First time posting here. After getting the OnePlus 7T Pro deal posted by brisbanecomputerfix yesterday, I had a look at other flagship phones to find this variant at this price. Might be a good deal for those missing out on OnePlus 7T Pro, great specs too.
Note: The landing page will show the Black 12GB/528GB variant at $1177.81, you need to choose the other colour option and it should show 8GB/128GB variant and the right price.
Passable, but not great. Definitely not on the level of Pixel4/S10/iPhone11(pro) but still reasonable, and if you're coming from an older phone it should be an upgrade. Slightly worse than the oneplus 7 variants.
Just a heads up this chinese model doesn't have band 28, so if you're on Telstra or Optus your cellular reception won't be as good as most other phones, especially in regional areas.
So is there any chance of getting any OS/Security updates for this model in Australia via OTA or otherwise?
Going by Cmaz's comment, this model is flashed with the global ROM and as far as I understand those come with the Google play store and get the standard OTA phone updates.
The stuff you're missing out on by getting the CN hardware instead of global is less RAM, less storage, metal+glass back instead of just glass, band support and it doesn't include any accessories in the box. Easy way to tell them apart is the global says "republic of gamers" on the back whereas the CN says "tencent games", although some sellers sell the CN version using the generic global pictures which is pretty misleading.
@BenR31415: Sorry for late reply. Missed the comment. Once you flash you won't get ota. It's manually update only. I am on beta 6 android 10 and it has december security patch.
@Cmaz: Thanks for the correction! I was only going off what I've read primarily for xiaomi devices, and assuming wrong that it applied in this case as well.
Passable? are you an idiot? The Iphone cannot even use emulators aka you cannot play PlayStation 1 or game-boy so its worthless , also this has Air Triggers so you don't block the scren
Average, pretty average camera. In call volume is not good either, ok in quite environment. Everything else is awesome. I loved the battery, 120hz+.5x animation scale.
Thanks 👍🏼
3G bands : HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands : LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 28(700), 29(700), 32(1500), 34(2000), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 46
Are you sure about that? Every resource I've read on the topic shows that the tencent edition (i.e. with 8GB RAM, says tencent games on the back like in this listing) is missing band 28.
I would buy this phone in a heartbeat at this price if it's a guarantee that it supports band 28, but it's just not worth it to me to get it if it doesn't.
EDIT: Since people care to downvote, here's where i've got my information from: https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/AU/asus-rog-pho…
upvoted. what will it mean for my optus sim if the phone doesn't have 28
I've been using the Tencent version (8GB/128GB) of this phone since October last year. I can confirm that when flashed with the global ROM that Band 28 is enabled on Sim 2. The grey importers will flash the global ROM before shipping the phone but don't update the fingerprint so the phone still identifies as a Chinese instead of global variant and you can't get OTA updates. Even after changing the fingerprint (see guides on XDA) you still won't get OTA updates automatically, but have to manually download them to the root directory and reboot the phone before they're detected. It's a minor annoyance but other than that this is an excellent phone.
I can confirm sim2 has band 28.
Hey man. My order's stuck at waiting warehouse shipment. Been a week.
How did you go with getting you phone?
I have my ROG phone 2 8gb ram version. the phone is an absolute beast. kept the headphones jack, has 2 charging ports, so much battery life, 120hz display and will make you a morning coffee. best phone to get right now. only thing to note if you buy it is, its a bit heavy and slippery in the pocket- get yourself a case asap
oh it accepts every sim card, from companies like boost, amaysim etc, however there seems to be some weird playstore login compatibilities, but if U connect on wifi and then go back to mobile data, problem solved
I'm also currently speaking to you from a rural area called Jurien bay and I have perfect 4G reception on boost mobile (Telstra mvno)
Is gst included in that $680 already?
No GST, they don't add GST to their price.
Thanks mate.
I signed up just to comment on this post. :)
I have had this phone since september and have had no issues except one, for the past few months every now and then my data signal drops out with my optus sim, however I never lose reception.
I am happy to say I updated the phone by downloading the latest update from Asus and have had no issues since.
I HIGHLY recommend this phone, some of the best features are the super smooth 120HZ screen and the squeeze function of the phone which I have setup to turn on my flashlight. Oh and cant forget the massive battery which can get me two days or close to 14 hours screen on time.
DISCLAIMER
Phone will not auto update via android settings, you need to download the updates from the asus website, simply google asus rog 2 phone update, only use the asus website to prevent bricking etc, also only use the right software there are both CN and WW software on the website so pick the right version spec that can be found in about phone (settings).
