How ASUS brought the ROG Phone from conception to production
The ASUS ROG gaming phone is the most technically ambitious and advanced phone that the brand has ever made and it’s coming soon to Malaysia in a matter of weeks as it is slated to arrive this 22 October to be precise. Its journey to make it from a sketch on paper to a final finished product though spans dozens if not hundreds of prototypes, tests and more.
At a media briefing today, ASUS technical experts flew in from Taiwan headquarters to share more about just what the ROG phone has to offer as well as the immense complexity that went into its construction which, on the surface seems seamless and effortless in form and function. Even its packaging is already impressive.
In terms of specifications, the ROG Phone is easily at the upper end of flagships but where it tops the competition is that the hardware it integrates runs a notch faster and better due to impressive levels of over-engineering. For starters, the ROG phone runs a speed-binned Snapdragon 845 processor which is actually the first time it’s actually crammed into a smartphone. The speed-binned Snapdragon 845 on the ROG phone has the capability to run at 2.96GHz which is a good deal faster than what a stock SoC is capable of. This is further augmented by up to 8GB RAM and 512GB of expandable storage.
The ROG Phone’s display itself is equally unique. It’s a 6-inch AMOLED panel but it offers a swift 90Hz frame refresh rate and a quick 1ms response as well as a very respectable ability to cover 108% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut for better looking visuals when gaming or watching movies.
Naturally, hardware with this level of speed and power will run hot and the ROG Phone has dedicated a significant part of its design to ensure that it runs cool even under heavy gaming workloads.
ASUS showed several prototypes that were not selected as the final design with them finally selecting one that was both functional and good looking with a triangular knife-edged wedge cut out from the backplate to accommodate a flat swedge of nickel as the heat vent that they’ve dubbed as a ‘tactical knife’ look. It’s equal parts aggressive and effective but it’s just one aspect of the whole cooling system engineered into the phone.
ASUS has also integrated what they call a 3D Vapour Chamber Cooling System which uses a carbon cooling pad and a copperhead spreader to vent heat through to the swedge of nickel out on the backplate. According to their boffins, nickel, on top of its heat dissipating properties was also selected as it was easier to tool and add fine detail versus a chunk of aluminium.
They also showed how the entire case was machined out of a block of aluminium and the unaltered block itself is a hefty brick indeed. All the examples they showcased of the various aspects of the phone were certainly impressive indeed and were just a small aspect of the amount of effort taken in creating what may possibly be the past gaming phone of 2018.
ASUS also gave a look at the possible accessories that can be purchased with the ROG Phone, each of which enhances its functionality for gaming under different scenarios. Each accessory can be purchased separately with a selection of docks as well as adaptors that turn the phone into a landscape-oriented gamepad but the clincher was a huge suitcase that contained every possible accessory. There’s no word on official prices yet but what we do know is that ASUS will be launching the ROG phone this coming 22 October in Malaysia.Stay tuned for more details as they develop!
