I thought phone innovation was dead.

[Emily Young]

ASUS has made a lot of RoG Phones since they first launched in 2018, and with each revision, it comes closer to perfection… Can innovation really keep moving fast enough to keep a smartphone interesting?

 

 

[poochyena]

guessing $800 for the cheapest model

[Granular]

iOS devices don't belong to the user. Apple keeps updating them because what they're updating is their device that they're using to squeeze money out of their buyers.

Asus is (for whatever bizzare reason) updating devices that Google uses to squeeze money out of the buyers.

The worthwhile solution to this dillemma is charging for software support and/or making the device support package open source enough that other parties can do that.

 

If you do actually care about e-waste, like you suggested in the RTX 3060 video, why not highlight a meaningfully different phone maker by covering the Fairphone?

[Xlander]

Little confused about the whole pricing mystery.

 

After watching Linus's video on the phone I left with the impression that Asus wasn't giving out prices yet. But then I checked out the Marques Brownlee review for a second perspective and he had a full price breakdown.

 

Is this due to some slight time discrepancy on when the two videos went up? Or something else.

Regardless kinda hyped for this phone, and also bummed I just upgraded to the Iphone 12 pro a month ago. Headphone jack and customizable audio controls are super appealing. 

Not going to be buying a new phone for at least 5 years though.

 

 

[Guest]

Really? A full stop in the title? 

[RejZoR]

5 hours ago, Granular said:

iOS devices don't belong to the user. Apple keeps updating them because what they're updating is their device that they're using to squeeze money out of their buyers.

Asus is (for whatever bizzare reason) updating devices that Google uses to squeeze money out of the buyers.

The worthwhile solution to this dillemma is charging for software support and/or making the device support package open source enough that other parties can do that.

 

If you do actually care about e-waste, like you suggested in the RTX 3060 video, why not highlight a meaningfully different phone maker by covering the Fairphone?

No. No no no and no. No one really gives a damn or cares who device "belongs" to. Same tired stupid "muh closed ecosystem" bullshit that I'm so sick of listening to over and over and over like some god damn gospel. The fact is, Apple's shit literally just works and a lot of people just want shit that "just works" over constant fiddling with all the shit. Apple has fast phones, provides very long term software support and just never gives you sensation you're being forced to buy new phone just to have latest OS. Which with just 1 year of updates for ROG phones is just beyond pathetic. You pay stupid price just to get essentially zero support. It's why I'd and I'll never buy an ASUS phone until they address this idiocy. They make impressive hardware solutions, but their software department is just straight up shit. Which is odd given ho good is their BIOS support on motherboards. But I know that's not the same division as the one working on phones...

 

Literally ALL Android phone makers push you to buy new device to be up to date software wise and just the idea of it is stupid. It's a fucking software. No one expects you to magically make my CPU in a phone faster, but we sure as hell expect you to deliver updates. Most people have their entire lives on phones these days and last thing you want is using outdated OS to power it.

 

In fact this is one of THE strongest iPhone highlights. Basically a standard 5 years of MAJOR updates for OS, zero regional release bullshit with timely updates. This means if you buy phone now and it came with iOS 14, you're good till iOS 18/19. And every single update that's released, you get it THAT exact moment. It's just such insane contrast to crappy Android where Google releases update, then it takes many months for individual vendors to adopt it and then it takes up to several weeks for you to even get the actual update. Just look at basically any news article for some major Android version release. It'll be filled with people asking when it'll be out and a week later they begin asking why they are not getting it meanwhile others are saying they've had it for ages and then someone says he's from country X and he got it and then someone else from same country X says he still hasn't got it. This crap on Android phones pissed me off soooooooooooooo hard I can't describe it.

 

Zero of any of this bullshit on iPhones. Just the other day I spotted news about iOS 14.4.1 with security update for WebKit. Checked for updates and bam, it was there. Minutes later I had iOS 14.4.1 installed. On Android, this would mean days or even weeks long ordeal. Assuming I'd even be eligible for it coz my iPhone XR is 2 years and a half old. Which on most Android brands means you've already ran out of "luck"...

