Drool worthy content from Asus

[Mooncatt]

I just found the main blog post from Asus themselves. If you like to geek out on details, this is it.

https://rog.asus.com/articles/smart...delivers-gaming-superiority-anywhere-anytime/

Probably my favorite part of the article.

For situations where you need to game in private or just want to listen through your favorite cans, we conserved another critically endangered species: a dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack. You’re welcome.

They know their audience, if nothing else. Not only does it have one, BUT TWO(!) headphone jacks. My guess is only one can be used at a time, but still... Now we know where the jacks for the N10's went. Lol. It's also interesting to see that the two USB C ports are not identical in speed and power spec. Hardly a deal breaker, but more of an oddity.

One thing that they also note is there's a couple design differences between the China/Tencent version everyone has seen so far, and the international versions. They didn't note carrier or frequency bands, but I also found another article for the Malaysian version that listed apparent differences, and it has a lot more bands than the Tencent version. If that carries over to all the international versions, then it looks like it would support all of Verizon's bands (my carrier). You can see all of that here.

https://www.lowyat.net/2019/192335/asus-rog-phone-ii-malaysia-vs-tencent/

Obviously this is just speculation, but it has me hopeful of a Verizon option one way or another.

 

[Casey Cheung]

Umm, silly question alert. If I only play games once in awhile, would I still be interested in this gaming phone??

 

[Mooncatt]

Umm, silly question alert. If I only play games once in awhile, would I still be interested in this gaming phone??

I would be.


Flat screen
No notches/cutouts/hole punches/etc.
Large battery
Headphone jacks
Front firing stereo speakers
Ability to adjust performance (so you could throttle down for longer battery life)
Non-cookie cutter aesthetics
Bezels
Camera specs
Should remain cooler than other phones, plus comes with the cooling fan if you need it

It does have some downsides for me, though.

Sealed battery
No micro-SD slot
AMOLED screen.
Carrier support isn't known yet

This phone has a lot going for it, but those few downsides are big deals for me. So it's more this being the least bad phone for me, rather than being the best for me. I'm still on the fence.

 

[CranksterBB10]

This phone seems very promising for a non gamer. Looking forward to the North American launch. My only concern with this phone is support and software updates. I'm not familiar at all with ASUS' track record.

 

[Mooncatt]

This phone seems very promising for a non gamer. Looking forward to the North American launch. My only concern with this phone is support and software updates. I'm not familiar at all with ASUS' track record.

I'm not familiar with their track record either, but software updates is near the bottom of the list of things important to me.

 

[Knightmayre90]

As far as I know, the 12gb, 512 version has expandable memory too. I'm a note 9 user and i really did consider the Note 10 but this phone just blows everything out of the water for me. And I'm not a gamer. 6000mah battery too? It's going to be a media giant for me. Athletically i think it just looks amazing, the design beats everything out there at the moment. This is definitely my next phone. It doesn't look like anyone here in the UK with carry it, I've literally asked them all so I'll have to buy it but that will keep contract prices down I guess.

 

[Mooncatt]

As far as I know, the 12gb, 512 version has expandable memory too. I'm a note 9 user and i really did consider the Note 10 but this phone just blows everything out of the water for me. And I'm not a gamer. 6000mah battery too? It's going to be a media giant for me. Athletically i think it just looks amazing, the design beats everything out there at the moment. This is definitely my next phone. It doesn't look like anyone here in the UK with carry it, I've literally asked them all so I'll have to buy it but that will keep contract prices down I guess.

So far, info on storage hasn't indicated an SD slot. I've seen some reports of 512 GB/1TB on the international version, but it didn't say if the 1TB was internal or external. They finally have it listed on their main U.S. site, which only mentions the 512 GB internal.

https://www.asus.com/us/Phone/ROG-Phone-II/

If you have anything listing an SD card slot, I'd love to read over it.

I'm also liking what I see about the audio on their site. They mention the amp used, but no other specs. So I went digging...

https://www.nxp.com/products/audio/...gh-efficiency-class-d-audio-amplifier:TFA9874

In a nutshell, it's a class-D amp, which are very efficient. Power rating is 5.6-6.2W depending on speaker impedance, at <1% THD. Translation: the audio on this phone should be loud and clear! They talk up the sound, but I always question the ability of phone speakers to have a truly rich, full sound. After all, it's simple physics that such small speakers don't play low frequencies well. I'm sure it will sound fine regardless, but maybe they'll surprise me.

I'd wait until it's officially released before losing hope of a UK dealer. They seem pretty tight lipped about it, with no leaks that I've found. The Asus site I linked above looks to be for U.S. consumers. See if they have a UK site and have it listed there?

 

[Knightmayre90]

So far, info on storage hasn't indicated an SD slot. I've seen some reports of 512 GB/1TB on the international version, but it didn't say if the 1TB was internal or external. They finally have it listed on their main U.S. site, which only mentions the 512 GB internal.

https://www.asus.com/us/Phone/ROG-Phone-II/

If you have anything listing an SD card slot, I'd love to read over it.

I'm also liking what I see about the audio on their site. They mention the amp used, but no other specs. So I went digging...

https://www.nxp.com/products/audio/...gh-efficiency-class-d-audio-amplifier:TFA9874

In a nutshell, it's a class-D amp, which are very efficient. Power rating is 5.6-6.2W depending on speaker impedance, at <1% THD. Translation: the audio on this phone should be loud and clear! They talk up the sound, but I always question the ability of phone speakers to have a truly rich, full sound. After all, it's simple physics that such small speakers don't play low frequencies well. I'm sure it will sound fine regardless, but maybe they'll surprise me.

I'd wait until it's officially released before losing hope of a UK dealer. They seem pretty tight lipped about it, with no leaks that I've found. The Asus site I linked above looks to be for U.S. consumers. See if they have a UK site and have it listed there?

Asus UK are still showing the ROG 1 phone, I guess I'll just have to wait. I'm almost positive that I've seen reports where it stated that it was 512gb expandable up to 1tb. I can't remember where I saw it but I'd bet that it comes with an SD slot. Sounds good about that amp, this is going to make all my Bluetooth speakers obsolete haha

 

[Mooncatt]

Asus UK are still showing the ROG 1 phone, I guess I'll just have to wait. I'm almost positive that I've seen reports where it stated that it was 512gb expandable up to 1tb. I can't remember where I saw it but I'd bet that it comes with an SD slot. Sounds good about that amp, this is going to make all my Bluetooth speakers obsolete haha

I have a 5 watt shower speaker, and it's loud enough that I don't need it at full volume. It also has a much larger speaker than the phone, so not really a fair comparison. Lol.

I remember when the LG G4 came out, they boasted a "powerful" 1 watt speaker. At the time, that was one of the strongest on the market, and it was decently loud. Not sure what my current V20 is.