate Touch settings
Then there is Touch tweaking. You can use this menu to fine-tune the sensitivity of the display, as well as Air Trigger touch and swipe. Again, on a per-app basis. The built-in false touch rejection algorithm can also be fine tuned.
Armoury Crate Network and Audio settings
And rounding things off in the profiles we also have a few network and audio options. Honestly, we kind of feel like we've seen too many options already. Yet, we still have to check out the second Console tab from the main ASUS Armoury Crate interface.
Armoury Crate Console UI
Unlike profiles, the options here apply on a system-wide or at least ASUS Armoury Crate-wide level. Aside from the cool meters on the left-hands side, this is where you find general settings like a list of games that automatically trigger the ASUS Armoury Crate no matter where they are launched from as well as another list that says which apps can have access to data at all while a game is running in the foreground.
Air Trigger settings
Then there is the Air Trigger setup screen. This is where you can adjust sensitivity. Actual mapping is elsewhere within the Game Genie interface.
Fan controls
Fan controls for the attachable AeroActive Cooler II are also available. You can either leave it on auto and have the system decide when and how much to ramp it up. Or, alternatively, set it to full blast and have maximum cooling for both the phone and your hands. Now, this does come at the cost of noticeably more noise and increased battery consumption. Dealer's choice, really.
System lighting
And we finally come to System Lighting and RGB controls. Asus has a pretty clean system set up to control the RGB effects on the phone's built-in logo, as well as those on optional accessories. All of it is done through this interface. Of course, there are synchronization groups for other Aura Sync compatible devices. Different color patterns, intensity, speed. The works.
System lighting advanced options
You can also choose what gets to trigger the RGB lights and which effect should be triggered, with a fair bit of conditions available to choose from.
Game Genie side UI
Last but not least there is the Game Genie in-game overlay interface we mentioned earlier. Aside from housing various button mapping options and settings screen when a compatible accessory is connected tot the ROG Phone II it also has quick toggles for streaming and other nifty things. Everything is pretty self-explanatory, but does require quite a bit of fiddling to set-up just right and gain real in-game advantages from. The macros feature, for instance, is particularly powerful for easy combos.
Game Genie quick search
Search is also pretty nifty. It basically lets you access online search results like videos and articles in a single click even going as far as to fill in the current game title in the query box.
Asus default apps
Beyond the extensive ASUS Armoury Crate interface there really aren't all that many proprietary Asus apps pre-loaded on the ROG Phone II. Just a couple of basics like a Clock, calculator, Gallery and File manager. Not really getting in the way while also offering theming support for a really consistent look. Nice job Asus.
Just to finish the software overview off, we will mention a few words about AudioWizird. Seeing how the ROG Phone II doesn't skimp out on audio hardware, it only makes sense to include a powerful equalizer suite to match. Asus calls it AudioWizard and it comes packed with plenty of features to enhance both the stereo speaker output, as well as the headphones experience. Yet another really in-depth tool. That really is the underlying theme with every single aspect of this phone.
Speed-binned, overclocked Snapdragon 855+ with an unlocked Adreno 640 GPU
The mobile chipset scene has always been rather unique. Unlike more traditional computing avenues like the PC realm, in the ARM world variety isn't really all that abundant on a year to year basis. That's how you end up with a sea of competing flagship handsets typically based around the exact same Qualcomm silicon. That has been the status quo for quite a few years now.
So, in a sea of sameness, how can a "gaming" phone realistically differentiate while using the exact same internals as its often cheaper competitors? Well, it certainly goes beyond than merely getting the speediest chipset around. There are extra aspects such as CPU governors, performance curves and most importantly - thermal management - which play a huge role in real-world results.
We recently published a deep dive on the matter of gaming smartphones in general, which you can check out here for more in-depth details.
And when it comes to squeezing the best performance possible out of an ARM chipset, Asus and Republic of Gamers really go above and beyond the competition. The original ROG Phone actually leveraged cherry-picked or so called "speed binned" Snapdragon 845 chips, which it then ran at a maximum frequency of 2.96GHz (on the powerful core cluster), instead of the 2.8GHz of the vanilla Qualcomm chip. That is essentially a factory overclocked processor and a rather novel idea in the smartphone realm at the time.
Well, this year, Qualcomm themselves took this idea one step further by doing the speed-binning and overclocking itself, resulting in the Snapdragon 855+. Naturally, that's the chip Asus went for the no-compromise ROG Phone II Ultimate Edition. The best possible 20-layer variant of the chip, to be even more specific. Better still, besides the factory CPU overclock to 2.96GHz, the particular chip inside the ROG Phone II also has an unlocked clock for its Ardeno 640 GPU. That allows it to ramp up to 700Mhz. Paired with ample and fast 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 1TB of UFS 3.0 storage, the Ultimate Edition review unit we received is the first 855+ to come by the office. Judging by all the performance tuning put into the ROG Phone II, it is likely representative of the best possible RAW performance for the chip as well. So we were eager to test out just how much better it fairs compared to its vanilla sibling.
In terms of competitors for the ROG Phone II we picked out a selection including the regular Snapdragon 855, Samsung's Exynos 9820 and 9825 and Huawei's Kirin 980. Like most gaming phones, the ROG Phone II also has a performance mode, in this case called X Mode. X Mode itself has a few presets depending on how much performance gains you'd like. To be as thorough as possible we actually ran all the tests with X Mode off, then on and then with X Mode and the AeroActive Cooler II fan on at full blast. We even took the display's refresh rate into consideration for another set of runs at a basic 60Hz, since most GPU benchmarks are affected by this variable as well.
As is tradition, we start off with a pure CPU test and GeekBench. The difference in raw compute scores is slim. In real-world terms, however, having X mode on, as well as the external active fan attached, do make a tangible difference in sustained performance on the ROG Phone II.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
11345 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
11226 - Black Shark 2
11192 - Xiaomi Mi 9
11181 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
11072 - Sony Xperia 1
10985 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
10977 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode + FAN)
10974 - OnePlus 7 Pro
10943 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
10933 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
10923 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
10883 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
10800 - Asus Zenfone 6
10721 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
10403 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
10387 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
10014 - Huawei P30 Pro
9649 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
9406 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
9375 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
9309 - ASUS ROG Phone
9230 - Razer Phone 2
8923
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy Note10+
4541 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4522 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
3563 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode + FAN)
3562 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
3547 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
3527 - Black Shark 2
3515 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
3510 - Asus Zenfone 6
3505 - Xiaomi Mi 9
3503 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
3499 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
3493 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
3492 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
3470 - Sony Xperia 1
3447 - OnePlus 7 Pro
3402 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
3323 - Huawei P30 Pro
3270 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
2573 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
2556 - ASUS ROG Phone
2514 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
2504 - Razer Phone 2
2424
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode + FAN)
2830 - OnePlus 7 Pro
2763 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
2743 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
2696 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
2396 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
2300
Then there is the matter of the phone's impressive 120Hz OLED panel. Adding it to the mix is actually pretty important when it comes to any sort of benchmark with an on-screen rendering component. The ones we typically run may impose an FPS cap to 60fps matching the normal refresh rate.
