ASUS ROG Phone II Review

Everyone has a smartphone - it’s basically impossible to get a handset that isn’t one. So how does a company compete in a crowded marketplace? ASUS decided to target gamers with the ROG Phone (Republic of Gamers Phone), and double down with the ROG Phone II, which was released in the latter part of 2019.

The handset that I was sent to review (on loan, I should add) came in a fantastic hexagonal box with warranty information, a Chinese user guide and a SIM card removal device. It also has the Aeroactive Cooler II, which is a clip-on fan to cool the handset down, a bumper case and a charger with cable. The case looks really cool, and is designed to show off the phone better, as well as the RGB.

Yes, aiming the phone at gamers means that it has to have RGB, in the form of the logo on the rear of the handset. While the screen is on, it pulses (or does whatever you set it to do) in some nice colours (also setable). While the screen is off, the logo remains dark. The rest of the handset looks really nice, with speakers set on the top and bottom, aimed outwards. This way, rather than the sound going into your hands, it’s projected towards your face.

There is a fingerprint sensor beneath the screen, and a 24 megapixel camera at the top - the screen doesn’t have a notch. There are also the usual power and volume buttons on the right hand side, as well as two trigger sensors. There aren’t many games that utilise them, but they are handy for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile, amongst others. There is also a headphone jack and USB port on the bottom.

One odd thing worth noting is the second charging port on the left hand side. The ROG Phone II is designed for use with several accessories, which require more than just a USB-C port. So, there are two ports together in one hole. You can only insert the charger into the correct one, but I can imagine this will lead to some people forcing and damaging cables, if not the handset.

The available accessories, apart from the fan and case, are the Twin Dock which turns your handset into a fancy 3DS, a desktop dock allowing you to use the phone like a PC, the Kunai Bluetooth gamepad, and a case that allows you to connect the Kunai onto the handset. Of course, I didn’t mention these in the box contents, because I wasn’t sent any of them.

Now, the nitty-gritty details. The ROG Phone II has a 6.59-inch AMOLED 10-bit HDR display, a 2.96GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus CPU and a Qualcomm Adreno 640 GPU. The front 24 megapixel selfie camera is joined by a 48 megapixel rear camera, and 13 megapixel wide-angle camera. It has 4G LTE mobile data, as well as NFC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and weighs 240 grams.

The battery is 6000mAh, which gives it a nice, long life - of course depending on usage. I could leave it on my desk unused for a week and it would still have 90%, or I could use it for various games for a couple of hours, and it would have 70%. Of course, I wasn’t playing online third-person shooters for hours, so your mileage will vary, especially if you’re also using the Aeroactive Cooler II.

The display is crystal clear, and the touch screen responds perfectly. The sound is actually fantastic. It’s loud and clear, and the maximum volume is definitely loud enough for anyone. In a busy night club. Stood next to a speaker. It’s very loud, is what I’m saying.

The launcher that the ROG Phone II comes bundled with is customisable, and has a few apps that make life easier. Chief among these is the Armoury Crate, which is where you go to launch games, find new ones, and manage certain aspects of the handset. It can tell you the current temperatures, how long the battery should last, and adjusts the Aeroactive Cooler II’s speed. It also allows you to customise the light on the rear.

Further, it allows you to customise individual apps. If you don’t want to be disturbed while playing Angry Birds, but you’re fine receiving phone calls during Azur Lane, then you can set that up. You can also set up macros and map keys, but I didn’t seem to have the right accessories or games to do that.

I threw everything I could think of at the ROG Phone II, and it performed perfectly. I even set up Steam Link and tried a couple of games - still perfect. I’m a bit disappointed that I had to send this back, to be honest. ASUS aren’t kidding that this is a phone for gamers, because it looks good and performs brilliantly, which is just what a gamer needs. And I suppose everyone deserves a phone like that, if I’m honest.