Asus Brings PC Gaming Excess To Android With New ROG Phone (bloomberg.com) 31
Asus, best known for its PC and gaming enthusiast gear, launched the latest in its Republic of Gamers smartphone line targeting Android gamers in markets like China. From a report: The ROG Phone 5 maintains the heritage of over-the-top specs and design: its exterior is decorated with angular motifs and its interior is populated with up to 18GB of memory and Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 888 processor. It has a custom-made 6.8-inch Samsung OLED display, contains two battery cells and is cooled by a vapor chamber system -- and its higher-tier models bundle an attachable fan cooler for even more performance. In the commodified Android device market, Asus is betting on its brand association with gaming and the broad enthusiasm for a tailored user experience. The ROG Phone 5 comes with an app providing a console-like interface and Asus is working with game makers to add support for the highest refresh rates its display is capable of. Though to break past its 0.2% global market share, the company will need some help, according to Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics.
Asus has found success partnering with Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings. The two companies have collaborated on the marketing of ROG Phones and certification of games in China for several generations and the country is one of Asus' main focus markets, the Taiwanese manufacturer said. Unlike the PC market, where higher clock speeds and more memory can translate into being able to play at higher fidelity or on larger screens, in the mobile realm practically every company relies on the same basic architecture. And the leading duo of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics consistently tout their devices' gaming capabilities, pushing brands like Asus to focus on hardcore gaming fans.
Asus has found success partnering with Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings. The two companies have collaborated on the marketing of ROG Phones and certification of games in China for several generations and the country is one of Asus' main focus markets, the Taiwanese manufacturer said. Unlike the PC market, where higher clock speeds and more memory can translate into being able to play at higher fidelity or on larger screens, in the mobile realm practically every company relies on the same basic architecture. And the leading duo of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics consistently tout their devices' gaming capabilities, pushing brands like Asus to focus on hardcore gaming fans.
attachable fan cooler on an cell phone?? (Score:2)
attachable fan cooler on an cell phone??
Like you are really going to game at high res on an small touch screen?
Re: attachable fan cooler on an cell phone?? (Score:4, Informative)
I do sometimes, but my phone has a keyboard...phone gaming can also work with a wireless controller of some sort. The big problem is the software available. Emulated games work great but the emulation overhead kills your battery even faster. There are maybe a couple hundred modern games made for smartphones that have good controls, and maybe a dozen that could really take advantage of a high-powered smartphone.
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attachable fan cooler on an cell phone??
Like you are really going to game at high res on an small touch screen?
I'm certain there are people who are paying extra for "premium" 4K Netflix streams for their smartphones too.
Re: attachable fan cooler on an cell phone?? (Score:1)
You will see 8K phone screens in your lifetime.
I mean, not /see/... nobody can see even the current pixel densities. But see, as in, in your wallet and battery lifetime.
Because bad is good, and flashy is useful, and function follows form, didn't you know? iGet with the iTimes!
field of view (Score:2)
You will see 8K phone screens in your lifetime.
Yes, tiny panels with 8k capabilities will indeed be happening in the future.
I mean, not /see/... nobody can see even the current pixel densities.
Depends on the field of view that these tiny panels occupy.
In the palm of your hand? Well, yes. I agree with you we're hitting the law of diminishing return pretty hard here.
Blown up to you whole field of vision? Now that's an interesting use for a tiny panel: you're pretty much sure that ultra-high resolution and very-high refresh rate OLED panels are going to be a must on virtual-reality headset for less pixelation/glassdoor.
As l
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In fact there are already headset featuring 8k resolution (in total for both eyes together).
There are no 8k headsets for sale. There are HMD companies knowingly engaged in false advertising. They know two 4k displays has half the pixels of a single 8k display yet they keep pushing false claims anyway.
Re:Call me when it's modular & upgradable. (Score:5, Informative)
For previous ROG phones they did in fact make snap on controls with physical buttons. I can't remember if there was a joystick option. In fact I seem to recall that at least one version of the phone had some kind of physical buttons built in that could be mapped to arbitrary touch points on the screen.
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Pinball seems more your speed.
USB-C (Score:2)
And there's a decent input interface. Like, two joysticks and a couple of ergonomic button.
Most smartphones, including the one in your pocket, have USB-C connectors.