When the benchmarks detect the 120Hz refresh rate, the cap is increased and you can really appreaciate what the overclocked Adreno 640 GPU inside the Snapdragon 855+ is capable of. As a result, the ROG Phone II actually scores a lot higher then the 60Hz phones. The graphics component in AnTuTu 8, as seen here at 120Hz with and without X Mode and then 60Hz illustrates this perfectly.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
492907 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode + FAN)
487237 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
485495 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
483239 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
384713
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy Note10+
112 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
110 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
110 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
109 - Sony Xperia 1
102 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
102 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
101 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
101 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
101 - Black Shark 2
101 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
101 - Xiaomi Mi 9
100 - OnePlus 7 Pro
92 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
90 - Huawei P30 Pro
87 - ASUS ROG Phone
82 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
82 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
82 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
82 - Razer Phone 2
69
The now gradually phased-out AnTuTu 7 also to favour the ROG Phone II quite a bit while judging its overall compound performance. This is a bit more accurate in our book compared to the GeekBench pure CPU runs due to their very particular and specific workloads of choice. The same is true for Basemark, which appears to favour the ROG Phone II a lot better even at 60Hz. Plus, the variances in performance at 60Hz, 120Hz and with X Mode are more clearly defined in the Basemark runs and representative of the real-world gradual gains we observed.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
5729 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode + FAN)
5699 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
5693 - Xiaomi Mi 9
5346 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
5322 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
5239 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
5166 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
5016 - Asus Zenfone 6
4979 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
4928 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
4842 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
4841 - OnePlus 7 Pro
4797 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
4702 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
4700 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
4684 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
4675 - ASUS ROG Phone
4614 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4568 - Huawei P30 Pro
4272 - Sony Xperia 1
4211 - Razer Phone 2
4163 - Black Shark 2
3450
Like we already mentioned, once benchmarks like GFX Manhattan 3.1 detect the 120Hz refresh rate, the fps cap is increased and the phone can break the 60fps mark if the hardware inside allows it. Hence, while its off-screen scores are representative and comparable to the rest of the devices on the chart, the same isn't exactly true about the on-screen run. For this one the ROG Phone had its display at 120Hz, which is how the top 69fps result transpired.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
78 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
78 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
78 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
71 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
71 - Black Shark 2
71 - Sony Xperia 1
71 - Asus Zenfone 6
71 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
71 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
70 - Xiaomi Mi 9
70 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
69 - OnePlus 7 Pro
68 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
68 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
67 - ASUS ROG Phone
60 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
60 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
60 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
60 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
56 - Huawei P30 Pro
54 - Razer Phone 2
51
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
69 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
68 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
62 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
62 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
60 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
57 - Black Shark 2
57 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
57 - Asus Zenfone 6
57 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
57 - Xiaomi Mi 9
56 - Sony Xperia 1
55 - ASUS ROG Phone
54 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
54 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
54 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
54 - Huawei P30 Pro
50 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
50 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
38 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
37 - OnePlus 7 Pro
33 - Razer Phone 2
33
Before we continue on with GPU synthetics, the absence of scores with X-Mode, plus the active fan at 120Hz should be noted here. There is a simple reason for that - the test runs are just too short or not taking enough to get the Adreno GPU to thermal-throttle and bring down fps numbers. Actually, what we found out in our in-depth gaming smartphone performance review was that GPU loads are not enough to cause thermal-throttling. Having the fan didn't really affect the GPU fps numbers. Having said that, things are a bit different during real-life gaming sessions, especially longer ones. These give the CPU enough time to actually start accumulating heat, which can eventually affect sustained performance over time. The AeroActive Cooler II definitely helps in this regard. Plus, it is great at keeping your hands and the surface of the phone at a more comfortable temperature.
Ramping up the GPU load with something like the new Aztek test brings the on-screen results back to comparable terms, since 60fps remains an unreachable bar even for the beefed-up 700MHz Adreno 640. That being said, the extra performance it churns out over its vanilla Adreno sibling is not insignificant.
Aztek Vulkan Normal (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
47 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
47 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
47 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
42 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
42 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
42 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
42 - Xiaomi Mi 9
41 - OnePlus 7 Pro
40 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
40 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
40 - ASUS ROG Phone
36 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
35 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
35 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
35 - Razer Phone 2
33
Aztek Vulkan Normal (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
40 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
40 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
40 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
36 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
36 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
36 - Xiaomi Mi 9
34 - ASUS ROG Phone
32 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
32 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
32 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
32 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
31 - OnePlus 7 Pro
20 - Razer Phone 2
20 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
15 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
15
Aztek OpenGL ES 3.1 Normal (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy Note10+
49 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
47 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
47 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
47 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
46 - Xiaomi Mi 9
43 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
42 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
42 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
42 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
42 - OnePlus 7 Pro
41 - ASUS ROG Phone
38 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
37 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
37 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
37 - Razer Phone 2
37
Aztek OpenGL ES 3.1 Normal (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
41 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
40 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
40 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
38 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
37 - Xiaomi Mi 9
36 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
36 - ASUS ROG Phone
34 - ASUS ROG Phone (Fan on)
34 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode
34 - ASUS ROG Phone X mode (Fan on)
34 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
31 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
26 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
26 - Razer Phone 2
24 - OnePlus 7 Pro
21
3DMark SSE runs also put the benefits of the 120Hz refresh rate and plentiful GPU power into tangible numbers.
3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
6860 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
6814 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
6360 - Black Shark 2
6330 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
6282 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
6264 - Asus Zenfone 6
6263 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
6258 - OnePlus 7 Pro
6093 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
5855 - Xiaomi Mi 9
5816 - Sony Xperia 1
5792 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
5287 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
5023 - ASUS ROG Phone
4875 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4632 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
4315 - Huawei P30 Pro
3522
3DMark SSE 3.1
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
6175 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
6148 - Black Shark 2
5784 - OnePlus 7 Pro
5462 - Xiaomi Mi 9
5450 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
5393 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
5279 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
5218 - Sony Xperia 1
5123 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
4984 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
4966 - ASUS ROG Phone
4712 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
4712 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4420 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
4215
3DMark SSE Vulkan
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
5412 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
5152 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (Super Performance Mode + fan max)
5027 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 (new ROM)
5004 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
4999 - Black Shark 2
4981 - OnePlus 7 Pro
4833 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
4763 - Asus ROG Phone II (60Hz)
4642 - Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
4612 - Sony Xperia 1
4505 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4295 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
4231 - Xiaomi Mi 9
4068 - ASUS ROG Phone
4067
And with the increasing number of smartphone displays pushing past the 60Hz mark, we are happy to see a noticeable ramp-up in game engines and apps that can also render at over 60fps. There is still some searching involved to unearth high-refresh rate titles, but the effort is well worth it. Plus, Asus did provide us with a nifty list of games that can push past the 60fps barrier, which you can use for reference. Download the PDF here.