Hope you all enjoy!
Nice man I have been waiting for an update for mine too haha, this explains a lot. I am a fan boy of this beast machine too 👍
Haha thank god I wasnt the only one lol, enjoy mate!
I know everyone says it's not water proof (because it's definitely not rated as such) but have you had any run ins with the rain or slight water damage that the phone has survived?
I personally haven't, but I've made sure to keep it in dry areas because of the lack of waterproofing. I have had the screen and its edges had a bit of rain splatter on it and it's had no effect. YouTube waterproofing experiments may answer the question properly tho.
Yeh man ive had water spill on the front no issue at all, the back vent would be an issue tho if water got in!
Very good phone.
Definitely need to change the fingerprint to get updates to work.
If you unlock the bootloader things like Google pay will stop working.
You need to root the phone with an earlier version, 1906 from memory then you need to manually update using the magisk method to maintain root, Google is your friend.
Not sure if android 10 beta can work with root, maybe someone else can answer if they updated magisk over OTA from 9 to 10?
Phone is a beast, dual sim, 120hz, it doesn't have the 30w charge though so that's misleading in the website.
Any questions just ask;
Rog phone 2 owner since release
Australia
Tested most au and NZ Sims.
P.s I also use gcam more (uni_cam version) and works just like Google cam.
I just changed my Tencent edition from CN to WW (Global) all the way to the fingerprint. I'm now on 1910, have rerooted and relocked the bootloader. I've also installed Asus uodater app. Google pay and and various apps now play much nicer. Do you happen to know what prereqs there are to getting the ota updates? Does it have to be a 1906 flash and then the auto updates start working ?
Did you have to do anything extra to get Google pay to work? I've changed mine to WW all the way to fingerprint but still get an error message when trying to add a card on Google pay.
Why is shipping more to Perth compared to Sydney?? We are closer to HK!!!
Shipping cost killed the deal for me sadly. Saved $730
I had this phone for about 3 months now.
Pros
-120hz screen is just amazing, so smooth and large
-Flat-screen is easy to find a decent tempered glass screen protector
-Games and apps are super fast
-Variety of gaming options like overclocking, network locking, etc
-3.5mm headphone jack
-The in-screen fingerprint sensor works fine
-Near-stock Android UI
-Battery lasts a long time
Cons
-Very heavy, sometimes hard to hold for a long period of time
-No waterproofing, so I need to be careful around water
-No wireless charging
-The camera is only average, but not too bad
Do we slap on 10% GST on top of this?
No GST
Considering that the Oneplus 7t pro https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/517229 deal looked like a price error and was refunded as being 'out of stock', I am thinking this would meet a similar fate
No, this has been regular price for a while now on their website.
I bought the OP7pro about 3 months ago for ~$800 otherwise I'd be jumping on this. Looks like the phone that has everything.
7 pro is different, this phone is a big beast.
Yeah, was just meaning that if I hadn't gotten that phone I would definitely get this one now.
128GB is pretty low considering no sd slot.
I'd jump on a 256GB, but they don't have it
Does the phone have USB OTG ?
That might alleviate the low storage problem ?
noob question, how does this compare to the 1 listed in JB's? I know the latter is 12/512gb version, apart from that? is there anything so called Australian version thingy? All i know is JB's wayyy more expensive, yet with only 1yr warranty (from the details written there).
quick answer is nothing! same specs, same battery, same screen. The only difference is the storage and ram. The JB one has the accessories which made it so much expensive. If you are a heavy gamer, i suggest getting the accessories.
12/512gb version also has a matt finish on the back, whereas this version has glossy.
Given the price difference, I would go with this version.
Theres a vid somewhere where the 8gb ram version doesnt use the same cooling system. It shouldnt affect too much in terms of performance though if theres any. In terms of what you get out of the box, u get more with 12gb ram, sleek case, fan and some more. 8gb ram just the squarish box whereas the 12gb version you get the sick pyramid shape packaging.But theres another review if you get the strix (global version of tencent) version you you get the same box as the 12hb ram(if it matters to you).
forgot to mention, if this is the Tencent/China version, this doesn't come with a 30w fast charger, aero cooler and aero case.
I bought mine when i was in the Philippines which is the STRIX version. 8gb/128gb version. It comes in a cool pyramid like box as well, not that it matters =)
https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_rog_phone_ii_gets_new_strix_an…
It's at 703AUD now
How is the camera on these?