The ASUS ROG Phone II Review: Mobile Gaming First, Phone Second
by Dr. Ian Cutress on September 30, 2019 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Asus
- Qualcomm
- Smartphones
- ROG
- RGB
- Snapdragon 855 Plus
- ROG Phone II
Battery Life
With a 6000 mAh battery, the ROG Phone II already promised out of the gate to have some substantial staying power. The big battery is meant to compensate for having additional features like the 120 Hz display and X Mode which might consume more battery during gaming. Nonetheless, in our standard Wi-Fi battery test, it smashes new records.
Setting the display to 200 nits, our web battery test simulates accessing webpages with a variety of features with scrolling – standard operation for any smartphone.
In the default 60Hz mode that the phone ships in, it results in over 16 hours of runtime, that caters for any ‘all-day’ battery claim, and is certainly above any other smartphone on the market. Moving to a perminent 120 Hz mode loses about 20% of the battery life.
Similarly, the PCMark battery test also dropped 20%, however the average score in the PCMark battery test on 120 Hz mode did increase by 17% (10746 vs 9152) , indicating the tradeoff that a higher refresh screen might bring.
Not being the standard smartphone reviewer, unfortunately I do not have access to all the tools that Andrei does for his testing. As a result, our display testing is fairly basic. At 100% APL, the peak brightness was measured at ~450 nits, which is below ASUS’ claim of 600 nits. It is likely that ASUS’ number is peak brightness (1% APL), not full screen. We also measured the white point at ~8450K.
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plewis00 - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
I don’t know what games you play but the ones I do can’t cope with multiple connections - if they detect a network or IP change they usually treat that as a disconnection. So you’d need the game companies to get onboard too. I suspect the IP change thing is to do with your session being intercepted and that’s why it disconnects you.brucethemoose - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
Asus could theoretically host a VPN (or contract someone else) to keep your visible IP the same across all connections.That would also be MUCH less work than mucking around with Android's network handoff code.
Lochtror - Tuesday, October 1, 2019 - link
good idea, i think just any vpn usage would have this effect, so i will try that. but still needs some setting or software on the phone that switches the connection faster than what i experienced so far.Lochtror - Tuesday, October 1, 2019 - link
interesting. thanks. its mushroom wars 2 and hearthstone for me. hearthstone is forgiving regarding connection issues. can even reconnect for a while. turn based game.mw2, real time, more disconnects.
Wardrive86 - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
I buy a smartphone with gaming specifically in mind. There now you know one person who does that 😏AdhesiveTeflon - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
I don't get it, is somebody planning to load up battlefield V on this thing and play it?PeachNCream - Tuesday, October 1, 2019 - link
I think we're heading in that direction and these early entries into adding external case plastics and lighting that might appeal to the target audience are indications that some PC manufacturers are seeing the need to enter the phone reseller and/or production market in order to establish corporate identities ahead of other potential competitors. When it comes to playing games, the end objective is amusement and as we move forward, the underlying device that provides said amusement is certainly subject to change. Look at how we have transitioned with other elements of entertainment and information consumption for examples. Families used to gather around a single, large radio console to listen to evening programming together. They eventually shifted to doing the same thing with television consoles. Television became more commonplace and more personal so more of them started popping up in individualized spaces as cost of ownership declined so they ended up in bedrooms in addition to centralized areas. Computers went the same way, from single PC per household to personalized devices and now that same data processing is moving from larger to smaller, even more portable systems via phones that will naturally supply a certain amount of entertainment value via video games. It's just the way of things that change is constantly afoot.johansyren - Tuesday, November 10, 2020 - link
I've been using this phone for a week now and as a daily driver, it is great. In terms of photography, it is not that great but when using it with GCAM, it improves your shots. It is a gaming phone so the camera is good overall. As for the games, almost all games can run on ultra high settings and still run in a smooth manner. Don't worry about the temps going high 'cause if you bought the strix edition one, it comes with aero cooler v2 and aero case. I found a good article about this phone https://casinovalley.ca/best-picks/best-gambling-p...Tams80 - Wednesday, October 2, 2019 - link
Not Battlefield V or it's like, but numerous people have made careers out of mobile gaming (and not just game developers).Lord of the Bored - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
"Game Genie"How nostalgic.