Thermals
Another thing we can't fail to mention and test while on the topic of performance on the ROG Phone II is the active cooling fan attachment that comes in the box. Just like on the original ROG Phone, it complements the specifically crafted internal heat pipe design of the phone, culminating in a small exposed radiator area. It not only ties in well into the gaming aesthetic, but also provides a convenient outlet for heat.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode + FAN)
2830 - OnePlus 7 Pro
2763 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
2743 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
2696 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
2396 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
2300
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy Note10+
822 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode + FAN)
771 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
763 - OnePlus 7 Pro
744 - Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode)
739 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
736
As for real-life benefits from using the fan attachment are real and easily relateable to a gamer's needs.
The AeroActive Cooler II provides great sustained performance and comfort over prolonged gaming sessions.
That is to say that you won't really get any benchmark-breaking peek performance just from having the fan on the ROG Phone II. Rather a small, nifty bump up in numbers, if that. But you will definitely be able to sustain a higher and smoother average frame rate in games for longer, whereas otherwise thermal-throttling would inevitably set in. Plus, your hands will be a lot more comfortable and less sweaty while holding the phone and its metal frame, which gets particularly toasty in certain areas.
Throttling without fan
Just to illustrate the benefits of running an active fan, even one that sits on the outside of the phone to CPU thermals, here are a pair of throttling tests. Both done with X-Mode on Ultimate, the temperature slider all the way up, the screen set to 120Hz, with the AeroActive Cooler II being the only variable. The ROG Phone II was cooled in-between the runs.
Throttling with fan
During the first run without the AeroActive Cooler II the ROG Phone II held up maximum performance, or thereabout, valiantly all the way to about the 25 minute mark. At the end of the test the phone had retained 85% of its maximum performance. Making a few other calculations and adding the results to a performance pool from an earlier review, this is an amazing showing from the ROG Phone II.
Average performance over 1h as percentage of the max availabile
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
98% - Asus ROG Phone II
96% - Black Shark 2
92% - nubia Red Magic 3 (fan)
92% - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
91% - OnePlus 7
90% - Xiaomi Mi 9T
88% - Samsung Galaxy S10e
75% - Sony Xperia 1
73% - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
67% - Huawei P30 Pro
64%
Minimal perforamnce over 1h as percentage of the max availabile
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
93% - Black Shark 2
89% - nubia Red Magic 3 (fan)
87% - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
86% - Asus ROG Phone II
85% - Xiaomi Mi 9T
84% - OnePlus 7
83% - Samsung Galaxy S10e
64% - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
61% - Huawei P30 Pro
60% - Sony Xperia 1
48%
Even without the fan lending a hand, its cooling solution is clearly good enough to rank up there with the best including the nubia Red Magic 3, which does have a built-in active fan.
With the AeroActive Cooler II strapped on and going at full blast, the CPU Throttling test app actually reported no thermal throttling at all for the duration of the test. Something we frankly thought nearly impossible on a flagship smartphone.
As far as temperature goes, the surface of the ROG Phone II definitely gets toasty with prolonged loads, especially with X Mode Ultra and the temperature slider all the way up to high. That is kind of the idea of having these options available to the user and the price to pay for getting the ultimate performance. Even so, the quoted temperature was recorded at the exposed copper part of the internal cooler on the back of the phone. The only other unpleasantly hot spot on the device were certain parts of the frame, which reached 47 degrees.
Max surface temperature
Lower is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (X Mode Ultimate + FAN)
51° - Black Shark 2
47° - OnePlus 7
47° - Asus ROG Phone II
46° - Samsung Galaxy S10e
46° - Sony Xperia 1
42° - ZTE nubia Red Magic 3
42° - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
39° - Xiaomi Mi 9T
39° - nubia Red Magic 3 (Perf. mode + fan)
37° - Huawei P30 Pro
37°
With the fan on and blowing, things got a lot more comfortable on every spot of the phone. Not only did the exposed vent cool down to 46 degrees, but the frame dropped to 44 and the rest of the body was a pretty manageable 36 degree average. Stressing once again that these numbers were reached using the most extreme settings and high thresholds available. Not only are they easily avoidable with more relaxed settings, but also unattainable in real world use cases.
The ROG Phone II represents the pinnacle of Android performance so far into 2019. Toss in the extensive accessory ecosystem that also provides tangible performance benefits in its own ways and you get a benchmark-setting and industry-leading, zero compromise gaming package.
Plus there is also, the unparalleled freedom an access to advanced fine-tuning tools provided to the user. The amount of optimization and tweaking that Asus themselves have put into the device is nothing short of impressive.
ROG Phone II accessories and attachments
Just like it was with the original, a big part of the allure of the ROG Phone II lies with its extensive accessory package. That is especially the case when the review unit arrives in an actual briefcase complete with each exciting gadget. But even looking past that, there is still no doubt in our mind that a whole year later Asus ROG Phone is still unrivalled in terms of its ecosystem.
For the ROG Phone II all the same bases are covered with more than a few of the accessories tangibly improved. Others were deemed good enough to simply be carried over.
Naturally, some of the gadgets are going to be better and more useful than others. Seeing how there is a lot to cover here, let's just jump into it.
AeroActive Cooler II
Since this is a default accessory - one you are actually getting in the retail box of the ROG Phone II and do not have to purchase separately it only makes sense to talk about it first. Plus, if you've been going through this review page by page then you should already be familiar with its benefits to performance and comfort. The AeroActive Cooler II is arguably the most useful of all accessories.
The differences between the new, redesigned fan and the original one are pretty subtle on the surface. In fact, so much so that our first thought was to try the AeroActive Cooler II on the original ROG Phone and vice versa. While they fit both ways, that was a no go resulting in an error messsage to use the proper cooler. We appreciate that Asus was perfectly aware we were going to do this sort of thing already.
Anyway, design-wise the AeroActive Cooler II is a bit bulkier, but interestingly enough feels a bit lighter. The new design also works together with the Aero Case. That would be the default slim, cooling-friendly bumper you also get in the base product package. Meaning that you don't need to take the case off to pop the fan on. Well, not the Aero Case, at least. Neat!
