Are you one of the mobile phone users who love to play video games when feeling bored? Although many people play video games on their smartphones, not many companies consider it a mainstream rend. Asus is one of a few companies that design high-end smartphones specifically for gaming. A lot of premium phones are advertised as gaming phones because of their high-powered processor, display design, and they do run games relatively well. However, the Asus ROG phone series is the best when it comes to gaming phone.

 

The ROG phone and ROG phone 2 were great but the company didn't focus too much on the design before, but what we have now is a relatively much better-designed version of the gamer aesthetic and slick looking phone. The front face is plain black, with two stereo speakers above and below the display, but there is also a 3.5mm audio jack. The front camera is in one corner of the screen which means you get a seamless user experience while playing video games or watching videos on the phone.

 

The rear side of the phone has a large centered ROG logo that lights up with different colors when Xcode is activated. A small transparent panel shows off the phone's elaborate cooling system and tiny vent to make it cool while playing games. Although, there is only one drawback of having such a glossy background. The phone slides around on most surfaces and leaves fingerprint marks on the cover. The company has used corning Gorilla Glass 6 on the front and Gorilla Glass 3 on the rear side.

 

The phone is slightly heavy and not for everyone. The main reason for its weight is due to the 6,000mAh battery and cooling system. This isn't a phone for you if you prefer slim sleek designs. Asus has gone with a 6.59-inch 1080x2340 screen, and its biggest advantage is an unprecedented 144Hz refresh rate. You can buy the ROG Phone 3 starting in early August with either 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for Rs. 49,999, or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for Rs. 57,999. In other countries, Asus will offer a staggering 16GB / 512GB option as well.

 

ROG phone 3 features a 64-megapixel primary camera with a Sony sensor and f/1.8 aperture. The second camera is a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle one, while the third one is a 5-megapixel macro camera. The front camera features a 24-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera. The ROG Phone 3 isn't going to be an option for everyone, but if gaming is a huge passion, and if you don't mind a huge phone, you'll definitely like this one. Our full review is coming up soon, so do stay tuned.

The ASUS ZenFone AR has been confirmed at the CES 2017 in Las Vegas and it's a beast in every sense of the term. The ZenFone AR is made with virtual reality and augmented reality in mind; therefore it has built-in support for Google Tango & DayDream as expected. Apart from the insane 8 gigs of RAM, the smartphone is powered by multiple other absolute premium-end hardware specs as well.

A customized Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC with vapour cooling system for AR and VR functionalities

5.7-inch Super AMOLED QHD (1440x2560 pixels) edge-to-edge display with a screen to body ratio of 79%

8GB/6GB RAM

23-megapixel Sony IMX318 camera with TriTech+ autofocus system, dual-PDAF, second-gen Laser Focus, 4-axis OIS, 3-axis EIS, continuous-focus and 4K video recording

8-megapixel front shooter with f/2.0 aperture and an 85-degree wide angle lens

128GB/256GB of internal storage with hybrid nano SIM/micro-SD card slot

3300mAh battery

USB Type-C, Bluetooth v4.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11ac

Exclusive Asus ZenUI VR 360 degree app support on PhotoCollage, Gallery, and ZenCircle applications

Everything about the Asus ZenFone AR is premium and up to date, except may be the SD 821 chipset. Make no mistake, it is still the most powerful Qualcomm chip till date, but given that the Snapdragon 835 has already been announced and it will be better than the SD 821 in both power-efficiency and performance, Asus may have missed a trick there.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

ASUS has just started to roll out Android Marshmallow updates to the ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE500KL) and this package addresses something that many users had been complaining about since launch. The ZenFone 2 Laser, in addition to all other ZenFones in the series, comes preloaded with plenty of apps that some users may find annoying. If you are not a fan of the preloaded bloatware either, you will be happy to know that this latest update will not only upgrade your phone to Android M, but will also remove most of those applications by default.

Here is a list of all the pre-installed applications which will no longer be a part of your ZenFone 2 Laser, once it has been upgraded to Android 6.0 with Build number 13.10.6.16_M3.6.44.

ASUS Backup

ASUS Calendar

ASUS Email

ASUS Messenger

Data transfer

Dr. Eye

Dr. Safety

EZ Ding

Google+

Google Settings

iReader

Mirror

Omlet

Party Link

PC Link

Photo Frame

Puffin Browser

Remote Link

TripAdvisor

What's Next

Yahoo Shopping

Zino

There will also be a few new apps installed on your ZE500KL once you perform the upgrade, but thankfully, the list is not nearly as long as the list above. Dr. Booster, Google calendar and Google Messenger are the only three new applications that you will find on your phone post upgrade. If the package has already arrived on your smartphone, here are a few things that we recommend for you to keep in mind before you go through with the download and installation.

Backup your data and move all media files to your micro-SD card.

Move all applications to your internal storage because after this update, your ZenFone 2 Laser will lose support for APP2SD.

Stay signed into your Google and ASUS accounts in order to be able to use the Multi-user feature on your smartphone.

Once you are done, let us know if you really like the bloatware free experience or would you have preferred it if the Taiwanese company left a few of the removed apps on board?

Author: Saikat Kar (Tech-journalist and enthusiast)