Asus sends the ROG Phone II to Android developers

Asus' ROG Phone II could be considered a particularly successful second album. The OEM stepped its specs up to the Snapdragon 855+ SoC and as much as 12GB of RAM this year. Furthermore, it has gotten some approval from reviewers, which has most recently manifested in the ability to grab no less than 3 different gongs as part of MKBHD's Smartphone Awards of 2019.

However, there are areas in which this second-gen gaming phone could be better, and Android development is one of them. The choice of custom ROMs, themes and so on are a bit thin on the ground at present; this may be due to the highly-adapted version of the OS it currently runs, which is for example required to support an ecosystem of performance-enhancing accessories.

However, it appears that Asus is now prepared to brook alternatives to this experience for those who wish to modify their ROG Phone II's behavior. To this end, it has sent units of this phone to selected developers. The company has also been as generous with its ZenFone 6 in the past.

Hopefully, this new collaboration between Asus and the wider modding community will result in a wider selection of custom ROMs for this expansive mobile-gaming device. Better yet, thanks to its Android 10 beta, the new builds may also be based on this latest version of its software.

Buy ROG Phone II now on Amazon