Asus’ latest laptop and gaming phone draw Razer comparisons

New ZenBook Pro has a second screen where the touchpad usually sits

Smartphones

Andrew Barclay

Published: 7:00pm, 5 Jun, 2018

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This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Asus announced a slew of products this week, including a spec-heavy gaming smartphone and a laptop with two screens -- drawing comparisons with Razer’s creations.

Asus’ latest gaming phone has drawn comparisons to competitor Razer. (Picture: ASUS)

Razer set the bar for gaming smartphones when it released a phone with a high refresh rate display in November last year. The new Asus ROG phone also features a default 90Hz screen -- and comes with a number of other impressive specs.

First impressions of the Razer Phone

They include Qualcomm’s fastest ever mobile chip -- the 2.96GHz Snapdragon 845 that offers nearly 200MHz more performance than the regular model -- as well as up to a massive 512GB of inbuilt storage.

Asus also claims to have solved a pet peeve for Fortnite and PUBG players: In-screen control buttons that take up valuable screen space. The solution? The phone sports what’s called “AirTriggers” -- virtual buttons that sit on the sides of the handset. Unlike the physical shoulder buttons you find on regular phones, Asus says the AirTriggers can react to the light touch of a finger.

The device also has an impressive range of accessories, including a dock that can wirelessly stream games to a connected TV -- and a pair of GameVice controllers that add joysticks and buttons to the two sides of the phone, reminiscent of the Nintendo Switch.

Then there’s the ZenBook Pro. Housing a 5.5-inch touchscreen where the laptop touchpad usually sits, it looks somewhat like a mashup between Razer’s 2012 Deathstalker gaming keyboard (which featured a touch panel LCD and trackpad combo) and Razer’s prototype Project Linda announced at this year’s CES.

The ScreenPad is a touchpad that also doubles as a handy secondary display when you press F6.

The ZenBook Pro isn’t the first laptop to add a touchscreen where the touchpad is usually located. (Picture: ASUS)

Asus says it expects both devices to go on sale in the near future but is yet to announce prices.

Testing Razer’s smartphone-powered laptop

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