OPCHi OPC!As many people as there are there will be a difference of opinion. I've read your post with great interest as I am also coming from Samsung world and before that from Apple world. And my experience is quite different. I need to emphasize that I don't have the Note 10+, but I have tested it extensively and I didn't like it. For me the best was Note 9, a phone that had it all, just lacks in the latest CPU and GPU.
Also I am a passionate photographer and audiophile.
I will follow your numbering.
1. Absolutely agree. I would put the power button above the volume buttons like Samsung has. Too many accidental pressures.
2. I play only Asphalt 9 and my triggers work perfectly. Sensitivity is set to 3. Many PUBG players complain on the right trigger. But in Asphalt 9 they work perfectly. At least on my phone as it looks like there might be a hardware. issue. If I play long time In switch between touching screen and triggers to relax my muscles. No issues. At least not in my phone.
3. Completely disagree from the point of view of the passionate Nikon photographer. Samsung photos are stunning on the first sight. But colours are overprocessed, bumped up, way too artificial and at least on my phone sharpness was way lower than on Rog 2. I particularly like the 48 mpx mode because of sharpness. Everything else can be tweaked. You can see some of my pictures shared here. They are intentionally out of camera and if processed a little only in the Asus app. But of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder so completely subjective. My 2nd most favourite mode is portrait, because of the bokeh management and sharpness in the center.
4. Agree. It would be nice to have zoom in the 48 mpx ⁴mode, but without switching to 12 mpx mode.
5. Disagree, but the again I don't play PUBG. I was testing extensively different resolutions on Note and at the end my screen was set to one level higher of Full HD. I couldn't see the benefit of max resolution and it was reducing battery life. On a screen this size (6,5") I see this crazy resolution as marketing gimmick with no real advantage. Except with Oculus AR headset where resolution would be better even higher. I see the Rog 2 resolution adequate. I also prefer more natural colours of Rog 2 or iPhone and find Samsung colours to much bumped up and saturated. But I love the brightness of Samsung which blows anything else out.
6) I don't have this problem and 3.5 mm jack on Aeroactive cooler works perfectly. But again I don't play PUBG. A lot of these problems (sound, triggers, lag,...) seem to be related with PUBG and COD.
7. Speakers are just perfect for me. They are front facing and that changes everything. If you are into hifi you know that direction of the speakers counts a lot. Rog 2 is just perfect.
I don't like Note 10 particularly because it's all screen. Anyway I hold it parts of my fingers or palm cover edges of the screen. The only way to see the full picture is to put the phone on the table. Playing in landscape mode there is always something covered. And then there is a camera hole. I see this as form over function. I consider Note 9 as the best Samsung ever and I see Rog 2 as the best of all in this department. Small bezels, no hole, natural, accurate colours. Only brightness could be better on both ends, high and low.
The only portable device with better sound that I have heard is Pono music player that has a balanced audio out. I didn't hear LG which is supposed to be the best phone for audiophiles. But Pono does nothing else and is bulky. Rog 2 does great sound (for a phone) and everything else. If you find it too loud or annoying, just set the volume to minimum.
It would be nice that the phone was waterproof, but Asus said clearly that it's not, so I act accordingly. Besides it's not really that sensitive. I do a lot of road cycling and the phone stays in the pocket on the back of my jersey. The jersey is soaked in sweat and the phone is just fine. Much more important is that I don't have to worry about battery life during long cycling hours.
8. Fully agree. Vibration in Asphalt is annoying. But you can turn it off in game settings and I did it after the first run (inside the app not Armoury Crate).
So that's it. Just a different view on same products. One thing which I miss a lot is the S-pen. Now I use Bamboo pen but it's bulky and not stored in the phone. We just can't have everything.
