ASUS ROG 2

vegeta535

[H]F Junkie
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Jul 19, 2013
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No one talking about this phone? Seems like a very solid phone for $700. SD 855+ 8GB 6000mah battery and 120hz OLED 1080 screen. There is a 12gb model also but don't see prices for yet.


 
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Just slightly above average camera and “gamer” design with giant RGB logo makes me lose all interest in it. Otherwise looks very solid.
 
Just slightly above average camera and “gamer” design with giant RGB logo makes me lose all interest in it. Otherwise looks very solid.
Design don't matter much when you slap a case around it. Camera is it only down fall but camera quality is over blown to me. Sure it is a talking point for reviewers but truth be told most people probably can't even tell the difference.
 
Other then google themselves most Android phones are also pathetic.
Your other options are the Essential and OnePlus. The first ROG doesn't even have 9.0 yet. With the amount of customization to Android on the ROG, if they can't make the customizations modular enough for quick updates, I'm going to say hell no.
 
Looks like very few LTE bands on it for US markets. Which seems crazy really. AT&T is your only option.
 
Looks like very few LTE bands on it for US markets. Which seems crazy really. AT&T is your only option.

This has been the Asus downfall in the states imo. They just can't seem to understand how silly it is to go through hoops to import a cellphone and then only allow 1/4th the market to use it.. *facepalm*
 
Love the specs on this phone. What UI is it running? A stock Android type Oxygen or Motorola UI? Or something like Samsung TouchWiz?
 
It's android 9 pie . It will supposedly be updated to 10 eventually but with asus, os updates are a long wait so that could be a year from now.. Reviewers have however stated they like the fact that it doesn't come loaded with bloatware. If my trusty old note 5 craps out ever I might look at one of these. The below quotes about the rog phone (1) still not having an android update might put some people off. As long as the hardware is strong and the functionality is solid I don't think it would keep me from buying one but it would be a slightly annoying trade-off.

https://www.theandroidsoul.com/asus-rog-phone-2-update/
Asus ROG Phone 2 Android 10 update
As it’s Asus’ greatest smartphone on the market, the ROG Phone 2 is expected to get the Android 10 update. Asus has been pretty sloppy with its updates lately, so, we are expecting the OEM to release the update by the end of Q3 2020.

Last year, when Asus released the first ROG device, most users expected the company to provide lightning-quick updates due to the phone’s unchallenged, flagship status. The phone shipped with Android 8.1 Oreo, just around the time when Android Pie popped up around the block. Months went by, but the Taiwanese giant never got around to publishing the update. The original ROG users are still waiting for the update, which, according to Asus will go live by end of September 2019.
Why Asus ROG Phone 2 Android 10 update will be delayed
You have already seen how sloppy Asus has been with updates lately, and that isn’t expected to change much with the introduction of ROG Phone 2. Asus implements a heavy skin on top of the vanilla Android build that Google releases, which itself is quite time-consuming.

Also, the Taiwanese giant is usually more concerned with updating its Zenfone lineup ahead of ROG, which could prevail with the ROG Phone 2, as well.

In contrast, devices like OnePlus 7 Pro, Galaxy S10, Huawei P30 Pro, etc. shall be getting stable (beta could arrive early) Android 10 update by November 2019, January 2019, and December 2019 respectively. If you talk about dedicated gaming phones though, we won’t be surprised if Razer is able to update the Razer Phone 2 to Android 10 before Asus rolls out 10 update for ROG Phone 2.

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The 12gb model is $900 currently. 12GB means apps won't have to restart when you page between them, more like minimizing on a pc than the smartphone method of timing them out and suspending them that is required with less ram when multitasking several apps. 512gb storage in the $900 model too which is nice. The 1TB storage model was just released recently but it might only be available from asus directly and I haven't seen it listed on their site yet so I don't know how much more it costs.

The twin view screen is a big draw to me for dual screen multitasking. There will be foldable phones with a slimmer form factor that fold out to tablet sizes in the next year+, but both of the twinview screens are 120hz and it adds a ton of battery life if your main phone is out of charge or while you are using twinview since it includes it's own 5000 mAh battery in addition to the 6000 mAh battery in the phone itself. You can choose whether both batteries are drained at once or if you want it to pull from the twinview battery first. In some ways it's like a travel battery with the bonus of adding a second 120hz screen's functionality. You can run a file manager and a view pane, a browser and youtube, an instructional video or file while a game is running, a chat app or text app and a file manager, video , game, etc. You can do split screen on android on phones already but it's awfully cramped imo. Another niche market for this might be streamers and IRL streamers who want to see their chat stream in one window while showing the camera stream/streaming software control or other app in the other.
yQXD7qR.jpg

The full dock is a nice option. The gigabit ethernet port on the dock , displayport and hdmi is kind of neat if you want a lunch counter or side area small screen to organize your phone and apps and do a backup, and of course to download directly to the phone over gigabit or transfer from your pc without having to connect the phone to it. You could also use it to hook up to a tv I guess. Snapping the phone in and running with a keyboard and mouse would make me it a lot less of a hassle and so a lot more likely for me to organize and audit my phone files and apps more regularly than if I were doing thumb kiosk system administration or viewing the phone as a portable hdd on my pc.

