ROG and Tencent Launch New Gaming Smartphone ROG 2

On July 23, ASUS’ gaming subsidiary Republic of Gamers (ROG) and the world’s biggest mobile game company Tencent Games held a launch event to present several new products, among which new computer screens, headphones, a laptop and an over-the-top wi-fi router. The event saw presentations from several high-ranking executives like the ASUS CEO Samson Hu. However, the highlight of the evening was the introduction of a brand new gaming smartphone ROG 2, a device that could turn your next PUBG session into a feast of life-like debauchery.

The new iteration of the ROG smartphone is a spec monster, introducing several firsts and dwarfing most of its competitors in the phone game. ROG 2 is the first phone to come with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 plus processor, providing for 15 percent faster GPU and 4 percent faster CPU performance than the previous model. With a refresh rate of 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of 240Hz, ROG 2 is also the number one phone in the market in terms of touch responsiveness with a latency of merely 49ms. On top of that, the phone packs a wide-lens 48MP camera, a threefold increase over the former model, and a 6000mAh battery as opposed to the previous 4000mAh. According to the company, the phone can last almost three days on one charge or seven hours of non-stop PUBG with a screen set to 60Hz.

ROG only slightly tweaked the design of the new smartphone, making it cleaner than its predecessor, possibly in an attempt to appeal to wider audiences. ROG 2 comes with fairly wide bezels, which, according to ROG were extended to fit the front-facing camera and a pair of stereo front-facing speakers. The phone also swelled in size to accommodate a 6.59-inch 1080p OLED display with an integrated fingerprint sensor, and became heavier, weighing 240g, slightly more than the first ROG smartphone. The new model also boasts a pair of air triggers on one of the edges, essentially a pair of sensors that act as gamepad triggers, allowing for more control over the gaming process.

The smartphone runs on Android 9 offering a choice between the stock Android-UI or the custom ROG UI unlike ROG 1 that only allowed to use the latter. The cheapest version of ROG 2 is priced at ¥3499 (roughly $500), the most expensive version that comes with a full set of ROG accessories like a cooler and a gamepad is priced at ¥12999 (around $1900).