View post
Yes, again the ROG Phone 2 is a beast! taking off the the ones you agree let's talk about the issues you don't
2) The Triggers (I can replicate the issues now) it's on COD and PUBG and probably other games, I'll try to make a video of it, So If I'm using a 3rd party case which add a little but more surface, the issue is gone, I believe because it sort of dissipate the force through the entire phone when I hold it with on landscape (Say you're playing and you use your left hand to do something, at that time the trigger, triggers!) So then I try without any case and the issue is back, by making a bit of force on the back of the phone. Now If I add the case that comes with the phone (it has holes, so when I press the back of the phone with the middle finger then it triggers), aeroactive cooler and headphones through phone's port, a lot of more weight, If I don't hold the phone properly (2 hands) the triggers trigger when I do any kind of force on the back. Actually sometimes I touch the backside of the left top corner (landscape mode) and it triggers both (left -right) at the same time. I believe that putting the headset on the phone's 3.5mm jack worse the situation because it is long plug and so the phone rest on it and my right hand. So basically this happens when I hold the phone with 1 hand.
3) The Camera, my passion is wildlife & landscape photography (@pchecoandres on IG) it's not my job, just a hobby, I work as a field engineer in power plants. I use a Nikon D850 and well everything else that it takes for good photography, WHICH is why I dont care so much now about phone's cameras actually, on my IG profile 1 year ago, all those pictures were taken with samsung's camera but since I started with pro cameras I've stopped using it.
But don't get me wrong OPC, I haven't tried the ASUS camera fully, not at all, however the blue hue that comes out of the 48mp camera it's too bad, but it's I believe a software issue, it doesn't happen all the time. Look at the difference.. the 1st one it's the 12mp and it's closer to reality the other one, it's not with the 48mp, the results with people are even worse, but I didn't want to put my girlfriend online.
With such issues, it's very unreliable plus in addition you have to go to settings to switch to 12mp, since there's not a quick button change.
So the camera might be great if you have time to take a picture, but if you just want to picture the moments, not good. specially if it's something moving or spontaneous. Again subjective.
5) Resolution, yeah it's subjective, but I can tell on whatsapp, games pretty much everything else, the resolution/sharpeness of the display si quite there. for my eyes is a lot nicer to see the note10+ phone's screen and colors than the ROGs, actually on my ROG Phone 2 I think the display is too saturated, I have Customized with -1 on temperature and -2/-1 on saturation and it's perfect for me.
7) Speakers, yeah you enjoy them, that's great, for me it makes the phone too large and I don't use them so much. when i do for music while doing something else, I could pretty much use a bose small speaker or any phone. that's I mean, I'm sure the speakers are a beast but not a reason for me to buy it.
Now for the waterproof effect, coming from Samsung I believe for 4 years they are all waterproof, I got use to it, so now whether I take the phone to the handwash/toilet I've never cared about water on the phone, now it happened to me that I had teh rog next to the sink, I was brushing my teeth and there was some water next to the phone, then I look at the speaker and it sort of "woooow". So I just try not to take it there. You sort of create habits based on what you consider "normal" and having phones waterproof was a normal thing. Now the question is... Have ASUS tested the phone's thermal without the vent on the back? is it really that important or worth it? at the end of the day it's a hole in your phone.
I must admit I run games at full framerate and graphics and thermals are great with the fan.
--------------------------
So OPC, I think because I also bought the phone a bit too late (it's not easy to buy it though, I had to buy from a store in Slovenia, I believe they have it from Italy) if you're not in the US, ASUS only ship to some EU Countries.
The tech/phone industry is running very fast, now the S20+ Ultra has pretty much all spec boosted and so other phones will and it's all about the details!.
Let me tell you and ASUS the only thing that has made my "phone gaming" world so different from the others besides just hardware (because companies will catch up with hardware eventually, S20+ has an 865 for example) It's being able to charge the phone from cooler.
That's for me SUPER and even better if I could also plug the headset but it doesn't work for me WHILE GAMING, it works on spotify or anything else! which is good! there might be a solution.
That takes me to the last point to talk about. the phone's target, I understand you think the phone is perfect, so I believe you like most of it but you also mention you don't play PUBG/COD so much and maybe other games, so I bought the phone for gaming man. and pretty much everything in the phone is targeted for gaming. the chinese version of the phone is even sponsored by Tencent, so they should make at least that game perfect with the phone, work together, I don't know.
Lastly I am complaining because it's an expensive phone, but i'm not raging over this phone at all, I want ASUS to address the issues and/or improve the phone for ROG Phone 3, now the triggers are not a deal breaker (unrealiable), nor the 120hz because next gen all of them will have 90-120hz, the battery is awesome but when you run extreme framerates and graphics, you'll end up charging the phone while playing like any other phone, Camera is also not so important to me now and even less after this bueish experience.