There are a few android games that are ok but the switch is a much better gaming device for $300 (+games $) with much better games than android and the games that run at 120hz on the rog 2 phone. The difference here being 120hz screen and overall powerful hardware for regular non game usage and form factors (it can look like a phone and be used as a phone and not a red and blue toys r us gameboy all the time). A thing that shouldn't be overlooked is that the rog phone 2 can probably run some emus as well, even more demanding ones. If someone ever got a switch EMU working that could become even more interesting. I think a switch is 1 teraflop performance and an andreno 640 gpu in the rog 2 's overall throughput is around ~0.9 TFLOPS. (I'm not sure how that equates real world benchmarking or gaming let alone how it would in an emu though).
I believe the Rog Phone 2 can also stream games much like a nvidia shield from your pc via nvidia game streaming , steam game streaming, etc.. and it can probably do playstation streaming too. I'm guessing it would be most useful in that scenario docked with the gigabit port over LAN for the least latency possible so it would be more like a portable nvidia shield you dock in when at home and want to stream games or movies via plex, emby, netflix, etc. The hdmi port is 60hz on the large dock and 30hz on the small hub dock so the more portable dock prob isn't the best. One of the usb-C ports on the phone itself is usb 3.1 and can output over an adapter to displayport 1.4

https://www.chargerlab.com/asus-rog-phone-ii-is-the-first-phone-to-have-usb-3-1-gen-2/
One of the unique features about the ROG Phone II is that it has two USB-C ports: one on the side, and one on the bottom. According to Asus, the side USB-C port can move data at up to 10Gbps using USB 3.1 Gen 2, and it can output 4K video using DisplayPort 1.4. You can use Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, Quick Charge 4.0, and USB Power Delivery 3.0 adapters with the side port to juice up the ROG Phone II in a flash. The bottom Type-C port supports USB 2.0 transfers, plus fast charging via Quick Charge 3.0 and USB Power Delivery 3.0 adapters.

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So for me personally the 120hz OLED screen is a huge deal, the dual view functionality is extremely appealing on top of it being 120hz and another high capacity battery to boot. The game library outside of emulation isn't that thrilling but the overall usability of the device sounds great. I hate the tin-y (as in tin metal) chirping of most phone speakers too so the fact that this phone is supposed to have a step above those is intriguing as well. The 3.5mm audio port would also be much appreciated as wired is always better fidelity, response, and speed than anything wireless.

The only real gripe I hear from people other than that the android game library is quite weak and that it doesn't work with Verizon - is that the camera isn't that great but since the camera specs are quite good I have a suspicion that might be because it doesn't seem to do some of the auto enhancements and toning that other phone apps do so might be more of a limitation of the stock phone app. There are some 3rd party phone apps you could probably sideload into the phone. I'd be very interested in seeing what the results would be. Here are some photos taken by a reddit user with the stock camera app for comparison.
 
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Some Rog Phone Forums
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https://forum.xda-developers.com/rog-phone

https://forum.xda-developers.com/rog-phone-2/help


Android Phone Games that support over 60fps , list updated regularly
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https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discuss...list-of-games-supporting-above-60fps-gameplay



Disclaimer: I am listing these videos below as a reference for the capabilities of the phone's hardware and am not promoting any non public domain roms. :cool:


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rog phone 2 emulation game tests:
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channel with guy testing them
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnrYCyAm36BhJAucy4w8K1g/videos

god of war 1 and 2


New Super Mario Bros. U



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Myboy gameboy emulator video of all the shaders/AA types available in a pack:


Myboy gameboy emu running Metroid fusion with heavy shader smoothing:


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Some emu games (sonic, gta, etc) running on the xperia phone which has the same chip but less ram:


Channel showing more of those emus tested on xperia :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnaafPfRI2Rn2UKgnPYw-Sg/videos

Megaman X :


GTA San Andreas:



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There are a lot more but those alone are impressive on emus for PS2, wii/gamecube, gameboy.. can also do snes etc.
 
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Unfortunately it looks like you decided it to return it due to lack of VoLTE support. Please accept my apologies. As you noted, the ROG Phone II does not support carrier specific VoLTE with US carriers. However, I cannot comment on rumors about a specific carrier's future unannounced network decisions and how that may affect your device's performance. This device will not work on Verizon's network, as we do not produce a CDMA network compatible model.

