Asus ROG Phone with 6-inch AMOLED 90Hz HDR display, Snapdragon 845, 8GB RAM, up to 512GB storage, AeroActive Cooler announced


Asus’s ROG at the Computex 2018 in Taiwan introduced the ROG Phone, the company’s first gaming smartphone. It has a 6-inch Full HD+ AMOLED  HDR 90Hz, 1ms response time AMOLED display with DCIP3 gamut with Gaming HDR and Mobile HDR supported by dedicate hardware display chip, is powered by Snapdragon 845 SoC that is clocked up to 2.96GHz with 8GB RAM. It has new GameCool system that improves thermals with a copper heat spreader and 3D vapor chamber that efficiently transfer heat away from the SoC and into the body, says the company.

It has dedicated ultrasonic buttons, two  on the left edge and one more on the bottom right edge actuate with only 20 grams of force for both landscape and portrait modes. Each one can be customized to perform different functions, including executing macros that reliably reproduce game-specific gestures. The buttons can also be configured for non-gaming tasks, like instantly launching specific apps and activating functions like one-handed mode. Under the hood, an advanced haptic engine generates nuanced vibrations for more detailed force feedback in games.

It is also WiGig-certified for 802.11ad 60GHz WiFi with both 2×2 MIMO and WiFi Direct. The side-mounted port also supports Gigabit Ethernet over Type-C, plus HDMI and USB. It packs a  4,000mAh battery with 30W charging that can charge from 0 to 60%  in just 33 minutes and get to 85% in just over an hour.  The logo on the back glows in  whichever color you choose with static, breathing, and strobing effects, or cycling through the spectrum. You can synchronize RGB illumination across up to five ROG Phones wirelessly to match the rest of your squad. The lighting also syncs with optional accessories that plug into the side-mounted connector.

The AeroActive Cooler accessory that connects to the phone using customized 48-pin connector blows air over the back to accelerate heat dissipation into the environment to improve sustained performance for extremely strenuous gaming sessions. The AeroActive Cooler also plugs into this multi-purpose port and includes its own landscape-friendly USB 3.0 Type-C connector for  charger and 3.5mm audio jack for headphones.

The TwinView Dock adds a secondary 6-inch FHD+ AMOLED display giving game developers more real estate to show maps, inventory, and other important information. You can simultaneously view another application for chatting with teammates, reading up on strategies, or watching other matches. It also prevents your fingers from blocking the front-facing camera and comes with physical trigger buttons and dual haptic feedback engines. It has enhanced cooling for the best performance,  Dual speaker with Qualcomm smart amplifier, SD card slot and packs a 6,000mAh auxiliary battery.

The WiGig Dock uses low-latency 802.11ad 60GHz WiFi to broadcast display signals to a base station that plugs into big-screen TVs. It pairs well with the third-party GameVice controller, which squeezes the ROG Phone between banks of traditional gamepad joysticks and buttons to enable a console-like experience.

Asus ROG Phone (ZS600KL) specifications

  • 6-inch (2160 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 18:9 90Hz, 1ms response time AMOLED display with 108.6% DCI-P3 color gamut, 550 nits brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection, 10,000:1 contrast ratio,Gaming HDR and Mobile HDR
  • 2.96GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 845 64-bit 10nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 630 GPU
  • 8GB LPDDR4x RAM with 128GB (UFS 2.1) storage / 512GB (UFS 2.1) internal storage
  • Android 8.1 (Oreo) with ROG Gaming X mode UI
  • Dual SIM (nano + nano)
  • 12MP rear camera with dual pixel sensor, f/1.8 aperture, 1.4µm pixel size, 1/2.55″ Sony IMX363 sensor, LED flash, 83° field of view, PDAF, 4-axis, 4 stops optical image stabilization, AI Scene Detection, secondary rear camera with 120° wide-angle lens
  • 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, 84° field of view
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • Dual front-facing 5-magnet speakers with dual NXP 9874 smart amplifier,Hi-Res audio, DTS Headphone:X 7.1 virtual surround sound for headphone, Triple internal microphones with ASUS Noise Reduction Technology, FM Radio
  • Water-resistant body
  • Dimensions: 158.83×76.16x 8.65mm; Weight: 200g
  • 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO ) / 802.11ad 60GHz, Bluetooth 5, GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, USB Type-C, NFC
  • 4000mAh  battery with 10V 3A fast charging, supports up to 30W QC4.0 / PD3.0 / Direct Charge adapter

The ROG Phone comes in Black color with the AeroActive Cooler, while other accessories will be sold separately, and it will also be available as a special bundle will pack all of them into a suitcase with the high-end version of the phone. It will be available sometimes in Q3 2018. No word on the pricing yet.


Author: Srivatsan Sridhar

Srivatsan Sridhar is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps. He uses the phones he reviews as his main phone. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram