Asus ROG Phone II - Review

After trying it in preview during IFA 2019 and having stressed him in every possible way in that place, we are finally here to talk to you about ASUS ROG Phone Number II.

The Taiwanese house, after the success of the previous model, tries again, thus creating the second incarnation of its idea of ​​Gaming smartphone. ASUS with this new phone has tried to improve the pain points of Asus ROG Phone in order to create a complete product in every aspect. Before talking about the smartphone and our test of use, let's analyze the packaging and its contents.

As is now customary, Asus in the products of the ROG line maniacally takes care of any aspect, including packaging. The box with which the Asus ROG Phone II will be sold is of an irregular hexagonal shape. The color is purely black and contains the essence of ROG DNA. Both on the side and at the top of the package we find the iconic red eye.

The bundle is really complete and includes everything we would expect from a phone of this magnitude. In addition to the 2,5A wall charger and the USB - USB Type C cable, we find Active Fan, which is the fan to be placed on the back of Asus ROG Phone II in order to keep it as fresh as possible, an exhaustive instruction manual, the pin to extract the sim compartment trolley and a practical cover which, once inserted, will cover and protect the most delicate parts of the smartphone, without burdening the aesthetic side.

Aesthetically Asus ROG Phone II is extremely similar to its predecessor, without substantial differences. The front is obviously extremely clean and, in addition to the display, we find two stereo speakers, one on the top and one on the bottom, both covered by a black and orange colored grille. To the right of the upper speaker we also find the brightness and proximity sensors, the front camera and the sensor for facial recognition, revised and improved compared to the previous model.

The back embodies all the true essence of ROG DNA. The second version of Asus' gaming smartphone will be sold in two different variants, which in addition to differing in storage and other features, will also differ in terms of color. The Elite version will have a glossy black rear, while the Ultimate will be matte black. We will then explain all the differences to you by heart. Our test sample is the Ultimate version and therefore with the matte black back extremely nice to see, even if it tends to collect a little too many fingerprints, but still less than the glossy black variant.

At the center of the rear stands the iconic ROG eye obviously, as it was for the predecessor, equipped with RGB lighting compatible with AURA Sync. At the top right are the two cameras, significantly improved compared to the first version. The main one is 48 Mpx, while the second is wide-angle, 13 Mpx. The back design is embellished with silver lines that recalls the style adopted by the latest ROG motherboards. On the right there is a small orange grid, whose task is to let the heat generated by the SoC of the smartphone escape.

On the right side of Asus ROG Phone II we find the volume rocker, the power button and the two Air Triggers, revisited and improved over its predecessor. One of the many microphones that the smartphone is equipped with also finds place.

The left side is quite free, here we find only two USB Type-C sockets, one to connect the wall charger and a red one to be used only and exclusively for accessories such as Active Cooler. On this side there is also the sim holder.

On the underside there are instead a USB Type-C port for charging, the inevitable 3,5 mm 4-pole audio jack and the two main microphones.

On the upper side we find nothing, except for one of the three microphones used for the suppression of background noise.

Asus ROG Phone II, as mentioned earlier, takes everything that was good in its predecessor, improving it and filling the gaps present. The hardware sector, as it was in the first version, is at the forefront and we find the best that the market currently offers installed. On board we find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus with 7nm production process and eight-core 64-bit processor, capable of reaching the maximum frequency of 2,96 Ghz in X mode, then in overclocking. The graphics sector is entrusted to the Qualcomm Adreno 640 GPU, able to offer better performance than the previous model, managing to maintain a much more constant average frame rate.

Asus ROG Phone II offers an exaggerated amount of RAM memory, able to run any application without any problem, keeping a large number of processes running in the background. In fact, we find 12 GB of LPDDR4X mouse RAM. In terms of connectivity Asus ROG Phone II certainly does not miss anything: in addition to the LTE module compatible with 4G + networks, we also have a Wi-Fi AC module compatible with 2,4 Ghz and 5 Ghz, Bluettoth 5.0 and NFC networks. At the navigation level we have a GPS module compatible with Glonass, BeiDou, Galileop and QZSS. The Taiwanese house, however, has decided to differentiate the two models of Asus ROG Phone II proposed, making a small change in terms of connectivity. On the Elite version we find an LTE CAT 18 module, while in the Ultimate the LTE module is CAT 20. On balance these are negligible differences, which will only change the maximum download speed in LTE mode, but which in everyday life is difficult they will point out differences.