 

People keep saying how I must hate Android coz I keep saying how superior iPhones are in this regard, but the thing is, when some Android phone maker will offer 5 years of major software updates that are released in timely manner not spread across weeks and months and I'm gonna go with them and stick around. Closest thing to that is Samsung with its 3 years of updates and 1 year of security updates, but their garbage ass policy of giving us Europeans generally inferior Exynos chipsets makes me not want to consider them anyways. I'd go with Pixel for that, but if Google wasn't just so straight up creepy. So, there's that. iOS it is until someone gets their shit together in Android space.

[Keystone Nyan Cat]

Where can I buy it? There's no link in the videos description.

[KaitouX]

This phone would be perfect for me hardware-wise if it had a microSD slot(less important if there are high capacity options, but still nice to have) and more importantly if it was shorter, what's the reason to have a bigger screen if can't reach it most of the time after all(top of the screen at portrait, middle at landscape). Unfortunately for me there is no real upgrade from my current phone(Sony Xperia XZ1) that fits my requirements(headphone jack, frontal speakers, 256GB+, and 15cm or shorter.).

 

Also what does these companies have against rectangles? Basically everything in the Internet works better with a rectangular display, but a lot of phones keep coming with these rounded corner displays that doesn't seem to have any proper benefit, in some cases with some ridiculously big rounded corners that look really bad.

[bluehawk]

Call me ignorant, but I mean are there really a lot of mobile games that can take full advantage of a gaming phone like this? I pop in the play store occasionally to see what's there. But it all seems to be the usual shovelware paywall crap. There are some decent indie gems buried here and there but even ASUS' website for this has generic shooter stock photos, Asphalt Legends, and Arena of Valor. Is this what is supposed to represent the intense gaming you can expect on this? It's like when Verge built their PC and tested its specs on League of Legends. Just think there's a disparity there

[PineyCreek]

Interesting phone...probably about double what I want to pay for a flagship phone though >_>

[PineyCreek]

4 hours ago, RejZoR said:

No. No no no and no. No one really gives a damn or cares who device "belongs" to. Same tired stupid "muh closed ecosystem" bullshit that I'm so sick of listening to over and over and over like some god damn gospel. The fact is, Apple's shit literally just works and a lot of people just want shit that "just works" over constant fiddling with all the shit. Apple has fast phones, provides very long term software support and just never gives you sensation you're being forced to buy new phone just to have latest OS. Which with just 1 year of updates for ROG phones is just beyond pathetic. You pay stupid price just to get essentially zero support. It's why I'd and I'll never buy an ASUS phone until they address this idiocy. They make impressive hardware solutions, but their software department is just straight up shit. Which is odd given ho good is their BIOS support on motherboards. But I know that's not the same division as the one working on phones...

 

Literally ALL Android phone makers push you to buy new device to be up to date software wise and just the idea of it is stupid. It's a fucking software. No one expects you to magically make my CPU in a phone faster, but we sure as hell expect you to deliver updates. Most people have their entire lives on phones these days and last thing you want is using outdated OS to power it.

 

In fact this is one of THE strongest iPhone highlights. Basically a standard 5 years of MAJOR updates for OS, zero regional release bullshit with timely updates. This means if you buy phone now and it came with iOS 14, you're good till iOS 18/19. And every single update that's released, you get it THAT exact moment. It's just such insane contrast to crappy Android where Google releases update, then it takes many months for individual vendors to adopt it and then it takes up to several weeks for you to even get the actual update. Just look at basically any news article for some major Android version release. It'll be filled with people asking when it'll be out and a week later they begin asking why they are not getting it meanwhile others are saying they've had it for ages and then someone says he's from country X and he got it and then someone else from same country X says he still hasn't got it. This crap on Android phones pissed me off soooooooooooooo hard I can't describe it.

 

Zero of any of this bullshit on iPhones. Just the other day I spotted news about iOS 14.4.1 with security update for WebKit. Checked for updates and bam, it was there. Minutes later I had iOS 14.4.1 installed. On Android, this would mean days or even weeks long ordeal. Assuming I'd even be eligible for it coz my iPhone XR is 2 years and a half old. Which on most Android brands means you've already ran out of "luck"...