The fan inside the AeroActive Cooler II is definitely more visible than on the original and appears to be bigger. That means better cooling performance at the cost of less noise. And indeed we can confirm Asus' claims of about 5 degree difference to surface temperature with the fan on full blast and noticeably lower noise levels compared to the original AeroActive Cooler. The advertised four time reduction in noise might be a bit of a stretch though. If you plan on making the most out of the cooling solution, be prepared to hear the fan working in a quiet environment.
On a more positive note, you still get the same simple slide-up mechanism on the fan and the nicely positioned pass-through Type-C port and the 3.5mm audio jack. That's probably the only convenient place to have dangling cables while gaming. Also, the sizeable RGB Aura Sync logo on the back is still present. It acts as a substitute for the phone's logo since it gets covered up by the fan. And with this new redesign you also get RGB on the front Republic of Gamers letters as well. A bit distracting, but then again that kind of comes par for the course with RGB.
Finally, there is one more amazing little touch added to the AeroActive Cooler II, which we simply love - an optional small rubber attachment that you can put at the bottom. That allows the fan to pull double duty as a surprisingly stable desk stand for the phone.
Our Verdict: If you do end up getting the ROG Phone II, you will definitely want to keep the AeroActive Cooler II close at hand pretty much always. It is great.
Lighting Armour Case
Since we already mentioned the nifty Aero Case bundled with every ROG Phone II, we might as well get the other official Lighting Armour case variant out of the way just to avoid any mix-up between the two, since they are definitely different.
The Lighting Armour Case is a lot more constrictive and covers pretty much the entire back of the phone. Not ideal for cooling, but definitely better for protection. That being said, though, the metal sides of the phone are still exposed due to its design so it's not exactly overly protective. Unlike the Aure Case, you do have to take this one off to use the AeroActive Cooler II.
The main party trick for the Lighting Armour Case has a built-in LED light guides and a reflector window, which aligns with the second LED near the main camera of the phone. Like we already mentioned in the hardware section, that is not a second camera flash, but an RGB LED that lets your AuraSync effect of choice shine through the Lighting Armour Case. The one we got in the box is covered with ROG branding, but apparently other designs may exist as well. The Lighting Armour case also uses an NFC chip to talk to the phone and unlock an exclusive theme to match its style.
Our Verdict: This has gamer swag written all over it which probably means you can expect to see Lighting Armour cases of big Android game titles in the near future. The premium on that should be pretty hefty. If you are just in it for the case side of things, there should definitely be more practical case options out there.
ROG Kunai Gamepad
We've said it a few times already, but it's still worth repeating - the true allure of the ROG Phone II lies in its incredible accessory ecosystem. To be even more precise, most real benefits stem from its versatile, well-though out nature with one mission alone - gaming.
If there is one common theme for the second generation of ROG Phone gadgets it has to be refinement. The entire lineup is noticeably more flushed-out. Even small things like redesigned packages for certain familiar accessories make a big difference as far as a unified experience goes.
And there is no better example of this refinement process than the new ROG Kunai Gamepad.
It comes as a direct replacement for last year's GAMEVICE controller, which, for all of its great features, never quite managed to fit snugly (both literally and metaphorically) with the ROG Phone. Well, this time around, instead of adopting a third-party product, Asus has designed a controller of its own and, boy, it is better in every perceivable way.
On the surface the ROG Kunai Gamepad seems unassuming enough until you realise just how versatile of a controller Asus has managed to craft. The device actually consists of three distinct parts. The most obvious way of using it is with the ROG Kunai bumper. That slips on the ROG Phone II pretty securely while also breaking out the phone's bottom Type-C connection into special connection pads for one or both Kunai grips.
That's right, it's a direct USB low-latency connection and you can opt to just use the left controller, if that just happens to be all the extra input you need. And frankly, that might very well be the case since the left controller alone has a fluid analogue stick, complete with press-down action, d-pad, two bumpers on the back and even a small button near the bottom of the grip. That makes eight discreet inputs that can be freely mapped using the versatile Asus Keymapping V2.0 software.
That is the other bit of magic going on behind the scenes. The entire mapping platform is very simple and straight-forward and it simply works. Not to mention it is baked right into the OS and even comes pre-loaded with professional key maps for many major game titles. It is honestly kind of magical and the advantages this sort of mapping provides are frankly bordering on cheating, especially if you decide to use on of the Asus docks and a mouse and keyboard. But we digress.
Back to the Kunai Gamepad. Just like its left sibling, the right controller brings another eight buttons into the mix. No AuraSync RGB strip on this side or a Type-C port on the bottom, but other than that, literally double the control options for a total of 16.
Then there is the Kunai holder which really shakes things up. It features two more shoulder buttons. Better still, these two are actually analogue inputs! Also two more surprisingly convenient triggers on the back side of the grip handles. And on the front - five function buttons. That makes a total of 25. Crazy stuff. But is somehow gets better.
In this configuration you can obviously use the ROG Kunai Gamepad as a wireless Bluetooth controller for the ROG Phone II or pretty much any other Bluetooth device, for that matter. However, there is also a small switch on the back of the unit, which you can use it to switch over to a wired low-latency Type-C cable connection. And the cherry on top of the controller cake is the 2.4GHz RF receiver that has its USB dongle hidden in a little groove on the back as well. You can simply pop that into any PC USB Type-A port.
Our Verdict: If if are considering picking up an extra accessory for the ROG Phone II, then definitely start with the ROG Kunai Gamepad. It is a surprisingly comfortable and extremely versatile piece of kit that brings a lot of value. We like using it so much that we kind of wish Asus would start making Kunai bumpers for other devices as well.
Twinview Dock II
Another familiar concept from the original ROG Phone that has been vastly improved or in this particular case, entirely redesigned. The core idea is still the same - provide the player with a second display, identical to the first one - so you are getting a 6.59-inch AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate. Unlike the original Twinview dock and the ROG Phone, this time around you can actually run both panels at 120Hz at the same time. Some restrictions do still apply though, like the fact that once the phone is inserted into the Twinview Dock II you can co longer adjust refresh rates. Nitpicking aside, you are getting literally twice the screen real estate.
Of course, you can't really expect instant dual-screen gaming experiences to just appear out of thin air. The ROG UI itself is pretty well optimised for the second display. Well, kind of. The two displays appear to behave entirely independently. All you can do is launch a second app on the other display. On the flip side, this independent behaviour does mean that you can pretty much launch and use any app on the second display with no issues.
The only real tweaks available as to how the TwinView Dock has a settings item in the battery menu of the phone that lets you chose whether to use the dock's 5,000mAh battery as a power bank and deplete it first, while keeping the phone's battery full or have the two batteries discharge in tandem.
