ROG Phone II Malaysia – Review - Plato Data Intelligence

Republished By Plato

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Rapid advances in technology occur globally which resulting mobile technology getting closer to PC gaming technology, thus allowing mobile gamer having decent gaming experiences. Despite that, Statista (2018) stated that men and women are approximately equal among Malaysia’s gamers – 55.3% and 44.7% respectively. Adding up, the highest majority of mobile gamers are actually people aged 25 to 34 years old, while the value decreases from 35 to 44, 18 to 24 by 23.9% and 23.8% respectively.

With the numbers expected to rise in the upcoming years, people from Asus Malaysia sent us a ROG Phone II which deem to appeal us, mobile gamers in the highest user bracket (aged 24 to 34) to get a hands-on experience on their second-generation predecessor which is ROG Phone 1 that was launched last year.

After spending some quality time with each other, we finally put our thoughts into a few categories.

ROG Phone 2 Specifications:

Display: 6.59″ AMOLED 120Hz Refresh Rate / 1ms Response Time / 240Hz touch response / 1080x2340px resolution display on 19.5:9 aspect ratio / 391 pixel density / True 10-bit HDR support
Chipset: Snapdragon 855+ @2.9GHz Clock / Adreno 640
RAM: 12GB LPDDR4X with UFS 3.0 Storage
Storage: up to 1TB
Battery: 6000MAh Li-Po / 30W HyperCharge / QuickCharge 4.0
Connectivity: Dual Nano Sim 4G LTE / USB Type-C 3.0 / WIFI: 802.11 ad
Camera: 42MP Sony IMX586 Sensor + 13MP Ultrawide / 24MP front
Audio: Dual Front Facing 5-magnet Speakers / 4 microphones for noise cancellation
Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader / 3.5mm jack / ultrasonic sensors for Air Triggers and Grip Press

Build Quality

The ROG Phone II is clearly a very well made phone as it is very rigid, firm and emitting premium aura by having a lot of aesthetical features. Clearly saying that it builds to last but since it has a glass body, the glass will break (same case with the iPhone 11).

Despite the extreme aspect ratio of the ultrawide screen, gaming experiences never felt better as ROG garnish the screen with 120Hz/1ms display and 10-Bit AMOLED HDR. Just by content consumption on this screen felt magnificent.

It’s great that ROG giving us this futureproof features, however, do bear in mind that AMOLED screen can easily burn-in. There are numerous cases regarding AMOLED displays but if luck is on your side, the display will do just fine.

Another con in this phone design is where left-handed people will be having a hard time adjusting themselves in maneuvering the device as both the power button and volume rocker are placed on the right side of the phone.

Overall, a great premium body design.

Hardware

It is the biggest fear for the consumer is to not know that the premium device they bought this year will be obsolete in the next year. Fret not, this ROG Phone II is definitely designed and built to last with this futureproof hardware they packed into this small device. We can assure you that the Snapdragon 855+, and it’s Adreno 640 will still be viable in the next 4 to 5 years. Adding up, the amount of ram is more than enough for anyone to use.

The phone equipped with HDR 120Hz display which soon will be beneficial once more game software will have 120Hz capability. The display definitely better in comparison to many other competitors which is hard to define by words, you have to feel it to love it.

Big battery and HyperCharge are the greatest combos we could get in the year 2019. Not a single human being love to wait for their phone to charge. Providing these combos, users only need to wait for less than 60 minutes for the phone to fully charge which definitely a powerplay by Asus.

42MP Sony Camera is very cool but we wish they spend more time utilizing this camera sensor. They haven’t brought out the utmost potential of this sensor and as a photographer for the team, it’s quite disappointing. More fire to the oil, unable to zoom on 42MP camera? We wish Asus ROG would improve the camera software in the future updates.

Other than that, the hardware is too good at this time of the year.

Personal Enjoyment

We have tested this phone on numerous mainstream titles such as Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, Call Of Duty Mobile, Honkai Impact 3 (HK3rd), Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Cytus II, and Asphalt 9.

The ROG Phone II able to play these titles with great graphics while maintaining a constant framerate. But the phone definitely struggles in ultra settings when an extraordinary situation occurs in the game in e.g. 12 people ulting at once in MLBB or 30 players duking out in PUBGM in a single house. Gaming experiences are definitely more defined with its great sound system.

The gaming performance definitely can be enhanced through their customizable setting through provided software, Game Genie. The Asus ROG Phone II allows users to manually adjust the amount of performance they want for each game but keep in mind, extreme settings might reduce the longevity of the phone.

We’ve run several games on the extreme settings and the heat at the back of the phone was not a comfortable area to hold.

Despite all that, gaming on mobile never this smooth.

Verdict

If money isn’t a problem, it’s a definite YES. ROG Phone II along with it’s accessories is definitely a best value choice the market can provide along with superior 120Hz display and bleeding-edge Snapdragon processor.

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ROG Phone II review unit provided by Asus Malaysia