So right now, the phone has the best specs but I wonder what it would be like by the time ROG3 comes out.
Let's see, thanks for taking the time to read the post! I hope we continue discussing ?
Hi Railius!
It looks like we have a lot in common. I use Nikon Df and D500. My first "real" Nikon was D2xs. I fell in love and still adore that camera, although in those days high ISO was just not possible. I am a passionate hobbyist as well but I do get occasional assignments in sport photography, triathlon in particular.
This is all very strange as the issue with 48mpx camera I just don't have. Actually I was quite positively surprised by this mode. As well as my screen by DEFAULT is much less saturated than Samsung's. When I got Rog 2, I have put 2 phones side by side and tried to find best settings on Rog 2. Yes if you select customized option and put saturation to extreme it's terrible. I find it best for me in the cinematic mode with warmth set to max. Also I tried to replicate the situation with triggers in Asphalt 9. I use the Asus aero case with a lot of holes and the AirCooller. I was squizing the phone all over the back side, wherever there was an open area, upper left corner included and nothing happened. Triggers work as they should. At least on Asphalt. My sensitivity is +3. Maybe one day I will try other games as well.
Can it be that 2 pieces of the same item are that much appart? Or our eyes are just that different. Although I clearly see that the WB in your 2nd photo is completely wrong. It just doesn't happen on my phone.
By the way I am in Croatia, but my phone comes from US. Could it be that US is the first class market and only best examples are shipped there?
Waterproof is absolutely a bonus but there are also downsides. I was taking my Note phone to the beach regularly. Once it was in a dry bag with my wallet and the car key. I took it with me swimming because there was nobody to watch over on a crowded public beach. So the bag leaked. I was in the sea for half an hour. When I saw what happened I rinsed everything with fresh water. Phone was running perfectly, but 3.5 mm jack corroded inside and after I couldn't here one channel. So you have to be careful anyway. But Rog is not that sensitive. I take it bathroom etc. There are occasional droplets of water on it but the moisture from my sweat while cycling is much worse. So far nothing happened. I had the same experience with my old iPhones 4 to 6. Phones are not that sensitive. Don't worry that much.
Cheers!
48mpx photo
It looks like we have a lot in common. I use Nikon Df and D500. My first "real" Nikon was D2xs. I fell in love and still adore that camera, although in those days high ISO was just not possible. I am a passionate hobbyist as well but I do get occasional assignments in sport photography, triathlon in particular.
This is all very strange as the issue with 48mpx camera I just don't have. Actually I was quite positively surprised by this mode. As well as my screen by DEFAULT is much less saturated than Samsung's. When I got Rog 2, I have put 2 phones side by side and tried to find best settings on Rog 2. Yes if you select customized option and put saturation to extreme it's terrible. I find it best for me in the cinematic mode with warmth set to max. Also I tried to replicate the situation with triggers in Asphalt 9. I use the Asus aero case with a lot of holes and the AirCooller. I was squizing the phone all over the back side, wherever there was an open area, upper left corner included and nothing happened. Triggers work as they should. At least on Asphalt. My sensitivity is +3. Maybe one day I will try other games as well.
Can it be that 2 pieces of the same item are that much appart? Or our eyes are just that different. Although I clearly see that the WB in your 2nd photo is completely wrong. It just doesn't happen on my phone.
By the way I am in Croatia, but my phone comes from US. Could it be that US is the first class market and only best examples are shipped there?
Waterproof is absolutely a bonus but there are also downsides. I was taking my Note phone to the beach regularly. Once it was in a dry bag with my wallet and the car key. I took it with me swimming because there was nobody to watch over on a crowded public beach. So the bag leaked. I was in the sea for half an hour. When I saw what happened I rinsed everything with fresh water. Phone was running perfectly, but 3.5 mm jack corroded inside and after I couldn't here one channel. So you have to be careful anyway. But Rog is not that sensitive. I take it bathroom etc. There are occasional droplets of water on it but the moisture from my sweat while cycling is much worse. So far nothing happened. I had the same experience with my old iPhones 4 to 6. Phones are not that sensitive. Don't worry that much.
Cheers!
48mpx photo