 

People keep saying how I must hate Android coz I keep saying how superior iPhones are in this regard, but the thing is, when some Android phone maker will offer 5 years of major software updates that are released in timely manner not spread across weeks and months and I'm gonna go with them and stick around. Closest thing to that is Samsung with its 3 years of updates and 1 year of security updates, but their garbage ass policy of giving us Europeans generally inferior Exynos chipsets makes me not want to consider them anyways. I'd go with Pixel for that, but if Google wasn't just so straight up creepy. So, there's that. iOS it is until someone gets their shit together in Android space.

I totally see your argument.  I'm not a fan of aspects of Apple as a company, but I can agree with your reasons.  On the Android side, I've heard that OnePlus is known for timely updates as well.

[BulletSponge]

44 minutes ago, bluehawk said:

Call me ignorant, but I mean are there really a lot of mobile games that can take full advantage of a gaming phone like this? I pop in the play store occasionally to see what's there. But it all seems to be the usual shovelware paywall crap. There are some decent indie gems buried here and there but even ASUS' website for this has generic shooter stock photos, Asphalt Legends, and Arena of Valor. Is this what is supposed to represent the intense gaming you can expect on this? It's like when Verge built their PC and tested its specs on League of Legends. Just think there's a disparity there

your exactly correct even the new iphones run the games on max/ultra settings then exactly how much better can the game give even though the phone is more powerful your exactly correct.

[dizmo]

The best thing about insane phones like this, is that eventually those innovations will trickle down into their Zenfone line. As much as I'd love to own one of these, they're just too large and frankly too heavy for something I'd want to daily (though I couldn't give a toss about the headphone jack).

 

Google really needs to up their game before they're left in the dust entirely. All they had was the camera, now that they're losing that battle it won't be long before they're lost.

 

11 hours ago, Granular said:

iOS devices don't belong to the user. Apple keeps updating them because what they're updating is their device that they're using to squeeze money out of their buyers.

Asus is (for whatever bizzare reason) updating devices that Google uses to squeeze money out of the buyers.

The worthwhile solution to this dillemma is charging for software support and/or making the device support package open source enough that other parties can do that.

 

If you do actually care about e-waste, like you suggested in the RTX 3060 video, why not highlight a meaningfully different phone maker by covering the Fairphone?

The Fairphone is a pretty niche market. Most people can make a device last 5ish years if they really want. You likely can't do that with the Fairphone, as it'll become slow and lethargic. Low end devices become ewaste far faster than high end ones.

5 hours ago, RejZoR said:

No. No no no and no. No one really gives a damn or cares who device "belongs" to. Same tired stupid "muh closed ecosystem" bullshit that I'm so sick of listening to over and over and over like some god damn gospel. The fact is, Apple's shit literally just works and a lot of people just want shit that "just works" over constant fiddling with all the shit. Apple has fast phones, provides very long term software support and just never gives you sensation you're being forced to buy new phone just to have latest OS. Which with just 1 year of updates for ROG phones is just beyond pathetic. You pay stupid price just to get essentially zero support. It's why I'd and I'll never buy an ASUS phone until they address this idiocy. They make impressive hardware solutions, but their software department is just straight up shit. Which is odd given ho good is their BIOS support on motherboards. But I know that's not the same division as the one working on phones...

 

Literally ALL Android phone makers push you to buy new device to be up to date software wise and just the idea of it is stupid. It's a fucking software. No one expects you to magically make my CPU in a phone faster, but we sure as hell expect you to deliver updates. Most people have their entire lives on phones these days and last thing you want is using outdated OS to power it.

 

In fact this is one of THE strongest iPhone highlights. Basically a standard 5 years of MAJOR updates for OS, zero regional release bullshit with timely updates. This means if you buy phone now and it came with iOS 14, you're good till iOS 18/19. And every single update that's released, you get it THAT exact moment. It's just such insane contrast to crappy Android where Google releases update, then it takes many months for individual vendors to adopt it and then it takes up to several weeks for you to even get the actual update. Just look at basically any news article for some major Android version release. It'll be filled with people asking when it'll be out and a week later they begin asking why they are not getting it meanwhile others are saying they've had it for ages and then someone says he's from country X and he got it and then someone else from same country X says he still hasn't got it. This crap on Android phones pissed me off soooooooooooooo hard I can't describe it.