The standard charger bundled with the ROG Phone II actually has enough overhead in its 30W output to charge both at the same time. If you remember, the phone would charge with up to 25W of power and the other 5W are meant for any attached peripherals.
As far as actual usability is concerned, things haven't really changed or improved that much since the original Twinview Dock. The main use cases still seem a bit far-retched, like looking for info or chatting on one screen and playing on the other. Keeping an eye on your live stream does seem kind of cool. But that's about it. Notable annoyances, or rather missed opportunities include the fact that you can't spawn your keyboard for the top screen on the bottom one. Each display gets its own standard keyboard placement taking up half the screen. Also, there is no dedicated virtual joystick app that can be opened on the bottom side and mapped to inputs on the top display. Both are things we have actually already seen done by LG and its recent dual-display accessories.
Design-wise, however, the second generation Twinview Dock is vastly superior, successfully addressing pretty much every beef we had with its predecessor. Like the weight. The second generation actually feels manageable with the phone docked inside. This did come at the price of 1,000 mAh less additional battery capacity and the loss of the two shoulder buttons. However, there is still an internal fan and both a 3.5mm audio jack and Type-C port conveniently relocated near the top and bottom.
But the more observant among you might wonder why exactly Asus went through the trouble of re-routing said ports when the new Twinview Dock II has both the top and bottom of the ROG Phone II exposed. That's another nifty bit and entirely intentional. You can actually use the ROG Kunai Gamepad and the Twinview Dock II together. Granted, it might take you 15 minutes or so to set everything up, but that's about as baller of a portable smartphone gaming setup as we can imagine.
Our Verdict: Still a great hardware idea now made even better thanks to the re-design. However, software support remains lacking (Asphalt 9 and Shadowgun Legends currently stand out for having a dual-display mode) and the actual practicality is pretty low. Plus, even the new slimmed-down version remains chunky and cumbersome. Unless you really have a valid use case ready and lined up for it, we would skip the Twinview Dock II.
Mobile Desktop Dock
The Mobile Desktop Dock is actually making a transition from the original ROG Phone to its successor without any change at all. Well, aside from a new box design. Frankly, it hardly needs any tweaking or modifying as far as we are concerned. Unlike the TwinView Dock II, which looks really flashy and cool, but doesn't quite hold up in terms of usability, the Mobile Desktop Dock finds itself on the polar opposite of that spectrum.
It is an impressive piece of kit that works on more than one level. First, there is the obvious - hooking the ROG Phone up to a monitor, along with a mouse and keyboard. That opens up space for a bit of productivity work. Unlike Huawei or Samsung, with their dedicated desktop environments, the ROG Phone doesn't really have any fancy window manager when docked. It does, however, offer a choice between two display modes - mirroring or extending the display.
Extending the display is probably the mode you want to be using most of the time, except for a few gaming scenarios when certain titles simply don't want to cooperate with the extended mode.
In TwinView mode, the output matches the native resolution of your monitor and since the Mobile Desktop Dock is equipped with both an HDMI 2.0 port and a Display Port 1.3, you don't have to limit yourself to FullHD, like some of the competing mobile docking solutions. 4K is easily attainable.
While using TwinView mode, you also end up with a slightly tweaked version of the app launcher on the monitor and a fully functional UI on the phone display. This means you can multitask or simply fire up Game Center on the phone while gaming on the monitor to keep an eye out on performance stats.
And since we are on the topic of gaming, this is probably the single game-changing functionality (see what we did there) the Mobile Desktop Dock has to offer since the Asus Key Mapping not only works with gamepads but also with a mouse and keyboard as well. Once you pair those, you get to enjoy the massive advantage of looking around and aiming in any game with unreal precision. Again, the practice has been banned in certain titles like PUBG.
We have to say, we were very surprised at just how well the Key Mapping layer manages to translate mouse movement to presses on a directional pad on-screen. Plus, just like with gamepad mapping, you can get pre-made control maps automatically for many games, so you don't have to fiddle about making those yourself.
But, as impressive as this is, we actually think that the Mobile Desktop Dock has a more impressive feature, still. The Mobile Desktop Dock is actually a potent and extensible KVM. Yes, a 4K KVM! Well, one of the devices needs to be the phone, but still, anybody familiar with a KVM will know just how much a good 4K one costs and here it is, sitting dormant as part of a mobile phone accessory. Crazy!
If you are wondering what all this means, basically, you can use the dock to "implant" the ROG Phone into your existing PC setup without interrupting it one bit or having to re-wire things every time you want to dock the phone. This works by unplugging all your things from the PC and then plugging them into the back of the Mobile Desktop Dock.
You simply need to route a display cable from it to the side DP of the dock (presumably a gaming PC's existing display connection), along with a USB-A to micro USB 3.0. Yes, that's what that is. Unfortunately, Asus decided to stick with this old connector on the receiving end of the USB connection instead of something newer like Type-C. The Type-C on the rear side is only for powering the dock. And you can either use the bundled 30W brick from the ROG Phone II or another similarly capable Power Delivery source.
So, with all that done, you can now simply use your phone and PC interchangeably by pressing the small button on the front of the Mobile Desktop Dock. And that, in a nutshell, is KVM functionality right there and incredibly convenient. When the ROG Phone is docked and you are in PC mode, the phone actually reacts and mounts as an external storage device, which is just an amazing small touch.
Our Verdict: Getting the Mobile Desktop Dock is a no-brainer if you have the cash and know what you are getting and intend to make full use of it. The Mobile Desktop Dock simply dwarfs all competing mobile dock solutions in sheer hardware capabilities and functionality. Plus, you can really wreak havoc in many competitive games with a mouse and keyboard setup.
ASUS Professional Dock
The ASUS Professional Dock is another absolutely unchanged accessory transitioning over from the original ROG Phone. In fact, this time it wasn't part of the review kit we received, but it is still on the list of official accessories for the ROG Phone II nonetheless. In order to make the ASUS Mobile Desktop Dock a justifiable purchase, you probably have to make proper use of its PC-switching KVM functionality. If that's not the case, then you can definitely save a few bucks and pick up the ASUS Professional Dock instead.
Anybody already forced to live the "dongle life" due to limited I/O electronics will be familiar with the concept - plug the ASUS Professional Dock into one of the two Type-C ports on the ROG Phone and you get a couple of USB 3.1 Type-A ports, Gigabit Ethernet and an HDMI out, capable of up to 4K resolutions.
It is definitely a much simpler and limited device than the Mobile Desktop Dock, but it does still provide most of its docking capabilities. That includes Key Mapping support, which was not the case with a couple of third-party Type-C docks we tried on the ROG Phone. Despite having all the same ports, the option never popped-up in Game Genie, so Asus might be protecting their accessory ecosystem a bit here.