The battery is one of the most important innovations introduced on Asus ROG Phone II. This has a capacity of 6000 mAh, able to make us arrive safely at the end of the day even with intense use. If instead we dedicate ourselves to gaming, we will be able to play on average for about seven hours: yes, you read that right, even if this data always depends on the title used. The battery is compatible with the Quick Charge 4.0 charging system, so we can quickly recharge our smartphone and get back to battle immediately.

If the display installed on Asus ROG Phone was excellent, that of ROG Phone II will make you change your mind. Also in this case we have an AMOLED type display, larger and with a diagonal of 6,59 ", able to return absolute blacks and well-marked contrasts. The contrast ratio is 500.000: 1 with a peak brightness of 600 nits and DCIP3 color gamut support. The resolution is FHD +, that is 2160 × 1080 pixels, with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and with a response time of only 1 ms. The Asus ROG Phone display also supports the HDR10 standard in order to offer more natural colors and contrasts, obviously this will happen in HDR compatible content. The display also offers a Bluelight filter to reduce blue light for eye protection. We also find always-on support in order to always have notifications in view without having to activate the smartphone. The touch panel is capacitive type with 10 touch support and will work even when used with gloves. The glass covering the screen is Corning Gorilla Glass 6, extremely impact resistant, but sensitive to scratches.

Asus ROG Phone II, as you can well guess from the technical characteristics, is an excellent smartphone, as was its predecessor on the other hand. It is able to offer a unique user experience, thanks also to the fantastic display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Scrolling a Web page, or scrolling the home of Facebook and Instagram, will never be the same: the display manages to give a unique fluidity, difficult to match. Another very important thing, thanks to the high refresh rate of the display, if we make intensive use of it, is that our eyes will tire less. The CPU, coupled with the excellent GPU and a disproportionate amount of RAM memory, manages to offer excellent performance in every area, be it the editing of a video, that of a photo or simple daily use. Asus ROG Phone II was born primarily as a smartphone for gaming, even if it proved extremely versatile in any other use. All the titles we tested, including Call Of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 8 and 9, had no problem running on our Asus ROG Phone while maintaining a framerate nailed to 60 FPS, even in the most agitated scenes.

During the intense game phases, however, it is necessary to make a note, which in the end is the same as we did for Asus ROG Phone: although the smartphone uses a vapor chamber dissipation system, or vapor chamber, it tends to heat up a lot in the central back part. For this reason, the fan that we find inside the package will be very useful. It is called AeroActive Cooler and will be positioned right in the hottest part of the smartphone, in order to quickly dispose of the heat and thus continue to have excellent performance, even after hours of play. The fan takes up the style of Asus ROG Phone and since, once installed, we will cover the eye on the back of the smartphone, Asus has decided to propose it again here, always with RGB lighting.

To test the capabilities of Asus ROG Phone II, as well as squeeze it on video games, we also ran some benchmarks, so as to give you a better idea of ​​its potential. The tests are the same as we carried out with Asus ROG Phone, in order to give you a direct comparison. All tests were carried out using the X mode, thus taking advantage of the maximum performance of the smartphone.

The first benchmark we used was the 3D Mark Mobile suite, using the Extreme preset and taking advantage of both the OpenGL and Vulkan libraries. In the table below we can immediately see that, in terms of benchmarks, Asus ROG Phone II is clearly superior to its predecessor.

The second benchmark is the most popular on mobile, because it is compatible with both Android and iOS, or AnTuTu Benchmark. Here, too, we can immediately notice the clear difference that exists between the second incarnation of Asus' gaming smartphone and its first version.

The last benchmark used was GeekBench 5.0.2, another well-known test available both on mobile, then Android and iOS, and on Desktop, then Linux, Windows and Mac. In single core Asus ROG Phone II managed to get a score of 334, while in multi core of 1704. We could not perform the comparison with the first model, because the tests were performed with a version no longer available of GeekBench.

The smartphone will no longer have the fingerprint sensor on the back, but rather below the display. Although it is a not indifferent novelty, the unlocking with fingerprints turns out to be slightly slower than that of its predecessor, but despite this it works very well and we have never had problems during the unlocking. As with the predecessor, Asus ROG Phone II also supports unlocking with face recognition, revised, improved and extremely fast, on par and in some conditions faster than Apple's FaceId.