 

Zero of any of this bullshit on iPhones. Just the other day I spotted news about iOS 14.4.1 with security update for WebKit. Checked for updates and bam, it was there. Minutes later I had iOS 14.4.1 installed. On Android, this would mean days or even weeks long ordeal. Assuming I'd even be eligible for it coz my iPhone XR is 2 years and a half old. Which on most Android brands means you've already ran out of "luck"...

 

People keep saying how I must hate Android coz I keep saying how superior iPhones are in this regard, but the thing is, when some Android phone maker will offer 5 years of major software updates that are released in timely manner not spread across weeks and months and I'm gonna go with them and stick around. Closest thing to that is Samsung with its 3 years of updates and 1 year of security updates, but their garbage ass policy of giving us Europeans generally inferior Exynos chipsets makes me not want to consider them anyways. I'd go with Pixel for that, but if Google wasn't just so straight up creepy. So, there's that. iOS it is until someone gets their shit together in Android space.

Haha, your first paragraph sort of reminds me of AMD...

 

I will make one point that you seem to have missed; a lot of the problem comes down to Qualcomm. IIRC they need to support the newer versions as well, and they don't. Google has been working on this over the years, and this latest iteration of Android has had the quickest and highest adoption rate yet. It'll take many years before we actually see if their changes are making a difference, as people that hold onto older devices aren't going to get those updates.

4 hours ago, KaitouX said:

This phone would be perfect for me hardware-wise if it had a microSD slot(less important if there are high capacity options, but still nice to have) and more importantly if it was shorter, what's the reason to have a bigger screen if can't reach it most of the time after all(top of the screen at portrait, middle at landscape). Unfortunately for me there is no real upgrade from my current phone(Sony Xperia XZ1) that fits my requirements(headphone jack, frontal speakers, 256GB+, and 15cm or shorter.).

 

Also what does these companies have against rectangles? Basically everything in the Internet works better with a rectangular display, but a lot of phones keep coming with these rounded corner displays that doesn't seem to have any proper benefit, in some cases with some ridiculously big rounded corners that look really bad.

You don't have to touch everything that's on the screen...a bigger screen is nice. Especially when gaming.

I don't think you'll really find what you're looking for aside from Apple's small iPhone, as phones are only going to get larger.

1 hour ago, bluehawk said:

Call me ignorant, but I mean are there really a lot of mobile games that can take full advantage of a gaming phone like this? I pop in the play store occasionally to see what's there. But it all seems to be the usual shovelware paywall crap. There are some decent indie gems buried here and there but even ASUS' website for this has generic shooter stock photos, Asphalt Legends, and Arena of Valor. Is this what is supposed to represent the intense gaming you can expect on this? It's like when Verge built their PC and tested its specs on League of Legends. Just think there's a disparity there

There aren't tons, but there are quite a few. In June some sites made lists, and there were 160+ titles that made use of a high refresh rate display.

It's kind of a chicken and egg scenario; the hardware needs to be there, and be plentiful, and then people will bother developing for it.

As for the type of game, most people are fine with the "paywall crap."

58 minutes ago, Dancam38 said:

your exactly correct even the new iphones run the games on max/ultra settings then exactly how much better can the game give even though the phone is more powerful your exactly correct.

Helps that iPhones run at 60hz, nothing higher.

[RejZoR]

@dizmo

People keep saying it's also Qualcomms fault. And I'm scratching my head how is that. They say they don't release drivers or whatever. I don't recall Android changing so dramatically between every major version to require entire rewrite of drivers. I'd understand shift from 32bit to 64bit was an issue, but I can hardly see how Android 8.1 is so different than Android 12 that Qualcomm needs to rewrite entire drivers and offer them to vendors. Or is everyone just so damn lazy they just throw some shit together that's entirely offered by 3rd parties and as soon as they don't offer prebaked packages, they just give up?

[HenrySalayne]

21 hours ago, GabenJr said:

it comes closer to perfection…

I assume there is still no IP rating or any seals on the ports or the sim tray?