Our Verdict: Pick one up only if you intend on using the Key Mapping functionality, which currently seems to be a prerogative of Asus official accessories. If you simply want video out and USB in, there are cheaper third-party options out there.
WiGig Display Dock Plus and USB 3.0 to RJ45 dongle
Last, but not least, we have yet another familiar piece of kit - the WiGig Display Dock - a wireless display solution with a lot of promise and a focus on interesting tech - the 60GHz WiGig Wi-Fi. This is a wireless data transfer standard that uses a very high spectrum to achieve impressive transfer speeds and even more impressively low latency. Both perfect for playing a game on a bigger display, like a TV or projector from a distance, without ruining the experience with lag.
We are talking latency under 20ms here, compared to Miracast and other similar wireless display solutions that have delays in the order of 500ms.
The WiGig Display Dock is definitely meant for gaming. The tech does have some serious limitations, though. In order for it to work properly and get a decent connection, the sender has to reside within a 120-degree cone in front of the receiver and no more than 5 meters of distance away from it. So, being in a clear line of sight is definitely required.
In fact, in our testing, the shorter the distance to the dock, the noticeably better the experience got in terms of lag and connection stability. Still, if you position yourself just the right distance and angle from the receiver, the end result is pretty impressive. Well, not exactly HDMI connection impressive, but impressive nonetheless.
We also experienced a few connection drops, so there is work to be done on the connection quality. We also noticed that the ROG Phone got really hot while gaming this way. Probably the 60GHz radio inside the phone is making things quite toasty.
All that being said, we have to say that the whole setup seems to work a lot better than the first time we tested it on the original ROG Phone. So, some updates and perhaps upgrades have been applied. Honestly, we couldn't quite decipher which one of the two it is. On the surface the WiGig Display Dock seems to be absolutely identical to the one we got with the ROG Phone. Even down to the "ADSA001" model number. However, reading the specs carefully did reveal that the old dock was limited to 1920 x 1080 input resolution from the Android side, while the new one bumps that up to 2560 x 1080 pixels. Could it be that the "Plus" moniker actually denotes some internal hardware changes?
We can't really say for sure, but what we did try is using the new ROG Phone II and the ROG Phone with the new dock. Not at the same time, of course. And some limitations that were previously a thing are in fact no longer there. Most notably, neither phone locked its display to 60Hz. Plus the output from the dock's HDMI is no longer limited to 720p. FullHD is definitely attainable. Whatever the case may be, we are pretty sure that if you buy a WiGig Display Dock today you are probably going to receive the newer one.
Another thing you will get bundled is a USB Type-A to RJ45 dongle for a wired network connection. That is meant to go inside the back of the WiGig Display Dock. When the ROG Phone II connects to the dock that port actually gets mounted to the phone as if it were local. Yes, we are talking wireless USB 3.0! That's still pretty cool and we have to admit that it never occurred to us to plug a network dongle in there when we reviewed the ROG Phone. Just an external HDD. Even so, we stay behind our opinion that this whatever kind of data you decide to transfer from the WiGig Display Dock to the phone and back for that USB 3.0 connection it is going to be less than ideal for a number of reasons. Still, it does make for a rather clean TV/Projector setup.
Our Verdict: The WiGig Display Dock is definitely in a better state than we originally found it back with the old ROG Phone. And is still makes for a really cool, clean and futuristic bid screen setup. The most annoying resolution and refresh rate limitations of the past seem to be dealt with alongside the noticeable improvement in connection stability. If you can actually see yourself playing Android games in such a setup and really insist on just having one Android device to do that, then the WiGig Display Dock kind of makes sense. However, there are still better and more versatile solutions for both multimedia consumption (media centre style) and playing games, even Android ones. Consider a console or perhaps Android Box/Nvidia Shield TV instead.
48MP Quad Bayer main camera, 13MP ultra wide
Cameras are among the few hardware bits with no direct relation to the quality of the gaming experience so most gaming phones don't really pay much attention to this area. This is pretty much that case with the ROG Phone II as well, but at least Asus already had an adequate setup that it could direct port from the Zenfone 6.
It certainly saved a lot of development since the chipsets of the two phones have the same DSP, so the transition was probably super smooth and left more R&D resources to the gaming part.
You get a pair of snappers on the back of the ROG Phone II. The main cam uses the Sony IMX586 sensor, that's on everything these days. It's a 48MP Quad Bayer imager with a type 1/2" overall size and 0.8µm pixel pitch. The f/1.8 lens has 26mm-equivalent focal length but no OIS. There is pretty decent EIS though, for both the main and the ultrawide camera.
Speaking of the ultrawide, it has 13MP to work with and its lens covers a 125-degree field of view (so around 11mm equivalent). Its focus is fixed.
Camera UI
The camera app's interface is straightforward and has the usual things in plain sight. You switch modes by swiping side to side, there's a main/wide toggle and a 1.0x/2.0x zoom button for engaging the digital zoom (the '.0' is certainly a bit unnecessary). On the opposite end of the viewfinder there's a shortcut to settings, an HDR mode toggle, aspect ratio switch, flash control and a library of filters.
Night mode
There is a dedicated Night mode. It is pretty simple and void of any real options to tweak. Still, it does work for both the main and the ultrawide camera.
Pro camera mode
There's a Pro mode, naturally, letting you adjust photographic parameters manually. Shutter speed can be set between 1/100s and 16s, the ISO range is 25 to 1600. These are less liberal ranges compared to the Zenfone 6 for whatever reason. There's a live histogram too, which is nice, but it could have been bigger. Still, you get a pretty versatile set of options.
Camera app settings
The camera app settings menu is fairly extensive as well. AI scene detection is a pretty nifty feature that you should probably leave on all the time. It might not be as clever as other AI modes, but it does a solid job covering the basics, like knowing when the phone is on a tripod, or shooting a fast-moving target.
Still image quality
Just like its Zenfone 6 sibling, the ROG Phone II shoots in HDR Auto+ mode by default and in good light the phone captures very nice images. There's a lot of detail and the photos are nearly free of noise. Dynamic range is quite wide already even before resorting to the more complex HDR+ Enhanced processing. Colors are really nicely reproduced too. Overall, it's about what we have come to expect from the popular Sony IMX586.
ROG Phone II HDR+ Auto camera samples
Now, if you want some extra pop out of your photos, switch to the HDR+ Enhanced mode. You'll get a nice boost in micro-contrast, and noticeably brightened midtones. The look is interesting and we kind of like it, but some could find it a bit too dramatic and unreal. HDR+ Enhanced does come with a major downside in terms of capture time. it takes several seconds even in broad daylight. Even so, we didn't witness any ghosting on moving subjects.