And USB-C "Switch joycon-like" joysticks are a thing, be it "g4m3rz" stuff over-sold at indecent price (while lacking completely basic features like pass-through audio) [razer.com], or el-cheapo no name asian clones on aliexpress [aliexpress.com].
And that's only to add direct hardware buttons to your phone.
I am compltely glossing over:
- bluetooth "Switch joycon-like" joysticks. (but might have slight latency problems, but also needs its own battery and co
Anything about price? (Score:2)
Re:Anything about price? (Score:4, Informative)
I skimmed the article but did not see what the price might be.
Very end of article:
"The ROG Phone 5 starts at 799 euros (about $950) and scales up to 1,299 euros for an Ultimate fan edition with maxed-out memory and storage."
Thank gamers for subsidizing R&D (Score:3)
Gamers pay for hardware R&D for the rest of us and if phones are to become better desktop and notebook replacements they need to become much more powerful. Bluetooth and USB C make sufficient connectivity a sufficiently solved problem for basic tasks but the more powerful CPU and more RAM the better.
Because high end phone makers will avoid pure FOSS operating systems in favor of profit via walled gardens and data mining, users wanting (true) FOSS OS will be forced to run it in containers for many years. That needs more powerful hardware than generally available and pure Linux phones will not have that early on as their tiny geeky market share doesn't justify the investment when notebooks and desktops will always be better computers,
The world needs a gamer phone arms race along with well done peripheral kits so less techy users can buy everything as a package.
Re: Thank gamers for subsidizing R&D (Score:5, Informative)
Have you been to China? Honest question.
I am living here as an expat. I honestly believe no nation comes close to comparison with respect to phone usage. It includes the non-techy types you mentioned. At home computers are more of a luxury but everyone has a phone.
They have phone games that are complete ripoffs of counter strike, Mario Kart, League of Legends, and many more. Most of the popular games are of this fashion and are played every where. Streaming services are used ubiquitously from services that compare to Netflix, YouTube, and Twitch.
It's absolutely clear whoever this phone is being marketed and why Asus wants a piece of the pie.
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I imagine that trend is keyboard-related? Inputting Chinese characters via pinyin may seem more productive on a touchscreen with predictive text than using a hardware keyboard.
Re: Thank gamers for subsidizing R&D (Score:3)
I think it's a cost benefit analysis combined with a culture. Phones are generally cheaper and more mobile. Chinese people have a cashless society that's far more connected than any I have ever seen. WeChat and Alipay can both be used in most any place. Directly connected to my bank card, I can send cash to friends in seconds. Market venders have easy to use QR codes. The parking garages too which means when you pull up to the exit, they will read your license plate and let you through quickly. People
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A phone with it's dependence on carriers that makes it a non-FOSS solution. Data-mining is the end and middle point, much like current PC desktops.
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> A phone with it's dependence on carriers that makes it a non-FOSS solution
There's about a thousand miles between an ASUS ROG phone and a FOSS solution. Likely every chip in the damned thing has a proprietary driver at this point, or damned near.
I will also offer this; while there may in fact one day be phones that are fully free and open source and functional (and even today, there's a couple that are almost completely free and open source, with a lot of functional issues), there's almost no interest
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A phone with it's dependence on carriers that makes it a non-FOSS solution. Data-mining is the end and middle point, much like current PC desktops.
As smartphone vendors go ASUS is not terrible. They make unlocking bootloaders easy, donate hardware to members of open source community (LineageOS, TWRP..etc) and provide easily accessible open source dumps.
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...if phones are to become better desktop and notebook replacements they need to become much more powerful.
Uh, why? For the average social media TubeFlix junkie (meaning 90% of computer users today), desktop replacement requirements amount to a tablet. Phones are likely already powerful enough. They certainly should be based on the price tag.
The world needs a gamer phone arms race along with well done peripheral kits so less techy users can buy everything as a package.
Well once again prove you even need a "gamer" level hardware solution before insisting on an entire "arms race". The world didn't need laptop chassis that are sealed from the factory either, but that's the shit we're now left with after the thinner/lighter arms race, ran
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I want to put a
Epic lawsuit coming (Score:1)
Will Epic sue them for not providing one of these phone free to all Fortnite customers?
8! (Score:2)
Chinese sure love lucky eight. :)
Baffled by Chinese ties (Score:2)