Asus ROG Phone 2 Review

A ‘gaming' smartphone might seem like a very exciting proposition for enthusiasts, but how can a manufacturer get the average smartphone buyer to feel the same way? Asus launched the first ROG PHONE last year, and while it was a good product, the high price of nearly Rs. 70,000 at the time meant that you really needed to be a die-hard gaming addict to even consider it over an iphone, Google Pixel, or Samsung Galaxy device. That's exactly what Asus wants to change with the ROG PHONE.

The ROG Phone 2 starts at Rs. 37,999 in India, which is great not only for gaming enthusiasts but also for anyone who's looking for a powerful flagship on a budget.

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Asus ROG Phone 2 design

The Asus ROG Phone 2 continues to sport an industrial look, just like the first version, but it's a bit more tame this time around. The exposed air vent at the back is smaller and more discreet; the orange highlights for the stereo speakers on the front look more subtle; and the darker finish makes it look even more stealthy. There's still no mistaking this for an ordinary smartphone though, especially when that ROG logo on the back lights up.

The size ROG Phone 2 is both bigger and heavier than its predecessor, making it one of the heaviest phones we've held in a while. It's very thick at 9.48mm and weighs a whopping 240g. The weight isn't a big issue when using it in the landscape orientation with both hands, but normal one-handed usage gets fatiguing quickly.

Asus has swapped the rear capacitive fingerprint sensor for an in-display one. Authentication works well but we found that we had to rest our finger there a little longer than usual before this works.Face recognition is a lot quicker and works at odd angles too. The power and volume buttons are placed low on the right side of the phone and have good feedback.

The left side has an additional USB Type-C port, along with a custom port beside it for accessories. This Type-C port supports USB 3.1 (Gen2) standard, along with video output upto 4K resolution and Quick Charge 4.0, and it can be used for charging when you're gaming in landscape mode. The Type-C port at the bottom supports USB 3.0 speed and also supports fast charging. The 3.5mm headphone socket is placed on the extreme right at the bottom, so wired headphones won't get in the way when you're gaming.

The 6.59-inch AMOLED display has a full-HD+ resolution but what's impressive is that it has a 120Hz refresh rate. It also supports 10-bit HDR and is claimed to be colour accurate with a Delta E average of less than 1. The max brightness is 600nits and there's Corning Gorilla Glass 6 for protection. The display has thick bezels on the top and bottom, but it doesn't make the phone look ugly. The earpiece and the bottom speaker are forward-facing, for a better stereo effect. The dual Nano-SIM tray is placed on the left side, but there's no slot for expanding storage.

The ROG Phone 2 also features the second version of Asus's AirTrigger system, or shoulder buttons on the right side. Asus says the algorithm has been reworked, so you can now rest your fingers on them without activating them. There's a new dual vibration system present too. The phone also uses a 3D vapour chamber system for cooling. According to Asus, a total of four Wi-Fi antennas and microphones have been placed at strategic points around the phone, which should provide optimal signal performance no matter how you hold it.

The base model of the ROG Phone 2, which we have, ships with an 18W charger, Type-C cable, SIM eject tool, and the Aero Case. The latter is more of a bumper case, as only the top and bottom portions have good plastic reinforcements while the rest of the body has large cutouts for the rear vent and logo. Asus says that this case was designed so that you can use the AeroActive Cooler without taking it off. This cooler is an optional accessory but if you buy the 512GB variant, it comes bundled. The top-end version, which costs a whopping Rs. 59,999, also gets you a 30W charger in the box.

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Asus ROG Phone 2 specifications and software

According to Asus, the ROG Phone 2 has been built using some of the best components available in the market, including a special speed-binned Snapdragon 855+ SoC, LPDDR4X RAM, and UFS 3.0 storage. The phone is available in two RAM and storage variants — one with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (Rs. 37,999) and the other with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage (Rs. 59,999). There's a big jump going to the higher-end variant, and even with the extra accessories, that price seems way too high.

You also get dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, NFC, FM radio, the usual variety of sensors, satellite navigation systems, and USB-OTG. The ROG Phone 2 supports high-resolution audio through the 3.5mm headphone jack, with the ability to decode 192kHz/24-bit files. However, this phone does miss some flagship-level features such as an IP rating for water resistance and wireless charging.

Just like the first ROG phone, Asus has put a lot of work into the software this time around too. You get Android 9 Pie with the August security patch and a custom skin. For the ROG Phone 2, you can choose a more vanilla Android theme during the setup process, instead of the default ROG theme. The latter does look cool and you have a choice between a dark and light version of it. Plus, when you enable X Mode, which is Asus's performance mode, the wallpaper and highlights around the icons get aggressive red accents. If you're not a fan of this, there's always the classic theme to fall back upon.

Asus ROG Phone 2 performance and battery life

The ROG Phone 2's mammoth size and weight are a little hard to get used to. As we mentioned before, it's not a problem when you're holding the phone with two hands for gaming, but for most other use cases, it gets fatiguing very quickly. However, if you're someone who doesn't mind large, heavy phones then you'll probably like it. The glass back is a little slippery but the bundled case makes it easier to hold this phone with one hand. The addition of a notification LED near the earpiece is a nice touch.

As you'd expect, the ROG Phone 2 is also a beast of a performer. The 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling through apps and gameplay (in supported games) incredibly fun and fluid. 90Hz offers a pleasing experience too, if you want to save a bit of power, but battery life isn't really a concern here, which we'll talk about in a bit. Apps load quickly and multitasking is handled very well. Of course, the main draw of this phone is gaming, and this is hands-down one of the best devices — if not the best one — for that.

We ran a mix of heavy games such as PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends, along with simpler ones including Rayman Adventures and Mario Kart, all of which ran flawlessly. Even on the 8GB RAM version of this phone, we were able to switch between any of these games quite effortlessly.

Now keep in mind that the back of the phone gets quite warm when gaming, especially a few spots near the side-mounted Type-C port which get very hot. We recommend playing with the bundled case, as you don't feel the heat as much and it offers better grip. The heat could possibly be better controlled with the AeroCooler II accessory, but that will cost extra and we didn't have one with us to test.

We didn't feel the need to use X Mode most of the time, other than a couple of instances in PUBG when the framerate began to get mildly choppy. X Mode prevents throttling of the CPU and also doesn't let the speed drop below 1.3GHz. Keep in mind that this will also drain the battery faster, so we'd suggest not using it unless you absolutely need to.

Game Genie also lets you enable an overlay in games to keep an eye on the framerate, system temperature, and CPU and GPU usage in real-time. Through Armoury Crate, you can set a customised profile for each game. For instance, Rayman Adventures supports 120Hz refresh rate, so you can have the display switch to it when playing the game and go back to a lower refresh rate for regular use.