These past few months have been especially exciting for mobile gaming. The gaming peripherals giant, Razer, made waves towards the end of 2017 when they released the Razer Phone. It was a highly anticipated release, following the acquisition of a smartphone startup, being the first entry of a gaming peripheral company into the highly-competitive mobile phone market. Fast forward to June 2018, Asus announces their entry into the mobile phone market with the ROG Phone.
And while Razer and Asus ROG (Republic of Gamers) are considered leaders in the gaming hardware industry, it remains to be seen whether their forays into the mobile phone market will be successful. Mobile manufacturing giants such as Samsung, Huawei, and Apple hold large portions of the high-end mobile phone markets. Despite this, the coming months will be exciting as we will see the fates of these phones unfold.
At present, we don’t have a way of entirely comparing the two as the ROG Phone is yet to be released. However, we can make initial comparisons based off of the specs published by Asus and Razer.
Head to head
Being marketed by companies known for high-end gaming hardware, it pretty much goes without saying that the phones are expected to be beasts. Here are their specs below:
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Under the hood
Both phones are powerhouses. The Razer Phone has received nothing but glowing reviews in terms of its capacity to handle heavy use. At the time when it was released, very few applications could fully tax the capacity of the Razer Phone. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 is among the best processors on the market. That coupled with the 8GB of RAM allowed it to run everything smoothly.
The ROG Phone will come equipped with a similar 8GB of RAM and a newer, exclusive chipset from Qualcomm. It has the potential to outdo its competitor.
Concerning battery, both phones are powered by 4000mAh lithium-ion batteries. At the onset, this seems like a tie, but we will only be able to put these phones through their paces side by side when the ROG phone is released.
Audio visual specs
After the Razer Phone’s release, it received mixed feedback on its visual quality. For some, it was hailed for the impressive quality of its screen output. The 120hz refresh rate is considered among its most significant selling points. The fluidity the Razer provided is among the best, if not the best among its counterparts. There were, however, some users were unimpressed with the lack of AMOLED integration.
The ROG Phone is also expected to match up to the standards set by Razer. Its 90Hz refresh rate is still very high. But while providing a lower refresh rate, ROG delivers an AMOLED screen for its users. It also offers a slightly bigger screen.
The Razer’s external speakers can provide a notable quality. It can perform even better than a number of external Bluetooth speakers. The front facing speakers and dual amps provide a clean and crisp sound that few phones are able to provide. One main gripe, about the Razer, however, is that the phone does not provide an audio jack. By no means is it the phone to start this trend, but gamers are often keen on getting the best possible experience from their hardware, and in most cases, this implies the use of wired headphones.
ROG Phone’s audio seems to have been built to provide a similar experience. The most noticeable difference is the availability of an audio jack, which will weigh in heavily for more avid gamers. A large segment of the gamer fans of both ROG and Razer are not as particular about a bulky experience with gaming rigs and laptops providing optimal experiences at the expense of being large and cumbersome.
A gaming experience
Perhaps the most prominent differentiation that can be made between the two is that the Razer Phone is primarily a phone built for gamers. The ROG Phone seems to be a gaming phone. Let me explain. The Razer Phone is a beast. There is no other way to put it. Anyone who has tried it will attest to the power and fluidity that it provides. However, it is still generally a phone.
The ROG Phone, on the other hand, is being marketed to be used with a variety of accessories. For example, it allows docking onto a pc setup, allowing for easy use of the K4 monitor, Gigabit Ethernet, 5.1-channel speakers, and a stack of USB peripherals. This is a feature that is aimed towards gamers, but it also allows users to easily go over an inbox and do some quick work on a spreadsheet or word processor. With the WiGig dock, the phone can be used to broadcast a signal to a large-screen TV. With the use of third-party controllers, the ROG Phone also provides a console-type gaming experience in some ways similar to the Nintendo Switch.
Asus’ phone can also be used with their Twin View Dock, a separate accessory allowing for dual monitors on the mobile device. This feature can be especially useful for gamers who are live streaming and will enable game developers to provide customers with more screen space for display.
Overall impressions
We can make initial assumptions based on the specs. At this point, it looks like ROG’s phone comes with individually better parts. However, it isn’t right to prejudge this in favor of ROG because the phone has yet to come out. Engineering and overall experience cannot be judged based on a list of specs and announcements.
The differentiation will probably come from the fact that Asus is packaging the ROG Phone as more of a gaming device than a standard phone. Whether or not the availability of numerous options the ROG offers will actually be appreciated by the market and taken into consideration by developers remains to be seen.
It’s safe to say that enthusiasts will be eagerly awaiting on Asus’ release date for the ROG phone. You can visit their website for more information.
YouTube: Epic performance. Unbeatable visuals. Total control. ROG Phone | ROG
Photo Credit: All images used are owned by Asus.
Source: Geoff Gasior (Asus)
