A dedicated gaming smartphone from Asus, the ROG Phone, was launched today in India. This is first such handset to reach the Indian market. The smartphone was first unveiled globally by the company’s gaming brand Republic of Gamers (ROG) at Computex 2018 in June this year.
ROG Phone is the world’s first smartphone with a 3D vapour-chamber cooling system, Asus claims. Moreover, it features a carbon pad and copper spreader for additional cooling.
Notably, the Asus ROG Phone boasts of unique ultrasonic AirTrigger touch sensors that can be linked to any action in the game. Meaning they function as two extra console-like buttons for the gamers. Other noteworthy features include a gamer-centric design with side-mounted ports optimised for landscape-mode, an AMOLED display with HDR visuals, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 1ms response time.
It also gets top-of-the-line hardware that is a special speed-binned Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor clocked at up to 2.96GHz, paired with Qualcomm Adreno 630 GPU. Asus also says that Asphalt 9 has been optimised for 90Hz displays. The phone is equipped with a large battery which is capable of getting to 60 percent of charge in 30 minutes, Asus claims. There is also IPX4 rating that confirms splash-resistant body.
To support sustained gaming for long hours, Asus is touting the presence of a GameCool vapour-chamber cooling system, with detachable AeroActive Cooler for extra cooling in the ROG Phone. Additionally, the smartphone comes with side-mounted ports and two programmable ultrasonic AirTriggers and advanced force-feedback haptics. It features the optional TwinView Dock for dual-screen handheld mode.
Despite all these premium features on board, it ultimately boils down to how much it costs in a price sensitive country like India. However gaming smartphone is a niche market and Asus has priced the ROG Phone accordingly at Rs.69,999. It comes in a lone 8GB RAM/ 128GB on-board storage variant in the country and will be available exclusively via Flipkart.
Detailed pricing for the gaming-oriented accessories has also been revealed. Professional Dock will be available at Rs. 5,499; GameVice (Joy stick) at Rs. 5,999; TwinView Dock at Rs. 21,999; Desktop Dock at Rs. 12,999; and ROG Phone Case at Rs.2,499.
Asus ROG Phone specifications
The Asus ROG Phone runs ROG Gaming UI, based on Android Oreo. The smartphone features a 6-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display and boasts of 90Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time with HDR. Additionally, the smartphone’s display comes with a 108.6 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut and 10000:1 contrast ratio.
In the camera department, the handset features a dual rear camera setup with 12-megapixel (Sony IMX363 sensor) and 8-megapixel (120-degree wide angle) cameras. Alternatively there is an 8-megapixel front camera for capturing selfies. In India, Asus has launched the ROG Phone mode that comes with 128GB of inbuilt storage.
However, the phone bears a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel and no face unlock feature. The ROG Phone features a 4,000mAh battery and supports Quick Charge 3.0 on the bottom port and Quick Charge 4.0 (30W) on the side-mounted port.
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