[Sauron]

At this point the only "innovation" I'm looking for is for the industry to get rid of the hideous camera cutouts - the bezels were just fine and out of everything in a modern phone a gaping hole in the screen is the only thing that is likely to impact my experience with it. They can lose their minds trying to solve a problem that never existed by having the camera under the screen if they want, I don't care: just get rid of the hole.

 

So in this sense I consider this a success  

[Granular]

17 hours ago, RejZoR said:

No one really gives a damn or cares who device "belongs" to.

I care.
Developers wanting to run their own software on their own devices without paying a subscription fee to Apple for the privilege care.

People unable to escape Apple's censorship on behalf of governments care. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_by_Apple#Censorship_by_country

If Linus' rant about not being able to update AirPod firmware from non-Apple devices is any indication, he cares as well.

Oh, yeah and Fortnite devs seem to care too. I know it's not cool to like Fortnite, but iOS software distribution is a monopoly and monpolies are bad, mmkay.

[KaitouX]

10 hours ago, dizmo said:

You don't have to touch everything that's on the screen...a bigger screen is nice. Especially when gaming.

I don't think you'll really find what you're looking for aside from Apple's small iPhone, as phones are only going to get larger.

The games I play on my phone require to touch the middle of the screen all the time, as they're mostly rhythm games which use the Guitar Hero/Rock Band style lanes. Also because the content I watch on my phone is 16:9 so the taller screens from modern phones don't help there and applications that I use often have the menu on top or bottom of the screen which becomes annoying to use when I need to change the way I hold the phone all the time. So for me a bigger screen isn't that nice when it comes to usability(small hand issues).

The iPhone size is good but it doesn't fit half of the requirements I have same goes for others similar like the S21. My biggest hope is that Sony will release a shorter Xperia, similar to the "Compact" versions they used to release, or maybe a "mini" gaming phone from Asus/Xiaomi. But yeah it seems like I'm going to keep my XZ1 for quite some time.

 

[Radium_Angel]

18 hours ago, RejZoR said:

No one really gives a damn or cares who device "belongs" to

I do. Try getting your Apple device repaired anywhere (in or out of warranty) but an "authorized" repair shop.

I seem to recall Linus himself having an issue with a broken screen on a fresh expensive iMac that he was willing to pay to get fixed, and Apple's response was basically "screw you, buy a new system"

Fuck apple and everything they stand for.

[dizmo]

Just now, KaitouX said:

The games I play on my phone require to touch the middle of the screen all the time, as they're mostly rhythm games which use the Guitar Hero/Rock Band style lanes. Also because the content I watch on my phone is 16:9 so the taller screens from modern phones don't help there and applications that I use often have the menu on top or bottom of the screen which becomes annoying to use when I need to change the way I hold the phone all the time. So for me a bigger screen isn't that nice when it comes to usability(small hand issues).

The iPhone size is good but it doesn't fit half of the requirements I have same goes for others similar like the S21. My biggest hope is that Sony will release a shorter Xperia, similar to the "Compact" versions they used to release, or maybe a "mini" gaming phone from Asus/Xiaomi. But yeah it seems like I'm going to keep my XZ1 for quite some time.

 

Hate to break it to you but they didn't design it just for you

I don't think the majority has that problem.

I also don't think it has much to do with small hands as Asian countries adopted large phones long before most nations.

[RejZoR]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

I do. Try getting your Apple device repaired anywhere (in or out of warranty) but an "authorized" repair shop.

I seem to recall Linus himself having an issue with a broken screen on a fresh expensive iMac that he was willing to pay to get fixed, and Apple's response was basically "screw you, buy a new system"

Fuck apple and everything they stand for.

And use what? This broken, half ass supported OS called Android? On 1000+ € devices? Lmao?

[dizmo]

12 hours ago, RejZoR said:

@dizmo

People keep saying it's also Qualcomms fault. And I'm scratching my head how is that. They say they don't release drivers or whatever. I don't recall Android changing so dramatically between every major version to require entire rewrite of drivers. I'd understand shift from 32bit to 64bit was an issue, but I can hardly see how Android 8.1 is so different than Android 12 that Qualcomm needs to rewrite entire drivers and offer them to vendors. Or is everyone just so damn lazy they just throw some shit together that's entirely offered by 3rd parties and as soon as they don't offer prebaked packages, they just give up?