ROG Phone II HDR+ Enhanced camera samples
As for the basic HDR-off mode, it's objectively worse in every possible way. In fact, we don't really see any good reason for it to even be accessible from the camera app. To be fair, it's not the default setting and it's not like images captured with it are unusable, but Asus might have been better off just going with two options in the HDR menu.
ROG Phone II HDR: OFF • AUTO+ • OFF • AUTO+ • OFF • AUTO+
The 48MP Quad Bayer sensor isn't really designed to output at 48MP, but it can do it if you so insist. When there's a lot of light to work with, you do stand to gain some extra detail, but even in moderately dimmer conditions you're better off sticking with 12MP. And that's before we factor in the difference in file sizes.
ROG Phone II 48MP camera samples
Tapping the 2x button in the viewfinder will net you a 12MP image - a crop from the center of the sensor. What we said about the 48MP shots applies here as well - if there's an abundance of light, you might get a usable shot, otherwise don't bother.
ROG Phone II 2x zoom samples
Unlike the 48MP mode, you can still use all of the HDR options for this 2x zoom crop mode. The benefits of HDR+ Enhanced are pretty much the same. And capture time is just as slow as before.
ROG Phone II 2x zoom HDR+ Enhanced samples
The Zenfone's ultra wide cam takes alright shots - they're not quite in the same leagues as the ones from the main cam, but realistically no ultra wide smartphone cam on the market can claim that. We have to point out that it's one of the wider lenses available, yet distortion is very well contained.
ROG Phone II ultrawide HDR+ Auto samples
For the sake of completeness, we also took some shots with the ultrawide and HDR all the way off as well as HDR+ Enhanced.
ROG Phone II ultrawide HDR+ Enhanced samples
The drawback of no HDR are a bit more noticeable with this camera compared to the main one as its higher native noise shines through.
ROG Phone II ultrawide HDR: OFF • AUTO+ • OFF • AUTO+ • OFF • AUTO+
There is a dedicated portrait mode on the main camera of the ROG Phone II and it does a pretty decent job. Of course, depth sensing with an ultrawide second camera is never ideal, so you still get the occasional blurred stay hair. Glasses also throw the hole algorithm off. But these are not so much issues with the ROG Phone II itself as with the technology in general. The handset actually does a pretty good job with the hardware it has at hand.
ROG Phone II portrait samples with main camera
In low light, the ROG Phone II's main camera doesn't excite, but gets the job done. Detail is good but there's a fair amount of noise present and an overall softness to the images.
ROG Phone II 12MP low-light samples, HDR Auto
Night mode does make a difference. It evens out the exposure by saving some blown highlights and brightening the shadows. Noise is also almost entirely removed in the process. Looking at the night shots from up close we see an overall softness. It's generally not the best implementation of night mode we've seen, but it's an improvement over low-light shots taken in the regular photo mode.
ROG Phone II 12MP low-light samples, Night Mode
Ultrawide photos get a nice little boost from Night mode as well. Generally speaking, the ultrawide has an understandably harder time coping with low-light environments. It is what it ism we guess.
ROG Phone II ultrawide low-light samples, HDR Auto
ROG Phone II ultrawide low-light samples, Night Mode
Selfies are probably the only area where the ROG Phone II is not extremely similar in performance to the Zenfone 6. The gaming behemoth lacks a fancy rotating camera assembly so it has to use a dedicated 24MP, f/2.2, 0.9µm front-facing snapper.
ROG Phone II selfie samples
It does a solid job and holds its own. Detail is good, so are colors and sharpness. The focus distance feels pretty well measured at an average arm length and the focus depth is sufficient. A good thing too, since you really don't want to be holding out the 240gram phone or re-adjusting it for focus more than absolutely necessary.
Portrait mode works on selfies as well. Naturally, the the algorithm has a tougher time on this side due to the lack of a second camera or even autofocus, so results are rather mediocre.
ROG Phone II selfie portrait samples
Beauty mode shots are barely usable, but they do have a very different target audience.
ROG Phone II selfie beauty mode
To Asus' credit, it's a very versatile mode filled to the brim with sliders. Most of these, however, can go to some extreme "Sims character creator" values, making it rather easy to go overboard with the effect. No real hard though, since there is some comedic value to be had from playing around.
ROG Phone II beauty mode option
Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the ROG Phone II stacks up against the competition.
Asus ROG Phone II against the Xiaomi Black Shark 2 and the ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 in our Photo compare tool
48MP: Asus ROG Phone II against the OnePlus 7 Pro and the ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 in our Photo compare tool
Video recording
Another bit naturally borrowed straight from the Zenfone 6. And frankly, we're not complaining one bit, since we are looking at an impressively capable and versatile video setup. The ROG Phone II records video up to 2160p at 60fps and it supports electronic stabilization all the way up to that mode, unlike most current phones which can only stabilize 2160p/30fps footage. The stabilization can be turned off too if you're supporting the phone otherwise, giving you the native FoV instead of the resulting crop from the stabilization. EIS even works for the ultrawide camera. Although that one can't do 60 fps. You can also choose between the H.264 and H.265 codecs.
We shot in H.264 exclusively for the lest possible compression, and the 4K60 is treated to a 75Mbps bit rate, 4K30 gets 42Mbps, while 1080p is encoded at 30Mbps and 20Mbps for 60fps and 30fps respectively. Audio is always recorded in stereo at 192kbps.
Video quality is excellent across the board. Asus definitely went for what we would call more laid-back processing. Colors are a bit more subdued and no aggressive sharpening is taking place. We did notice the odd over-exposed patch in broad daylight, but that is to be expected. Detail is excellent. Overall, an awesome experience.
The drop down in resolution still makes for perfectly usable videos and an impressive amount of detail. 1080p/30fps looks sharper than 60fps here, so make sure you stay on the right side of this trade off, depending on your needs.
The ultra wide camera can't do 4K60, but its 4K30 footage is solid. It's a bit noisy and just a bit soft, yes, but if you're pixel-peeping your ultra wide videos, you're missing the big picture. Interestingly enough, Asus appears to have gone with a slightly "punchier" color profile for the ultrawide.
One again, even at FullHD resolution videos captured with the ultrawide camera remain impressively detailed and perfectly usable.
Excellent marks for video all around so far. So on to the last bit of the offering then and EIS. EIS all the way to 4K 60fps does sound awfully suspicious and we would have definitely been more sceptical of it were it not for the Zenfone 6 where Asus clearly managed to pull it off. The same impressive EIS algorithm is carried over to the ROG Phone II as well.
And yes, it works on the ultrawide as well and is just impressive all around.
Here's a glimpse of how the ROG Phone II compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.
