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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
75 Comments
View All Comments
dqniel - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
Incredible hardware. Hideous design.boredsysadmin - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
Gaming for me is secondary, but YUGE 6k battery, 3.5mm audio port mated to the high-performance phone at the same price as other flagship phones - I say why not. In fact, after I read most the article I fail to see the negative points. Why the camera was tested only with daylight? Yes, I expect it to lag behind Huawei/Apple/Google night mode, but I am a potential buyer curious to see to how much exactly it lags in quality.to dqniel - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
PeachNCream - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
It's pretty ungainly looking to say the least, but it is a lot of innards for a less than typically insane price for a top end phone. Once they're a generation or so older like the first Razer gaming phone is now, it will likely be possible to obtain one for 1/4th or so of the original asking price which might make it worth scooping up as it will still be relatively powerful at that point.Lord of the Bored - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
You mean "awesome stealth fighter design", right?DanNeely - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
So, to indicate that you're in "X mode" they light up a Y shaped area on the default desktop. I don't even...hemedans - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
Thanx for review, probably my next smartphone, am Glad someone is moving away from Notch/glass/bezell less madness.Clamier - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
Yep my too after reading i love it !hanselltc - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
Phone size, Wafer Eater for scale. Nice.Kishoreshack - Monday, September 30, 2019 - link
Incredible HardwareIncredible Design
Asus you just have upped the game
hope you lead the industry & push the boundaries
skavi - Tuesday, October 1, 2019 - link
lol