VoLTE is not required to make phone calls on US networks. Were you told that by your carrier? Were you having calling issues with your device? I understand that you have returned the phone, but if you could provide me with your carrier and location information, I'd be happy to investigate why you were having connectivity issues with your device. Please reach out to me at [email protected] and include a link to this review for reference.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best regards,
Lane
ASUS Customer Loyalty – US Support

Regarding Verizon compatibility, we do not produce a version of the ROG Phone II that uses the CDMA network standard. Your device will not work on Verizon's network. I cannot comment on future network compatibility, that would be a conversation to have with your mobile carrier. Please consult the band list available at the link below and contact your carrier about future compatibility on their network. If you have any general or technical questions, please email me at [email protected] and include a link to this review for reference.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best regards,
Lane
ASUS Customer Loyalty – US Support

ROG Phone II Band List: https://www.asus.com/Phone/ROG-Phone-II/Tech-Specs/

AT&T to shut down 3G network in 2022; Verizon at end of 2019. AT&T will shut down its 3G network in early 2022 as the company shifts its focus to 5G implementation (?) and compatible 4G LTE networks. ... AT&T's 5G service touched parts of 12 cities at the end of 2018, with nationwide service expected in 2020.

It's an issue with the phone not being designed for CDMA networks, not with ASUS having anything against Verizon. The majority of the world uses GSM which is what the phone is built for.


The ability to use this device as a phone even on AT&T might be short lived ( ~ 2022?). Your data would still work so there are workarounds like google voice/forwarding and a few other options at that point but it's far from optimal so could be a major trade-off in the long run even beyond switching carrier to AT&T in the first place.
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I had a chance to play a bit with the Tencent edition of this phone last week. It turns out the listing claiming it had the bands I needed for my carrier was wrong but at least the seller paid for the shipping back and will be giving me a refund.


My thoughts are that this phone really does live up to its purpose. It's very large but that wasn't a problem and it's comfortable in the hand (quite important, looking right at you, Razer phone!) despite the weight. Even the flashiness of the design isn't as bad in-person (the RBG LED logo can be turned off).

I think when my refund comes back, I'll splurge for the 12GB variant which has all the bands I use no matter which region it comes from. VoLTE can now be enabled so even that's not a problem.



The neatest part of this phone is there are number of features that I used to root to get access at that are entirely available to the user. Things like macro recording and manual CPU parameter adjustments. Asus really did put a lot of thought into this phone. Still some rough edges though, for example, the "AOD" display function is pretty terrible and the OLED screen, while mostly great, really is too bright at the dimmest setting.
 
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Like someone mentioned above. It is missing quite a few US LTE bands. So as a regular phone it will be unusable for most people. I was really considering this phone base on the specs but the LTE band issue made it a hard no for me.
 
The 12GB/512GB models, regardless of region, has the bands for the US. I've been using it since returning the 8GB/128GB model (that has very limited bands) and it's wonderful.
 
The 12GB/512GB models, regardless of region, has the bands for the US. I've been using it since returning the 8GB/128GB model (that has very limited bands) and it's wonderful.

Thanks for the info.

I have a question though.. has the bands for U.S. Sprint or Verizon? And what about into the next few years? - A lot of people were worrying about cutoff timeframes once 5G.
 
Sorry, I always forget about Verizon/Sprint CDMA when I talk about LTE. As usual though, US support means everyone but those two. It also doesn't have the latest B71 but does have B66
 
No problem. Thanks for the info all the same. These were very appealing to me at one point but now I'm pointing funds toward a 48" OLED for my computer gaming/media "command center". I feel the same way considering this time frame (and the pandemic) about dropping more than entry level VR money on high end VR stuff (I got an oculus quest around xmas instead). I know there is always something around the corner but in the next year or two there will be much better phone chips out (and much more advanced "phone" chips, resolutions and other features in VR headsets too).

The Rog 2 phones are very cool though. I'm a huge fan of high hz and all of the other advanced features. If they worked with verizon I might have pulled the trigger on one back when I was researching them but I think the time has passed. I'd definitely buy one of these (if it had full usa phone/5G support ~ verizon) rather than buying an expensive iphone in an either/or scenario.
 
The 12GB/512GB models, regardless of region, has the bands for the US. I've been using it since returning the 8GB/128GB model (that has very limited bands) and it's wonderful.
Oh I did not know the bigger version had more bands. Thank you for the info!
 
Sorry, I always forget about Verizon/Sprint CDMA when I talk about LTE. As usual though, US support means everyone but those two. It also doesn't have the latest B71 but does have B66

I wouldn't worry about it too much longer. Sprint will gradually shut it down now that the T-mobile acquisition is completed, and Verizon was supposed to shut off CDMA already and go LTE only. Inevitably that will be pushed back, but even MVNOs are running LTE only phones which is a good sign for the move away from Verizon compatibility issues due to the CDMA requirement.
 
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