During our tests we also used Asus ROG Phone II as a navigator. The GPS immediately hooks up to the satellite in order to give us our position almost instantly in a radius of about 1 meter, this obviously when we are outdoors. In closed rooms the range of action will be greater, but it remains quite accurate, unless we are underground, there no smartphone would be able to locate our position. The compass works very well and during our tests we never had to resort to calibration. Certainly with the latest smartphone from ROG you will hardly get lost.

If in the previous version of the smartphone the camera was the sore point, Asus with ROG Phone II tried to fill in the gaps, offering a respectable photographic sector, able to take excellent photos. It must be said, however, that there are smartphones of the same price that can capture better shots. The main rear camera has a 586 megapixel Sony IMX48 flagship sensor, with a size of 1 / 2.o ". The size of each single pixel is around 0,8 μm. The focal aperture is 1.79, with a maximum length of 26,6mm, the equivalent of a 35mm camera. The camera's field of view is 79 °. Asus ROG Phone II's main camera features autofocus that can focus the image in just 0,003 seconds. A flaw we encountered while using the camera, especially when recording videos, is the excessive waiting time to adjust the focal aperture, making small fractions of video too dark or too bright. Nothing to worry about and definitely solvable via software update.

The secondary camera is always wide-angle, and in this second model of ROG Phone, it mounts a 13 Mpx sensor. It will be possible to take photos or videos with a viewing angle of 125 ° and a maximum focal length of 11 mm. The wide-angle camera allows us to have a 200% wider view. As with the predecessor, here too we can instantly switch between the two sensors, then switch from the main camera to the wide-angle one at any time and at our complete discretion.

The front camera has also been revised, so as to make us look even more beautiful during our selfies. Asus has in fact inserted a 24 megapixel sensor with a focal aperture of 2.0 and a maximum focal length of 27 mm. The field of view is similar to that of the main rear sensor, approximately 78 °.

The photo capture software has remained virtually unchanged. Both the rear and front cameras have different filters, in order to make our photos even more beautiful and unique. We also find the HDR mode and the manual mode with the ability to save photos even in RAW format and without any compression.

The acquisition methods are the same as in the first version. The rear camera will be able to record videos at a maximum resolution of 4K (3840 x 2160) at both 30 and 60 frames per second, while the front camera stops at a FullHD 30/60 fps resolution. We can also create Time Lapse and slow motion videos at 1080P and 720P and 240 frames per second, and for the first time at 480 FPS, but only and exclusively in 720p.

As explained a few lines above, the Taiwanese house tried to fill the gaps it had with its first gaming smartphone. The technical sector of Asus ROG Phone II is top notch, of course there are competing smartphones capable of taking better photos, but certainly those of ROG's phone are no less. The shots turn out to be quite bright and, in low-light environments, there is the night mode that will help us to better immortalize the scene. The movies and photos taken with the main and front cameras are of an excellent standard The wide-angle sensor is slightly lacking, especially when there is little light. Photos and videos taken with it will be subject to slight image noise, especially towards the two side ends.

Asus ROG Phone II is natively equipped with Android Pie 8, although the update to Android 10 is recently available. The graphical interface is the same as the first ROG Phone, only now, during the initialization phase, we can choose whether to adopt the Zen UI interface. Obviously, this operation will also be possible at a later time.The launcher use experience is very similar to that of Android stock.

Here too we find the "Game Center" application, revisited and improved, where we can monitor practically everything: CPU and GPU clock speeds with their relative temperatures, the available storage, create customized profiles for video games, control the speed of the rear fan, enable the overlay with the information on the screen, start the games, create special profiles and activate the X mode During the game phases, by swiping from left to right, we can recall the main Game Center functions.

The X mode will increase the performance of our smartphone, enabling overclocking and bringing the maximum CPU frequency up to 2,95 Ghz. When we enable it, the eye on the back will light up and the icons and desktop background will change color, tinged with red. From Game Center it will also be possible to connect to your Facebook, Twitch and Youtube profiles, in order to perform live broadcasts of our games directly from your smartphone.

If we liked the first version, Asus with ROG Phone II amazed us even more. A powerful smartphone in all, with a dizzying battery, able to accompany us for two days without any problem, a graphics sector finally worthy and the ROG DNA to embellish everything. Asus ROG Phone II is a top-of-the-range smartphone and is able to perform any task excellently. The 120 Hz display is also able to make the user experience unique.

Asus ROG Phone II is available in two versions, Ultimate with 1 TB GB storage priced at 1199 € and Elite from 512 GB and 899 €. If you want a great phone that can give you an excellent user experience and that is able to run any application at its best, the second incarnation of ROG's smartphone is for you.