If people keep saying it, there must be something to it I'm not going to pretend to be an engineer, so I'm not going to question it.

[RejZoR]

48 minutes ago, dizmo said:

If people keep saying it, there must be something to it I'm not going to pretend to be an engineer, so I'm not going to question it.

People keep saying bunch of things to excuse pathetic general Android support. Literally every time I speak how garbage experience I had with every single Android device people keep coming up with most ridiculous, borderline insane excuses to defend that shit. And then they have the audacity to call me "Apple fanboy" for preferring the 5 years of timely updates and not making a big fuss about stupid "closed ecosystem". I mean, what good is open ecosystem when you're stuck on outdated OS with zero security updates and only alternative to that are at most alpha version home brewed ROM's on XDA with even less support and QA. It's pointless.

[Blademaster91]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

And use what? This broken, half ass supported OS called Android? On 1000+ € devices? Lmao?

I wouldn't buy a $1000 phone myself, a $300-500 phone nowadays does everything I need a phone to do, and I'm not interested in a "gaming" phone. But this phone has some features I really like, such as a headphone jack, a camera that doesn't have a hole punch or notch on the screen, excellent cameras, and a 6000mah battery so the phone would last for days if it isn't being used for gaming.

 

But the thing is most people don't care about updates, at least in North America you can easily get a phone on sale and use it for 2 years then trade it in for the newest one.

And while you may not care about owning your phone, a lot of people do care about not having a company tell the device owner what software they can or can't use, or being forced to go to the first party store because the display,battery and camera are serialized to the device so you have to buy a warranty or else you're paying the cost of a new phone.

I think people should care about right to repair because no company is your friend, and if you want a device to last 5 years you shouldn't be buying locked down products.

[RejZoR]

17 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

I wouldn't buy a $1000 phone myself, a $300-500 phone nowadays does everything I need a phone to do, and I'm not interested in a "gaming" phone. But this phone has some features I really like, such as a headphone jack, a camera that doesn't have a hole punch or notch on the screen, excellent cameras, and a 6000mah battery so the phone would last for days if it isn't being used for gaming.

 

But the thing is most people don't care about updates, at least in North America you can easily get a phone on sale and use it for 2 years then trade it in for the newest one.

And while you may not care about owning your phone, a lot of people do care about not having a company tell the device owner what software they can or can't use, or being forced to go to the first party store because the display,battery and camera are serialized to the device so you have to buy a warranty or else you're paying the cost of a new phone.

I think people should care about right to repair because no company is your friend, and if you want a device to last 5 years you shouldn't be buying locked down products.

People don't care about any aspect of the phone coz they flip them like underwear yet they get all anal about repairs. Ooookay. I haven't repaired a single phone in my life. They were either totally worn out beyond any point of repairing or they were just fine. Software on the other hand, literally every single Android phone I've owned in last 10 years only got single major OS update. SINGLE. On iPhone I've had 2. And will get 2-3 more. I've expressed my "give no fucks" about ROM's as I've flashed them all and they were all garbage. Even LineageOS experience is "meh" because all I got was bunch of nightlies and non functional banking apps because of unlocked bootloader (not even rooted). Just few days ago I fired up some old Android phone just to see if things have changed in last 2 years and I could run all the same apps I have on iPhone and I had on Android before it. Only real difference was the browser coz of Apple's policy of Safari engine. And that's literally THE ONLY mild annoyance I'm willing to forgive for all the other benefits. I migrated between iOS and Android in like an hour as I don't use Google's or Apple's services at all. So much for everyone whining about closed ecosystem. Also the same old tired "I need sideloading coz I need paid apps, but for free". Sideloading apps is just calling for shit, coz I've been on "alternate" app stores and they are even worse than Google's own and even that one is pretty frigging bad when you go outside of big name apps. Most of stuff on alt app stores is just straight up malware pretending to be a big name app. Sorry, but as someone who has been on both sides, I just don't get all the pretty bad arguments. Yet same people arguing all these "benefits" never ever say "yeah, I want to demand more updates from vendors". It's just brief mention or agreement through teeth and that's it. Back we go to defending of Android with same tired arguments.