ASUS ROG Phone: eSports-worthy gaming phone unveiled at Computex

PHILIPPINES – After months of rumors and an eventual confirmation from Jerry Shen himself, ASUS finally unleashed the ROG Phone to the world at this year’s Computex held in Taipei, Taiwan.

The specs are ludicrous: Snapdragon 845 SOC with an overclocked 2.96GHz CPU, Adreno 630 GPU, 8GB LPDDR4 RAM, and 128GB/512GB UFS 2.1-compliant storage guarantees the fastest gaming experience out of any Android smartphone released to date.

Allow me to repeat in case you missed it: 512 Gigabytes of storage in UFS 2.1 mode. That’s bigger than the hard drives found in most laptops released in the last couple of years.

Its 6-inch, 2160×1080-pixel AMOLED display panel operating at 90Hz with 1ms response minimizes input lag, making it a serious option for eSports competitors.

Compare this to the 5.7-inch 120Hz LCD display panel found on the Razer Phone, widely considered as the best mobile gaming panels until now.

Best of all, the screen does not have a notch, nor does it have rounded corners. It is also not bezel-less: aside from sensors and connectors, the left and right bezel houses dual front-firing speakers with smart amplifier, making it the first smartphone from ASUS to have dual front-facing stereo speakers, ever.

For the camera, you get something similar to those found on the Zenfone 5: dual 12MP+8MP (120-degree) rear snappers and a single 8MP selfie camera at the front.

Everything else just ticks off the “ideal phone” wish list: a massive 4000 mAh battery with ultra-fast 20W direct charging technology dubbed the ASUS Hypercharge? Done. IP68 waterproof chassis? Yup. 3.5mm headphone jack? Of course. Dual SIM and a microSD slot? Hell yeah.

Three USB Type-C ports? Y-yes, please.

One more thing: two programmable sensors dubbed the AirTrigger are mounted at the right of the screen to function as left and right triggers in landscape mode, replacing physical L1R1 mounts for easy shooting in Battle-Royale style games like Rules of Survival (ROS), PUBG, and the upcoming Android game, Fortnite.

ROG Phone exclusive accessories and attachments

The ROG Phone also comes with a line of accessories and attachments such as the Mobile Desktop Dock which lets you plug your phone into your desktop screen, and the Gamevice controller with WiGig, which lets you control your phone using physical buttons with a D-pad while connected to a wireless display.

Then there’s the TwinView dock, which allows you to combine two ROG Phones on top of one other like while giving you haptic force-feedback and an additional pair of left and right trigger buttons, like a very powerful and potentially wallet-breaking Android version of the Nintendo DS.

ROG Phone price and availability

According to ASUS, the ROG Phone will be available by the third quarter this year. Retail price will be revealed on launch date, although given the insane specs, expect to pay a premium that exceeds the price of flagship smartphones available today.

ASUS ROG Phone technical specifications