4K: Asus ROG Phone II against the Xiaomi Black Shark 2 and the ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 in our Video compare tool
Wrap-up
The ROG Phone II is one behemoth of a device. Everything about it is grand and impressive. Its size and internals, its benchmark-setting 120Hz AMOLED panel, amazing stereo speakers, its top-of-the-line chipset and incredible heat management setup and active fan accessory. All the way to its vast and over-engineered accessory package and aggressive gaming PR.
Everything about the ROG Phone II is deliberately excessive. Undoubtedly unnecessary for 99% of actual smartphone users. And that's kind of the point. It's a device means to be seen in the hands of professional e-sports players and tossed around by popular streamers. It's the epiffany of Asus flexing its ROG muscles and flaunting its ROG gaming pedigree. The huge R&D, manufacturing and supplier chain puts the company in the unique position to actually put the time and effort into making not one but two such devices. Smartphones that feel like they are from a whole different realm and are meant to shock, amaze and overshadow other in the mobile gaming niche. Efforts like Xiaomi's Black Shark or nubia's Red Magic.
Competition
It's hard to analyze competition, as there really is nothing quite like the ROG Phone II. Still, starting at €899 for the 12 GB RAM and 512 GB 18-layer LTE Elite version and €1,199 for the 12GB RAM, 1TB Storage Cat.20 Ultimate Edition, the ROG Phone II is anything but cheap. Arguably solid value considering the package you are getting, but definitely residing well within extremely affluent buyer territory. Hence, price point clearly is no issue when discussing competitors.
We've been bringing up the nubia Red Magic 3 and gaming phones in general a few times during this review, but just in case you skipped to the conclusion, here is another link for you. I goes pretty in-depth into various aspects of this new breed of "gaming" smartphones and how they differ from conventional flagships.
If you do decide that there are enough benefits for you to go down the "gamer" route, we would definitely suggest the ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 as a first ROG alternative. It is a great performer, with solid sustained performance, in no small part due to its unique built-in active fan. It also has a fast, even if not quite as fast 90Hz display. But on the plus side, it is AMOLED. And it just happens to be quite a bit cheaper as well.
Having said all this, we should note that we are definitely glancing over a few drawbacks, especially on the software side, which you can read about in our full review. Plus, nubia is expected to launch a version with the Snapdragon 955+ inside real soon, so you might just want to hold off for that one.
ZTE nubia Red Magic 3 • ZTE nubia Red Magic 3s • Xiaomi Black Shark 2
As for other handsets specifically branded for "gaming", just in case you were wondering, we don't really feel we can whole-heartedly recommend the Razer Phone II for a number of reasons, chief among each its age and now outdated hardware and battery life issues. As for the the Xiaomi Black Shark II - it's a solid phone but the rather standard 60Hz screen makes it a tougher sell to gamers. And it gets real hot. Real, real hot. Still pretty viable if you are on a budget, though.
Of course, moving past the realm of "gaming" devices, you can always go for a mainstream flagship and get a much more balanced "all-rounder". This will definitely come with a boost in camera quality, among other things. But if you do intend to use it as a gaming platform first and a smartphone second, the fact is that popular flagships are going to struggle to match the ROG II.
Having said that, the OnePlus 7 Pro has consistently stood out among the crowd with its excellent performance tuning. Plus, its 90Hz OLED display does push it one step closer to the gaming crowd than most other contenders. There is also a good case to be made about picking up and iOS device for mobile gaming.
OnePlus 7 Pro • Apple iPhone XS Max
Last but not least, there are more exotic options worth considering as well. Despite its age the Nvidia Shield K1 is still a unique hardware offer. Its most stand-out feature has to be the powerful GPU and exclusive support for android ports of some old PC titles. You do have to put up with a lot on such an old, Android Nougat device, though. And there are weirder paths to go by in the quest for Android gaming as well. We recently reviewed the MOQI i7s - one of the better crafted mobile consoles, running Google's popular mobile OS.
In fact a full blown console might a better rival to the ROG II than most of the phones above. Unfortunately, in the current state of the portable gaming market, your options are extremely limited - it's either the Nintendo Switch or the fresh new Switch Lite. The latter has an MSRP of just $200, but it's an entirely different prospect - with different ideas about games and monetization, not to mention that you'd need to be carrying two devices.
Our verdict
We probably sound like a broken record at this point, but we still feel like we really need to drive a few points across about the ROG Phone II. First of all, there is no denying it is a amazing phone. Different in more ways than one and specifically crafted for a single purpose - the be the ultimate Android mobile gaming handset and look amazingly cool in the process. Just like its predecessor, it does this astoundingly well, pretty much blowing the competition out of the water.
Then there is the flip side of the story - the ROG Phone II is not a particularly sensible purchase. Much like the very top-of-the-line PC gaming components it doesn't really deliver amazing value for your money. As such its popularity will always far exceed its ownership as we have little doubt it will often be seen in the right professional e-sports circles. Calling it a "flex" by Asus might not be far from the truth.
Pros
- Exquisitely crafted and uniquely designed. Excellent materials and build quality. Unique and surprisingly stealthy gaming look.
- Well though-out control layout, plenty of I/O including some unique input offers like the Air Triggers. Functional design, including wider areas around the display for bigger speakers and easier gripping.
- Unique 6.59" AMOLED, 120Hz display. Great performance all around and a glimpse into the future of high refresh rate graphics on mobile.
- Excellent all-round battery life. 120Hz do not take a huge chunk of extra juice. Huge battery designed with longevity in mind. Snappy charging.
- One of the best stereo speakers we have heard on a smartphone to date.
- Amazing peak and sustained performance out of an industry-leading overclocked, speed-binned, unlocked Snadpragon 855+ chipset. Additional active cooling with the AeroActive Cooler II makes for truly throttle-free sustained maximum performance.
- Surprisingly clean Android ROM, with most additions working behind the scenes to improve gaming. Well laid-out Armoury Crate gaming interface, which includes a lot of automated optimization options as well as unparalleled access to system-level values and thresholds for advanced tuning.
- The most elaborate, exuberant and versatile accessory ecosystem on a smartphone to date.
- Solid all-round camera performance given the hardware
Cons
- Quite heavy at 240 grams, which takes some getting used to.
- Incredibly slippery body. A case is a must.
- No IP rating
- No wireless charging
- No expansion card slot. Although built-in storage is quite ample.
- The new under display fingerprint reader is not quite as reliable in the current state of the software.
All this being said, unlike many conceptual or extremely limited production "flex" devices currently out there in the tech realm, the ROG Phone II does exist and you could probably get your hands on one if you really wanted to. And if you do end up actually getting one, you can definitely rest assured that the mobile gaming experience will truly be the best money can buy.
Great review. Keep it up.
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